RIP Burt.

This brings back memories of my parents playing this song, me as a kid hearing it.
 
One of my sister’s had “Close to you” as her wedding dance/song. That was back like late 70s. (Song had been out awhile by then)
 

Jul 7, 2010
Dionne Warwick's 1967 single I Say A Little Prayer was written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David and recorded at A&R Studios in Manhattan in June 1966. Engineering the recording was the legendary Phil Ramone who would later produce Billy Joel and many others. Bacharach arranged, conducts and is on piano. The tune was released as single in October 1967 after DJs all over the country started playing the album cut from the Windows of the World album. I Say A Little Prayer was certified RIAA Gold selling over 1 million copies and peaked at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in December 1967. The flip or B side (Theme from Valley of the Dolls), sung by Warwick in the motion picture, was also a million seller and rode the #2 position for 4 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in February 1968 and hit # 1 on the Record World Chart the same month. I Say A Little Prayer/(Theme From) Valley of the Dolls is one of the most successful double sided hits of the Rock era. This is the rare unedited version in which Burt Bacharach can be heard on count off. I Say A Little Prayer was also the first RIAA certified million seller for Bacharach and David. Less than one year later, Aretha Franklin would take her cover of "I Say A Little Prayer" to the #10 spot on Billboard's Hot 100 singles chart. Writes Nick Tosches, the renowned writer, music journalist, novelist, biographer and poet in the January 7, 1972 issue of the rock magazine FUSION; "...getting into Dionne Warwick is like finding buried treasure. The Bacharach/David repertoire which milady chooses to sing is so fascinatingly cynical / fatalistic / stoical / emotional / happy, simultaneously! It's pure emotion. There is a whole lot more to emotion than some rock punk bursting his dexedrine-staved blood vessels by screaming "Baby I need you baby" into a microphone. Dionne Warwick is not a rock and roll singer. She's not a jazz singer either. Rhythm and blues? Nope. A pop singer? No way. Did you ever tongue-kiss with someone who barfed a Singapore Sling bolus into your mouth, and then four years later you're with someone else and you feel good and you realize how beautiful it all was and then it's all melancholy/happiness, sort of? That's the kind of singer Dionne Warwick is. She's beautiful. Dionne, paired with Bacharach's string/horn/reed arrangements, comes up as a lyric mezzo-sopranoid par-excellence, melodious/expressiveness-wise. If you've never gotten into her, you ought to. Get hep to Dionne Warwick. For your own sake."
 
Theme from valley of the dolls

Theme From 'Valley of the Dolls'" was recorded for the film of the same name. The song was written by Andre Previn and Dory Previn, and had initially been intended for Judy Garland before she was fired from the film. At the urging of Barbara Parkins, the song was given to Warwick. Dionne's John Williams' arranged original version is heard throughout the film. Due to contractual restrictions, Warwick's voice was substituted on the LP album recording of the soundtrack and Warwick was contractually permitted to appear only on the film's actual soundtrack and not the recording released on the 20th Century label. Record buyers of the 20th Century Soundtrack LP were sorely disappointed to find Warwick's voice absent from the LP, although no mention was made that the LP did not not contain the actual Warwick soundtrack. Warwick recut the tune for her home Scepter label with an arrangement by Pat Williams and conducted by Bacharach with Bacharach on piano, and this version hit #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart in February 1968, and #4 on the Canadian Chart, #28 in the UK, #2 on the Billboard AC Chart and #13 on the Billboard Rhythm and Blues Singles chart. The tune hit #1 on the Record World Chart in March 1968. "Theme From 'Valley of the Dolls', the "B" side of Dionne's million selling "I Say a Little Prayer", also became another million seller for Dionne
 
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I spent a great deal of time listening to his creations back in the late 60's and 70's, the days of component stereo with the wall shaking amps, researching frequency curves of the different offerings, building speaker cabinets with imported speakers, running 15" woofers and midrange and tweeters in big boxes with reflex ports and other enhancements. Getting the best quality headsets you could afford, as well as turntables with cueing tone arms and the best pickup you could afford also.

Those days were fun but now I'm paying for it with these hearing aids. I still have my component system, though not as sophisticated as it once was, and a huge stack of albums so I'll be found in my recliner with my headsets on when my toes turn up.
 
tarheel said:
I spent a great deal of time listening to his creations back in the late 60's and 70's, the days of component stereo with the wall shaking amps, researching frequency curves of the different offerings, building speaker cabinets with imported speakers, running 15" woofers and midrange and tweeters in big boxes with reflex ports and other enhancements. Getting the best quality headsets you could afford, as well as turntables with cueing tone arms and the best pickup you could afford also.

Those days were fun but now I'm paying for it with these hearing aids. I still have my component system, though not as sophisticated as it once was, and a huge stack of albums so I'll be found in my recliner with my headsets on when my toes turn up.
Click to expand...

I have a pair of late 70's Advent's that I rebuilt and reconditioned. Nothing sounds as good as those big old bricks.

 
Tradewind said:
Theme from valley of the dolls

Theme From 'Valley of the Dolls'" was recorded for the film of the same name. The song was written by Andre Previn and Dory Previn, and had initially been intended for Judy Garland before she was fired from the film. At the urging of Barbara Parkins, the song was given to Warwick. Dionne's John Williams' arranged original version is heard throughout the film. Due to contractual restrictions, Warwick's voice was substituted on the LP album recording of the soundtrack and Warwick was contractually permitted to appear only on the film's actual soundtrack and not the recording released on the 20th Century label. Record buyers of the 20th Century Soundtrack LP were sorely disappointed to find Warwick's voice absent from the LP, although no mention was made that the LP did not not contain the actual Warwick soundtrack. Warwick recut the tune for her home Scepter label with an arrangement by Pat Williams and conducted by Bacharach with Bacharach on piano, and this version hit #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart in February 1968, and #4 on the Canadian Chart, #28 in the UK, #2 on the Billboard AC Chart and #13 on the Billboard Rhythm and Blues Singles chart. The tune hit #1 on the Record World Chart in March 1968. "Theme From 'Valley of the Dolls', the "B" side of Dionne's million selling "I Say a Little Prayer", also became another million seller for Dionne
Click to expand...
Cant help but to think Europe would have some fun inputs around his music with a reminiscence of
time gone by
 
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