Track Listing

1. Don't Make Me Over
2. This Empty Place
3. Anyone Who Had a Heart
4. Walk on By
5. You'll Never Get to Heaven (If You Break My Heart)
6. House Is Not a Home
7. Reach out for Me
8. Who Can I Turn To (When Nobody Needs Me)
9. Looking With My Eyes
10. Are You There (With Another Girl)
11. Message to Michael
12. Trains and Boats and Planes
13. I Just Don't Know What to Do With Myself
14. Another Night
15. Alfie
16. Windows of the World
17. I Say a Little Prayer
18. Theme from Valley of the Dolls
19. Do You Know the Way to San Jose?
20. (There's) Always Something There to Remind Me
21. Promises, Promises
22. April Fools
23. I'll Never Fall in Love Again
24. Green Grass Starts to Grow

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4441 in Music
• Brand: Warwick
• Released on: 1989-10-26
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .21 pounds

Amazon.com
Dionne Warwick's vocals were never more strong, more vulnerable than when she sang the songs of Burt Bacharach and Hal David--and, oh, yeah, "Who Can I Turn To" and the theme from "Valley of the Dolls," the two non-Bacharach/David songs included among the 24 singles collected here. Both technically and emotionally, this was an unstoppable team: from the drama of "Don't Make Me Over" to the tongue-in-cheek backing singers on "Are You There (With Another Girl)," the barely veiled civil-rights message of "Reach Out for Me" to the deceptively bouncy "Do You Know the Way to San Jose," this CD sheds light on one of the most perfect marriages of pop form and content this side of Sinatra's classic Capitol work. --Rickey Wright

Customer Reviews

I bought it - - and I'd buy it again
This is a comprehensive double-CD collection of Dionne's AM radio hits from the 60's. I just as strongly recommend Dionne as the foremost interpreter of Burt Bachrach's music.

The sound quality is great. Rhino Records did a nice job, in this area, and the liner notes provide a good bit of information. Dionne's performances of these songs are flawless. She has great range and feeling, as well as subtlety and restraint. "Windows of the World," for example, sends a shiver up my spine. The hasty "San Jose'" is also a treat. The quantity of music presented is more than enough; you won't hear any 60's Warwick song on the radio not presented here, although this results in some unevenness. Burt Bachrach's composition is super.

I couldn't give it 5 stars because some of the musical arrangements don't hold up well, and probably sounded schlocky when they came out, even over the tinny radio speaker of a 1966 Ford Fairlane on its way to San Jose. But you know that going in. Lyricyst Hal David was most effective when he kept it spare and light ("Walk On By"), not when he tried to communicate socially "relevant" ideas (e.g. - "Message to Michael" - mobile society; "Windows of the World" - Vietnam). Not every song on the collection is to my taste. It's hard to find enough great material to fill a double greatest hits album, but most of this is quite good. Anyone who likes Dionne's 60's radio hits or needs a comprehensive sampling of Bachrach-David at their creative peak, should look here.

so beautiful
I have always been a great admirer of artists like James Taylor, The Carpenters, Carly Simon, Roberta Flack, and others, but I had never really been exposed to Dionne Warwick's earlier music (with the exceptions of songs like Walk On By, Say A Little Prayer, and I'll Never Fall In Love Again) until a desire to own a recording of Walk On By lead me to purchase this greatest hits CD. I didn't really have any expectations of this CD beyond the few songs that I knew I liked, but after listening to it just a couple a times, I was quite overwhelmed by it's significance and sheer beauty. I can say easily that this collection of music ranks among the best I have ever heard, and this includes the artists whom I mentioned above as well as others. I wonder that there may be others who are as unaware of this special music as I have been. Rarely have I had the great pleasure and honor to experience such beautiful expressions of romantic love and sorrow: Burt Bacharach and Hal David are poets of the human heart, and Dionne their voice. The music they've produced is unique, and at times, crushingly beautiful, and at times, breathtaking.

Dionne's Finest
This CD has a hefty price tag but it's well worth it because it is the best single-disc compilation of Dionne's early work. It includes her renderings of the best known compositions from the Bacharach/David songbook including "Walk On By", "Anyone Who Had A Heart", "I Say A Little Prayer" and "Alfie". It also includes some wonderful near-miss hit singles like the exquisite "Looking With My Eyes", on which Dionne punctuates her delicate pop phrasing with some gospel shouting. "April Fools" showcases Dionne's interpretive gift -- the rare singer whose voice caresses both the melody and the lyric. You won't be disappointed.