Burt Bacharach TV Special 1972

lj

Well-Known Member
My favorite part of this entire show was when Burt shows how he arranged the song "Nikki" in a studio of musicians. A fantastic tutorial from a master orchestrator. The segment starts at 24:05 of the video. "Nikki"--the ABC Movie of the Week theme in the 1970s--was always my favorite of his all instrumental songs without vocals from his solo albums. "Nikki" is the epitome of beautiful music.

 
I first saw Burt Bacharach in concert back in Philadelphia in the late 1990s. It was just a wonderful show and I was able to overhear a lot of comments from concert-goers stating "I didn't know he wrote that!"

One thing I observed was the facial expressions that Burt exhibits when conducting or even just playing. Many of them were somewhat "pained", as in the still from the YouTube above. It gave me the impression that Burt hears his music in his head on a much purer/better/magical level than what we mere mortals are able to muster with our crude instruments and voices, and he's doing his best to bring that out of the musicians.

"Nikki" is a tremendous song and one of my favorites too. Among the various versions I have on CD, two seem to exhibit a nice cleanness in the highs. One is on a German compilation from 1995 called EASY LOUNGIN' COLLECTION:
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The other is a more common compilation called WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS NOW: BURT BACHARACH CLASSICS
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The song appears elsewhere of course, but these two shine, IMHO.
 
Nikki is also one of my all time Bacharach favorites I know the story behind it that it was about his beautiful daughter who was a year older than me and sadly she passed away in 2006 she had severe asbergers syndrome ( I have a mild functional form of it myself so I can totally understand) today that song has more meaning and significance to me than ever
 
When I first heard this song in its abbreviated form on the aforementioned ABC series in 1970, I said to myself--wonderful music. When I heard the complete recording of "Nikki" from his 1971 "Close to You" LP on KBIG AM that summer of '71-- it completely knocked me out with its shear beauty. I will forever associate "Nikki" from that amazing summer of '71 and it will always bring a tear to my eye. As Herb Alpert has said--good music takes us back to a certain time and place in our lives. Nostalgia and sentimentality is a gift from God.
 
The last sentence in my previous post--Nostalgia and sentimentality is a gift from God--was my own observation. A prime example is the comfort and nostalgia we feel every holiday season when we hear Bing Crosby sing "White Christmas" through department store speakers. Or nostalgia can be when I'm near water and I think of Jobim's "Surfboard." The songs and artists we discuss here at the Forum is a walk down memory lane and nostalgia par excellence. And that makes me very happy and grateful and makes me count my blessings, as music is the greatest artistic gift of all.
 
I can't watch Burt on TV without thinking of the 1971 special.

I wonder if Angie Dickinson lobbed a bottle of Martini & Rossi at the TV when this aired:

 
Gotta give Burt props for having the cojones to bring his "rumpled baritone" into a duet with one of the best singers in history.

But I'm surprised there was only one camera angle on the whole clip.
 
Here is the opening sequence of the ABC Movie of the Week with Bacharach's "Nikki." The greatest TV music theme of them all.

 
Here is the opening sequence of the ABC Movie of the Week with Bacharach's "Nikki." The greatest TV music theme of them all.


I had forgotten that the ABC Movie of the Week used that font (Piegnot) a year before the Mary Tyler Moore Show did.

 
I first saw Burt Bacharach in concert back in Philadelphia in the late 1990s. It was just a wonderful show and I was able to overhear a lot of comments from concert-goers stating "I didn't know he wrote that!"

One thing I observed was the facial expressions that Burt exhibits when conducting or even just playing. Many of them were somewhat "pained", as in the still from the YouTube above. It gave me the impression that Burt hears his music in his head on a much purer/better/magical level than what we mere mortals are able to muster with our crude instruments and voices, and he's doing his best to bring that out of the musicians.

"Nikki" is a tremendous song and one of my favorites too. Among the various versions I have on CD, two seem to exhibit a nice cleanness in the highs. One is on a German compilation from 1995 called EASY LOUNGIN' COLLECTION:
1662410303658.png

The other is a more common compilation called WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS NOW: BURT BACHARACH CLASSICS
1662410506826.png

The song appears elsewhere of course, but these two shine, IMHO.
Ben Folds Five doing "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head" is another televised concert from I can't remember when.
 
