Showing posts with label Dionne Warwick. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dionne Warwick. Show all posts

Saturday, April 22, 2023

Dionne Warwick - Playlist: The Best Of Dionne Warwick

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 60:10
Size: 137.8 MB
Styles: Easy Listening, AM pop
Year: 2016
Art: Front

[2:53] 1. Walk On By
[2:55] 2. Do You Know The Way To San Jose
[2:44] 3. People Get Ready
[2:43] 4. Trains And Boats And Planes
[3:01] 5. Anyone Who Had A Heart
[2:50] 6. I'll Never Fall In Love Again
[2:44] 7. Don't Make Me Over
[2:45] 8. I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself
[3:03] 9. I Say A Little Prayer
[3:06] 10. Peace Of Mind
[3:06] 11. Message To Michael
[2:55] 12. Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head
[3:34] 13. (Theme From) Valley Of The Dolls
[2:24] 14. Another Night
[4:19] 15. This Girl's In Love With You
[3:06] 16. We've Only Just Begun
[2:21] 17. Don't Go Breaking My Heart
[2:45] 18. Alfie
[2:49] 19. (They Long To Be) Close To You
[3:57] 20. Then Came You

In 1962, Warwick released her first single, "Don't Make Me Over." It became a hit the following year. A typo on the record led to an accidental name. Instead of "Dionne Warrick," the label read "Dionne Warwick." She decided to keep the new moniker and went on to greater chart success. In 1964, Warwick had two Top 10 singles with "Anyone Who Had a Heart" and "Walk On By"—both penned by Bacharach and David. "Walk On By" was also her first No. 1 R&B hit.

More hits, including many written by Bacharach and David, followed as the 1960s progressed. "Message to Michael" made the Top 10 in 1966, and her version of "I Say A Little Prayer" climbed as high as the No. 4 spot the following year. Warwick also found great success with her contributions to movie soundtracks. The theme song for the 1967 film Alfie, starring Michael Caine, was a solid success for her, as was "Valley of the Dolls," from the 1968 movie of the same name.

In 1968, Warwick had other hits, including her trademark tune "Do You Know the Way to San Jose," which earned Warwick her first Grammy Award. That same year, Warwick made history as the first African-American woman to perform for Queen Elizabeth II in England.

Playlist: The Best Of Dionne Warwick

Saturday, June 3, 2017

Dionne Warwick - My Friends And Me

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 47:48
Size: 109.4 MB
Styles: Vocal, R&B, Adult Contemporary
Year: 2006
Art: Front

[2:52] 1. Walk On By (Feat. Gloria Estefan)
[2:58] 2. Message To Michael (Feat. Cyndi Lauper)
[3:58] 3. Close To You (Feat. Mya)
[4:17] 4. I'll Never Love This Way Again (Feat. Gladys Knight)
[2:25] 5. Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head (Feat. Kelis)
[3:55] 6. Déjà Vu
[3:06] 7. I Say A Little Prayer (Feat. Reba Mcentire)
[3:42] 8. Anyone Who Had A Heart (Feat. Wynonna Judd)
[3:24] 9. Then Came You (Feat. Lisa Tucker)
[3:01] 10. Wishin' And Hopin' (Feat. Olivia Newton-John)
[4:55] 11. Love Will Find A Way (Feat. Cheyenne Elliott)
[3:25] 12. The Windows Of The World (Feat. Deborah Cox)
[5:44] 13. Do You Know The Way To San Jose (Feat. Celia Cruz)

