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BURT BACHARACH
The Look of Love — Boxed Set Collection

as reviewed by Jack Crompton at Amazon.com, April 30, 2008

A Brilliant Career Retrospective by a True Musical Genius.

What can be said about the music of Burt Bacharach? He’s gifted the world with some of the most memorable songs of the last half century, most of them co-written with the equally gifted Hal David as his lyricist.

Just a glance at this track listing is sure to impress even the uninitiated. Many of us already have Burt’s wonderful hits from the 60’s firmly planted in the deep subconscious of our minds including myself. What was surprising to me when I first purchased this set is that he wrote many songs that I had no idea were his. The numerous tracks in this collection give profound testament to Burt as a truly a prolific songwriter.

All those wonderful tunes sung by Dionne Warwick, Dusty Springfield, BJ Thomas, and others are here. And as divergent as the Carpenters to the Zombies and Elvis Costello, starting with the early years and his theme song for a ‘B’ horror movie called ‘The Blob’ that is really is quite humorous. Yet, even in that early tune, a close listen reveals that unique talent for creating a song on a strong hook.

This is the best from an era spanning 3 decades. About 100 songs. To take a listen to them in one sitting leaves one to marvel at the specialness of this man’s talent.

Perhaps being a musician myself I can appreciate Burt’s genius a little more than the average listener, as I’ve developed a fondness for sitting down at a piano and trying to figure out his tunes and they just blow me away. Burt writes exceptionally sophisticated music. He often mixes time signatures within the same song... several times. And he invents whatever chord voicing he needs to communicate the proper emotion, and they are beautiful. I’m sure other musicians who have studied his songbook know what I”m talking about. Songs in point: ‘Alfie’, ‘A House is Not A Home’, ‘Here I Am’. This stuff is just out of this world.

This is definitely the definitive collection by this master. And due credit needs to go to lyricist, Hal David whose words and phrases are what the make the music come alive and become personal. Perhaps more than any other contemporary songwriting team, this music affects me most of all. It’s a treasure I’ll value always.

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