Burt Bacharach: A Life in Song Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		4.0

Burt Bacharach: A Life in Song Blu-ray Movie Review

Anyone who has a heart should love this appealing concert and interview.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman February 11, 2016

One of the more instructive gigs I have ever had as a musician was being asked to recreate original Burt Bacharach arrangements for a revue which was staged here in my hometown of Portland several years ago, a task which was made a bit more challenging due to the fact that the budget only allowed for a couple of brass players, a percussionist and myself on various keyboards. Going back and listening carefully to the classic Bacharach penned and arranged singles (many featuring Dionne Warwick, of course) was a fantastic “schooling” in taste and internal momentum, and it brought to mind a long ago quote of Bacharach’s where he talked about spending sleepless nights wondering about picayune orchestrational elements like whether to bring the strings in on the eighth or sixteenth bar of a tune. Burt Bacharach has been such a force in American popular music for so long that it’s hard to remember at times just how anachronistic his off kilter, usually asymmetrical writing style often seemed back in a day where Bacharach's Brill Building compatriots, as brilliant as they all were, often tended to offer more traditional formations in terms of harmony and melody. One of the unusual things about Bacharach was that he was not only the composer but also the arranger/orchestrator for many of his best known hits, an aspect to Burt’s discography that can’t be understated. Typically in the fifties and sixties, especially in the more pop oriented styles, it was much more common for a songwriter (or songwriting team) to hand over the fruits of their labors to a producer who would then take over the actual duties of shaping the tune for release, including hiring outside hands to arrange (and often, a la The Wrecking Crew, to actually play). The fact that Bacharach was so intimately involved with many (maybe even most) of those iconic sixties’ singles which made his reputation gives his work a very distinctively cohesive quality. (It’s kind of interesting to go back and listen to some non-Bacharach arranged tunes by Bacharach, typically pre-sixties efforts including relatively early Bacharach-David hits like Perry Como’s “Magic Moments”, to see just how different things sound.) But what’s especially interesting is how a Bacharach song is still pretty easily identified as a Bacharach song even when Burt himself is nowhere to be found in the production credits, something that in and of itself is a testament to just how completely distinctive Bacharach's writing style is.

So, what is it exactly that defines a Bacharach tune? That’s a little like trying to easily pigeonhole, say, a Gershwin tune, though in the case of George, one might point to his beautiful use of dominant seventh structures, especially altered dominant sevenths, that give many of his songs such an instantly recognizable quality. If I were forced to try to similarly peg Bacharach’s style, I’d point to two different characteristics: first, his unusual, often slightly askew, melodic phrases, phrases which often don't fit squarely into traditional songwriting aspects like "first eight", "middle eight" and so on; and second, his completely distinctive harmonic style, one which unlike Gershwin tends to find its flavor in both major and minor sevenths (and ninths, and elevenths—and so on). When one listens to a classic Bacharach tune like “Promises, Promises”, both proclivities are firmly on display, with the song segueing effortlessly between 3/4 and 4/4 while also traipsing through extended chords that hint at the Lydian mode.

This wonderful concert features some very appealing performances (which nonetheless admittedly won't replace anyone's memories of the original versions), but what might recommend it even more strongly to some Bacharach fans is the fact that Burt engages in some nicely detailed interstitial interview segments with Michael Grade. The still spry Burt keenly recalls several great anecdotes about his songs and various aspects of his career, and this unusual element for a concert video really adds a lot to the proceedings. While many of the all time Bacharach classics are performed during the concert (see the complete set list below), as an inveterate and unapologetic fan of Bacharach’s much lamented musical version of Lost Horizon, I personally applaud the inclusion of both “If I Could Go Back” and “The World is a Circle” from that score.

Burt Bacharach: A Life in Song features the following performances:

Walk on By — Rebecca Ferguson
Do You Know the Way to San Jose — Laura Mvula
What the World Needs Now — Justin Hayward
I Say a Little Prayer — Rebecca Ferguson
Windows of the World — Michael Kiwanuka
I’ll Never Fall in Love Again — Sophie Ellis-Bextor
In Between the Heartaches — Joss Stone
(They Long to Be) Close to You — Sophie Ellis-Bextor
Anyone Who Had a Heart — Burt Bacharach and Josie James
If I Could Go Back — Alfie Boe
Movie Medley: The Look of Love / Arthur’s Theme (The Best That You Can Do) / What’s New Pussycat / The World is a Circle / The April Fools / Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head / (The Man Who Shot) Liberty Valance / Making Love/ Wives and Lovers / Alfie — Burt Bacharach & Band
A House is Not a Home — Shaun Escoffery
That’s What Friends Are For — Ensemble

Burt Bacharach: A Life in Song Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Burt Bacharach: A Life in Song is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Eagle Vision, an imprint of Eagle Rock Entertainment, with an AVC encoded 1080i transfer in 1.78:1. Originally presented as a BBC television special, this concert and interview boasts generally superior sharpness and detail, with few if any of the traditional bugaboos of (especially interlaced) music videos like these. That said, there are some kind of unusual and perhaps unfortunate lighting choices here, including a surfeit of blue both behind and around Burt during the interview sequences, that verge on the point of banding and posterizing at times. The concert sequences don't have that particular issue, but occasionally suffer from a bit of murk toward the outer edges of the stage where the lighting regimen is not as acute. Close-ups reveal a wealth of fine detail, including the crags and crannies that Burt's face has earned over his incredible 87-plus years.

Burt Bacharach: A Life in Song Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Burt Bacharach: A Life in Song follows the typical Eagle Rock audio regimen, offering both DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and LPCM 2.0 stereo mixes. The 5.1 mix breathes very nicely, offering good separation for the orchestral forces, but occasionally tending to just slightly bury the vocalists in the mix. The stereo mix tends to push to vocals up a bit in prioritization (in effect if not in actual fact), something that some listeners may find preferable. Fidelity is great on both tracks. The interview sequences offer all the conversation presented very cleanly and clearly.

Burt Bacharach: A Life in Song Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Bonus Songs (1080i; 22:17) include "Be Aware" (one of the most curiously underrated classics in Bacharach's oeuvre) by Josie James, "Waiting for Charlie" by Donna Taylor and "God Give Me Strength" by John Pagano. These also include the interstitial interview sequences with Burt talking about his music.

Burt Bacharach: A Life in Song Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

For those of us who grew up in either the sixties and/or the seventies, Burt Bacharach's music was at least part of the soundtrack of our lives, and it's wonderful to see him still going relatively strong at such an advanced age (he's a bit hunched and moves stiffly, but he's obviously mentally as sharp as ever). This concert offers some nice performances, but the real selling point for some Bacharach fans will be the heartfelt discussions he has with Michael Grade between the songs. Technical merits are strong, and Burt Bacharach: A Life in Song comes Highly recommended.