Burt Bacharach performs with with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra live at the Sydney Opera House and records an outstanding CD.
The CD involves 38 Classic tracks from an unparalleled six decade career, including:
Walk On By
What The World Needs Now
Arthur’s Theme (Best That You Can Do)
I Say A Little Prayer
Always Something There To Remind Me
Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head
The Look Of Love
Only Love Can Break A Heart
What’s New Pussycat?
Trains, Boats and Planes
“The performances with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra were magic. One of the biggest thrills in my life was walking onto that stage. It was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience for all of us and now we have a CD to commemorate it.” Burt Bacharach
Six decades into one of songwriting’s most successful and honoured careers (marked by 48 Top 10 hits, nine #1 songs, more than 500 compositions and a landmark 50+ year run on the charts), Burt Bacharach’s music continues to set industry records and creative standards.
“Live At The Sydney Opera House” was recorded in front of a full house on Burt Bacharach’s most recent sold out Australian tour in 2008, it is the first live album he has released since 1979's “Woman”. The composer conducts the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, his vocalists Josie James, John Pagano and Donna Taylor along with musicians David Coy, David Crigger, Tom Ehlen, Rob Shrock and Dennis Wilson. The music is arranged in three long medleys, two assembled from hit singles written for other performers as well as his albums and one from his many movie hits.
Bacharach’s global audiences span several generations. He is viewed as the unique combination of one of the greatest composers of all time and the ultra-cool cult hero of the contemporary music set who often has several songs on various music charts in many countries simultaneously. Along with Bob Dylan, John Lennon and Paul McCartney and Paul Simon, Bacharach is a legend of popular music.
When The Recording Academy awarded Bacharach the Lifetime Achievement Award in February, 2008, he was proclaimed music’s “Greatest Living Composer.” A recipient of three Academy Awards and eight Grammy Awards (including the 1997 Trustees Award with collaborator Hal David), Burt revolutionized the music of the 1950s and 60s and is regularly bracketed with legendary names, ranging from Cole Porter to Sir George Martin, as one of a handful of visionaries who pioneered new forms of music from the second half of the 20th Century and continued into the 21st Century.
Burt’s songs have been recorded by music icons such as Frank Sinatra, The Beatles, Barbra Streisand, Neil Diamond, Linda Ronstadt, Dionne Warwick and Aretha Franklin. Tributes to the diversity of Bacharach’s music have been paid by, among others, Elvis Costello (“I’ll Never Fall in Love Again” and “God Give Me Strength”), REM, Diana Krall, Barenaked Ladies, Sheryl Crow, Wynonna Judd and Mike Myers. People Magazine also named Burt as one of the “Sexiest Men Alive” in 2000 and one of the “50 Most Beautiful People” in 1999.
Bacharach has also enjoyed a celebrated career in film. His compositions include “Alfie” (1966); “What’s New Pussycat?” (1965; the title song was a million seller for Tom Jones); and “Casino Royale” (1967; “The Look Of Love” was Gold for Dusty Springfield and Sergio Mendes and Brasil ’66, and a Top 10 hit for Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass). Bacharach also received two Academy Awards and a Grammy award for “Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid” (1969), where “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head” first appeared. Other Bacharach-enriched films and television shows include TV’s “The Sopranos,” “Shrek the Third” (2007): “The Simpsons Movie” (2007): “The Look Of Love”; as well as the three “Austin Powers” movies; and “My Best Friend’s Wedding”, to name only a few.
Broadway has also beckoned. Bacharach broke new ground stylistically and won a Grammy Award for his collaboration with Hal David on the hit musical (and cast recording) of 1969’s “Promises, Promises.” His music in the 1980s made as much of an impact as his early work. Two of the songs Bacharach co wrote and co produced with lyricist Carole Bayer Sager – “That’s What Friends Are For” and “On My Own” – captured the #1 positions on three of the most prominent year end record US charts. Released by Dionne And Friends (Warwick, Elton John, Stevie Wonder and Gladys Knight), “That’s What Friends Are For” won a Grammy Award and holds a special place in Bacharach’s heart for another reason: the writers and artists involved donated all the proceeds from the song to the American Foundation for AIDS Research, with funds raised exceeding $1.5 million.
Although his first love remains writing, Bacharach feels performing is another bonus of his illustrious career. He continues to do scores of concerts around the world each year. He is an international artist who will always remain in the limelight no matter what endeavor he pursues. -- www.sydneysymphony.com
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