Customer Reviews

Her All-Time Greatest Hits

5 star:		(49)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have always been a great admirer of artists like James Taylor, The Carpenters, Carly Simon, Roberta Flack, and others, but I had never really been exposed to Dionne Warwick's earlier music (with the exceptions of songs like Walk On By, Say A Little Prayer, and I'll Never Fall In Love Again) until a desire to own a recording of Walk On By lead me to purchase this greatest hits CD. I didn't really have any expectations of this CD beyond the few songs that I knew I liked, but after listening to it just a couple a times, I was quite overwhelmed by it's significance and sheer beauty. I can say easily that this collection of music ranks among the best I have ever heard, and this includes the artists whom I mentioned above as well as others. I wonder that there may be others who are as unaware of this special music as I have been. Rarely have I had the great pleasure and honor to experience such beautiful expressions of romantic love and sorrow: Burt Bacharach and Hal David are poets of the human heart, and Dionne their voice. The music they've produced is unique, and at times, crushingly beautiful, and at times, breathtaking.

This is a comprehensive double-CD collection of Dionne's AM radio hits from the 60's. I just as strongly recommend Dionne as the foremost interpreter of Burt Bachrach's music.

The sound quality is great. Rhino Records did a nice job, in this area, and the liner notes provide a good bit of information. Dionne's performances of these songs are flawless. She has great range and feeling, as well as subtlety and restraint. "Windows of the World," for example, sends a shiver up my spine. The hasty "San Jose'" is also a treat. The quantity of music presented is more than enough; you won't hear any 60's Warwick song on the radio not presented here, although this results in some unevenness. Burt Bachrach's composition is super.

I couldn't give it 5 stars because some of the musical arrangements don't hold up well, and probably sounded schlocky when they came out, even over the tinny radio speaker of a 1966 Ford Fairlane on its way to San Jose. But you know that going in. Lyricyst Hal David was most effective when he kept it spare and light ("Walk On By"), not when he tried to communicate socially "relevant" ideas (e.g. - "Message to Michael" - mobile society; "Windows of the World" - Vietnam). Not every song on the collection is to my taste. It's hard to find enough great material to fill a double greatest hits album, but most of this is quite good. Anyone who likes Dionne's 60's radio hits or needs a comprehensive sampling of Bachrach-David at their creative peak, should look here.

This CD has a hefty price tag but it's well worth it because it is the best single-disc compilation of Dionne's early work. It includes her renderings of the best known compositions from the Bacharach/David songbook including "Walk On By", "Anyone Who Had A Heart", "I Say A Little Prayer" and "Alfie". It also includes some wonderful near-miss hit singles like the exquisite "Looking With My Eyes", on which Dionne punctuates her delicate pop phrasing with some gospel shouting. "April Fools" showcases Dionne's interpretive gift -- the rare singer whose voice caresses both the melody and the lyric. You won't be disappointed.

This is a fantastic collection of Dionne Warwick's songs from 1962-1971, showcasing not only her distinct voice, but also the creative collaborations of Burt Bacharach and Hal David. The CD illustrates the tremendous bond that lied between Warwick's vocal styling, and Bacharach and David's songs. The highlights include "Don't Make Me Over," "Anyone Who Had A Heart," "Walk On By," and "I Say A Little Prayer." The album is quite lengthy (24 tracks), including a few mediocre numbers here and there. That's why it earns four stars, rather than five. However, the album is a perfect illustration of a matching of a great voice with great music. This album is an excellent introduction for the younger generations who might have only been exposed to her sub-par eighties work. This album is essential to any collection of sixties music, as well as any collection of popular music.

Whoever it was that pointed out, "Man cannot live by bread alone," certainly had a nice flair for aphorisms. Even the most demented audiophile, subsisting on a diet of Blue Cheer, Albert Ayler, Vanilla Fudge, and Sun Ra; occasionally feels a strange desire to be soothed by something that is, for want of a better word, nice. The demented audiophile must be careful at such moments, lest the pendulum swing horribly far to the opposite extreme. For example, many demented audiophiles have been banned from the best jazz clubs for life simply because they let it slip that, in moments of weakness, they played something by Barbra Streisand and actually enjoyed it.

The horror!

Fortunately for the demented audiophile, this Greatest Hits of Dionne Warwick is readily available. This CD is pop perfection, the synergy of Burt Bacharach, Hal David, and Dionne Warwick is breathtaking. If you're lucky enough to have been raised on these classics cranking out of car radios, you'll be thrilled to hear them in their full acoustic glory - the sound quality is crystalline. Most noticeable is how good the arrangements are, and how disciplined. These songs were composed and recorded in an era when it was fashionable to goop up good music with massive banks of intrusive strings, pouring down like waterfalls of molten Velveeta cheese and smothering the quality. Considering this is pop fare - aimed squarely at the Top 40 - (remember that?) - the arrangements are wonderfully subdued, they actually enhance the beauty.

