During the 1960s and early 70s, no popular singer was more closely identified with a songwriting team than Dionne Warwick was with Burt Bacharach and Hal David.
Beginning in 1962 and continuing for a decade, Warwick released a string of 39 consecutive chart hits, all penned by Bacharach-David. Among the (now) standards were such great songs as "Walk On By," "Don't Make Me Over," "I'll Never Fall In Love Again," "Make It Easy On Yourself," "Anyone Who Had A Heart," "Alfie," and "Do You Know The Way To San Jose."
Although dozens of other artists have recorded songs by Bacharach and David, Warwick's interpretations were without question the definitive versions of their great catalog. That is, until now. (Well, maybe.) Let's take a look.
The contender for Warwick's title, believe it or not, is Trijntje Oosterhuis (pronounced) "train-chi oh-ster-haus"), a 48-year-old Dutch singer born in 1973 (the same year that Bacharach and David split up). In the early 1990s, while she was still in her teens, Trijntje and her brother formed a band called Total Touch and began gigging in music bars around their native Amsterdam. In 1994, Dutch alto saxophonist Candy Dulfer (who has played with Van Morrison, Prince, and Maceo Parker among others) caught a show by Total Touch and promptly asked Trijntje to contribute vocals to her 1995 album, Big Girl. That same year, Trijntje accompanied Dulfer's band on a world tour to support the release.
The next year, back home in the Netherlands, Trijntje and Total Touch had their first big EU hit with a 1996 single called "Somebody Else's Lover." Following the release of a couple of successful Total Touch albums, Trijntje decided to go solo. Her first album was 1999's For Once In My Life - The Songs Of Stevie Wonder. That was followed by two more EU-only CDs. In 2004, Trijntje signed with Blue Note Records and released her first album for the label, Strange Fruit, a slightly odd mash-up of songs made famous by Billie Holiday, together with a handful of George Gershwin standards. Then, in 2006, Trijntje put out The Look Of Love (above), the first of three all-Bacharach studio albums. The second volume was 2007's Who'll Speak For Love (below), and the third (and final?) album was Everchanging Love (further below), released in November, 2021.
Even though I had heard and enjoyed some of the tracks from Trijntje's first two Bacharach albums, I didn't really sit up and take notice until I saw that all three of the albums were slated to be released as limited vinyl editions. Since the team of Bacharach-David is, for me, right up there with Lennon-McCartney as one of the great songwriting teams of the second half of the 20th century, I immediately put in advance orders for all three LPs. [There is actually a fourth volume, Best Of Burt Bacharach Live, which came out in 2009, but as of this writing, there is no indication that it will be released on vinyl.]All three studio albums were made with the cooperation and limited participation of Burt Bacharach (he plays piano on several selections). While volumes one and two are heavy on the great 1960s and 70s Bacharach-David hits, 2021's third volume (a double album) brings things up to date by including later Bacharach collaborations with Steven Sater, Bill Conti, Marvin Hamlisch, Carole Bayer Sager, and Elvis Costello. In addition to more great interpretations of Bacharach tunes by Trijntje, the third volume includes a duet with Gregory Porter (also a Blue Note recording artist) on one track.
The LPs are released by the Dutch-based Music On Vinyl label. They are pressed at Record Industry in the Netherlands on 180-gram vinyl and sound superb. Volume one and two were recorded and mixed by legendary engineer Al Schmidt. Schmidt died in 2021 and was replaced by Dutch recording engineer Tijmen Zinkhaan for volume three.
Bernie Grundmund did the mastering on volume three, while the lacquer was cut by Rinus Hooning at Artone Studio (the in-house mastering shop at Record Industry).
Vince Mendoza did most of the arrangements and conducts The Metropole Orchestra (based in Amsterdam) for all three volumes. Volumes one and two are limited to 1,000 copies, while volume three is limited to 1,500 copies. Serial numbers are individually stamped in gold on the back of the jackets. The three releases are on different colors of vinyl, including a striking translucent turquoise color for volume one, orange for volume two, and "Blue Note" blue for volume three.
OK, back to the question of whether Trijntje sets a new standard for interpretation of the Bacharach songbook. The answer is (waffle, waffle) -- it's complicated. Trijntje has a marvelously expressive voice, with great power, range, and control. She brings a compelling new take to Bacharach's classic canon. Dionne Warwick's voice is more contained, but also more vulnerable, with a world-worn quality that conveys more emotion; when she sings "a house is not a home" or "say you'll be my guy -- if not I'll just die," you believe her. And let's be honest, you can't undo 60 years of hearing Dionne Warwick sing Burt Bacharach. So from a vocal and nostalgia perspective, Dionne Warwick is still the one to beat.
However, where Trijntje has the edge is in the consistently superb sound quality of her albums. Mendoza's arrangements are fabulous, the Metropole Orchestra is shimmering, and the third-row-center feel that Al Schmidt (volumes one and two) and Tijmen Zinkhaan (volume three) capture is off the charts. And while we're at it, volume four, Best Of Burt Bacharach Live, is a two hour and twenty minute, 21-song, live performance available as a double CD or on Blu-ray video (with 24khz 48bit audio) that also sounds terrific. Bottom line, with some small personnel changes, you get four volumes of Trijntje singing Bacharach (five hours of music), all arranged, performed, conducted, produced, recorded, mixed, mastered, and released by the same team. Fortunately, there is no reason to chose between Dionne and Trijntje. In fact, I've had fun queueing up versions of the same song by each singer and playing them back to back to enjoy the different interpretations. If you dig Bacharach, I'm assuming you already have many or most of Dionne Warwick's interpretations. You owe it to yourself to check out Trijntje's take on these classic tracks as well.
And just so you know, Trijntje isn't completely fixated on Bacharach. She now has some 20 albums to her credit, ranging from standards to jazz to R&B (as well as some really awful Dutch Europop). Blame it on her youth.
If you are looking for a non-Bacharach album, I highly recommend her fine 2011 release called Sundays In New York, where she is backed by the the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra. In addition to one original by Trijntje, it has a great mix of jazzy pop and R&B hits, written by the likes of Sam Cooke, Valerie Simpson, Stevie Wonder, and Curtis Mayfield. Sadly, it's not yet available on vinyl.
Enjoy the music!
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