Tag Archives: Dionne Warwick

Dionne Warwick – She’s Back

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Title: She’s Back
Artist: Dionne Warwick
Label: eOne
Formats: CD, Digital
Release date: June 7, 2019

 

The great Dionne Warwick has had one of the longest careers in the music industry and at 78-years-old she is far from finished. Warwick returns to her roots on her latest album, She’s Back, produced by her son, Damon Elliott. Though she is still perfectly capable of carrying a song, the tracks that really soar pair Warwick with other artists, and she has chosen some of the best. Highlights include the ballads “Am I Dreaming” featuring Musiq Soulchild, whose dulcet tones blend well with Warwick’s throatier voice, and “How Do You Keep the Music Playing” with After 7’s Kevon Edmonds, which is nothing short of a life-affirming statement of purpose. Some of the more contemporary efforts, such as “Déjà Vu” with Krayzie Bone, fail to gel, but the album picks up steam again with uptempo songs such as “Life is Waiting” and Ashford and Simpson’s “We Need to Go Back.”  Despite billing the album as Warwick’s first R&B/soul release in fifty years, she really soars on two Burt Bacharach pop classics—the uplifting “If I Want To” and “What the World Needs Now”—concluding the album with a positive message song.  The two-CD set also includes a remastered edition of her 1998 album, Dionne Sings Dionne, which features her greatest hits, remastered for this edition. Continue reading →

Dionne Warwick – Odds & Ends: Scepter Records Rarities

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Title: Odds & Ends: Scepter Records Rarities

Artist: Dionne Warwick

Label: Real Gone Music

Format: CD

Release date: January 12, 2018

 

Dionne Warwick was one of the top vocalists of her era. Aretha might have been the “queen of soul,”  Diana Ross the original diva, Patti Labelle an icon in the gay community, Gladys Knight the leader with three males, and Chaka Khan to this day can still out sing the majority of vocalists. Yet Dionne also had a great run.

Warwick’s best years were at Scepter Records, an independent label founded by Doris Greenberg in 1959, where she scored at least 40 hits on the pop charts. With the new compilation, Odds & Ends: Scepter Records Rarities, you can hear Warwick’s big hits, some in alternate or extended versions, along with rare tracks you’ve never probably heard or even knew existed.

The set opens with an alternate take of “I Say A Little Prayer,” a song released in 1967 on Warwick’s album The Windows of the World. This is not the time to think of Aretha’s version, which came out the following year. If you listen very carefully, this track sounds like Aretha’s until the conclusion, where Warwick uses a different ending. It has the Burt Bacharach & Hal David sound all over it. Makes you wonder why Doris Greenberg didn’t release this version.

The set’s title track, “Odds & Ends,” is a song that may not be as popular as some of Warwick’s hits, but it has a catchy pop feel and great to story to go with it. Also included are songs in French, Italian and German she recorded for foreign markets. For example, two versions of “A House Is Not A Home” are included, one in Italian and one in French. The set closes with a novelty track featuring several of Warwick’s vintage radio promo spots and public service announcements.  Rounding out the package are liner notes by Joe Marchese, including an interview with Warwick, as well as rare photos.

Kudos to Dionne and to Real Gone Music for releasing this compilation of rarities.

Reviewed by Eddie Bowman