Customer Reviews

Look of Love: Burt Bacharach Songbook

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3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(2)

 

 

Jazz Harmonica virtuoso Toots Thielemans was correct
when he said that Trijntje (Train-cha) Oosterhuis
deserves wider recognition in the United States.
Her Soul And Jazz inflected vocals belie her
Amsterdam birth. She sings her heart out with the
best of the USA's Soul and Jazz vocalists of the last
forty plus years.

This album of Burt Bacharach songs is a perfect vehicle
for this young chanteuse. It also resurrects a musical
tradition that faded after the 1960s, namely an album
dedicated to showcasing the songs of a timeless popular
composer. Bacharach's compositions could not be in better
hands here. Her earnest and earthy sound perfectly suit
"A House is Not a Home," "Falling Out of Love," "Anyone
Who Had a Heart," and "Alfie."

With lush orchestrations by the venerable Patrick Williams
and Vince Mendoza's near perfect conducting of the Metropole
Orchestra, Oosterhuis shines as easily as the young Dionne
Warwick did when she became the voice of Bacharach. Best
surprise here is her Soul-drenched version of the Etta James
hit "Waiting for Charlie to Come Home," with Bacharach
accompanying on piano. A young vocalist who has done her
homework, Trijntje Oosterhuis is a talent worth the added
cost of ordering from overseas.

What a voice, and clean crisp backup and instrumentals to boot. Just a pleasure to listen to. With this one little need be said other than Stellar!

Of the many talented singers in the Netherlands Trijntje Oosterhuis is by far the brightest star. On Look of Love, Trijntje has once again found a perfect vehicle to showcase her versatile singing talent. Having grown up with the Dionne Warwick versions of Bacharach's songbook I very much anticipated the release of this CD, and was more than pleasantly surprised by Trijntjes sublime renditions of these timeless songs. Every song is right on the money, and the orchestration is superb: these songs seem made for her torchy voice. In particular, the song Alfie is sung perfectly, which is no easy feat given that it has been covered by many artists, and first Warwick and now Trijntje are the only two who were ever able to get it right. Bravo! Other standouts include This House is Empty Now, A House is Not a Home, and Waiting for Charlie to Come Home. During the Christmas holidays Dutch television broadcasted an intimate, live performance of Trijntje singing Bacharach's songbook and as always, she was nothing less than magnificent! Hopefully, Trijntjes contract with Blue Note will expose her to a broader audience and help her to achieve the success she so rightly deserves outside of the Netherlands. For us she has long been a national treasure.

The Look of Love: Burt Bacharach Songbook CD by Trijntje Oosterhuis of Holland offers wonderful interpretations of Burt Bacharach songs that leave you wanting more. Trijntje Oosterhuis possesses great talent, to say the least; and she sings with a passionate voice that endears her to millions of people. We even get Burt Bacharach himself on piano here! It's too bad that more Americans don't know of her work; but maybe with CDs like this and more Trijntje Oosterhuis will come to get the full recognition she deserves.

"Do You Know The Way To San José?" was written by both Burt Bacharach and Hal David for Dionne Warwick; and when Trijntje Oosterhuis sings this very sweetly she puts her own stamp on this ballad. If you listen very, very closely you can hear the slightest of foreign accents but Trijntje pulls this off just about as good as any American chanteuse ever could. I'm impressed; and the lush musical arrangement enhances this ballad even more. Great! "The Look Of Love" gets a fine treatment from Trijntje Oosterhuis; Trijnte is able to convey so many subtleties of the emotions that go hand in hand with the lyrics to this song. Listen also for Trijntje to outdo even herself on "I Say A Little Prayer." "I Say A Little Prayer" is one of my favorite songs on this CD; and the backup singers harmonize to perfection--and beyond!

"Waiting For Charlie (To Come Home)" gets the royal treatment from Trijntje Oosterhuis who delivers this without a superfluous note; and there's also a great number when Trijntje performs "I'll Never Fall In Love Again." This song is a classic Bacharach number although Bacharach co-wrote this song and others on this CD with Hal David. "Walk On By," another song originally written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David for Dionne Warwick, retains that awesome 1960s flavor to it; and this works very well for Trijntje's rendition of "Walk On By." "Anyone Who Had A Heart" is a most passionate love song that I could never tire of hearing. When Trijntje Oosterhuis sings "Anyone Who Had A Heart" I am absolutely thrilled with her ability to make this song a major highlight of this album. Trijntje Oosterhuis sings "Anyone Who Had A Heart" wearing her heart on her sleeve and that makes this ballad every bit as sublime as the first time I ever heard it.

"(They Long To Be) Close To You" is a number I first heard when Carpenters performed it; but Trijntje's performance is very, very tender. Karen Carpenter would be so happy for Trijntje! I really like "(They Long To Be) Close To You" and I think you will like it, too. There's also "The Windows Of The World;" I haven't heard this song too many times before but it sure is beautiful. The CD ends nicely with Trijntje Oosterhuis performing "That's What Friends Are For." "That's What Friends Are For" closes the album very well and Dionne Warwick would be very pleased with Trijntje's rendition of this number.

