Burt Bacharach - One Amazing Night

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Music reviews of One Amazing Night

Music Review: Everything Old Is New Again: Really?
Rating: 1 Stars

Elvis Costello proves he understands and can sing Bacharach, but he doesn't have the vocal chords to pull it off pleasingly. "God Give Me Strength" and "This House Is Empty Now" would sound wonderful if sung by Dusty Springfield (one of his idols, and Bacharach's choice to sing the original versions of "The Look of Love" and "Wishin' & Hopin")...but Costello just doesn't cut it here.

What we learn from this CD and the live show it was recorded from, is that Burt Bacharach is not for everyone to sing. In the 60's we had Dionne, Dusty and Gene Pitney. In the 90's we have who? All Saints???

But luckily, as the CD progresses, Luther Vandross shows us the right way to sing Bacharach, with a beautifully luscious medley of "The Windows of the World" and "What The World Needs Now Is Love." (in 4/4 time versus the original 3/4)

Then, lastly, his mentor, Dionne Warwick, gives a virtual Bacharach singing lesson armed with her 40 year recording career and her over 20 top 40 hits with Bacharach. I hope the other performers took copious notes.

Dionne makes it look so easy, but after listening to several "young" artists make feeble attempts,and almost destroy Bacharach's music, you realize it really takes some serious musicality to sing Bacharach's work. What makes him so wonderfully complex is his seeming simplicity.

Wynona, All Saints, Barenaked Ladies, and especially Sheryl Crow...all have a long way to go before they can reach the interpretive heights of Luther and Dionne. In the meantime, who wants to watch them learn??

I say skip this CD and invest instead in the classic Dionne/Bacharach/David collaboration LP's from the mid to late 60's.

Also, Dusty Springfield and Gene Pitney are essential chapters in the Bacharach saga. It seems hard to even compare Springfield's "The Look of Love" or Pitney's "The Man That Shot Liberty Valance" to some of the substandard stuff on this CD.

If you want to listen to Bacharach, go to the pros and don't waste your time with the uninitiated.

Description of One Amazing Night

Broadway & Vocalists CDs

• Music > Styles
• Jazz
• Pop
• Rock
• Soundtracks