The 1970s was a tumultuous time, full of upheaval on many fronts, from the end of the Vietnam War to the dawn of personal computers. It makes sense that its music had a similar helter-skelter feel.

I revere the late great Burt Bacharach so much that he's in the pantheon of composers of the past half century, up there with the likes of Lennon-McCartney, Stephen Sondheim and Brian Wilson. His ...