Tribute To Burt Bacharach And Hal David

Starring: Elvis Costello, Petula Clark Director: Leo Green Original UK Premiere: 2001 Dvd Release: 22nd September, 2003 Number Of Discs: 1 Format: Anamorphic, PAL, Widescreen, Region 2 Encoding

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The Royal Albert Hall provides an appropriately regal backdrop for A Tribute to Burt Bacharach & Hal David, recorded in July 2000. They are one of the greatest song writing partnerships in the history of popular music, says compere Johnnie Walker. A parade of international singing talent proceeds to demonstrate the elegance & deceptive complexity of pop songs which havent merely stood the test of time, if anything, theyve grown in stature; a succession of mini epics describing emotional journeys through sophisticated lyrics & melodies. Now that its cool to like them again, young performers are queuing up to sing them, with varying degrees of competence. Here, people like Shola Ama & Lucy Silvers seem overwhelmed by the occasion. Not so comedian Brian Conley. His considerable ego is more than enough to fill the hall but hes too busy loving himself to bring anything new to Whats New Pussycat. Its left to the showbiz legends to provide the classiest moments: Petula Clark, Sacha Distel & Elvis Costello . Then, like a gracious aunt, on comes Dionne Warwick & effortlessly shows everyone how these songs are really done. With Bacharach himself at the piano she slips into Walk on By & the years fall away. Watch out for Hal David joining the final line-up for a sing-along What the World Needs Now, a magic moment for any true pop fan.

Declan Patrick Aloysius McManus, better known by his stage name, Elvis Costello, is a popular British musician, singer & songwriter of Irish descent. He was an early participant in Londons pub rock scene in the mid- 1970s & later became associated with the punk rock & new wave musical genres, before establishing himself as a unique & original voice in the 1980s. One critic has written that Costello, the pop encyclopedia, can reinvent the past in his own image.   Born into a musical family, McManus moved with his mother to Liverpool in 1971. It was there that he formed his first band, Flip City, which had a style very much in the pub rock vein. They lasted until 1975 – 1976, by which time McManus was living in London with a wife & child. McManus worked a number of dead-end jobs, during which time he continued to write songs & began aggressively looking for a solo recording contract, which led to an incident in which he was arrested while busking outside a conference of record executives. On the basis of a demo tape, he was signed to Stiff Records.

Editors Choice: Tribute To Burt Bacharach And Hal David, Elvis Costello, View DVDology

Petula Clark, CBE is a British singer, actress & composer best known for her upbeat popular international hits of the 1960s. With nearly 70 million recordings sold worldwide, she is the most successful British female recording artist to date. She also holds the distinction of having the longest span on the international pop charts of any artist, an astonishing forty-nine years - from 1954, when The Little Shoemaker made the UK Top Twenty, through 2003, when her double-CD Kaleidoscope charted at #18 in France. She was born Petula Sally Olwen Clark on November 15, 1932 in Epsom, Surrey - her father Lesley coined her first name, jokingly alleging it was a combination of the names of two former girlfriends, Pet & Ulla - & became a star of radio & film before reaching her early teens. As a child, she sang in the church choir; her first public performances were in a department store in suburban London, where she sang with an orchestra in the entrance hall for sweets & a gold wristwatch. Posters Of Petula Clark

Editors Choice: Petula Clark, This Is My Song, Tribute To Burt Bacharach And Hal David, Finians Rainbow, Dean Martin, View DVDology

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