Dionne Warwick - Dionne, Burt and Hal: The Definitive Songbook, Volume 6: 1972-1985 (A Mike Solof Guest Post)

Things changed drastically for this volume of all the songs written by Hal David and Burt Bacharach and sung by Dionne Warwick. Since the start of Warwick’s hit-making years in 1963, she was signed to Scepter Records. She was their biggest star by far. But in 1971, her contract ended and she signed a new deal with Warner Brothers Records. (Scepter Records went bankrupt a couple of years later.)

For her first album on her new label, released in 1972, all seemed well, because all the songs were written by Bacharach and David. But in 1973, the two songwriters wrote the songs for the movie “Lost Horizon,” without Warwick’s involvement. This turned out to be a disaster. The movie was a flop and so was the soundtrack. But worst of all, Bacharach and David had a falling out during the making of the soundtrack. They wouldn’t write songs together for many years, and both of them had much less success without the other one. To make matters worse, Warwick’s new record company expected her to have most of her songs written by Bacharach and David. When that couldn’t happen anymore, that resulted in more lawsuits, including Warwick suing the songwriting duo.

The first seven songs are from 1972. The eighth song is from 1977, but was written in the 1960s. Warwick didn’t have much success without Bacharach and David for most of the 1970s, but she resumed having hits in 1979. 

In 1985, she resumed performing some songs written by Bacharach, but not David, since Bacharach and David wouldn’t reconcile until later. Instead, Bacharach was cowriting songs with Carole Bayer Sager at the time. The rest of the songs here are written by those two, from 1985. One of those songs,”That’s What Friends Are For,” was a massive hit, helped by Warwick being joined by some other big stars. Not only did it reach Number One in the U.S., it was the biggest selling song in 1986. 

079 Be Aware (Dionne Warwick)
080 [They Long to Be] Close to You (Dionne Warwick)
081 Hasbrook Heights (Dionne Warwick)
082 I Just Have to Breathe (Dionne Warwick)
083 If You Never Say Goodbye (Dionne Warwick)
084 The Balance of Nature (Dionne Warwick)
085 One Less Bell to Answer (Dionne Warwick)
086 Early Morning Strangers (Dionne Warwick)
087 That's What Friends Are For (Dionne Warwick, Elton John, Gladys Knight & Stevie Wonder)
088 Extravagant Gestures (Dionne Warwick)
089 Finder of Lost Loves (Dionne Warwick)
090 How Long (Dionne Warwick)
091 Stay Devoted (Dionne Warwick)
092 Stronger than Before (Dionne Warwick)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/WhQyxWML

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/RONL3G67je3SCOq/file

The cover photo shows her at the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, on February 9, 1972.