Overall, The Look of Love: Burt Bacharach Songbook gives us a strong collection of major Burt Bacharach hits sung by a great female vocalist, Trijntje Oosterhuis. Trijntje's talent has clearly taken her far and I predict that we will hear much more from her for quite some while to come.

Thank you, Trijntje!

Fans of Linda Eder have been sharing their other favorites back and forth for some time via her website's message board. I am grateful for many who have shared other great artists that could have been missed. One is Ebony Alleyne from the UK, and most recently is this wonderful voice from The Netherlands, Trijntje (Triancha) Oosterhuis.

The MP3 samples do not do justice to give you full appreciation of the material, but it was enough to make me buy the album, as well as the second Burt Bacharach Songbook. After doing the download, I've been playing both collections non-stop. The production is superb on both, as are the orchestrations and arrangements. I love it when new life is given to such classic material, as Burt Bacharach is my favorite composer. I'm glad that later Bacharach work is also covered (God Give Me Strength) besides the earlier material made famous by Dionne Warwick. For many years, Dionne, Dusty Springfield and even a few by Karen Carpenter were the best interpreters vocally of Bacharach-David songs. As the overused phrase is again stated, "The Torch Has Been Passed". With the volume of songs in the catalog, I hope a Trilogy is done, and we can look forward to a Volume 3 from Trijntje of more Bacharach gems.

For Dr. Groove from Laurelton below, I grew up in Rosedale, your next town neighbor.

Dionne warwick is one of the finest singers in North America,having said that this young woman from Holland is probably a white reincarnation of Dionne.Her voice is clearly not the same but it sure sounds good and iam enjoying every bit of it..nicely produced with modern orchestration makes this cd a winner and worth its weight in gold.

This disc arrived ahead of time! Excellent rendition of Burt Bacharach compositions. Real name is Trijntje Oosterhuis. Good value as well. Strongly recommended purchase.

Bacharach ne se prononce pas comme Bach ; Burt est un de ces champions de la mélodie pop des années 60 et 70 ; beaucoup de ses airs auraient pu devenir le générique de James Bond ou des succès interprétés par les Carpenters ; celle qui se colle à son répertoire a un prénom de bonbon hollandais et un nom imprononçable, mais son interprétation est d'une virtuosité remarquable et sa voix est aussi chaleureuse que celle de l'orchestre (un vrai grand orchestre) qui l'accompagne ; elle me rapelle un peu Carly Simon ; techniquement c'est tout simplement bluffant ; mes enceintes me disent merci et l'on peut tester son ampli, grâce à une volonté de stéreo très prononcée ; tout çà est donc du bel ouvrage, édité chez Blue Note, svp ; par franchement le plus mauvais label ! On en reprendrait bien une petite tranche !
Remarque sur ce commentaire

Warning: "Blue Note" here has absolutely nothing to do with Jazz.
It leads potential customer into belief that this might be some interesting jazz twist on classic 1960s pop (a welcome relief after countless & never ending Cole Porter and Gershwin songbooks) but alas,this is not Jazz. It also shows dutch fondness for nicely packaged,unimaginative tribute albums that add nothing to originals - this one turned out to be huge seller,by the way - the formula is too easy for words: get yourself some passable,easy-listening singer who won't upset anybody + add lush orchestration that has Hollywood rings and bells in the background and voila,you got a hit on the charts.

Amsterdam-born young lady is a pop singer - that means she follows originals note for note,without ever straying just a little tiny bit left or right- or if she does,it is towards new r&b phenomenon called "over-souling" where vibrato goes out of control.She does have nice smokey color in her voice but plays safe and is rewarded with mainstream success,so go figure. Since original recordings with legendary vocalists are still easily available,what is the point of this collection except showing off the mammoth orchestra? The opportunity to dig little deeper into Bacharach songbook is missed - surely there must be some hidden gems and unreleased treasures besides recording another millionth version of "The Look of Love"?

Only twice there is a spark of interest: little known song "Waiting for Charlie to come home" (originally done by Etta James) that has rarely surfaced on Bacharach compilations and surprisingly effective acoustic version of "That's what friends are for" that actually sounds pretty when stripped of all the cellophane - it shows that people who made this album knew what they were doing and consciously made their choices.

Personally I am dead set against covers if you can't show anything new or improve on classic recordings.
Bacharach songs could have been re-interpreted and re-imagined with perhaps just a little jazz trio and that would have been far more appropriate for album with "Blue Note" name - but than,it wouldn't sell truckloads on dutch mainstream pop charts. This album has already a sequel and I wonder does the young lady understand what she got herself into,never-ending road of songbook albums,tributes to artists who were ORIGINALS.

Traincha manages to recreate Hal David and Burt Bacharach's masterpieces, transforming their songs into refreshingly new tracks. I'm pretty sure original singers like Dionne Warwick will be very pleased. This is a keeper.