Burt Bacharach
43 articles
Audio interviews
Interview by Adam Sweeting, Rock's Backpages audio, 25 May 1999
In London to receive an Ivor Novello Award, the great lyricist recalls his days in Manhattan song factory the Brill Building with writing partner Burt Bacharach; hanging out with Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller; writing for Frank Sinatra; Dionne Warwick's transformation from demo singer to star; 'Make It Easy On Yourself' and 'Anyone Who Had a Heart'; his favourite songwriters; riding the rock wave; and the revival of interest in his work.
File format: mp3; total file size: 57.5mb, total interview length: 59' 54" sound quality: ****
List of articles in the library
Burt Bacharach: The man who put neurosis into top pops
Profile and Interview by Maureen Cleave, The Evening Standard, 29 August 1964
THE INTRODUCTION of the Neurotic Ballad to British popular music is the responsibility of an American called Burt Bacharach. We first developed a taste for ...
Burt Bacharach: "Time Is My Enemy"
Interview by Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, 4 September 1964
"I JUST DON'T get enough time to cram everything in," top U.S. songwriter, arranger and producer Burt Bacharach told me, during a two-day visit last ...
'Money Means Nothing To Me' says Bacharach
Interview by David Griffiths, Record Mirror, 17 April 1965
ISN'T IT weird how people who make a living out of a particular talent often have personalities quite different from that you might expect? A ...
Report and Interview by Richard Green, Record Mirror, 8 May 1965
RICHARD GREEN TALKS TO THE MANFRED MEN ...
Composer Burt Bacharach Avoids Pop Music Pitfall
Interview by Pete Johnson, Los Angeles Times, 11 July 1966
BETWEEN BITES of eggs Benedict in an elegantly subdued lunchery, Burt Bacharach, the gold-fingered composer of 'What's New Pussycat?', 'Wives and Lovers', 'What the World ...
New albums from Sly & the Family Stone, Quicksilver et al
Review by Peter Jones, Record Mirror, 26 July 1969
New Sly & Family Stone LP begins where other R&B LP's leave off ...
Dionne Warwick — The Ability to Communicate an Emotion
Profile and Interview by Royston Eldridge, Melody Maker, 25 April 1970
DIONNE WARWICK'S beautiful performance in concert at London's Royal Albert Hall last week was a demonstration of how a rare talent overcomes any sort of ...
Burt Bacharach: Portrait In Music (A&M)
Review by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 13 March 1971
REMEMBER HOW far-out 'Anyone Who Had A Heart' sounded in '63? All those cliff-hanging stops and starts, and that incredible arrangement... almost as weird as ...
Burt Bacharach, Orange Colored Sky: Cow Palace, Daly City CA
Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 24 July 1971
An Evening With Bacharach Pop Format-Artistry Gets to Be Repetitious ...
Interview by Sam Sutherland, Musician, January 1981
Songwriter, keyboardist, arranger, member of the Doobies and owner of The Voice reveals himself as a somewhat reluctant superstar. Thrust into pop music's center stage ...
Back to the Brilliance of Bacharach
Profile by Barney Hoskyns, The Times, 22 August 1990
Anyone who has a heart, including a new generation of British youngsters, is still falling for the magical Sixties music of Burt Bacharach, says Barney ...
Profile and Interview by Paul Lester, Melody Maker, 21 October 1995
As grey-haired, 67-year-old composers go, Burt Bacharach is pretty f***ing cool. Paul Lester interviews the melodic inspiration behind Oasis, Stereolab and Pulp. ...
"Do you know the Way to Monterey? Santa Fe? Whitley Bay?"
Retrospective and Interview by Bill DeMain, MOJO, March 1996
Thankfully, Messrs. Bacharach and David got there in the end, polishing yet another pop gem and putting an unremarkable California city on the map forever. ...
Interview by David Toop, GQ, June 1996
NOTE: This is the "director's cut" version of an interview published by GQ in 1996. ...
Burt Bacharach: See You Later, Elevator!
Profile and Interview by Stuart Maconie, Q, July 1996
Imprisoned in music's metaphorical lift for years, Burt Bacharach has emerged on to a mezzanine packed with thousands of dewy-eyed disciples. "It's sensational news," he ...
Essay by David Toop, The Face, September 1996
Can the ballad survive in the post-soul '90s, asks David Toop. ...
Pop, In The Name Of Love: Grace of My Heart
Report and Interview by David Kamp, Vanity Fair, October 1996
The soundtrack for Grace Of My Heart, Allison Anders's film a clef about the early-1960s blossoming of artists such as Burt Bacharach, Carole King, and ...
What's It All About, Bacharach?
Special Feature by Bill DeMain, Switch, June 1997
"WHERE IS that whistling coming from?" ...
Anyone Who Had A Heart: The Songs of Burt Bacharach and Hal David
Retrospective and Interview by Robin Platts, DISCoveries, December 1997
AS THE 1960s sped from Beach Blanket Bingo through Beatlemania to Psychedelia, Vietnam and beyond, the songs of Burt Bacharach and Hal David played on ...
Burt Bacharach: The Look Of Love
Review by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, December 1997
Three-CD box packing 75 examples of highly-crafted pop magic and spanning four decades. The gang’s all here — Dionne, Dusty, Cilla — with only Aretha’s ...
