Thursday, September 15, 2005

Do You Know the Way to Dr. Dre?

What the world needs now: a Burt Bacharach/Dr. Dre collaboration?

from The Independent


Once the world's smoothest crooner, Burt Bacharach is now collaborating with Dr. Dre and attacking President Bush. He tells John Walsh why he's swapped easy-listening for tough-talking:
more


Good article but one minor quibble: Burt is the Sultan of Songwriters, not to mention the undisputed Emperor of Easy, but his crooning is only marginally smoother than the use of sandpaper as a facial exfoliant: that's why Dionne, Dusty, Tom, Gene, Perry, Jack et alia were let loose on those melifluous melodies. Burt's exquisitely sophisticated arrangements even made Cilla sound good, though they failed to elevate his own resolutely earthbound vocals. As a songwriter... Burt's natural habitat is more Mount Olympus than Hasbrook Heights but as a crooner... hell, he's just another Icarus in diving boots.

(Still, at least the idea of Burt "attacking" George Bush is an amusing one: "Land of Make Believe" is a Weapon of Melodic Destruction, and we don't need to call in UN weapons inspectors to verify its potency.)

G-Funk (Dre, Snoop, Warren G) is the sound of gangsta rap kickin' back and sharing a Jacuzzi with smooth soul (The Isleys, Marvin Gaye, Teddy Pendergass, Michael McDonald...) but the "Bachman"'s laid-back lounge segues smoothly with the mellow mood.

Septegenarian Burt might not be "street" enough for Dre's hardcore demographic but Casa del ionesco's aging hipster-in-residence can't wait to hear the finished product. Fetch me my carpet slippers, my dressing gown and nice mug of cocoa! Oh, and don't worry about "rolling up a phat one": the only "chronic" in this joint is my angina.

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