Please
Click Here To Purchase from Amazon
RELEASED
OCTOBER 2002 ON UNIVERSAL MUSIC
THE
HEART & SOUL OF BERT BERNS
Featuring
the 10 classic Bert Berns' songs:
1.
ARE YOU
LONEYLY FOR ME BABY (Freddie
Scott)
2. EVERYBODY
NEEDS SOMEBODY TO LOVE (Solomon
Burke)
3. BABY
COME ON HOME (Hoagy Lands)
4. CRY
BABY (Garnet Mimms)
5. I DON'T
WANT TO GO ON WITHOUT YOU (The
Drifters)
6. PIECE
OF MY HEART (Erma Franklin)
7. YOU'LL
NEVER LEAVE HIM (The Isley
Brothers)
8. CRY
TO ME (Solomon Burke)
9. WHITE
GARDENIA (Hoagy Lands)
10. TWIST
AND SHOUT (The Isley Brothers) |
FROM
THE LINER NOTES:
"He
is responsible for some of the most enduring classics
of sixties pop and soul: "Twist and Shout." "Under
The Boardwalk." "Brown Eyed Girl." "Piece
Of My Heart." "Everybody Needs Somebody To Love."
The artists he fostered cast major shadows across the
music world: Van Morrison, Neil Diamond, Solomon Burke,
Ben E. King, The Drifters, The Isley Brothers, The McCoys.
On a breakneck, seven-year run beginning in 1960, he created
some of the most soulful and honest music of his generation
- songs that made you shiver the first time you heard
them, songs that are just as fresh and moving today. He
is truly the lost titan of the American music business,
an important figure the world knows little about. It's
long past time his brilliance was recognized."
- Doug
Morris, from the liner notes to The
Heart And Soul Of Bert Berns
RECENT
REVIEWS:
"This
ten-song collection -- assembled and released by Universal
Music Group macher Doug Morris -- reveals a songwriter who
could communicate real pain and longing but still deliver
a pop hook, searingly on tracks such as Garnet Mimms' "Cry
Baby" and Erma Franklin's "Piece of My
Heart." Songs like Freddie Scott's "Are
You Lonely for Me Baby" and Hoagy Lands' "Baby
Come On Home" are guaranteed to put a tear in your
beer; Berns also wrote some all-time party standards, including
Solomon Burke's "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love"
and the Isley Brothers' "Twist and Shout."
-
Rolling
Stone
...
"Aside
from being an indispensable collection of pop standards,
the disc aims and succeeds at bringing Berns' accomplishments
to light, finally giving the visionary producer and songwriter
his due, 40 years after his career began...The Heart and
Soul...just scratches the surface, but does so effectively
and persuasively, allowing the music and songwriting to
speak for itself...This beautifully remastered, classic
set is a wonderful start."
-
AV
GUIDE (Film/Music Recommendations)
...
"There
was only one reason why I decided to put this album together,
and that was to celebrate the music and life that was Bert
Berns. He was one of the few people in the music business
who did in fact change the world through his talent; he
made a virtue of being different, and everyone from the
Rolling Stones to the Beatles recognized this and wanted
to be part of it. What this record really is then is a monument
to the extraordinary vision and impact of one man."
"In
this business, you put out records all the time by artists
you love and that you hope will sell a lot, but this is
probably the first time I've ever been involved in a record
that I don't care if it sells. It's my way of paying Bert
back for all he gave me. I hope this illuminates his career,
that people will understand who he was. Everybody knows
his music, but they don't know him."
-
Doug
Morris, Universal Music Group chairman/CEO
...
"Many
of these tracks were hits in their day, but some are relatively
obscure now, and they are so striking you may find yourself
listening to them over and over, marveling at their construction."
"The
most impressive thing about the recordings is the masterful
way Berns shifted emotional tones. Most of the songs are
grand tales of romantic desperation featuring an instrumental
tension that builds slowly with defiant horns and insistent
drums, then gives way to explosive vocal release. There
are lots of references to lonely rooms, tears and regret."
-
Robert Hilburn, Los
Angeles Times
...
"The
brilliance in Berns' ears can be heard in tune after tune
in this tribute: the yearning "Are You Lonely for Me
Baby" by the great Freddie Scott; Solomon Burke's deep
soul sermons "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love"
and "Cry To Me," both of which would be covered
by the Rolling Stones; "Twist and Shout," heard
here in the original Isley Brothers version; the passionate
Garnet Mimms hit "Cry Baby," one of the best soul
singles of the '60s; and the original "Piece of My
Heart," recorded by Detroit's Erma Franklin."
-
Terry Lawson, Detroit
Free Press
...
"Each
of the 10 tracks on "Heart and Soul" is great.
Burke, the Isleys and the Drifters are all represented.
However, the real finds are tracks by the lesser-known Garnet
Mimms ("Cry Baby") and Hoagy Lands, though the
latter's "Baby Come on Home" was apparently taken
from an original 45-rpm or a poor quality tape...Yet the
real problem with the disc is that it is just too short.
This is only a teasing glimpse of a great talent's contribution
to music."
-
Wayne Bledsoe, Knox
News
...
"Sound
Investments: Solomon Burke, The Isley Brothers, Erma Franklin,
and other legends sing on The Heart & Soul of Bert Berns,
a celebration of the legendary songwriter who co-wrote the
classics "Piece Of My Heart, "Cry baby"
and "Twist & Shout."
-
Vanity Fair (November 2002)
...
"The
Heart & Soul of Bert Berns just scratches the surface,
but does so effectively and persuasively, allowing the music
and songwriting to speak for itself."
-
Bob Gendron, The
Absolute Sound
...
"You
hear strange, astonishingly delicate bits of instrumentation
-- guitar triplets, a hesitating piano, room to breathe
all through the arrangements -- that produce the feeling
that the great voices Berns recorded were not quite of this
earth."
-
Salon.Com
...