I haven't seen The 5th Dimension's lip sync performance of "Living Together, Growing Together" (from the 1973 ABC TV special Burt Bacharach In Shangri - La") which I have not seen since the TV special aired BUT Youtube does not have the video clip. Youtube does have the other clip when Burt & 5th Dimension are in the recording studio!!
 
I haven't seen The 5th Dimension's lip sync performance of "Living Together, Growing Together" (from the 1973 ABC TV special Burt Bacharach In Shangri - La") which I have not seen since the TV special aired BUT Youtube does not have the video clip. Youtube does have the other clip when Burt & 5th Dimension are in the recording studio!!
Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen, it was so good.
 
"Burt Bacharach And Associates". Oh, good-grief! Only a state-run broadcasting outfit could come up with something that dry.

A fantastic tutorial from a master orchestrator. The segment starts at 24:05 of the video.
Thanks. This was interesting. Of course it was loosely scripted and/or played up a bit (e.g., Burt candidly asking the guitars (i.e. the "rock" musicians) of they could read music...which was a standard putdown in the '60s/'70s), it nevertheless, gives us some idea as to how he lead a recording ensemble. Burt's music is highly detailed and deceptively complex -- hence his conducting from the piano (which is many cases is better than conducting from a score) where he can feel the arrangement as opposed to reading it.
 
Ben Folds Five doing "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head" is another televised concert from I can't remember when.
There was a Bacharach special in the mid 90s (?) that had a few recent artists on it, and I'm pretty sure the Ben Folds Five was on it, although I can't remember which song it was. I think the special was called One Amazing Night, and there may have been a companion CD release. This may have been in the aftermath of the album with Costello.
 
There was a Bacharach special in the mid 90s (?) that had a few recent artists on it, and I'm pretty sure the Ben Folds Five was on it, although I can't remember which song it was. I think the special was called One Amazing Night, and there may have been a companion CD release. This may have been in the aftermath of the album with Costello.
You are correct I saw that special One Amazing Night it also had An Appearance by Dionne Warwick joining in a medley of hits and there was a CD release our radio station has it and I have played several tracks from it on my radio shows it was a great special and the CD was pretty awesome too
 
Here's an odd Bacharach compilation. I don't recognize most of these tracks:

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It's currently on Amazon.
 
-Nice to find a Bacharach comp like this (I don't have any, but I surmise they may be Warwick-heavy). Burt's 1964-68 sweet spot -- seemingly with gems left and right -- probably resulted in the A&R guys continuously feeding his tunes to e v e r y o n e.
 
I have one of those cheap compilations similar to this one, where most of the tracks were recorded prior to Dionne's recordings. There were maybe a couple tracks out of two CDs that were interesting enough to listen to a second time, as it is typical of the generic Brill Building pop music back in the day. But, Burt had to start somewhere and earn a living, seeking those elusive hit records like everyone else at the Brill, and he otherwise wouldn't have discovered Dionne without going this route. Rhino did a good job finding the best of his earliest tracks for their Look of Love box set.
 
WJRT 12 in Flint, MI (ABC) played that 1971 version during the Saturday or Sunday afternoon movie back in the early to mid 70's!!
 
I have one of those cheap compilations similar to this one, where most of the tracks were recorded prior to Dionne's recordings. There were maybe a couple tracks out of two CDs that were interesting enough to listen to a second time, as it is typical of the generic Brill Building pop music back in the day. But, Burt had to start somewhere and earn a living, seeking those elusive hit records like everyone else at the Brill, and he otherwise wouldn't have discovered Dionne without going this route. Rhino did a good job finding the best of his earliest tracks for their Look of Love box set.
I am over the top happy with the Rhino Look of Love Box Set (US) and Reach Out on Monarch pressing as my Bacharach collection. Rhino did a great job on the liners notes for each song on the Box Set, too.
 
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