Goodbye Bacharach

The legendary Burt Bacharach has died, so here's a little tribute.

What's funny is that I've been thinking about writing about him recently, as over the past few months, I've had a little Bacharach revival. I knew he had written a couple of songs that were cool, but I had no idea that he had written nearly ALL of my favorite songs growing up in the 70s and 80s. It was getting so that I'd dream of a song, and my mind would analyze it and tell me: "Burt Bacharach wrote this song, too." And sure enough, when I looked it up: it was Burt!

He has a unique style -- he loves the major seventh chords and other popular jazz chords. His melodies often jump to the 7th scale degree, and sometimes even hover around the 7th. I even just now learned that he studied from the prolific and unique composer Darius Milhaud.

My father would tell me how much he loved Burt's music, and that's probably where I got my exposure: he most likely played his Bacharach vinyl several times while I was going to sleep.

And what songs has Burt created? Perhaps you know one of the following:

(They Long to Be) Close To You

Do You Know the Way to San Jose?

Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head

What the World Needs Now Is Love (Sweet Love)

Magic Moments (Yeah -- the Perry Como song they play at Christmas)

I'll Never Fall in Love Again (and a lot of other Dionne Warwick songs)

What's New Pussycat?

Arthur's Theme: Best That You Can Do

That's What Friends Are For

... and so on.

Here is one of my faves. I've always known it as "I Need Your Love," but it's really called something cheesy: "This Guy's In Love With You." I want to say I heard it played every now and then on TV stations when they were experiencing technical difficulties -- like that Bee Gees' song on Atlanta's Channel 46. (Oh -- I haven't posted that yet? I'll come back next week with that.)

So, here you go ... enjoy ...

Blast From the Past: Love's Theme by Barry White

Here's another blast from my past. It's one of the first tunes that I "remember," though not the first I heard. Either way, when I was 4, I imagined this as the opening credits music to my life. Yeah, I was that weird.

This is "Love's Theme" by Barry White, composed in 1965, but released in 1973 during the beginnings of disco. Totally orchestral with disco guitars and drum set interjecting, this piece hit #1 on the charts, helping to expose more to disco and launch more similar-sounding music.

And get this -- I had never known this was one of Barry White's creations until a week ago. Now that I know, I can almost hear his bass voice saying -- well -- just about anything.

I hope you enjoy this memory ...

Beethoven on Sleds

For today, check out this video of Beethoven's 5th (first movement -- condensed) with sledding line-drawing hilarity. That's right, you can watch sleds and bodies flail all over the place to the music of Beethoven.

This animation uses an app called Line Rider -- a sandbox where you can set up lines for these sleds to ride on. If I had time, I'd probably try to do something like this -- but we'll see. So many other "good and fun" things to do.

Or I can just enjoy what others have already put together. On YouTube, you can check out DoodleChaos' channel and see several of these animations set to different types of music. Fun!

Mr. Bean and the Music of Howard Goodall

Have you ever wondered where the beginning/ending theme of Mr. Bean comes from? Well, wonder no more.

It turns out that the music, named Ecce Homo was composed specifically for the show by award-winning English composer, Howard Goodall.

The words in Latin turn out to be utter nonsense. This video reveals the translation:

Howard Goodall is also responsible for the main themes in other popular British shows such as Red Dwarf and Blackadder. And turns out he has an impressive repertoire as well.

Here is one of his classical offerings -- the first movement from his Eternal Light: A Requiem.

Trumpets in Church

Read this post from The Mormon Mel about how I've been forbidden to play trumpets in church:

https://mormonmel.blogspot.com/2022/05/modern-day-laws-of-moses.html

Goodbye to Vangelis

With the passing of Vangelis, I thought I'd share my two biggest exposures to his music. 

I have a vague memory of attending a concert in the late 70s or 80s where this guy played in some kind of pyramid-shaped synthesizer ... probably Vangelis? At the Fox in Georgia? I can't remember any of the music, but I do remember thinking: I'd love to do something like that one day.

But I definitely remember the music that played through all thirteen episodes of Carl Sagan's COSMOS. You can enjoy this theme now ...

 

I also enjoyed the mood the music of Vangelis sets in the movie Blade Runner. It fits the noir atmosphere perfectly. First off, here is the opening sequence ...

 

And here is the "love" theme from that same movie (with random city pics) ...

 

Vangelis may be gone, but his music will last forever.

Last Train Home -- Revisited

Earlier this year, I shared one of my newer favorite pieces, Pat Metheny Group's Last Train Home.

Then I came across a nice cover of this piece -- a guitar solo. Though he doesn't nail the chords and the time perfectly, it's still a really nice and relaxing rendition. It even comes with nice imagery during parts of the song.

I hope you enjoy Osamu Moriyama's version ...