When you hear a Burt Bacharach/Hal David song, you can tell the penmanship immediately without prior knowledge. In a sea of samey oldies music, these tunes stand out with their chanson-jazz inspired sound, in arrangement and composition. Not a finer example of this is “Make It Easy on Yourself”.
A rarity, this version features, Bacharach singing himself.
Starting with only vocals and piano, the bones of the song are left visible, revealing
that even without a lavish wall-of-sound arrangement, that the song still
stands up. But for the chorus, drums strings and bass enter the arrangement building
a huge climax, beautifully reduced for the “breaking up” section, with a delay
pedal guitar and a harp providing intrigue.
The second verse begins with a dramatic cello countermelody
and a delightful tap tap tap of the snare drum driving the rhythm section. The
chorus plays twice, the first with a new slate of lyrics, and the second with the
refrain of “make it easy on yourself”. At the end of the chorus comes a
reduction, but this time it sounds much more resolute, leading into an outro.
I find the outro of this recording to be very beautiful,
alternating between neutral chords it never resolves as harps and horns add
variety. The fade out ending and lack of resolution reinforces the lyrics,
commenting on the difficulties of ending a relationship to pursue another.
Final Rating: (8/10)
Comparative Ranking List
1. Rachmaninov Prelude in G (Original): 9/10
2. Hollywood Heart: 8/10
3. Make It Easy on Yourself 8/10
4. Rachmaninov Prelude in G (VSO): 5/10
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