AMG Review of Make Way for Dionne Warwick

Lindsay Planer
All Music Guide

Make Way For is Dionne Warwick's third long-player for Scepter Records. The album would eventually be her first to make the charts and was undoubtedly propelled by the hits "Walk on By," "You'll Never Get to Heaven," and "Wishin' and Hopin'" -- all of which became key components of Warwick's performance repertoire. Interestingly, the latter track as well as "I Smiled Yesterday" had also been included on Warwick's debut album, Presenting Dionne Warwick. However, that didn't seem to deter listeners eager for new tunes. Warwick's musical mentors and collaborators Burt Bacharach and Hal David also presented the singer with several additional compositions that would become signature songs for other performers in the ensuing years. "(They Long to Be) Close to You" became synonymous with the Carpenters, while Dusty Springfield shared some of Warwick's notoriety with her own hit version of "Wishin' and Hopin'." The trio of tracks not derived from the voluminous Bacharach/David catalog include Jule Styne's "People," from #Funny Girl, as well as a few numbers from a pair of other well-known Brill Building teams of pop songwriters. Gerry Goffin and Carole King serve up "Make the Night a Little Longer," while the arguably lesser-known pairing of Howard Greenfield and Helen Miller offer the somewhat antiquated "Get Rid of Him."