In a career spanning six decades, Dionne Warwick’s massive catalog of world-renowned recordings is the kind of stuff to which only a few legends can lay claim. Just when you think you’ve witnessed all of the wonderful tricks she’s got up her sleeve, another hidden gem of a surprise surfaces and makes her talent shine even more singularly.
Bringing to light a period of Warwick’s history often noted for its lack of commercial performance (in comparison to her earlier Scepter years and later Arista output), Sure Thing: The Warner Bros. Recordings 1972-1977, is a six-CD set from SoulMusic Records comprising all of her albums for the label and a wealth of material that didn’t make the cut. Some of the latter debuted on a 2013 compilation from Real Gone Music entitled We Need to Go Back. A number of tracks which Warwick recorded with producer Tony Camillo, however, make their first official appearance on SMR’s new set.
One of those jewels is the endearing “You Are a Song,” penned by Jim Weatherly of “Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye)” fame. With a breezy rhythm section at her side, Warwick lends delightfully serene and joy-filled tones and phrasing to the sweet and sunny Sunday-morning melodies. In considerable contrast to repertoire she cut with Brian Holland and Lamont Dozier earlier in 1973 (released on her Just Being Myself LP), “You Are a Song” feels like a natural progression from much of the Burt Bacharach/Hal David-helmed compositions she made classic in the ‘60s.
It’s one of more than 75 selections on a set that is the first to give a comprehensive overview of a five-year period that is often overlooked, but not for lacking in rich and wide-ranging artistry. Check out “You Are a Song” below and enjoy one of many lost gems found on Sure Thing: The Warner Bros. Recordings 1972-1977.
Dionne Warwick – “You Are A Song”
