Customer Reviews

The Look Of Love: The Burt Bacharach Collection

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I am a songwriter/guitarist and have studied the work of many artists including; the Beatles, Jimmy Webb, Paul Simon, and many others. However, I still can not comprehend how many wonderful songs Burt Bacharach and major contributing lyricist, Hal David, have written and produced over the years. I never thought that I was much of a fanof Burt before I really listened to these recordings. Now I must say that this set is the greatest example of good popular songwritting that I have ever heard in my life. Not only is the songwritting sometimes hauntingly beautiful, the artists appearing on this set are a list of the greatest popular artists of our time. Many of these songs launched the careers of many of these artists. It could not have been easy for an artist to interpret this music upon first introduction. Many of these songs posses unusual melodic intervals, chord changes, and shifting meters. However, Burt never seems to simply choose a chord or meter to be clever...he was simply interpreting moods and feelings from a higher force.This 75 song masterpiece includes artists'; Perry Como, Gene Pitney, Dusty Springfield, BJ Thomas, The Fifth Demension..and many other incredibly talented artists.The songs on this box set appear to be gifts from heaven and Burt appears to bethe translator. A wonderful, hard working translator who has made these gifts possible.I would like to thank Burt and all the artists who have opened up their souls to enable us these treasures.This box set is a masterpiece of contemporary music.

First off, this is a box set, so you are gonna get some cuts like Richard Chamberlain singing "Blue Guitar" and Burt himself singing "Hasbrook Heights". I mean,really! This is a collection of one of our most accesibly complex composers, and there is going to be stuff that is not the look of love, that's not even the book of love...but let's get real. This is an evocative representation of eras of music, and Burt walked in five of them....and I think there are some minor(and I guess we are calling the pieces that are not Walk On By and Do You Know the Way To San Jose minor), but actually I am in love with a lot of the lesser known Dionne Burt Stuff...Paper Mache, Are You There With Another Girl, Windows of The World, and The Balance of Nature(which is my favorite kind of song, a symbolic poetic premise that is then put into the narrators viewpoint to wrap it up in first person)....Sentimental, sweet, yes but this is the time of great sentiment...and then what about the swinger stuff Trini Lopez Made in Paris and promise her anything by that hepcat Tom Jones.....

this is an amazing set, jewels of songwriting that are their own trip in a time machine....

and again, to set the record straight...Burt didn't write lyrics. Most of these lyics were written by Hal David. and they are gems. I will admit that some songwriting teams have a sense of imbalance(have you actually listened to lyrics in an Elton John song...Bernie coasted on that collaboration) but in this case these songs are such a collaboration. Yes, the music makes them stand out(time signatures, key changes, weird phrasing) but these words connotate an era(L>A> is a great big freeway.....One less egg to fry...where is the sunshine we once knew). And these are songs about joy and heartache, longing and pain...Listen to Windows of The World, be forty five(my age) and not see the ravages of the era it was written.

so for all the naysayers, remember this....they can't all be perfect pop gems, and who are you to say what is perfect. For me these pieces, no matter how flawed at times are pieces of a writing team that managed to stay contemporary for at least twenty years...and Bacharach beyond that. These are pieces that will joyfully bring up the essence of the time they were written in, and entertain you throughout.

I think they are miracles

Burt Bacharach combined traditional pop with soft jazz and blues to create sophisticated, emotional melodies that help define the musical era that was the 60's. Through the sheer quality and quantity of his works, he became one of the most important composers of the 20th century, rivaling the likes of Irving Berlin and George Gershwin.

This impeccable collection captures five decades of his music, while concentrating on his popular hits in the 60's, featuring gifted performers like Dionne Warwick, Jackie DeShannon, and Dusty Springfield. Many of these hits were co-written by the equally talented Hal David. Together, Bacharach and David created a synergy of tunes and lyrics that have transcended time and generations. The music evokes a rainbow of emotions from froth, to reflection, to romance, and even rapture. I have enjoyed this music for 40 years and have never found a more treasured collection of these hauntingly beautiful and memorable songs.

