Burt Bacharach: The First Book of Songs 1954-1958

Burt Bacharach revolutionized popular songwriting, employing a previously unimagined technical sophistication that would find full expression in the sixties when with an astonishing run of unforgettable hits, he and his lyricist partner Hal David, ruled the pop charts. The Prince of popular music, Bacharach was now respected by everyone from Brian Wilson to Bill Evans to Frank Zappa, but his early years had been ones of struggle and frustrating compromise. This collection offers fascinating glimpses of an eclectic apprenticeship that culminated in the landmark first hits Magic Moments and The Story of My Life . Indispensable to all Burt Bacharach completists around the World, a collection of all of his early songs, performed by popular artists from Tony Bennett to Patti Page to Johnny Mathis, including the breakthrough Perry Como and Marty Robbins hits and a great many impossible rarities including Burt's own first solo single Searching Wind / Roseanne .