Wishin' and Votin' - the BURT BACHARACH SONGBOOK Poll Results

Message Bookmarked
Bookmark Removed
Not all messages are displayed: show all messages (604 of them)

Had the 5D version at #14

Careless Love Battery (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 16 May 2019 15:36 (five years ago) link

And Dionne version of “Promises, Promises” at #22, almost right on the consensus.

Careless Love Battery (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 16 May 2019 15:38 (five years ago) link

That's pretty cool. I kept meaning to get back to the Great Jewish Music stuff.

There are 3 songs on that comp that keep it from being one of the best records I own -- Yuka Honda/Sean Lennon "The Look of Love," Medeski Martin & Wood "San Jose," and Lloyd Cole/Robert Quine "Just don't know what to do w/myself."

WmC, Thursday, 16 May 2019 15:46 (five years ago) link

ok, here's the song with points from seven different versions -- the last couple of ballots knocked it out of the top 20.

WmC, Thursday, 16 May 2019 15:49 (five years ago) link

21. Trains and Boats and Planes — 375 Points, 10 votes
Lyric: Hal David
Dionne Warwick, 1966 single, 129 points — https://youtu.be/nuBumHuouug
Astrud Gilberto, from Lo Mejor De Astrud Gilberto (1975), 77 points — https://youtu.be/e2n-x3hovJE
Fred Frith, from Great Jewish Music: Burt Bacharach (1997), 43 points — https://youtu.be/juNwNdYic5w
The Box Tops, from The Letter/Neon Rainbow (1967), 40 points — https://youtu.be/-gNB-6WNk7E
Burt Bacharach, 1965 single, 36 points — https://youtu.be/58db0IGpiVM
The Everly Brothers, from The Hit Sound of the Everly Brothers (1967), 34 points — https://youtu.be/nA0bVfCpSR0
Billy J. Kramer & the Dakotas, 1965 single, 16 points — https://youtu.be/wIEpKZLH1GY

WmC, Thursday, 16 May 2019 15:49 (five years ago) link

I couldn’t figure out how I felt about that song, so didn’t vote for it. Never paid much attention to it before, but like a lot of artists that sang it and am enjoying their versions of the song. Also, I’ve met the guy who arranged the Astrud Gilberto record. He also played on a lot of Burt’s Scepter sessions.

Careless Love Battery (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 16 May 2019 15:53 (five years ago) link

The Astrud version is A+...her accent totally makes it and drives home the storyline.

a large tuna called “Justice” (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, 16 May 2019 16:13 (five years ago) link

I'm probably going to count down to 16 today and do the top 15 tomorrow. Gathering the discogs info and youtubes takes a bit of time and I probably wouldn't finish until evening, and I have a thing to go to tonight.

WmC, Thursday, 16 May 2019 16:19 (five years ago) link

Don’t go, please stay.

Careless Love Battery (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 16 May 2019 16:25 (five years ago) link

lol

WmC, Thursday, 16 May 2019 16:27 (five years ago) link

https://i.imgur.com/e6Q9yD5.jpg

20. Alfie — 378 Points, 7 Votes
Lyric: Hal David
Cilla Black, 1966 single, 310 points — https://youtu.be/glpIgnmKrZc from the recording session.
Stevie Wonder, from Eivets Rednow (1968), 36 points — https://youtu.be/sY6KW-Fxy68
Dionne Warwick, 1967, 32 points — https://youtu.be/cW2fLeD5Pow

Stevie Wonder at the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song ceremony, 2012 — https://youtu.be/gMQ_Hj7_mxc (the Bacharachs and Obamas in the front row)

WmC, Thursday, 16 May 2019 16:35 (five years ago) link

I really don't think anyone had ever put Cilla through something like this before. She had a really strong pop voice but what I wanted her to do on "Alfie" was go for the jugular. We did twenty-eight or twenty-nine takes and after each one, I kept saying, "Can we do better than that? Can I get one more?" The way Cilla remembers it, George Martin finally asked me, "Burt, what are you looking for here?" I said, "That little bit of magic," and he said, "I think we got that on take four."

WmC, Thursday, 16 May 2019 16:42 (five years ago) link

Mike Myers: If you've seen the video of that session on YouTube, Burt breaks Cilla in the studio. He was going to do it until it was right and I love the quote from her, "I wanted to foo-kin' kill him but he was so foo-kin' gorgeous."

