Burt Bacharach

While this three-CD, 75-song box set only has a half-dozen tracks actually credited to Burt Bacharach, it's certainly the best representation of his music likely to ever be assembled. Spanning the late '50s to a 1996 duet with Elvis Costello, this is the cream of his work as a composer (and, frequently, producer), properly concentrating mostly on the 1960s hit versions of his songs (usually, though not always, co-written with Hal David) by Dionne Warwick, Gene Pitney, Jackie DeShannon, Dusty Springfield, the Drifters, Chuck Jackson, and many others. Classics like "Baby It's You," "Walk on By," "What the World Needs Now Is Love," and "Wishin' and Hopin'" are here, of course. What really makes this exceptional by box-set standards, however, is the deft intermingling of familiar smash hits with interesting minor hits and rarities. There are four cuts by the unknown Lou Johnson, who has been described as the male counterpart to Dionne Warwick; intriguing obscurities by Gene Pitney ("Fool Killer"), Jackie DeShannon ("So Long Johnny"), and others that even fans of the artists might not have heard; rare original versions of familiar classics (Tommy Hunt's "I Just Don't Know What to Do With Myself," for instance); hits by artists who only benefited grandly from the magic Bacharach/David touch once (Bobby Vinton's "Blue on Blue," Jack Jones' "Wives and Lovers"); and just plain off-the-wall things like the Five Blobs' novelty "The Blob," Manfred Mann's "My Little Red Book," Bobby Goldsboro's "Me Japanese Boy I Love You," and TV actor Richard Chamberlain's "Blue Guitar." Thankfully, only a little of his subpar work from the '80s is included. Aficionados may find some things to carp about, particularly the absence of some small hits (quantity and licensing would have made it difficult to bring everything together) and the track choice when several singers made worthy versions; sometimes the big hit is used, sometimes it's a rare original version, sometimes it's a rare rendition that was neither the original nor the biggest hit. Certainly there's more Bacharach/David worth hearing; the first places to start after getting through this are vintage Dionne Warwick compilations. For a rich but manageable anthology of his best work, though, it could hardly be bettered, enhanced by nearly 100 pages of liner notes and track annotations. [The 2001 Canadian release features two rather than three discs of music, resulting in a collection of only 30 songs.] ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide