"Just one voice, singing in the darkness": The Manilow Thread

[Mel O'Drama]

Funny the things that trigger an artist getting moved back into heavy rotation.

Several weeks ago I was cleaning my cat's litter and found myself distracted by an article in the copy of The Guardian I had spread out on the floor. The gentle humour and fondness with which it was written gave me a yen to listen to Barry Manilow, as I'm wont to do from time to time.

A good number of the old standards are now in regular play: the songs I grew up listening to. Alongside them are recent favourites and tracks I haven't listened to so much. There are even some new discoveries for me. Just this morning I dug out a copy of Barry's Even Now album, bought some years ago, unplayed and forgotten about until recently. And in between some familar singles and enjoyable album tracks I came across this gem:

It's already right up there for me with the Carpenters' version.

Downloading a copy of his Spanish-language album brought a smile to my face. Hearing those tracks in an unfamiliar language took the attention from the lyrics to the arrangements and so highlighted the, ahem... similarities between arrangements of several tracks from a particular era. Is that Even Now? Or All The Time? I Write The Songs, perhaps?

But that's also the secret to Bazza's success. Apart from being a great lyricist, his strength is in knowing his range and making interesting arrangements to perfectly suit his voice. His key changes are really interesting and quite unexpected sometimes, especially when he covers familiar tracks. As my most heavily played BM track of recent years showcases perfectly:

Are there any Fanilows about the place?

 

[Ome]

He's a strange one with me.

I absolutely love Manilow Magic album, it's been with me since I was very young, yet I've tried many other times over the years but never found an album of his songs that I've enjoyed.

I did love and buy the 12" of I'm Your Man.

Somewhere in the late 90s or early 00s, I did buy a greatest hits CD, but I can't find it listed on Wiki anywhere.

 

[James from London]

I really like this one:

 

[James from London]

Another recent Guardian article tipped me off to a whole bundle of Barry goodies:

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/aug/30/barry-manilow-all-his-greatest-songs-ranked

 

[Willie Oleson]

Nice disco song from his 15 Minutes album:

 

[Mel O'Drama]

For the past week or so I've been heavily playing the 1993 version of Could It Be Magic.

I come back to this one from time to time. This time round I finally also bought the CD single to get the instrumental and 12" versions.

Today I've only just realised that this week marked the 25th anniversary of the single's release.

https://www.officialcharts.com/search/singles/could-it-be-magic-1993/

My mind is a little blown to realise that it's now over a quarter of a century old. Which is more distance than there was between the original and 1993 versions at the time of release.

 

[Willie Oleson]

I've seen the single in the record store but didn't pay much attention to it since I had already bought the Take That single a year before that - it's not their most crictically acclaimed recording, I think...

 

[Mel O'Drama]

I've seen the single in the record store but didn't pay much attention to it since I had already bought the Take That single a year before that - it's not their most crictically acclaimed recording, I think...

Indeed not, Willie. In fact I recently went off on one a little bit in the TT thread about my aversion to their CIBM cover:

TT's staccato ridden cover of Could It Be Magic has never worked for me. Especially the Rapino Mix used for the single (and so appearing in pretty much every compilation and video).

I bristle at the clipped notes and the breathy "session singer" vibe of the chorus (TT's backing vocals were removed and Billy Griffin's "temporary" vocals were left in instead).

And I just plain don't like the upward inflection with every delivery of "all of you". It's only a small thing, but it changes the whole arc of the song for me. Barry Manilow and Donna Summer saved the upwards for the last part of the song, creating a sense of increasing intensity and stimulation. Williams starts shooting all over the place before the minute mark and foreplay be damned.

Robbie - it's always felt to me - never quite "got" the song at the time. Or at least his interpretation doesn't speak to me.

On the other hand, Barry's 1993 cover of his own song kind of came off the back of the success of Take That's version, so something good came out of it at least.

 

[Willie Oleson]

so something good came out of it at least.

And the remix of Copacabana was even better. I guess both remixes were released as single to promote his 1993 Greatest Hits album.
It was kind of standard operating procedure in those days. CDs were hot and almost every week there was a new Gold/Best Of compilation.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

I remember many years ago reading that certain shopping districts were blaring out Manilow tracks over loudspeakers to discourage groups of ASBO hoodies from loitering. Now it seems Barry's music is being used to drive people away from protests in New Zealand.

Perhaps there's a compliment for him in there somewhere.

 

[Karin Schill]

The thread title made me curious what this thread was all about. The line sounded familiar somehow.

I wouldn't call myself a fan. But I did have a period when I used to listen a lot to his music back in the early 2000s. Especially in earplugs before going to sleep at night. I had trouble falling asleep and found his songs soothing.

Some of my favorites are "Somewhere down the road", "Even Now", "Copacobana", "Mandy", "If I should Love again" and "Looks Like We Made It."

 

[Mel O'Drama]

Some of my favorites are "Somewhere down the road", "Even Now", "Copacobana", "Mandy", "If I should Love again" and "Looks Like We Made It."

All good choices, Karin.

 

[darkshadows38]

i don't normally listen to him really The only thing i've listened to that he's ever done many times are the Bette Midler albums he produced in the 70's. i wonder if anyone even knew that? i know The Rose (1979) he didn't but at least her 1st 3 or 4 albums he did i believe

 

[Mel O'Drama]

This week I finally got round to importing Barry's Because It's Christmas album to iTunes. Discovering it was sequenced, I ended up spending more time with it than planned as I created "clean", shuffle-friendly versions. Within a short time, I was back on a Manilow jag, playing and replaying old favourites and discovering a couple of new ones.

Beyond a number of familiar tracks (mostly some of his better-known tracks, I must confess) I haven't really dived too deep into Barry's albums. This felt like the right time to rectify that, soooo....

Today I took the plunge and ordered no less than SIX of Bazza's albums.

Five of them are studio albums, coming from Amazon Japan since his albums are evidently out of print here and not the cheapest to buy. The ones on the way run consecutively from 1975's Tryin' To Get The Feeling through to 1980s Barry album (his first two and the rest of his Eighties albums, sadly, weren't available to order). Three of these should arrive by the end of the week. The other two will (I hope) follow in due course.

And because I couldn't wait, I also ordered Barry Live In Britain - which came back into print this year - from Amazon UK. That should be arriving tomorrow. I'm expecting some heavy-duty nostalgia with this one as it featured in my parents modest vinyl collection when I was young so was frequently-played.

I'm hoping the mastering on all six albums is decent. No credits are to be found online for the Japanese editions, but I'm hoping they'll be either based on or on a par with Mark Wilder's Manilow masterings which I like very much.

Whatever the case, I'm expecting to enjoy some old favourites and find some new ones in the coming weeks.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

Barry Live In Britain arrived yesterday:

​

Since then I've spend some time listening to it and it's certainly hitting all the nostalgia notes. A few bars in and I was back on the dining room carpet of my childhood home, listing to my parents' well-worn vinyl.

The exuberant energy and all those little fun touches are there, just as I remember them, though in a sign of impending old age I found myself getting weary of the audience members whistling loudly during applause between tracks (and even during tracks. It killed a key moment in We'll Meet Again).One or two of the gobbier ones shrieking out his name during quiet moments, as if he was there to have a one-to-one with them. Still, I found myself smiling and even chuckling at some of Barry's little quips and zingers (at one point he even makes light of the British media's preoccupation with his nose).

He's always very much in the moment with the music, which really hits hard during more poignant moments which I'm sure I appreciate more now than I did then.

Barry's talent lies not just in writing much of the music and selling it with his delivery, but also in the clever arrangements. His live performances are often arranged in a lower key than the studio versions. Much of the time I prefer these live ones, not least because it's easier for people like me, not gifted with a pop tenor voice, to sing along. But also because they still sound very right. His gift for arranging particularly shines when he gets into the medleys, cleverly making songs sound as though they've always belonged together.

Off the back of this, I ended up watching some videos of his live performances and my God, the man can sing. No auto-tune. No visual distractions. No trickery at all. Just someone who is good at their craft.

This is a wonderful one (and the concert CD features an extended version which has more of Could It Be Magic at the beginning)

I have a feeling I'll be checking out some more of his live videos in the coming days.


Four of my five studio albums are due to arrive on Friday, but that's not the end of my deep dive. Today I've ordered Intrada's newly-released - and Barry-heavy- expanded soundtrack for the 1978 film Foul Play, mixed from Paramount's original 16 track tapes. It features three versions of Copacabana, plus something like five or six versions of the film's theme, Ready To Take A Chance Again.

