Audio CD review:
Burt Bacharach & Friends - Gold

Burt Bacharach & Friends - Gold

Band: Burt Bacharach & Friends Title: Gold Rating: Release Date: 10 October, 2006 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: (They Long to Be) Close to You - The Carpenters 2: Do You Know the Way to San Jose - Dionne Warwick 3: What the World Needs Now Is Love - Jackie DeShannon 4: Wishin' and Hopin' - Dusty Springfield 5: What's New Pussycat? - Tom Jones 6: This Guy's in Love With You - Herb Alpert 7: Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head - B.J. Thomas 8: One Less Bell to Answer - The 5th Dimension 9: I'll Never Fall in Love Again - Dionne Warwick 10: I Say a Little Prayer - Aretha Franklin 11: You'll Never Get to Heaven (If You Break My Heart) - The Stylistics, Russell Thompkins, Jr. 12: Walk on By - Isaac Hayes 13: House Is Not a Home - Luther Vandross 14: Look of Love - Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 15: Baby It's You - The Shirelles 16: Message to Michael - The Marvelettes 17: Trains and Boats and Planes - Billy J. Kramer & the Dakotas 18: Twenty Four Hours from Tulsa - Gene Pitney 19: Make It Easy on Yourself - The Walker Brothers 20: Knowing When to Leave - Burt Bacharach 21: Anyone Who Had a Heart - Dionne Warwick 22: I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself - Dusty Springfield 23: Mexican Divorce - The Drifters 24: Wives and Lovers - Jack Jones 25: Only Love Can Break a Heart - Gene Pitney 26: Blue on Blue - Bobby Vinton 27: Alfie - Cher 28: Man Who Shot Liberty Valance - Gene Pitney 29: Casino Royale - Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, Herb Alpert 30: Promises, Promises - Jerry Orbach 31: Living Together, Growing Together - The 5th Dimension 32: Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do) - Christopher Cross 33: Any Day Now - Ronnie Milsap 34: Heartlight - Neil Diamond 35: On My Own - Patti LaBelle, , Michael McDonald 36: Reach Out for Me - Olivia Newton-John 37: Always Something There to Remind Me - Naked Eyes 38: Windows of the World - The Pretenders 39: Don't Make Me Over - Sybil 40: God Give Me Strength - Burt Bacharach, , Elvis Costello 41: That's What Friends Are For - Burt Bacharach

Customer Reviews Truly a G O L D Representation There are so many artists that glorify the music of Burt Bacharach that I appreciate in such loving gratefullness his gift to so many. Gold Burt Bacharach & Friends emmersed me immediately in many long forgotten but not unfelt tunes. It is so entertaining to have such an eclectic group of musicians who have given us his music. I highly recommend this album! . Bacharach's Astonishing Songbook Opened Up by a Motley Gallery of Artists Sometimes amusingly dated but eminently listenable, this set covers the full breadth of Bacharach's career highlighting his 1960's work with his most mutually copasetic partner, lyricist Hal David, and inevitably, the dregs of the 1980's pop treacle he composed with then-wife Carole Bayer Sager ("Arthur's Theme", "Heartlight"). Rock music aside, there was not likely a better pop tunesmith in the second half of the 20th century than Burt Bacharach, and this robust two-disc retrospective set shows ample evidence of his infectious, idiosyncratic style, most notably his sophisticated pop melodies accompanied by momentous orchestra swells and infused with a sweeping, unapologetic romanticism. Because the intention is to showcase a number of different artists who had already covered his tunes on their own recordings, there is more of a hodgepodge feel here than with the more satisfying single-disc compilation, 2001's [[ASIN:B000059T9M The Very Best of Burt Bacharach]]. Consequently, among 41 songs presented, Bacharach's most pervasive muse, Dionne Warwick, is featured only on three classic tracks - the deceptively perky "Do You Know the Way to San Jose?"; the ironically sung "I'll Never Fall in Love Again"; and the syncopated swelling of "Anyone Who Had a Heart". Her radiant voice is missed most on "Alfie" where we instead get a twenty-year old Cher's unnecessarily bombastic performance; "Walk on By" made over into a psychedelic soul epic by Isaac Hayes; the sauntering "Message to Michael" covered by early Motown girl-group, the Marvelettes; Sybil's 1990's dance-club revamp of "Don't Make Me Over"; and "Trains and Boats and Planes" performed by Merseybeat band Billy J. Kramer & the Dakotas. The upside of the multi-artist approach is that we do get Aretha Franklin's saucy, gospel-fueled take on "I Say a Little Prayer"; the Stylistics' Philly soul-styled version of "You'll Never Get to Heaven (If You Break My Heart)"; and Broadway veteran (and future "Law & Order" star) Jerry Orbach's fresh-faced performance of "Promises, Promises". Other classics included are the Carpenters' "(They Long to Be) Close to You" highlighting Karen's sparkling alto voice; B. J. Thomas' unavoidably sunny "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head"; Herb Alpert's casually off-key "This Guy's in Love with You"; Jackie DeShannon's symphonic rendition of "What the World Needs Now is Love"; the samba-sized cover of "The Look of Love" by Sergio Mendes and Brasil `66; Tom Jones' Vegas-style, hip-shaking "What's New Pussycat?"; Dusty Springfield's yearning smokiness on "Wishin' and Hopin'" and "I Don't Know What to Do with Myself"; and the 5th Dimension's "One Less Bell to Answer" featuring Marilyn McCoo's studio-polished vocals. Luther Vandross' lengthy, melisma-filled take on "A House Is Not a Home" is also here, as is Bacharach's valedictory collaboration with Elvis Costello on the powerful "God Give Me Strength". Obscurities are offered in the mix as well, for example, the hard-rocking Pretenders, of all bands, do a 1989 number called "The Windows of the World", and the 5th Dimension covers a long-lost song from the disastrous musical version of "Lost Horizon", a catchy sing-along therapy session called "Living Together, Growing Together". The height of 1960's sexism is represented by Jack Jones' lounge-act singing on "Wives and Lovers", and sad-voiced Gene Pitney is featured on three early sixties tracks uniquely his - "Twenty Four Hours from Tulsa", "Only Love Can Break a Heart" and most famously, "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance". Bacharach himself ends each disk with instrumental versions of "Knowing When to Leave" and "That's What Friends Are For". Even if the performances vary with the artists, this collection shows how impressive Bacharach's expansive songbook truly is. . You can see a complete list of all Burt Bacharach & Friends discography, or go back to the Burt Bacharach & Friends tabs