3. Dionne WarwickDionne
Dionne‘s a really hard album to find information about, because I don’t think it was that successful, which is a tragedy. It isn’t even on Spotify. But I bought it. Everything is conducted, arranged and orchestrated by Burt Bacharach, so it was a completely Burt-controlled thing. For Hal David and Burt Bacharach, she was the one they were writing for. It was her voice, that perfect blend of soulful but delicate and restrained, that appealed to everybody. She’s just a natural musician-singer. She’s a singer with artistry. She’s always been prolific, and she’d done a load of albums before this. It didn’t chart, but it’s just beautiful.
They’re not all Bacharach and David songs. There’s ‘Love Song’, the song by the British songwriter Lesley Duncan that Elton John did as well. ‘Hasbrook Heights’ is my favourite – I actually recorded it for Into Colour as a duet with Dionne, and it’s going out on the Japanese version. We did it live together at the Royal Albert Hall, and her fans were geeking out a little, saying, ‘She’s never done this one live before.’ This is like the Barbra album in that they’re both singers who are interpreters of catalogue, but what they’re really excellent at is picking a tune. It was Dionne who encouraged Stevie Wonder to put out ‘I Just Called To Say I Love You’ from The Woman In Red‘s soundtrack as a single. Great singers have an ear for a song, and that’s why Bacharach and David were hanging on Dionne’s every word. Because if Dionne didn’t like it, it wasn’t a good vibe. They wanted her to like it. They were trying to impress her. Dionne is an album for people who want to enjoy sophisticated, thoughtful Dionne Warwick. It sounds like she picked the songs.
