What World Needs Now: Bacharach Classics
Five decades strong, Burt Bacharach's songwriting career has influenced artists as diverse as Marty Robbins and Oasis and brightened stages from the Great White Way to Tinseltown, forging a body of work that rivals any of the great pop composers of the last century. But as this generous, 23-track compilation skillfully underscores, there was considerably more at work in Bacharach's canon than mere golden formula. Like Gershwin, Bacharach suffused his songs with jazz (and other) influences, giving their laconic rhythms and loping melodies a distinctive, yet deceptively straightforward  elegance. More importantly, Bacharach's talents as a producer and arranger insured an unencumbered musical vision, as these largely instrumental arrangements (most culled from a series of 60s/70s solo albums for A&M; and Kapp) of many of his biggest hits attest. While his guileless vocals charm "Something Big," "A House is Not a Home," "Close to You"and especially the cabaret drama of "Make It Easy On Yourself," it's his deft way with a studio ensemble that's center stage here. Breezy, often inflected with a Brazilian sense of jazz-cool, these tracks may have originally been intended as an easy-listening alternative during the height of the rock era; ironically, they ended up as a warm musical bridge between the generations.--Jerry McCulley