WmC, Thursday, 16 May 2019 16:44 (five years ago) link

great rollout so far, although i just can't get down with "arthur's theme" or "casino royale" lol sorry !

aretha's "april fools" and dusty's "in the land of make believe" were my #7 and #8, respectively

jim o'rourke's "something big" my favorite discovery so far

Makes you wonder what the point is of working with a professional lyricist.
"Hal, you had ONE job..."

so fucking otm

I was the Ribot voter, specifically for the solo acoustic version, but that's not on youtube. It's not quite as outside as if Eugene Chadbourne had covered the song, but it's got some sharp edges on it.

― WmC, Wednesday, May 15, 2019 8:18 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i remember feeling that i should have spent more time with the "great jewish music" comp when i voted; now i'm pretty sure i'll have to spring for a copy

Medeski Martin & Wood "San Jose,"

just out of curiosity, what don't you like about this track ? that they take too many liberties ?

budo jeru, Thursday, 16 May 2019 16:52 (five years ago) link

also loving the vh1 behind the music bits, A+

budo jeru, Thursday, 16 May 2019 16:53 (five years ago) link

It just seems like an exercise for Medeski to play with some keyboards, including a Mellotron, looking for interesting timbres; the song he uses for this workout is an afterthought. xp

WmC, Thursday, 16 May 2019 16:58 (five years ago) link

Saw Burt B a couple of years ago at the Royal Festival Hall. He gave the perfectly competent guest vocalists a break at the end and did "Alfie" himself. Poor guy got croaky on first verse and started over. "This is too good a song to mess up." It was magnificent.

Michael Jones, Thursday, 16 May 2019 17:01 (five years ago) link

Nice. You and Morbs may be the only ilxors to see him live.

WmC, Thursday, 16 May 2019 17:09 (five years ago) link

https://i.imgur.com/ZSbmdMQ.jpg

19. (There's) Always Something There To Remind Me — 385 Points, 12 Votes, 1 first-place vote
Lyric: Hal David
Wendell Stuart and the Downbeaters, s/t album (1969), 100 points — https://youtu.be/qxzvmw1iXug
Sandie Shaw, 1964 single, 96 points — https://youtu.be/hp-FnGb4wbY
Lou Johnson, 1964 single, 61 points — https://youtu.be/MOQ1NUdkg50
Naked Eyes, 1983 single, 53 points — https://youtu.be/lVrELhxOFnM
Dionne Warwick, 1968 b-side of "Who Is Gonna Love Me?", 32 points — https://youtu.be/ZamEcNgtw4o

WmC, Thursday, 16 May 2019 17:09 (five years ago) link

Don't think I've ever heard 'One Less Bell to Answer', I see it was massive in the US but nowhere to be seen in the UK.

Dan Worsley, Thursday, 16 May 2019 17:10 (five years ago) link

Never really been a Cilla fan and i think that influenced me not choosing Alfie or her other notable BB hit

Doctor Nu (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 16 May 2019 17:12 (five years ago) link

Yeah, me neither so the same.

Careless Love Battery (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 16 May 2019 17:14 (five years ago) link

Yes but are you a “Where’s Cilla” fan?

Jeff W, Thursday, 16 May 2019 17:19 (five years ago) link

^er you may have to be a Britisher to get that reference

Jeff W, Thursday, 16 May 2019 17:20 (five years ago) link

I am not therefore I am not.

Careless Love Battery (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 16 May 2019 17:21 (five years ago) link

Wonder what, um, Alfred, thinks

Careless Love Battery (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 16 May 2019 17:26 (five years ago) link

wendell stuart was my #1

budo jeru, Thursday, 16 May 2019 17:29 (five years ago) link

What put that version on your radar? I'd never heard of him before.

WmC, Thursday, 16 May 2019 17:30 (five years ago) link

p sure i voted for the last seven

Cher's version of "Alfie" is good too (it was on US prints of the movie)

a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 16 May 2019 17:42 (five years ago) link

https://i.imgur.com/T1aecjz.jpg

18. Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head — 394 Points, 12 Votes
Lyric: Hal David
B.J. Thomas, 1969 single, 318 points — https://youtu.be/hziG9Nr6KHU
Dionne Warwick, from I'll Never Fall in Love Again (1970), 52 points — https://youtu.be/mcmaqoCCxmI
Manic Street Preachers, bonus track on Everything Must Go reissue (recorded 1996?), 24 points — https://youtu.be/we1_bT2elEg

