For the first three years of this time span, it seems that Burt Bacharach was feeling his way and learning his melodic craft. By late 1957, however, he not only achieved his first two big hits with The Story Of My Life and Magic Moments, but he was also writing songs that began to sound that little bit different from the mainstream. Of these, two stand out: Mary Mayo’s It Seemed So Right Last Night, with its gradually descending notes in the verse, and Joe Williams’ That Kind Of Woman, where the writing almost demanded a more radical arrangement.
Some of the earlier songs prior to these breakthroughs reflect popular music in 50s America, varying from the punchy swing on Patti Page’s Keep Me In Mind to The Five Blobs’ ever-so-strange The Blob, an incongruous mid-tempo song from what appears to have been a horror B-movie. Nowhere are the songs and performances less than silkily presented and competent, with Peggy Lee’s Uninvited Dream standing out from the early pack – just don’t expect to find direct routes into Burt’s 60s heyday. The man’s real success came only when he took control as producer and arranger of the whole process.
