🎵 AotW Burt Bacharach: Reach Out (A&M SP-4131 / SP-3102)

Harry · May 8, 2009

Having nearly forgotten to start this thread today, I guess we'll have to settle for the basic album information minus the liner notes (unless someone else cares to type in Derek Taylor's long and winding tome).

I like this whole album, but by far, my favorite track is "I Say A Little Prayer", an inspired arrangement for an inspired song.

The best sounding version of the album can be found on the Hip-O box set. It's way better than the Rebound issues of the '90s.

Harry

JOv2 · May 8, 2009

Harry said:
...unless someone else cares to type in Derek Taylor's long and winding tome...

Actually, the only passage Taylor "wrote" that makes any sort of basic sense is the following:

...he [Burt] has played piano on all of the tracks and sung on one of them. This one is called "A House is Not a Home", and it is something else...

He's right: Burt's singing is "something else". Though I gather from Derek's lack of elaboration on the matter, that whatever that "something" is, he purposely (and wisely) evaded further discussion (given he wanted to get paid). As for my opinion: the singing is awful.

Regarding the remaining listenable selections, I'll take Bond Street as my pick (with Alfie as a distant second -- the lead horns are cool). It's typically not covered by other artists so the Bacharach version is the one with the goods. As for all the remaining numbers -- a few bars into each and my mind always switches to the "hit" or otherwise popular version, which in all cases seem more appealing to me. I was hoping that Burt would have re-tooled his excellent compositions; he does to some degree but not enough to make any of his vocal-less versions particularly memorable relative to the well-known versions (many of which he arranged, anyway). Still, it's nice to have these. Nice LP cover.

Dave · May 9, 2009

While "I Say A Little Prayer For You" is a signature song of this album (as well as that of some of the many artists who covered it, whether produced or not produced by Burt, alike) I like the treatment of "The Windows Of The World"...

Yes, the "retooling" of his compositions, some recorded by others, some never recorded and some yet to be (probably still to this day) this album is very definitive of what Burt can do...

And definitely a valuable addition to the A&M artist roster as Bacharach has long been a valuable entity to the music world, for all time...

Dave

Mike Blakesley · May 9, 2009

My favorites are the title tune and "Are You There (With Another Girl)."

"Are You There" stands out because of the strange and unique sounds in it. The strangely-tuned Hammond organ (at least, it sounds like one) playing the melody, the odd little cymbal riffs, the orchestral crescendos. Very unusual for an orchestral arrangement.

The title tune - nothing unusual about that arrangment, but the vocals on the choruses sound very cool.

Burt's singing? Well it is definitely not polished, but to me it sounds like he's a songwriter, poring over his song-in-progress, singing it to himself, and then it segues into the "finished" song with the big orchestra playoff the end. It has the same appeal to me as Herb A.'s "This Guy's In Love With You" -- it sounds like a guy, his heart broken, sitting at the piano pouring out his feelings.

Overall this is my 3rd favorite Bacharach solo album, with the self-titled one being first and LIVING TOGETHER second.

I like "Bond Street" too. It sounds like a movie chase scene soundtrack (if the movie is a comedy). It would have worked in "Butch Cassidy."

Rudy · May 9, 2009

Mike Blakesley said:
My favorites are the title tune and "Are You There (With Another Girl)."

That is actually one of my favorite songs as done by Dionne Warwick. Between hers and Burt's own version, they still have a similar beat. "Ooom-pah-pah pity the girl."

Mike Blakesley said:
Burt's singing? Well it is definitely not polished, ...

IMHO that's part of the charm of his version: the rough, untrained, slightly hesitant vocal part has just enough "soul" to work on this song. And hey, at least he stays on key, which is more than I can say for a lot of other singers.

Mike Blakesley said:
I like "Bond Street" too. It sounds like a movie chase scene soundtrack (if the movie is a comedy). It would have worked in "Butch Cassidy."

It's from the "Casino Royale" soundtrack, but not having seen the movie, I don't know how it was used. It does sound like chase, or some kind of misadventure

, taking place at the time. Same way that some of the "After The Fox" musical cues were tied to humorous moments.

Mike Blakesley · May 9, 2009

I remember first hearing "Are You There" on KGHL radio, a Billings station we used to listen to at the store. It was a soft-pop station (adult contemporary). I remember hearing Sergio's "After Sunrise" and "Love Music" on there too, plus TJB's "Fox Hunt."

JOv2 · May 11, 2009

Rudy said:
Mike Blakesley said:

I like "Bond Street" too. It sounds like a movie chase scene soundtrack (if the movie is a comedy)...

Click to expand...

It's from the "Casino Royale" soundtrack, but not having seen the movie, I don't know how it was used. It does sound like chase, or some kind of misadventure , taking place at the time. Same way that some of the "After The Fox" musical cues were tied to humorous moments.

Mike, if you like these kind of Bacharach "ditties" (which are most likely klezmer-type themes) you should check out his 1965-67 soundtrack albums to What's New, Pussycat?, and as Rudy mentioned, After The Fox, and, Casino Royale. Additionally, all three s/t releases feature additional mid '60s (i.e., "classic" Burt at his zenith) melodies arranged by the master himself. These three releases have been in my collections for several years now and they remain faves! (Where else but on a Bacharach s/t would you get stellar performances by Tom Jones, Manfred Mann and Dionne Warwick -- all interconected via Burt's excellent underscore?) Great stuff.

Ed Bishop · May 14, 2009

After years at Kapp, Burt finally found his own audience on A&M...hard earned, given so many great songs and productions for others. For what it is, a fine album (and a sleeper), although for anyone not into this kind of lush pop, Muzak to the ears.

