Very Best of Burt Bacharach [Rhino]

Includes liner notes by Patrick Milligan & Alec Cumming.
Digitally remastered by Andrew Garver & Bill Inglot.
Audio Remasterers: Andrew Garver; Bill Inglot.
Arrangers: Larry Wilcox; Bob Alcivar; Bill Holman; Bones Howe; Burt Bacharach; Carole Bayer Sager.
A handy single-disc consolidation of the three-disc box set THE LOOK OF LOVE, THE VERY BEST OF BURT BACHARACH drops the rarities and oddities for a 16-track blast of nothing but the biggest hits, over a third of which are sung by Bacharach and Hal David's premier vocal partner, Dionne Warwick. Other singers include Gene Pitney, the Shirelles, Dusty Springfield, and Christopher Cross, all of them performing some of the finest songs of their careers. Best of all for the most easy-listening-averse fans--none of the songs come from Bacharach's 1960s and '70s albums for A&M Records, on which it's made clear that the best songwriters are not always the best singers. Only the lack of Warwick's "Promises, Promises," perhaps the trio's most exemplary work together, keeps THE VERY BEST OF BURT BACHARACH from being perfect.