The Songs Of Burt Bacharach (May 12, 1928 – February 8, 2023) By V.A.

Burt Bacharach,the debonair pop composer,arranger,conductor,record producer & occasional singer whose hit songs in the 1960s distilled that decade’s mood of romantic optimism.A die-hard romantic,Mr. Bacharach fused the chromatic harmonies & long,angular melodies of late-19th-century symphonic music with modern pop orchestration & embellished the mixture with a staccato rhythmic drive.His effervescent compositions epitomized sophisticated hedonism to a generation of young adults only a few years older than the Beatles.Because of the high gloss & apolitical stance of the songs Mr. Bacharach wrote with his most frequent collaborator,the lyricist Hal David,during an era of confrontation and social upheaval,they were often dismissed as little more than background music by listeners who preferred the hard edge of rock or the intimacy of the singer-songwriter genre.But in hindsight,the Bacharach-David team ranks high in the pantheon of pop songwriting.More details &playlist in thr comment.