I must confess I'm not too familiar with the latter song, despite having one version in my library, but I can see it was nominated for an Academy Award (up against ONJ and ultimate winner Donna Summer. What a time!!). I think I'll wait to discover it when the album arrives. Incidentally, I haven't watched the film, so I wonder if this might also need to change soon. It seems to be a homage to Hitchcock, so could be fun.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

Four of the five Japanese Manilow albums have now arrived. Not entirely unblemished, unfortunately, since two of them arrived with cracked jewel cases. Fortunately, it's at the back so they're looking great from the front and side:

​

While I haven't listened to them in their entireties, I've spent a little time with each, and it's very promising so far.

The only one of these I owned on CD already is Even Now, so it's great to have the others. It's especially pleasing to have Barry since it's apparently really difficult to find a copy on CD outside of the Japanese reissue (and it invites some happy childhood memories).

It's interesting to see a "budget" Japanese CD, since they're usually so lavish with packaging. Not that they're cheap by most standards. There's just not the usual thick liner notes with lyrics and translations. I fancy the paper stock might be a little thinner, too. But since they're reissues of earlier Japanese editions, the sound quality is one area that won't suffer at all.

I haven't properly compared the sound of the versions on these CDs to other mastering but taken in isolation they sound good enough. The three Seventies albums have "2006" on the cover, so I'm still quietly hoping they might be taken from the Mark Wilder masters but I'll have to do some A/B listening to try and satisfy myself (already I've noticed One Voice has a few clicks at the beginning which aren't very noticeable on The Essential Barry Manilow). I'm not an audiophile or anything, but I knows what I likes, so if my ears are happy that'll be the decider.

Already I've heard a few classic Manilow ballads that are new to me, so I'll be spending a bit of time with them and I'll no doubt find some new favourites.


As if this isn't enough Manilow goodness, This One's For You is still to follow when it's back in stock. And I've had a tracking update that my copy of Foul Play is on the move. Still currently in Germany, but Royal Mail have it in their sights.

I really like this one:

This is one of a couple of songs that have finally properly clicked with me this week. It's had some heavy playage (for want of a better word) from me over the last few days. Even though I'm a month early, since there's still a while before October Goes for real.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

Today I've ordered Intrada's newly-released - and Barry-heavy- expanded soundtrack for the 1978 film Foul Play, mixed from Paramount's original 16 track tapes. It features three versions of Copacabana, plus something like five or six versions of the film's theme, Ready To Take A Chance Again.

Foul Play happened upon the O'Drama household this week:

It's an interesting little curio for the Manilow collection, and nice to hear the true stereo version of Ready To Take A Chance Again from the film soundtrack, since the version that appears on all Barry compilation albums is mono (albeit frequently with a fake stereo sound added). The breezier end title version is enjoyable, too.

Comparing Copacabanas was fun as well. I have a number of CDs which feature the Extended Disco Mix, and it sounds pretty good here. It's probably now the best-known version since it replaced the LP Mix on all but the earliest copies of the Even Now albums as well as most compilations. It's easy to understand why since it's sonically a vast improvement. It's good to have the LP Mix and (almost identical but for a few cuts at the end) Soundtrack Album Version. I suspect both sound as good as they can here, but on headphones they still sound a little as though they're recorded in a hangar. The Disco Mix, on the other hand, is gorgeously crisp and clear.

Incidentally, the film score was worth it. I'll save that one for another thread, but I will mention that it works Ready To Take A Chance Again into the score as well as featuring Barry's recordings. It's clear that track was written for the film, but I'm curious to know how Copacabana fits into it. I suppose I'll have to watch it to find out.


Then last night came an exciting message from Amazon Japan that my copy of This One's For You is on the way. Tracking suggests it'll arrive on Wednesday. It's worked out well that a couple weren't in stock back when I ordered the five studio albums since anticipation is part of the fun, and it means I'm pacing it out rather than overloading.

 

[Laura Avery-Sumner]

Side note: Charles Fox wrote so much music for television and movies including Love American Style and HR Pufnstuf !

 

[Mel O'Drama]

Side note: Charles Fox wrote so much music for television and movies including Love American Style and HR Pufnstuf !

Yes. I have the Wonder Woman soundtrack on CD - signed by Charles himself - and a number of the tracks sound uncannily like his work on early episodes of that: quite ballsy and with occasional disco flourishes joining the traditional orchestra.

 

[Laura Avery-Sumner]

Yes. I have the Wonder Woman soundtrack on CD - signed by Charles himself - and a number of the tracks sound uncannily like his work on early episodes of that: quite ballsy and with occasional disco flourishes joining the traditional orchestra.

If you look him up on IMDB, you'll see he has basically done EVERYTHING. it's really impressive.