Rating:
Genre:
Easy Listening
Release Date: 10/10/2006
This 2006 41-track double dose of
Burt Bacharach's prolific career is obviously not nearly as comprehensive as
Rhino's 1998
The Look of Love three-CD, 75-song package that remains the standard by which other collections of the songwriter's work will be judged. But it's not bad, either.
Hip-O/Universal is no novice to the artist's
pop work; the label has already released
The Reel Burt Bacharach, a compilation of tunes taken from
soundtracks (that shares six cuts with this) and 2004's massive
Something Big: The Complete A&M Years...And More box of the composer interpreting his songs (which shares only two entries). Since the scope is similar, there is much duplication with the
Rhino collection. Although this doesn't have the detailed and voluminous liner notes and is not presented in chronological order as
Rhino's is, the first nine selections can be found on the earlier set, and 12 more are scattered throughout the rest of these discs. But that leaves a full 20 cuts done by different artists or not included on the
Rhino release, and some of these are quite good. Perhaps to lessen the emphasis on
Dionne Warwick,
Hip-O's compiler uses other singers' versions of material typically associated with
Bacharach's most famous interpreter.
"Walk on By" performed with lover-man intensity by
Isaac Hayes (in an edited version from
Hot Buttered Soul's extended original) is a smart choice, as is
the Pretenders' rather rare
"The Windows of the World," Aretha Franklin's soulful
"I Say a Little Prayer," and
the Marvelettes' reliable
Motown workup of
"Message to Michael." But
Cher's
"Alfie" is stiffly over-produced and
Jerry Orbach's original cast vocal of
"Promises, Promises," although a reasonable choice, just doesn't compare to
Warwick's smoother slant. The less said about
Sybil's cheesy
electronic dancefloor approach to
"Don't Make Me Over" -- largely patterned from
Naked Eyes'
"Always Something There to Remind Me" -- the better (even though it did chart at number two
R&B in 1989). Other substitutions occur with
Luther Vandross'
"A House Is Not a Home" (filling in for
Brook Benton's original) and
Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66's
"The Look of Love" (replacing
Dusty Springfield's better-known performance), which notched a solid showing of number four on the 1968
pop charts. Elsewhere, this release contains a few good (
Billy J. Kramer & the Dakotas'
"Trains and Boats and Planes"), bad (
Neil Diamond's
"Heartbeat"), and ugly (see
Sybil) selections not on
Rhino's edition. Since it is also less expensive, it makes for a dependable if imperfect recap of
Bacharach's work and should satisfy most customers in the market for more than just the hits.
~Hal Horowitz, All Music Guide
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