Barry Manilow records

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This was one of the first CD's I bought back in the early 1980's ... you could still find copies, most artists were sold out during the 80's CD craze ... at the particular location I was residing at the time. I like the GH album & still listen in the car (Ipod) from time to time.

When I got back into Vinyl (2000) ... remember buying some BM albums (some sealed) at thrifts... but don't recall how they sounded. At some point,
I must have traded them all, because I don't have any left.
 
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Barry Manilow's style is bright, dynamic, and bombastic. And bass light. It is what it is. The better your system is, the more the shortcomings are revealed.
 
Last winter I listened to side 1 of about 500 albums. This winter is goona be side 2. A woman I know who got divorced said she had about 30 albums she didn't listen to. So bought her a fifth of of peach schnapps for the albums. 80's albums and 2/3rds were ok. The other third were all BM albums. They were one of the last ones I listened to intermixed with some reader's digest collections I acquired somehow. Playing side 2 of all the albums begins in a week or so. Gonna mix them up better so I don't have to hear all those back to back. :eek:

You mean you've already endured listening to the first side of ten Barry Manilow records??? And now you're going to be listening to the other side of them???? Are you being forced to do this by some masochistic religious cult which is holding you captive?????? If you secretly give us your location, a rescue team will be sent out to you immediately . . . ;)
 
The closest analogy I can think of is when I had to change my kids diaper for the first time. Never had to clean his butt cause there were enough mothers in the apartment complex I lived in at the time who always felt sorry for the kid having a full diaper. Until that first time when there was nobody else around and I had to do it. Got easier to stomach the more you did it.
 
Wow, I never have seen such a huge amount of DB comments on one thread on AK and that is saying a lot. Music is so subjective and I rarely comment on others taste in music because I am smart enough to know that what sounds good to me may not sound good to others. When I was newly married (for the first time) in 1988 my mother wanted to go see Barry and paid for my wife and I to go with her. I had liked his big hits in the 70s (it was always on in the car) but would have never paid to see one of his concerts. I have seen hundreds of concerts in my life from classical to blues to rock to ballet and that concert I saw back then rates in the top five. It was incredible. He was funny, charming and his voice sounded just great. At one point he asked the audience "Raise your hand if you were forced to come here tonight???" There were a lot of raised hands...then he said "Are you sorry you came?" and the crowd screamed "NOOOOOO!" Another cool thing he did was take somebody from the audience to come up on stage and sing "Cant Smile Without You" with him.....as they were singing together the production crew was filming it on VHS. When the song was over he took the tape, autographed it and gave it to her. It was a cool and classy thing to do to make somebody feel great. I have seen a lot of concerts where the headliner acted like the audience was there to do them a favor. He always put 100% into his live shows from back then and before and when he had his Vegas shows. Compare that work ethic to a bunch of stumbling burn outs and buttholes like Van Halen's last tour proved them to be.

The guy may not be for everybody, but he sold millions of records to many happy fans. He also wrote and arranged many many albums for some of the biggest names in the business over the years. He may not be my favorite but I dont mind a Manilow song once in a while, just like I do the Carpenters and other soft stuff from the 70s.......its a nice change.
 
Never was a big fan of Barry Manilow. His Paradise Café recording, which I bought on LP format years ago, is surprisingly good. Of particular interest to me was the guitar work of Mundell Lowe since I'm a fan of Mundell's and that jazz guitar style. The rest of Barry Manilow's works I can take or leave; mostly leave. OPG.
 
Never was a big fan of Barry Manilow. His Paradise Café recording, which I bought on LP format years ago, is surprisingly good. Of particular interest to me was the guitar work of Mundell Lowe since I'm a fan of Mundell's and that jazz guitar style. The rest of Barry Manilow's works I can take or leave; mostly leave. OPG.
Odd coincidence about Lowe.
I read your comment, and then I just read a moment ago on another site that he passed away a couple of days ago.
RIP Mundell.
 
Since reading this thread, I have been listening to Paradise Cafe on Spotify and it is a pretty cool collection, I like the stripped down sound that was a big change from the usual Manilow sound. I like it so far. "Blue" with Sarah Vaughan is truly excellent.
 
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...... once in a while, just like I do the Carpenters and other soft stuff from the 70s.......its a nice change.

As I was going through and cleaning a bunch of albums I came across my wife's Carpenters LPs. While the music is not particularly my cup of tea, the are very well recorded and sounded nice. Of course, I find that a lot of stuff that has been played to death on radio sounds good and different on a nice system.
 
As I was going through and cleaning a bunch of albums I came across my wife's Carpenters LPs. While the music is not particularly my cup of tea, the are very well recorded and sounded nice. Of course, I find that a lot of stuff that has been played to death on radio sounds good and different on a nice system.

