AMG Review of 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of Burt Bacharach

Heather Phares
All Music Guide

20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of Burt Bacharach collects a dozen mostly instrumental versions of some of the pop composer's best-known works, including "The Look of Love," "What the World Needs Now Is Love," and "I Say a Little Prayer." The lush '60s arrangements make this album a collection of retro mood music of the highest order, but anyone expecting a distillation of The Look of Love box set -- i.e., a collection of the definitive vocal performances of Bacharach's songs -- from this compilation will be disappointed. Still, the album delivers first-rate instrumental pop, reaffirming that Bacharach's music works equally well with or without vocals.