the new burt bacharach album 'at this time' featuring dr dre, rufus wainwright, elvic costello and chris botti

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was SO looking forward to this, but burt has brought in some drum programmers, and his sense of melody seems a little less developed than i was hoping for. the drums are admittedly tasteful (some programmed by dre, he doesnt rap, thank god), but they sound like burt has played his melody around the beat, rather than have the drums added later, which seems to make some of the melodies a little more stunted than i hoped. interesting way of doing things for burt though, perhaps.

but burt's lyrics have become pretty corny, and worse, repetitive and a bit dogmatic, sort of like stevie wonder as of late, actually. there's a few tracks where he's on form, but the tracks where hes tried to give his sound even a little nudge towards modern pop arent too special. im only half way through it so far, but the best track, perhaps predictably, is the song that might have fit quite easily onto one of his old albums - 'cant give up'.

― okokk, Monday, 19 September 2005 08:37 (twenty years ago)

This raises a question I'm always hesitant to ask, because it sounds like "Aha!" anti-popism, though it isn't: how much does a tendency/ability to enjoy "adult" pop of the '60s/'70s owe to history: to the way the music (and the production, and the vocal stylings, etc) sounds steeped in its time, and in dialogue with a time about which an established historical narrative exists, etc? Not that one sits there nodding one's head and goin' "Oh yeah, sweet, dialogue with established historical narrative" but, y'know, there's an existing context one needn't really think about to feel as part of the experience.

The ornery way of asking this is to say "the new Burt Bacharach would sound better if it weren't the new one." Either way. Haven't heard the new Bacharach. Am suprised to hear he's writing the lyrics and not surprised to hear they're a little schmaltzy.

― Banana Nutrament (ghostface), Monday, 19 September 2005 12:38 (twenty years ago)

actually, maybe he isnt writing the lyrics, ill have to check the notes. my personal problem isnt that i want burt's music to sound as if its made in the 60s/70s, rather i would like it to possess some of the same characteristics and amazing melody/songwtiting that made his music so durable from back then. but maybe that DOES simply mean i want it to evoke a bygone era from three decades ago.

― okokk, Monday, 19 September 2005 12:41 (twenty years ago)

The ornery way of asking this is to say "the new Burt Bacharach would sound better if it weren't the new one."

I felt this way about the last two Al Green records.

― Jeff Reguilon (Talent Explosion), Monday, 19 September 2005 12:43 (twenty years ago)

I liked the one he did with Ronnie Isley but I don't think I'll like this one.

― k/l (Ken L), Monday, 19 September 2005 12:47 (twenty years ago)

i was just thinking about al green as a suitable comparison while writing this post actually. i like al's second to last album though.

― okok, Monday, 19 September 2005 12:48 (twenty years ago)

Taking sides: Burt Bacharach vs Phil Spector

― k/l (Ken L), Monday, 19 September 2005 12:50 (twenty years ago)

Jeff totally on-point - I heard that last Al Green & its attendant Fresh Air interview, and I'm like "this sounds awesome, kinda, how come I don't love it?" and I think it's that some things benefit from history. To me this is more an interesting phenomenon than a criticism of anybody's listening habits though. Another example: Bacharach & Sager's "That's What Friends Are For," which sounds melodically rather better now than it did in its time, though admittedly I always had a softer spot for it than most people I knew, since it struck me as so much more heartfelt, really movingly so, than most charity records do - it was so small in scale. Also it had Dionne who is God.

― Banana Nutrament (ghostface), Monday, 19 September 2005 12:54 (twenty years ago)

I had that feeling about that Solomon Burke record, which I just realized I haven't listened to except for a few times right after I bought it.

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Tuesday, 20 September 2005 01:11 (twenty years ago)

Banana, how did you feel about "I Just Called to Say I Love You"? I felt I was literally the only person who liked it -- a strange thing to say about a Number One record.

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Tuesday, 20 September 2005 01:35 (twenty years ago)

Well, I wish I could join you in your enthusiasm for that'n, and admittedly I haven't listened to it in years, but I certainly wasn't fond of it when it was on the charts.

― Banana Nutrament (ghostface), Tuesday, 20 September 2005 02:11 (twenty years ago)

three months pass...

Classic, Bannana Nutrament.

I'm on track 2 and thus far find this kind of sweetly charming.

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Thursday, 22 December 2005 05:06 (twenty years ago)

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the new burt bacharach album 'at this time' featuring dr dre, rufus wainwright, elvic costello and chris botti - C or D?