Reviewed by Ian Phillips.
By Burt Bacharach, Kapp Records 1966.
I can’t let the passing of the late and great Burt Bacharach go without reviewing some of his music.
Back in 1966 I purchased Hit Maker – Burt Bacharach Plays the Burt Bacharach Hits.
It was one of the albums the family ordered through the World Record Club and I seem to remember that it arrived along with a Dusty Springfield album, Mum’s Scottish Ballads selection, and my Dad’s Louis Armstrong choice.
I still have those albums and Burt regularly hits the turntable.
The album cover shows a young Bacharach (37 years old) sitting on a stool, relaxed and smiling, well into his incredible run of world-wide hits that had begun in 1957 when he met lyricist Hal David in the Brill Building where they were both working.
During the 1960s alone this duo wrote well over 100 songs.
There are tributes to the quality and impact of Bacharach’s music written on the back cover of the album from Marlene Dietrich, Gene Pitney, Dionne Warwick, Jack Jones, Anthony Newley, and Dusty Springfield, and of course there is the track list:
Don’t Make Me Over, Walk On By, Don’t Go Breaking My Heart, Blue On Blue, The Last To Be Loved, (There’s) Always Something There To Remind Me, 24 Hours From Tulsa, Trains And Boats And Planes, Wives And Lovers, Saturday Sunshine, A house Is Not a Home, Anyone Who Had A heart.
What an incredible selection of songs written and composed by the wonderful talents of two of the most gifted songwriters of all time, composer Burt Bacharach and lyricist Hal David.
Bacharach went on to work with may lyricists in his 70+ year career, including the wonderful Elvis Costello (I will review an album of their collaborations in the coming weeks) but few collaborations could match the consistent quality of the songs churned out by Bacharach and David.
I’ll leave the final word to the wonderful Dusty Springfield.
“There seems little more that one can say about Burt Bacharach. When I first heard ‘Don’t Make Me Over’ I burst into tears with sheer joy and excitement and his music has been affecting me this way ever since. To me, he is the end.”
