Disc of the day
Bo Diddley - Bo Diddley
Magnificent late-'50s singles round-up that keeps on giving.
Features Disc of the day
Dionne Warwick
Make Way For Dionne Warwick
(Scepter, 1964)
She made demos for Bacharach & David, then she made their greatest hits.
Digging back through the dusty vinyl on a Drifters Disc Of The Day excavation in praise of their unsung lead voice Rudy Lewis brought a reminder about another exceptional voice heard on their hits. Dionne Warwick, her sister Dee Dee and aunt Cissy Houston sang background vocals on several of them, starting with Mexican Divorce in July 1961. Soon after, the arranger/co-writer Burt Bacharach called in Dionne to sing on his demos, and that quickly led to Scepter's perceptive owner, Florence Greenberg, offering Warwick a contract. Thus began one of the great musical marriages - Dionne and the songs of Bacharach and lyricist Hal David. Her hits were a template for numerous British covers - the styles of Dusty Springfield, Cilla Black and Sandie Shaw were all Warwick-hued to greater or lesser degrees, while many a Mersey band was partial them. The 1963 releases Don't Make Me Over and Anyone Who Had A Heart established her in the pop singles charts; this album had three more hits (the iconic Walk On By, You'll Never Get To Heaven (If You Break My Heart), Reach Out For Me) and no fewer than three more that have entered into the pop canon: the original of A House Is Not A Home, the original of The Carpenters' Number 1 (They Long To Be) Close To You, and Wishin' And Hopin', which she had recorded on her 1962 debut, Presenting Dionne Warwick. Sung in that distinctively cool tone with exceptional emotional understanding and technical control, all these six Bacharach & David interpretations are as close to pop perfection as anything made by humans gets. Anything else? A great The Last One To Be Loved, another B&D song which Lou Johnson had recorded earlier, and two noteworthy versions not written by the producers: Goffin & King's Make The Night A Little Longer and the show tune People. It's often said that 'black' albums in the '60s are just a couple of hits and the rest just filler. Clearly, Make Way For... is a glorious exception.
Geoff Brown
Posted by Ross_Bennett at 6:00 AM GMT 12/06/2009
Further Listening
Luther Vandross – Never Too Much (Epic, 1981 for A House Is Not A Home)
Aretha Franklin – The Early Years (Sony, 1997, for Walk On By)
Dusty Springfield – A Girl Called Dusty (Philips, 1964, for Wishin’ And Hopin’)
Previous Disc of the day
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Bo Diddley - Bo Diddley
Magnificent late-'50s singles round-up that keeps on giving.
6:00 AM GMT 20/11/2009
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Isley Brothers - The Brothers: Isley
The Cincinnati siblings bed into their heavy period.
6:00 AM GMT 18/11/2009
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Lee Morgan - Search For The New Land
The trumpeter's most soulful excursion entrances MOJO messageboarder.
6:00 AM GMT 16/11/2009
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