My Friends & Me, Dionne Warwick's collection of duets that revisit her classic recordings, benefits from her many talented friends in the music industry, but most of all from a family member. Her son Damon Elliott has worked with his mother for close to ten years, when he's not producing for contemporary hitmakers Pink, Destiny's Child, Jessica Simpson, Kelis, and Mya. Elliott's production for this record is engaging and charming, right up to the minute digitally on the rhythm end, but with plenty of space within the tracks to echo the airy productions of Warwick's long-time producer, Burt Bacharach. Also, Elliott kept most of these versions piano-based and added a tight backing chorus that is virtually necessary for anyone familiar with the original "Walk on By" or "Anyone Who Had a Heart." Dionne Warwick's voice, however, hasn't aged as well as her contemporaries, and the record often resembles a tribute album whose subject only stops by occasionally. (More often than not, the guests are featured more than Warwick herself.) The only track with radical changes is "The Windows of the World," which is presented with no less than four vocal guests (Angie Stone, Chanté Moore, Deborah Cox, Da Brat) and in a version that allows Da Brat to rap on the state of the world between the lines of the verses. Elsewhere, highlights come with Cyndi Lauper's quiet, pleading version of "Message to Michael," Kelis' "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head," and Wynonna Judd's surprisingly smoky "Anyone Who Had a Heart." ~John Bush

My Friends And Me

Wednesday, January 11, 2017

Ray Brown Jr. - Friends And Family

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 56:47
Size: 130.0 MB
Styles: R&B/Jazz/Soul
Year: 2008
Art: Front

[4:44] 1. Can’t Take My Eyes Off You (Feat. Jane Monheit)
[2:42] 2. I’m Beginning To See The Light (Feat. Melba Moore & Terry Gibbs)
[3:46] 3. Sunny Side Of The Street (Feat. James Moody)
[4:33] 4. Too Close For Comfort (Feat. Maria Muldaur)
[4:36] 5. I Wish You Love (Feat. Dionne Warwick & David Fathead Newman)
[3:30] 6. Lullaby Of Birdland (Feat. Freda Payne & Terry Gibbs)
[4:23] 7. Up On The Roof (Feat. Sophie B. Hawkins)
[4:27] 8. Ordinary Fool (Feat. Paul Williams)
[2:11] 9. A-Tisket-A-Tasket (Feat. Haylee)
[3:18] 10. Something’s Gotta Give (Feat. Freda Payne)
[4:03] 11. Everybody’s Cryin’ Mercy (Feat. Dr. Lonnie Smith)
[3:43] 12. Girls On The Beach (Feat. Dave Somerville)
[3:55] 13. Laughter In The Rain (Feat. Kim Hoyer)
[3:22] 14. I Thought About You (Feat. Sally Kellerman)
[3:27] 15. How High The Moon (Feat. Ella Fitzgerald & Ray Brown Sr)

If you’re expecting any vocal similarity between Ray Brown Jr. and his mother, Ella Fitzgerald, you’ll be disappointed. Brown is, after all, not her natural son, but was adopted by Fitzgerald and Ray Brown in 1949, midway through their six-year marriage. But if his parents’ acute musicality isn’t in his genes, then he must have absorbed it, because Jr. is a first-rate performer with a deep, slightly raspy sound that suggests a blend of Bobby Short and Michael McDonald, plus a soupcon of Billy Eckstine.

The 59-year-old scion started out in the music business in the ’70s, toying with rock and then country before setting into a pop/soul groove. Friends and Family is his fourth album, but the first that inches toward jazz. The “friends” are an eclectic bunch, spanning young (Jane Monheit, Sophie B. Hawkins), old (septuagenarian David Somerville, one-time lead singer of the ’50s group the Diamonds), iconic (James Moody, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Dionne Warwick), obscure (little-known but impressive jazz chanteuse Kim Hoyer) and unexpected (Oscar-nominated M*A*S*H actress Sally Kellerman).

The results are generally excellent—particularly a funky “Memphis” featuring both Smith and Dr. John, a slow and sexy “Too Close for Comfort” with Maria Muldaur and a scorching “I’m Beginning to See the Light” with Melba Moore and Terry Gibbs. Unfortunately, the “family” portion of the program proves less rewarding. Brown teams with daughter Haylee for a rendition of “A-Tisket, A-Tasket” that zooms way past cute toward cloyingly sticky-sweet. Most disappointing is the disc-closing attempt at a family reunion, with Jr. awkwardly wedged into the middle of a muddy, old recording of mom and dad performing “How High the Moon.” ~Christopher Loudon

Friends And Family