:ed:

Mike Blakesley · May 14, 2009

A lot of people dismiss Bacharach solo albums as "EZ Listening" affairs and in fact some tracks are definitely in that elevator music category, but there are so many odd touches, different instruments, super-loud passages followed by super-quiet ones, etc. that the arrangements deserve more attention than the typical elevator fare. I think critics who dismiss his solo albums just aren't listening closely enough.

Dave · Jun 10, 2009

Forgot when I saw Bacharach in concert, that he did "Bond Street"--the only song he played organ on... Otherwise, Burt was mainly playing piano & conducting... --A real show-stopper...!!!!!!

Dave

Bobberman · Apr 13, 2023

I for one hold this album as "One of his very best" not only because it's his Debut on A&M but it shows Bacharach as an artist in his own right. My first Bacharach experience was his 1973 Greatest hits on the dreaded 8 track tape format which was part of my mom's library despite the cruddy tape I loved the music and eventually I began building my own Bacharach collection and this was definitely among my earliest purchases

Rudy · Apr 14, 2023

Mike Blakesley said:
A lot of people dismiss Bacharach solo albums as "EZ Listening" affairs and in fact some tracks are definitely in that elevator music category, but there are so many odd touches, different instruments, super-loud passages followed by super-quiet ones, etc. that the arrangements deserve more attention than the typical elevator fare. I think critics who dismiss his solo albums just aren't listening closely enough.

14 years later, a reply...

His brand of MOR was far more sophisticated than the mushy strings that other easy listening ensembles performed. I'll admit I need to be in a certain mood when I listen to these (as I prefer the vocal originals by far, and these are an acquired taste), but these albums were all meticulously arranged and performed with all those little "quirks and features" (as a certain car reviewer says) that drew us in and kept us listening.

The real irony is that he preserved nearly the exact same style when he made his album with Elvis Costello, and critics hailed the album. I think a lot of critics back then, too, had too much tunnel vision--pop/rock listeners and jazz purists both looked down their noses at his records, and anything that fell outside their narrow guidelines was ridiculed. There's also the benefit of time, and appreciating the legacy an artist has left on the music community.

Harry · Apr 14, 2023

Looking today on Discogs, I see that various Japanese issues did indeed revert to the black text for a few of their re-issues of REACH OUT.

The small covers printed inside the Hip-O SOMETHING BIG box set correctly used the black text also.

JOv2 · May 17, 2023

Mike Blakesley said:
A lot of people dismiss Bacharach solo albums as "EZ Listening" affairs and in fact some tracks are definitely in that elevator music category, but there are so many odd touches, different instruments, super-loud passages followed by super-quiet ones, etc. that the arrangements deserve more attention than the typical elevator fare. I think critics who dismiss his solo albums just aren't listening closely enough.

...or they just are not able to appreciate the music. In the '70s/'80s, "pop music" critics were really "rock music" critics and all non-rock-based music was routinely derided as irrelevant in those days ("payback" for all the ridicule nearly all of the '60s rock artists suffered at the hands of "the establishment" ten years earlier). It actually took another generation to appreciate the non-rock pop of the '50s and '60s...When the '90s came around all that bachelor pad stuff was a discovery of sorts to then-young record buyers whose parents had as much contempt for the non-rock '60s music in the 1970s and their grandparents had for '60s rock in the 1960s. Oh my!

Bobberman · May 17, 2023

JOv2 said:
...or they just are not able to appreciate the music. In the '70s/'80s, "pop music" critics were really "rock music" critics and all non-rock-based music was routinely derided as irrelevant in those days ("payback" for all the ridicule nearly all of the '60s rock artists suffered at the hands of "the establishment" ten years earlier). It actually took another generation to appreciate the non-rock pop of the '50s and '60s...When the '90s came around all that bachelor pad stuff was a discovery of sorts to then-young record buyers whose parents had as much contempt for the non-rock '60s music in the 1970s and their grandparents had for '60s rock in the 1960s. Oh my!

I encountered that same attitude from just about everyone being a musically open minded Gen Xer I always found something to enjoy from every decade although from the 90s to the present that amount dwindled but there is some newer music that fits my tastes that I find occasionally

Rudy · May 17, 2023

That also happened to rock bands that were somewhat looked down upon at the time, yet their influence and importance was realized decades later. Like Black Sabbath. It was "different" for its time, but as decades of music development passed, many realized that it was a prototype for a specific style of rock. Many of the bands I listened to as a teen and into my 20s weren't highly regarded either, yet now they gain a lot of attention as being good music.

Michael Hagerty · May 18, 2023

Coincidentally, there is a "rediscovery" of Steely Dan underway at the moment---with a lot of the same attitudes having been in play for the last 30-ish years:

https://www.npr.org/2023/05/17/1176479737/the-eternal-paradox-and-quantum-criminals-of-steely-dan

🎵 AotW Burt Bacharach: Reach Out (A&M SP-4131 / SP-3102)

Burt Bacharach - Reach Out

Harry

Charter A&M Corner Member

JOv2

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Dave

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Mike Blakesley

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Rudy

¡Que siga la fiesta!

Mike Blakesley

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JOv2

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Ed Bishop

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Mike Blakesley

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Dave

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Bobberman

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Rudy

¡Que siga la fiesta!

Harry

Charter A&M Corner Member

JOv2

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Bobberman

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Rudy

¡Que siga la fiesta!

Michael Hagerty

Well-Known Member

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