Burt Bacharach: What the World Needs Now

This was a performance that wasn’t particularly memorable for any specific song, rendition, or moment. Rather it was magnificent because of its totality.

I was saddened this morning to learn of the death of Burt Bacharach. The timing was eerie, given that just a week ago I posted an article on Bacharach’s latest (and now final) recording project, which turns out, will now be released posthumously.

Bacharach was the king of cool. His easy-listening sound was a stark contrast to a musical and cultural era dominated by rock n’ roll and R&B, earning him universal cross-genre respect among fellow musicians and new legions of fans from one generation to the next. He’s the only guy on the planet who could make wearing a white turtleneck look sexy. But it wasn’t any look, but rather a sound — the pecking of perfectly timed notes on the piano and the sassy brass — those effervescent and so syrupy Bacharach horns that effectively tugged our heartstrings, causing tears to swell up in our eyes, that became a transformative trademark sound that will echo in the windmills of a million spirits from then, and now — and for eternity.

Ahh, the unmistakable Bacharach sound. The unique Bacharach style. It was a sound and style that never got old, nor seemed outdated. Bacharach was just as much a current contemporary as the composer of 1969. If George and Ira Gershwin were authors of the famed great American songbook, then Bacharach will be known and rightly remembered for writing the sequel.

I saw Bacharach perform live only once. The show happened ten years ago, here in Las Vegas. Let me share that review, which I wrote back then:

On February 27th (2013), Marieta and I attended our first show ever at the Smith Center. Composer and music legend Burt Bacharach took center stage at his grand piano while conducting his orchestra. Predictably, this exclusive one-night show was a complete sell-out. Bacharach has arguably written more classic songs than just about anyone alive, especially if you’re a fan of movies or the many artists who have covered his songs since the 1960s. With co-writer and lyricist (the late) Hal David, he’s penned a whopping 73 hit songs that made it into the Top 40. Seventy-three!

Several times during Bacharach’s two-hour performance I heard people whispering to each other, “I didn’t know he wrote that song.” Once or twice I was admittedly caught off guard, as well. Yet never once does Bacharach seem boastful, although he has every right to be. If anything, his presence is understated. The Bacharach-David musical catalog is so fruitful, he’s forced to condense many hit songs into shorter 60-second snippets. Otherwise, everyone would be there at least four or five hours, not that anyone would seem to have minded. Contrast this musical reservoir with many music artists today who may indeed have a few hits, and then end up cluttering the performance with filler. Bacharach has the opposite problem.

This was a performance that wasn’t particularly memorable for any specific song, rendition, or moment. Rather it was magnificent because of its totality. He covered just about everything — from one of his earliest hits “What’s New Pussycat?” to songs from the Austin Powers movie soundtracks, which (odd as it might sound) gave his career something of a modern renaissance. Indeed, Bacharach has penned hits familiar to both 8-year-olds and 80-year-olds. Not many songwriters can say that.

If there’s any criticism to be made — and I’m admittedly digging deep here — it’s a strictly personal one driven by my adoration of Painted From Memory, the sterling 1998 collaboration between Bacharach and the uber-eclectic Elvis Costello. Unfortunately, this entire masterpiece — which I rank as one of the best ten collections of music created in the last 20 years — was inexplicably omitted from the night’s song list. Then again, with so much other extraordinary material, some familiar songs were certain to miss the cut.

Like Burt Bacharach’s songs, The Smith Center appears destined to become a timeless classic. As our memorable evening came to an end, I had to gaze back one last time. For me, it was indeed The Look of Love.

 

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE