Burt Bacharach: Burt Bacharach Plays His Hits

Why Burt Bacharach Why now Maybe it has something to do with the widely reported but little-seen lounge-music craze, maybe something to do with one of the most famous composers of the century getting his due. Either way, a second wave of Bacharachmania is said to be sweeping the nation, and this reissue is one of what's sure to be many designed to cash in on the renewed interest. Featuring material from Bacharach's tenure at Kapp Records, 11 of this collection's 15 tracks originally appeared on 1965's Hit Maker. He's best known as a writer, but Bacharach also performed his music, and the versions here are essentially Muzak-ready instrumentals conducted by Bacharach himself. Though the songs are typically strong, Plays His Hits is not terribly interesting, outside of the sense of vertigo—for those who aren't Dusty Springfield fans—that comes with hearing a full orchestra and chorus play "(There's) Always Something There To Remind Me," a song most famous for being covered by the early-'80s synth-pop band Naked Eyes. Cocktail hipsters will want it, and Joel Grey fans may enjoy his rendition of "What's New Pussycat," but these renditions would have been shunned as elevator music ten, five, or even two years ago.