We Need to Go Back: The Unissued Warner Bros. Masters

Liner Note Author: Paul Howes.
Photographer: Byron Motley.
Dionne Warwick is best known for her collaborations with songwriters and producers Burt Bacharach and Hal David on a series of hits in the mid- to late '60s on Scepter Records. Warwick left Scepter in 1971 and signed with Warner Bros. under a production deal that had Bacharach and David coming aboard as writers and producers. When the legendary songwriting team was forced to part ways after the critical and commercial failure of their musical remake of the film Lost Horizon, Warwick was not only left without the best creative team she ever worked with, she was legally forced to sue them to get out of their production deal in order to protect her own assets and recording contract. She remained with Warner Bros. until her contract was up in 1979, when she signed with Arista Records. Bacharach and David did produce one album for Warwick at Warner Bros. before troubles arose, 1972's Dionne, but she also worked with Thom Bell and the Holland-Dozier-Holland team while at Warner Bros., so while it wasn't as bright a period as her Scepter one, it was still a decent recording period for her. The label has reissued all the singles from this period, both A- and B-sides, in the original mono single mixes as The Complete Warner Bros. Singles, and this set, which features 19 tracks also recorded during the same Warner stay but never issued, is a companion of sorts to that volume. With productions from Bacharach, Bell, Holland-Dozier-Holland, and Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson, it shows that Warwick's Warner years were far more productive and creative than the pop charts of the time reflected, and it becomes a welcome addition to the Warwick legacy and catalog. ~ Steve Leggett.