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![The Songs Of Bacharach & Costello[2 CD]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61xqzUGp49L._AC_UL160_SR160,160_.jpg)
From the late fifties to the early seventies Burt Bacharach and Hal David were incredibly prolific, working with an amazing roster of artists, and Rhino's excellent three-CD set only captured the tip of their creative iceberg. This set goes two discs further into their famous collaboration with almost no crossover to the Rhino collection- a great and overdue gift to fans and collectors. The only two common tracks are Gene Pitney's "Fool Killer" and the Hollies' "After the Fox", and only a half-dozen compositions overlap, with Mavis Staples providing the obligatory "House Is Not A Home" alongside the Buckinghams' truly worthy cover of "Are You There" and the Exciters' terrific take of "It's Love that Really Counts", to name a few.
Among the tracks that are worth the price of the whole set are Peggy March's "Try To See It My Way", Connie Francis' gorgeous take of "Wanting Things", and the hard-to-find Jackie Deshannon gem "Windows and Doors". Other highlights from Etta James, Del Shannon, Gene Pitney, the Walker Brothers, Bobby Vee, and Jay and the Americans balance the few missteps: the New Christy Minstrels ( a painful cowboy novelty song), British Adam Faith's very un-country "Country Music Holiday", and a few early efforts that are basically juvenilia from the early days of this sophisticated partnership.
Many of these songs have great melodies and well-crafted lyrics that barely miss combining to form a hit or a certified Bacharach/David classic (and, as mentioned above, a few here are genuine overlooked classics). And even the decidely minor material nearly always contains something- some unusual chord pattern or tempo- to show that the innovative and inspired Bacharach has been there.
My one quibble- and it's not a minor one- is the glib liner notes about how cool Burt is instead of the badly needed track-by-track annotation. It would be very nice to have recording dates and production credits. How many of these are actually Bacharach productions as well as Bacharach/David compositions? That's a pretty glaring blunder from a label as good as Raven. But I'll take it, with hopes that we won't have to wait another thirty years for a well-justified volume two.
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