Burt Bacharach and Elvis Costello: Kings of America
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, 19 September 1998
Burt Bacharach had his first hit when Elvis Costello was in short trousers. Costello had hits of his own when Bacharach's star was waning. Now, ...
Elvis Costello with Burt Bacharach: Painted From Memory
Review and Interview by Dave DiMartino, MOJO, October 1998
Two years in the making, the full-on follow-up to ‘God Give Me Strength’, their collaboration from the soundtrack to Grace Of My Heart. ...
Pop Go Costello And Bacharach Onstage
Live Review by Frank Tortorici, sonicnet.com, 15 October 1998
New-wave pioneer and '60s-pop tunesmith open their tour at Radio City Music Hall. Contributing Editor Frank Tortorici reports ...
Elvis Costello and Burt Bacharach: Painted From Memory
Review by Ian MacDonald, Uncut, November 1998
ONLY FIVE years ago in the UK, it needed to be reaffirmed that Burt Bacharach is one of the greatest popular musicians of the second ...
Two's Company — Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach: Painted From Memory
Review by Tom Doyle, Q, November 1998
Mr Long Chin meet Mr Crap Hat. ...
Burt Bacharach: The Look of Love – The Burt Bacharach Collection
Review by James Hunter, New York Observer, 23 November 1998
Kitschy-Kitschy-Koo: Look of Love Gets Too Cute ...
We're In Love With This Guy: Hal David
Interview by Terry Staunton, music365.com, 27 May 1999
Lyrical legend HAL DAVID has just become the first non-Briton to be honoured with a prestigious Ivor Novello Award by the British Academy Of Composers ...
Glastonbury: Scary Monsters And Super Freaks!
Live Review by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 1 July 2000
Pyramid Stage: Sunday ...
The Hit Factory: New York's Brill Building
Retrospective and Interview by David Kamp, Vanity Fair, November 2001
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I spent much of 2001 interviewing the songwriters, machers, and artists of the Brill Building era for this oral history. It was the ...
Little Big Things: Burt Bacharach's What the World Needs Now
Review by James Hunter, L.A. Weekly, 28 April 2003
IN THE LATE '80s, I sat with the great Japanese pop artist and composer Ryuichi Sakamoto on a hotel rooftop in L.A. talking about Burt ...
The Backpages Interview: Burt Bacharach
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages, October 2005
RBP: What exactly did Sony BMG's Rob Stringer say that prompted you to try something so different with At This Time? ...
Report and Interview by Gene Sculatti, ICE, November 2005
AFTER 40-PLUS YEARS, one of America's greatest songwriters finally has something to say. Which is not to suggest that songs like 'Close to You' or ...
Déjà Vu: The Unstoppable Dionne Warwick
Retrospective and Interview by Kirk Silsbee, Arroyo Monthly, June 2010
You could be a good singer from now 'til hell and back and if you haven't got material, you're just standing there with your mouth ...
Interview by Larry LeBlanc, Celebrity Access, 26 July 2011
HAL DAVID'S NAME should be a lyric. This prolific American lyricist who turned 90 on May 25, 2011, is chairman emeritus of the Songwriters Hall ...
"He writes in hat sizes. Seven and three-fourths." Frank Sinatra on Burt Bacharach
Comment by Mitchell Cohen, Rock's Backpages, 27 April 2013
IF THE DETAILS of Burt Bacharach's romantic escapades — and there were many, since as Sammy Cahn once said, Burt was the only songwriter who ...
Burt Bacharach: What Was it All About?
Retrospective and Interview by Mick Brown, Daily Telegraph, 1 June 2013
AT THE AGE OF 85, the man who has been described as the greatest songwriter of the 20th century cuts a surprisingly energetic and restive ...
Burt Bacharach: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 27 June 2013
BURT BACHARACH strolls onto the Festival Hall stage like he's stepping on board a yacht, the brass buttons on his blazer gleaming in the spotlight. ...
Burt Bacharach: Royal Festival Hall, London SE1; Anyone Who Had a Heart (Alcourt)
Review by Kate Mossman, New Statesman, 18 July 2013
The effect of seeing Bacharach live at the Royal Festival hall was to be hit by more top-40 songs that you'd think a single act ...
Inside the head of... Burt Bacharach
Interview by Jon Wilde, Event Magazine, 30 May 2015
The composer says he's a perfectionist to the point of obsession (as Dionne Warwick or Cilla Black will tell you). It caused his biggest regret: ...
Grace Jones et al.: Love Supreme Jazz Festival, Sussex
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 7 July 2016
Burt Bacharach, GoGo Penguin and Esperanza Spalding are other highlights ...
Burt Bacharach and Joss Stone: Eventim Apollo, London
Live Review by Rick Pearson, The Evening Standard, 18 July 2019
"THE QUESTION I always get asked is, 'Why are you still doing this?'" The answer for Burt Bacharach, 91, is love, sweet love. "It makes ...
Burt Bacharach and the Invention of Modern Cosmopolitan Pop
Retrospective by Mitchell Cohen, Music Aficionado, March 2020
GENERALLY, SONGWRITERS who aren't also performers don't become celebrities. They don't get to host television specials, or appear in commercials alongside their glamorous wives, or ...
see also Dionne Warwick
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