What took them so long? That's the only question remaining after listening to the glorious collaboration between Isley Brothers vocalist Ron Isley and songwriter Burt Bacharach. ...
A breathtaking revisit to some of the great Bacharach-David songs, "Here I Am" was produced, arranged and conducted by Bacharach and recorded in the same Capitol Records studio where Sinatra cut all his '50s classics. It not only follows up a No. 1 album by the Isley Brothers earlier this year ("Body Kiss") but also capitalizes on renewed recognition for Bacharach growing over the past several years.
Often unfairly dismissed as the unspeakably square creator of white-bread, lightweight pop, Bacharach actually cut his teeth in the rhythm and blues world, making bold, innovative records with Dionne Warwick, Chuck Jackson, the Shirelles, Tommy Hunt and other black vocalists who recorded for the same label at the same time the Isley Brothers were making hits such as "Twist and Shout" and "Nobody But Me."
On "Here I Am," the signature vocals of Isley, who first sang his way onto the best-seller charts in 1959 with the immortal "Shout," meet such classic Bacharach standards as "Alfie," "The Look of Love," "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head" and "Anyone Who Had a Heart."
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"Here I Am" is already an album for the ages and probably one of the great late-night albums ever. Check it out around midnight with the lights down low.
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