WmC, Thursday, 16 May 2019 17:44 (five years ago) link

^ roy ayers version was on my ballot

budo jeru, Thursday, 16 May 2019 17:51 (five years ago) link

to answer your question, i heard it through a friend of a friend, maybe at a record store ? it was very random and i wasn't expecting most people to be familiar

had always loved the song, wendell's vocal delivery really seals the deal imo

budo jeru, Thursday, 16 May 2019 17:53 (five years ago) link

like many americans i was familiar with the naked eyes version via radio since childhood

budo jeru, Thursday, 16 May 2019 17:54 (five years ago) link

^ roy ayers version was on my ballot

― budo jeru, Thursday, May 16, 2019 12:51 PM (four minutes ago)

Crap -- the total points are right but the version breakdown should include Ayers, sorry about that.

WmC, Thursday, 16 May 2019 18:02 (five years ago) link

B.J. Thomas should be 292 points
Roy Ayers, from Ubiquity (1970), 26 points — https://youtu.be/8gHPNshin1g

WmC, Thursday, 16 May 2019 18:06 (five years ago) link

similar to "Wives & Lovers," the megahits of the late '60s are so familiar to me, some I know as well as the Beatles' records. They were ubiquitous on TV variety as well as radio.

a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 16 May 2019 18:10 (five years ago) link

ubiquitous on TV variety

I don't think the Youth of Today realize how many hours of variety shows were on every week back then. The music clearances situation, I assume, makes it almost impossible to collect these on home video or streaming. I can't see a picture of Glen Campbell without thinking of him coming onstage in his series and doing the "HI! I'M GLEN CAMPBELL!" bit.

WmC, Thursday, 16 May 2019 18:21 (five years ago) link

Some of those shows *have* gotten the boxed set treatment. Cash, Smothers Brothers, Sonny & Cher (I think)....

a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 16 May 2019 18:24 (five years ago) link

Speaking of which, recent Ben Monder album has versions of both “The Windows of the World” and “Galveston.” (He’s a big Jimmy Webb fan)

Careless Love Battery (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 16 May 2019 18:26 (five years ago) link

UK variety shows tended to be slightly different from what i remember - less of them based around a single personality, at least by the 70s, tho i'm sure Cilla and Lulu had shows. They were just as ubiquitous tho.

If anything these songs are so familiar to me because tapes of Dionne and Dusty were two of my dad's car favourites, and he didn't have many favourites.

Doctor Nu (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 16 May 2019 18:37 (five years ago) link

not to mention the decades channel xp

budo jeru, Thursday, 16 May 2019 18:40 (five years ago) link

https://i.imgur.com/wIwOUsb.jpg

17. Any Day Now — 403 Points, 8 Votes
Lyric: Bob Hilliard
Elvis Presley, 1969 b-side of "In the Ghetto," 249 points — https://youtu.be/bgM0yxh9Dlc
Chuck Jackson, 1962 Wand Records single, 154 points — https://youtu.be/RPgE991VDwM
really good Elvis alternate take minus the sweetening — https://youtu.be/xg0D_E1WLn8

WmC, Thursday, 16 May 2019 18:45 (five years ago) link

omg yes to that elvis alt take, so good

budo jeru, Thursday, 16 May 2019 18:48 (five years ago) link

First underdog in the top 20? Not sure I know it.

a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 16 May 2019 18:48 (five years ago) link

btw can you imagine trying to do the Vandross "House Is Not a Home" at karaoke?

I always find that kinda over-the-top streeeeetched-out R&B inescapably funny, not sexy

a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 16 May 2019 18:54 (five years ago) link

Thought awhile about which version to go with, ended up going with Elvis in my #7 spot. Hadn’t even heard the alternative take, thanks for that.
(xp)

Careless Love Battery (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 16 May 2019 18:56 (five years ago) link

the epistemology of the "House" lyrics is already borderline farcical

a chair is not a house

a room is not a house

what else ya got

a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 16 May 2019 19:04 (five years ago) link

Don’t ask me, that’s why I voted for as much Bob Hilliard as I could, although I overlooked one.

Careless Love Battery (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 16 May 2019 19:07 (five years ago) link

I think I overlooked all of em.

a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 16 May 2019 19:08 (five years ago) link

this goddamn ingrown toenail is not a house
my car keys -- nope, my car keys aren't a house either

WmC, Thursday, 16 May 2019 19:08 (five years ago) link


You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.