I had every expectation that this 75-song set would contain numerous hidden gems of melodic beauty. Like many of you, I restlessly search for great sixties-style melodies and arrangements to lift my hopes and spirits and faith in the three-minute pop song. Most of today's artists have become rich and notorious without a truly well-written song to show for it (you know what I mean-- really GOOD songs, not just OK). Unfortunately, after purchasing this boxed set I soon realized that the *really* good Bacharach tunes have already been widely heard. As for the other fifty or so songs on the CD, well, I'd have to compare most of them to the sixties equivalent of today's top 40 pop: perhaps widely played during their time, but not truly worth remembering. It's unbelievable how Bacharach-David could lurch from four or five relatively drab songs to the near-perfect "San Joses" or "Look of Loves," then back to four or five more drab offerings. These contrasts alone make the CD worth buying, just so you can appreciate the artistic development, the misses as well as hits, and how damned hard it all must be to compose a timeless song. You get the sense that Bacharach wasn't gifted the way Lennon and McCartney, for example, were gifted-- the Beatles were flat-out geniuses, and you couldn't stop them with a locomotive during their day. Bacharach, on the other hand, seems a more earthbound genius. When he hits the mark, however, it easily matches anyone's best-- Lennon & McCartney included. In conclusion, this CD is worth it on the strength of the timeless stuff alone (especially since you probably don't already have every major song on CD, by each and every artist on this particular boxed set). Bacharach and David are so very "on-the-mark" when they're hot, that this CD is a worthwhile purchase, and definitely well-priced for its size and scope.

In spite of repeated songs I already had, I decided to buy this Box set of Burt Bacharach's songs because it also contains rarities or hard to find recordings: for a long time I've been looking for a Lou Johnson CD (there was one on the Collectables label, not available since long ago). Here you'll find Lou Johnson with the original recordings of "Reach Out for Me", "Always something there to remind me", "Kentucky Bluebird (Message to Martha)" which went later to be hits for Dionne Warwick, and also "Last one to be loved". Gene Pitney is present with some of his great hits and also "Fool killer" which I never found in his CDs. Well known Bacharach's hits by Jackie deShannon are included, and also "Come and get me","So long Johnny", strangely none of these appear in her EMI Definitive Collection, maybe they weren't hits but they are very good songs worth listening to them. Dusty Springfield's "The look of love" gives the title to this Box, it is a different recording from the one (or ones) in her compilations, this is her recording for "Casino Royale" film soundtrack, the film title song is also here performed by Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass. The Shirelles are present with their hit "Baby it's you", also with a very sweet song entitled "It's Love that Really counts" (which is not easy to find in their CDs). I knew and I already have the songs by Chuck Jackson as well as Tommy Hunt's "I Just don't know what to do with myself" (later a hit for Dusty Springfield), maybe some listeners will find interesting to discover their recordings here. Dionne Warwick, as it could be expected, is the artist who appears more times on this collection, but it's the first time I listen by her "Don't make me over", strangely not included in her Bacharach/David Songbook CD; this song was previously recorded by Tommy Hunt, but as in the case of several Lou Johnson's recordings, it was later a hit song for Dionne Warwick; "Odds & ends", "The balance of nature", "Check out time " are very good Dionne Warwick recordings which I had never heard before. Burt Bacharach is one of the most prolific songwriters since the 50's up to now: Elvis Costello, Italian singer Ornella Vanoni and Ronald Isley have recently recorded entire albums with Burt Bacharach's songs, in some cases with the collaboration of Bacharach himself, a fact that shows that his talent and songs are timeless, it is difficult to pay tribute to such a creative artist in a 3CD Box set, the producers did a very good choice of the songs, combining well known hits with very interesting and nice unknown songs, the result is an excellent collection, anyone who love the Bacharach sound will sure enjoy.

If you're a Bacharach fan, and I presume you must be if you're considering this item, here's what you need to know. This box set gives you a massive amount of material: a lot of it you know by heart, some of it you've probably never heard, and at least a couple things I can think of that you probably shouldn't hear!

But there is perfection in even the "bad" on this collection of three CDs, since they are markers, reflecting the time they were written and the state of mind we were collectively in as a society, via the work of one of the last brilliant composers from "The Brill Building" era.

Perhaps the unsung (pun intended) portion of this set is the liner notes, which give you background about each song, and put it in context, through commentary from the participants and research by the writers. Example: who knew "I Say A Little Prayer" was a war protest song?

But it's those fantastic melodies that Mr. Bacharach composed that are showcased, and those are what you'll grab this set for. And the variety of tunes is remarkable... From the charming and corny "Magic Moments" and "The Story of My Life" to the Oscar winning songs, "Raindrops" and "Arthur's Theme," from Country/Western to RNB, there are at least a few songs in here that will ring a bell, no matter what your interest.

