Customer Reviews

The Best of Burt Bacharach

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This is not clear in the item listing, but this CD comprises intrumental versions of the Bacharach classics. Still good though, easy listening wise.

Burt Bacharach, whose songs in their hit versions were generally performedby other artists, also released several albums under his own name.Spanning the second half of the 60's and the early 70's, these albumscontained particularly sophisticated, often lushly orchestrated versionsof his songs. Some versions were instrumental, some contained vocals byothers, and some featured Bacharach's own, often exemplary vocals.
This collection contains twenty of his very best songs in recordings takenfrom these albums released under his own name. A particular highlight isBurt's own vocal version of "Make it easy on yourself", but this entirecompilation is a delight.

Bought this in the supermarket as I've always fancied some BB in my CD collection. All the good ones appeared to be on the disc. However, its just a collection of the instrumentals of his songs (therefore should it not be the 'music' of BB?). And to add insult to wallet injury the instrumentals are inferior to the original classics.

Totally misleading packaging.

I have to take issue with those that think that this isn't Burt Bacharach. These are original Burt Bacharach tracks some that appear on his 1969 "Make It Easy On Yourself" Masterpiece Album. If you want an introduction to one of the worlds greatest songwriter performing his own material then this album is an essential purchase.

Then I would recommend having a listen to the 2005 release "At This Time" which shows his genius is still alive and well in the noughties with contributions from Elvis Costello, Chris Botti, Dr Dre drum loops and Rufu Wainwright.

As the reviews were very varied I decided to take a chance on this C.D. I agree with D. Hackett though. The inconsistency in recording the first two tracks at least was very bad, especially considering this was entitled 'The Best' AND this was the music of Burt Bacharach. However, I do like compilation recordings that give you variety of music or artists or both. So although I wish it was a better quality recording (the strings were a little tinny, and the singing could have been better - this is Burt Bacharach after all - it will do as background music in the kitchen in the mornings to accompany the washing-up and breakfast preparation, etc.! Preferable to a lot of inane chat on the radio at this time of day!

The absolute joy of this album is that this is purely and simply Bacharach at his very best.

If you're looking for a 'various artists' or 'songs from the movies' compilation, this isn't it; this is for the Bacharach connoisseur - for those who want to hear the music orchestrated, performed and directed by the man himself, presented as he wants it to be heard. Those who have appreciated the special mellow sound that only Bacharach's own orchestral interpretation of his work can produce will instantly recognise this as the album they have been searching the record stores for. Short of tracking down the original vinyls, you won't do better than this.

These tracks are selected from those difficult-to-get-hold-of original albums, and are definitely an excellent representative selection of the best of the best.

Don't lend it out!

Not the best I've ever heard (the orchestra is fine but the vocals are pretty thin) but then it was bought purely to remember BB's style for which it's quite good.

The CD arrived speedily and in good condition. I've enjoyed listening to it several times. Many thanks for a quick and efficient transaction.

THIS IS A MUCH BETTER CD THAN I HAD EXPECTED,VERY GOOD MUSIC, I WOULD HIGHLY RECOMMEND BUYING.

Everybody that knows music knows that B.B. is one of the finest songwriters that ever lived, but this CD is dissapointing because of it's uneveness and inconsistancy. Take the first song, This Guy's in love with you, one of his very best. With extremely low volume at the beginning one thinks it hasn't yet started, you turn up the volume and eventually hear something, but then it roars at you and you panic to turn it down, then the volume drops down again and you cannot hear it at all. This effect occurs more than one in the CD. Whether this is by design, or a faulty CD, I don't know but it is very dissappointing. Then there are other faults too, such as lack of singing on some tracks, just instrumental, and for B.B. the singing is a critical part of the product.

I wonder if this is just a home made CD of some form that some chancer is flogging on the internet? Overall very dissappointing.