Search - Various Artists :: Burt Bacharach Album: Broadway Sings B.O.

Lushly mounted Burt without the emotion

kaxanadu@aol.com | Hollywood, USA | 07/16/1998

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Though rarely have Bacharach's works received such a lush production, rarer however is the airlessness with which these classics have been performed. A collection of Broadway-trained voices interpret some intruingly obscure Bacharach songs with an alarming lack of feeling and a preponderance of technigue.Predictably, the songs associated with Dionne Warwick fare the worst under this Velveeta treatent, and one is left to merely enjoy Bacharach's splendid music imagining how they might sound performed by artists with souls. The best cut by far is La Chanze's "Anyone Who Had a Heart", and it's always nice to hear Helen Reddy again. The best thing about the album is that it introduces some seldom-heard Bacharach and will perhaps send listeners out to find the original recordings for some indication as to how these songs should sound by artists with a deeper understanding of the lyrics and less of a determination to 'sell it'."

BROADWAY TREATMENT OF BACHARACH THAT GROWS ON YOU

Gerard M. C. Lim | Singapore | 10/03/1998

(3 out of 5 stars)

"At first listen, I was disappointed. The voices were unfamiliar and cold; the orchestration overly brassy and loose. And yes, it sounded very Broadway so much so that friends of mine who heard the music for the first time commented that they never knew I was into musicals.However, after quite a few sessions of playing the CD in my car, this compilation of Bacharach songs actually sounded better and better. (Maybe the ambient noise helped disguise the flaws - seriously.) The Broadway vocal quality became addictive and I got hooked. An inspired selection of songs, some lesser known, also helped. Best tracks are One Less Bell, A House is Not a Home, and Window Wishing. Most of the other tracks are pretty decent as well, but not as good as Maureen McGovern's versions in Baby I'm Yours.And Linda Krakowski (the secretary in Ally McBeal) should stick to acting. Her rendition of The Look of Love was a horrible attempt at Marilyn Monroe vocals. Helen Reddy should also stay retired. Her vocal acrobatics on That's What Friends are For sounded like a bad joke. There is a little something "extra" after the last track."