This collection will be one you come back to again and again. Highly recommended.

I found this box set to be the best box set I've ever purchased, and one of the best things I've ever heard, period.

Package-wise, it is rich with essays, beautiful photographs and song-by-song analysis. The sound quality is also great, and the track listing excells by not necessarily offering the most popular versions of the songs (though there are plenty of them), but by compiling mostly HIS own productions and orchestrations in chronological order.

Because it is in chronological order, the first disc DOES get off to a rocky start; at first the record labels rejected his more elaborate compositions in favor of traditional and "cutesy" songs until he had a few hits under his belt.

THEN FROM MID-WAY through the first disc, through the entire second disc and until nearly the end of the third disc, you are struck in the chest by upwards of fifty intensely beautiful, moving songs.

The very end of the third disc is spotty again, with the phenomenally UN-talented Carol Bayer Sager writing the lyrics and the orchestra being replaced by synthesizers. BUT honestly, I can't get over how beautiful the melodies STILL are, shimmering through such bad lyrics and production.

Bacharach is NOT a pop/rock song-writer in the sense that Lennon and Mccartney were. So, if you are looking for sixties pop/rock gems, YES, they are here in abundance, but Bacharach is more on par with the great "popular song"/"jazz standards" writers like Berlin, Porter and Gershwin. This ESPECIALLY given the tender, tasteful writing of Hal David, which is not in the "folk/rock" style of its day. His writing is very conservative and more along the lines of tin pan alley and musical theatre. Although Bacharach's music induces the same sense of wonder and dreaminess, you will not find an iota of psychedia here.

P.S. This box set, once enjoyed, can be augmented with the purchase of "The Rare Bacharach Vol. 1", a two disc Australian release that I also found quite enjoyable, and any number of classic Dionne Warwick albums. In fact, her version of ALFIE is superior in my estimation to the one on the box set by Cilla Black, so purchasing a classic Dionne Warwick grtst hits is worth it just for her version.

I picked up this box set after watching "One Amazing Night" on PBS. I had always liked Burt's music with Dionne Warwick but didn't know much more about his work. This set just blew me away! What awesome music these people, Bacharach/David, made. Songs like "Make It Easy On Yourself", "I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself", and "Any Day Now" are full of powerful emotional music and lyrics. Believe me, they don't make music like this anymore, and the world is a poorer place for it. Buy this box set, you won't regret it.

This collection is a must-have for all his fans and those interested in listening to good classic music. I have been a huge fan of Mr. Bacharach since I was a child and will continue to be a fan till I'm old and gray. I've seen Burt and Dionne perform live on four separate occasions and it has been a thrill each time. The man is a brilliant composer and an American treasure!

As much as I love the "hits" on this collection, it's the lesser-known songs that I really fell in love with; beginning with "The Story of My Life," sung by Marty Robbins, and continuing with such gems as "Everybody's Out of Town" (B.J. Thomas), "The Windows of The World" (Dionne Warwick), "To Wait For Love" (Tony Orlando--long before Dawn and "Tie a Yellow Ribbon" and how good he is), and returning to Warwicke, "Odds and Ends," "Papier Mache," and "The Balance of Nature." I even loved his cha-cha theme for THE BLOB--it's the best thing about that goofy movie other than Steve McQueen.

One of the great things about these songs, of course, is that unlike many of the songwriters from the 60's on, Bacharach and Hal David were willing to move beyond the rather simplistic emotions of bubble-gum pop and into the often-melancholy territory in which many great loves song are born and live. This is particularly true in many of the songs that Dionne Warwicke recorded with the team; the songs that everybody fell in love to back in the 60's were often about heartbreak, regret, and figuring out how to pick up and move on. Which is not to typecast Bacharach as a depressive; he proved equally adept at the jaunty; the bouncy themes to WHAT'S NEW, PUSSYCAT? (with a lovely little waltz threaded through the oom-pah-pahs), PROMISE HER ANYTHING (which accompanied a title sequence better than just about anything else in that film) and CASINO ROYALE (ditto).
It is a pity that his songwriting has tapered off the way it did, but even if he never writes another note, he has left a legacy of the listenable popular music that few people in the past fifty years can claim.