As to Ms. Warwick; a very soulful, emotional singer able to evoke feeling from the smallest lilt and a nicely turned phrase. A subtle, brilliant talent. I don't think I could ever hear Walk On By or You'll Never Get To Heaven too many times. Although, being a card-carrying demented audiophile, I must admit that there's something about hearing Roland Kirk play You'll Never Get To Heaven. Maybe Ellington was right, there are really only two kinds of music - good music and bad music. This CD is good music, real good.

All Burt Bacharach has to do is plink a little on the piano keys and Dionne Warwick is already warmed up. They were both in the right place at the right time when they connected and, along with incredible lyricist Hal David, created the perfect team for '60's pop music. Radio played these songs all the way into the disco era, so strong was their force and their following. You can't resist the opening la-la's of "San Jose" or the emotional fervor of "Don't Make Me Over". The music is a heart-rending tidal wave of nostalgia, simplicity, sensuality and bittersweet longing.

Reviewing a "Greatest Hits" cd is rather like shooting fish in a barrel. It's rather a safe bet and easy to do...so why bother? Well, I normally would not but in the case of Dionne Warwick I think the reason is more than justified. Here's why!

The collaboration between the talented Ms. Warwick and the song writing talents of Bacharach/David is already well known but this disc handily gives the consumer a generous portion of those steady string of hits that would be hard to put together when purchasing individual cd's. Plus, why would you bother? At 24 songs and over 75 minutes of worth of music this disc convienently packages them together for you. The songs are well enough known so as to not have to go into detail...but suffice to say that listening to the entire cd makes one marvel at how well the artist and the composers truly understood each other and how well they worked together. I can think of no other collaboration btween artist and songwriter that has worked out so well...and for such a lengthy period of time. Can you?

Now, I'm aware that Rhino has released a budget version of this cd recently and some might be tempted to purchase that disc instead. And while you certainly can't go wrong with either cd I would most definitely "pony-up" a few more dollars and try to get this one. Whether you're a casual fan of Dionne or dyed in the wool this cd is simply to good to pass up! It's attractively packaged,a small booklet inside (I'm a HUGE fan of cd's that relay information in booklet form)and, as always with Rhino, the sound has been remastered. Altogether a worthwhile investment!

In the end, this is simply one of those "must-have" cd's if you enjoy high quality music that truly has stood the ravages of time. So you may wish to own your own copy...and see how a real singer-songwriter team can make magic. Promises,Promises.....indeed!

I was lucky to see Dionne Warwicke a few years ago with Burt Bacharach and she was fantastic. She is arguably one of the best singers of the past 30+ years, and this collection is excellent. She is one of a handful of singers who successfully treaded the line between soul and pop and in that sense has influenced everybody since who has headed in that direction. Granted, that psychic friends thing was probably not a great career move, but it is only fair to separate that from her music. She is probably the best interpreter of Bacharach-David songs, and she obviously was fortunate enough to be the recipient of some of their best material. Personally, I think the songs "Walk On By," "Don't Make Me Over," and "Anyone Who Had a Heart" are three of the best songs of the 60's and make a profound artistic statement. Her cousin Whitney Houston could learn a few things by listening to Dionne's records, e.g. restraint in delivery.

Dionne Warwick may not have the gusty soul of Aretha or the flashy divatude of Diana Ross, but she, alomg with Burt Bacharach and Hal David, recorded some flawlessly-crafted pop tunes of the 1960s. This collection is the best of the bunch. Of course, there's "I Say a Little Prayer," which has been butchered countless times, but there are also some lesser-known tracks of note here as well. "I Don't Know What to Do With Myself" is an underrated and crushing breakup song, while "Always Something There to Remind Me" is the original recording that Naked Eyes would later cover in the 1980s. For over twenty tracks on one disc, this collection is a solid value and is recommended.

Bacharach and David were major pop songwriters of the 60's, and Dionne Warwick was their muse. Her flawless vocals --how about that octave leap on "Anyone who had a heart" give these songs a burst of energy that most other interpreters could not match. But Dionne was not just an energetic singer--she wrapped her dancing voice around some tricky time changes and made it all sound as if she were just warming up.

The classics here --"Don't Make Me Over," "Walk On By," "Anyone Who Had A Heart," "I Say a Little Prayer," are landmarks of American popular music. This last track, which was also covered by Aretha, points to the particular singularity of Warwick's approach. While both versions are good, Aretha does it in her own soul style, which has become a sort of template of pop singing in recent years. Dionne's cooler, more detatched singing sticks more strictly to the rhythms inherent in the song, and is, for me, the superior version.

If you don't have it you should--un point, c'est tout.