Richard Carpenter was really into having cutting edge tech in the Carpenters recordings. Herb Alpert gave him the space and money to achieve it. (The "A" in A&M records) Few recordings from the early 70s sound as good.
 
As I was going through and cleaning a bunch of albums I came across my wife's Carpenters LPs. While the music is not particularly my cup of tea, the are very well recorded and sounded nice. Of course, I find that a lot of stuff that has been played to death on radio sounds good and different on a nice system.
Funny that you mention the Carpenters in a Barry Manilow thread. These are the two groups that got me into music :)

I was (unfortunatley) raised in a strict christian home. I wasn´t allowed to listen to ANY "worldly" music; but somehow, I got my mom to at least accept me listening to these two groups; after she checked the lyrics, of course.

I quickly moved on to Hard Rock and Heavy Metal.

By coincidence, 2 weeks ago on a saturday night, after some classical music, Pink Floyd and a few beers, I watched a few Barry Manilow videos on youtube :)
 
Barry Manilow's style is bright, dynamic, and bombastic. And bass light. It is what it is. The better your system is, the more the shortcomings are revealed.
I think Barry's 1970s recordings were equalized to sound best on AM radio, since that's where most of his music ended up -- he likely didn't get much airplay on the FM album rock stations of the time. In fact, the characteristics I hear in his recordings -- lots of compression, treble boost, and reverb -- and the same kind of audio processing that AM stations were using back then.
 
Get "Swing Street"...excellent. And the 12" single of "Brooklyn Blues" from that LP will make your system shine.

Brooklyn Blues was the standout track from that album- and it's a great album. I have it on CD, bought it years ago.

There's Tom Scott, Diane Schuur etc on that album along with Barry.

PS: there's absolutely nothing 'cool' about bashing Barry Manilow- 50+ years in music, 47 top 40 singles, 12 number ones, 75million+ records sold. I don't listen much to his music, but I have a few discs I've picked up over the years.
 
When I saw him in 1988 (at the first Arco Arena) his show was so long he had an intermission. When the lights went down for the second half, a spotlight went on showing him at his piano.....when he hit the first few notes of "Mandy" the entire place went up in a roar like I have never heard at a concert before or since. The building literally shook. The guys voice was so good and honest I was won over for a lifetime. When an artist puts out that much effort into a show, one has to give him credit and Barry gave it everything he had. There are few of the old time entertainers that still put on those type of shows.
 
Brooklyn Blues was the standout track from that album- and it's a great album. I have it on CD, bought it years ago.

There's Tom Scott, Diane Schuur etc on that album along with Barry.

PS: there's absolutely nothing 'cool' about bashing Barry Manilow- 50+ years in music, 47 top 40 singles, 12 number ones, 75million+ records sold. I don't listen much to his music, but I have a few discs I've picked up over the years.

Other artists that have sold that many albums and been around a very long time are Alvin and the Chipmunks and Slim Whitman. Just not my cup of tea.
 
I’m not a huge Manilow fan, but I do have the Live album. It’s not bad.

I also have two copies of the only album his backup singers — Lady Flash — recorded. It’s all over the map stylistically, from Motown to gospel to straight pop. But it has a couple of great cuts. I wore out those two — “Street Singin’” and a wonderful cover of a Sutherland Brothers and Quiver song, “Arms of Mary.”
 
I'll eagerly admit to enjoying his music. A friend made me take her to see Barry back in 2003 or 2004, and the show was terrific. Many a vocalist could take lessons from him on how not to destroy your voice. He sounded nearly exactly as he did back in the 70s. He was charming, extremely self-effacing (must have made at least 3 jokes about breaking his nose earlier that year), and the band was tight. I was happy I attended, and the other people around us were fun to talk to (and almost every guy there said he was 'dragged' there).

I've always liked this type of music, being brought up on a steady diet of the Partridge Family, Petula Clark, and the Carpenters.
 
I'll eagerly admit to enjoying his music. A friend made me take her to see Barry back in 2003 or 2004, and the show was terrific. Many a vocalist could take lessons from him on how not to destroy your voice. He sounded nearly exactly as he did back in the 70s. He was charming, extremely self-effacing (must have made at least 3 jokes about breaking his nose earlier that year), and the band was tight. I was happy I attended, and the other people around us were fun to talk to (and almost every guy there said he was 'dragged' there).

I've always liked this type of music, being brought up on a steady diet of the Partridge Family, Petula Clark, and the Carpenters.

People that bash him should have seen one of his shows......like was said above, they were a total scream, worth every single penny.
 
People that bash him should have seen one of his shows......like was said above, they were a total scream, worth every single penny.

I don't doubt for a minute that he's highly professional, charming, entertaining, personally likable, etc., and that the musicians are skilled and precise, etc.; it's just that the musical results are still excruciating to me. ;)
 
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