Happy 50th: Dionne Warwick, THE WINDOWS OF THE WORLD

50 years ago today, Dionne Warwick released her eighth studio album, an LP which kicked off with a song which would prove to be one of the most iconic singles of her long career.

Produced – as ever (at least at the time) – by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, THE WINDOWS OF THE WORLD featured a number of songs which would go on to become ‘60s classics, not to mention one which would prove to be an ‘80s classic, if not one by Ms. Warwick. We’ll get to that in just a moment, but first let’s talk about the title track. Although “The Windows of the World” was only a minor hit for Warwick, she declared in a 2002 interview with Jet that it was, in fact, her favorite of all of her singles, which is really saying something when you consider how many singles she’s released over the course of her career.

During the same session that she recorded “The Windows of the World,” Warwick also laid down a the song we referenced in the previous paragraph, the one that would become an ‘80s classic: “(There’s) Always Something There to Remind Me.” In the UK, the track was initially best known for the version that Sandie Shaw turned into a hit in the ‘60s, but two decades later, it was a duo called Naked Eyes who transformed it into a synth-pop smash. And what of that iconic single we mentioned in the opening paragraph? Well, that would be “I Say a Little Prayer,” which put Warwick back into the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time in over a year.

THE WINDOWS OF THE WORLD features other enjoyable tracks as well, including some unexpected covers, including “Somewhere” (from West Side Story), “What’s Good About Goodbye” (originally performed in the 1948 film Casbah), and “You’re Gonna Hear from Me,” which originated in the 1965 film Inside Daisy Clover. It’s those aforementioned singles, however, that have truly made the album one for the ages.