Electric Proms Presents - BURT BACHARACH - 22nd of October 2008 - The Roundhouse, London, England

Burt Bacharach is quite simply, one of the most accomplished popular composers of the 20th Century. In the 1960s and 70s, he was a dominant figure in popular music, writing more than fifty Top 40 hits. In terms of compositional sophistication, his songs stood apart from much of the pop music of the era. Bacharach songs typically boasted memorable melodies, unconventional time signatures and striking chord changes and combined elements of jazz, bossa nova, traditional pop and rock into a sound that was undeniably contemporary.

Bacharach's primary collaborator Hal David provided his music with Tin Pan Alley craft and melodrama. David's unsentimental, bittersweet lyrics offered a striking contrast to Bacharach's soaring melodies. While Bacharach's name in the 1970s became synonymous with elevator music, due in large part to the sheer familiarity of it, a closer listening suggests that his meticulously crafted, technically sophisticated music is anything but easy listening.

Whether or not Hal David and Burt Bacharach will ever collaborate again, the contribution they have already made to popular music cannot be underestimated. Their work was rooted in the tradition of great songwriting teams like Rodgers and Hart, as well as contemporaries like Goffin and King. Yet they took that tradition and carried it forward, their songs charting numerous times in the '60s and continuing to be covered in the '70s, '80s and '90s.

The current interest in their work far transcends any Easy Listening revival and that term seems an inappropriate categorisation for most of the Bacharach/David catalogue. The reason for the enduring success of their material is that they are great songs, both simple and sophisticated, from basic love songs to thoughtful philosophical reflections, pushing the boundaries of pop music while remaining commercial.


You should not miss to watch this DVD concert of Burt Bacharach. Singing all his popular hits during the 60's,70's and the 80's. Almost 1 hour of Bacharach's beautiful love medleys...