9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Awesome Collection of Barry Material 1977-1988!, January 7, 2008
This review is from: Barry Manilow - The First Television Specials (DVD)
Where was I ????? I grew up during these shows and cannot believe I missed them all, somehow! Geeze. Oh well, I'm here now! Never too late. This is a 5-DVD boxed set of award winning TV specials, broken down by disc and listed below. Special guests on these shows include: Ray Charles, John Denver, Dionne Warwick, and Kid Creole and The Coconuts, and others. The first show airing on March 2, 1977 (my birthday--I was 28--that means Barry would have been 34 during this first special). It was filmed at the Ravinia Festival in Highland Park, Illinois and won the Emmy for Outstanding Music Special. It includes a guest appearance by Penny Marshall (Laverne & Shirley) (If you can't remember which girl was which, Penny was the blond). This package is laid out nicely. Folding out into 5 individual disc holders, each section lists the songs on the disc and explains a bit about that particular show. I did not time all the DVDs but I understand they aired as one-hour specials, so they are probably about 45 minutes each, which would total almost 4 hours of entertainment! (In the OLD DAYS, we only had about 15 minutes of commercials per one-hour show.)
"The First Barry Manilow Special" (1977)
begins with a clip of tiny Barry and Grandpop taking him to the "record-your-own-voice" studio, which you may have heard about in Barry concerts and in some of his CDs. He is forever grateful to Grandpop for caring for him and his Mom and for recognizing the musical ability in B long before B recognized it in himself. The show moves quickly into a clip pf "It's A Miracle" in concert. Barry is in a blue-sequined stretchy outfit that showcases his baby-blue eyes. His shoulder-length curly brown hair is bopping all over the stage. Next is B in a beautiful shade of blue denim jacket, singing "This One's for You" with so much feeling, so much passion. Close ups are great, too. With tinted aviator glasses and in bell-bottom jeans, B talks about his "roots" and how he started in New Jersey on a little piano. He moves into a routine with Penny Marshall as a bartenress and he as the piano player. After Penny leaves the set and closes the bar for the night, he stays, playing "Could It Be Magic?". A fan is blowing on him as you see his curly brown hair blowing around on his left side. More great close-ups of those baby blues on "Mandy" next, B in a beautiful British-styled long-coat white tuxedo. "Jump Shout Boogie Medley" is next, which includes the very jazzy "Cloudburst". How on earth can he sing that fast (you know, where you sound like an auctioneer)? Next is "Bandstand Boogie" With Penny Marshall dressed as one of B's ladies, she sings and dances with the act. They even do a boogie-woogie dance number together. "A Very Strang Medley" follows, sometimes referred to as VSM. These are jingles that B did for commercials. Included are the jingles B wrote for Kentucky Fried Chicken, State Farm Insurance, Stridex, Bandaids, Dr. Pepper, Pepsi, and McDonalds. Oh, God! There are bubbles coming up from the floor on the finale!--just like Lawrence Welk! (Am I telling my age or what!) "New York City Rhythm" follows with a video clip of Barry walking around Manhattan and Times' Square. He walks into an apartment in a brownstone and begins singing "Sandra" as an observer to the life of the lady in the apartment. This is a song of a very depressed woman who drinks too much--sad song. It's done in a way where he tells her story in song. "Early Morning Strangers" is next, set in what you perceive as his apartment, as he again sings as though he is telling you a story about people who spend their nights together but don't really know each other in the morning--"It's no good to live without love. Bye, bye, Baby", he sings. "I Write the Songs" is the end of disc 1 and B explains that [the Spirit of] MUSIC (not B) writes the songs that makes the whole world sing. Great close ups of those baby blues again, B wearing a pretty blue shirt. Then we flip into a concert setting of the same song, B in a white sequined shirt and white heeled 70s shoes, ending with a final shot of young B and Grandpop as the credits roll. Some of the material in this disc I have on various Barry CDs. It's great to see a visual of the performances.
"The Second Barry Manilow Special" (1978)
This one begins with Barry's very proud mom in a taxi bragging about her son to the driver. This special aired on ABC in 1978 and received 4 Emmy nominations. Barry begins, singing "Beautiful Music" and telling how music has helped him over the years. He is speaking from a large theater in California. Ooooo.Wait till you see the absolutely ADORABLE clip on "Daybreak". Oh, this is just too awesome. We have a light blue jean, purple Brooklyn sweat-shirted Barry singing and bringing in children singing it, then switching to senior citizens, and culminating with cartoon characters, like singing butterflies, and then everybody. He's funny in this clip, too. Oh, his beagle "Bagel" is in this one, too. He even gets smacked in the head with a prop. "I Was A Fool (To Let You Go)" is a 40s style song and he and 4 backup singers dress as 40's crooners to sing it, costumes, and choreography included. "Copacabana" starts with B in sweatshirt and jeans and transforms into a full scale lavish production, complete with Zigfield stairs and costumery. Barry is hopping around like a little boy with a wild silver frilly shirt and blue Adidas tennis shoes. Ray Charles makes a special appearance, singing "One of These Days," a beautiful song written by. . . guess who? (hint--BM). Barry performs "It's A Miracle" as an upbeat duet with Ray Charles next--slightly different than usually performed. Love that sweater on B, too. He's got some neat lookin' outfits in this collection of DVDs. "Tryin' To Get The Feelin' Again" is done solo, B back in jeans and sweatshirt. Oh my Lord, you should see Barry dressed nerdishly in the next scene. I didn't recognize him until he started talking. In the routine, he and a girl keep saying the wrong things to each other, as two people who both think nobody likes them. Then we flash to current 1978 Barry and he sings "All The Time," as though he is remembering a time when he was not adorable. (Yeah, right!--Nice try, Barry!) Next, we see the filled theater with B at his white piano, singing "Can't Smile Without You" as the audience claps along. The crowd goes wild as he begins the last number, "Looks Like We Made It". They scream off and on throughout the song and hand him flowers, a stuffed Snoopy dog, and a standing ovation at the end of the concert.
"The Third Barry Manilow Special" (1979)
Begins with Barry as a not-so-good student driver in the Hollywood Hills, with traffic backed up for miles. You will probably recognize the instructor as a bit-part actor, too from old shows, like maybe "Twilight Zone". Then the performance starts with B in a gorgeous baby blue sequined outfit singing "Ready to Take a Chance Again" while the crowd screams. B does a little Q & A session, then sings "Weekend in New England".
"(Why Don't We Try) A Slow Dance" is next, done as a Doo-Whop song. Oh, Lordy! Here's B in large framed glasses and a red & green large plaid shirt--something you would wear to fix the pickets on the fence. Next, he goes into a broadway type production of "I Write the Songs," in a conga line and continuing with a great comedy/musical/dance routine. The late great melodious John Denver appears, singing
"What's On Your Mind". Barry continues in red boots, performing the "Everly Brothers Medley" duet with John--"Bye, Bye, Love" "Kathy's Clown" "Let It Be Me" "Until I Kissed Ya" "Hey Bird Dog" "Wake Up Little Suzie" "All I Have to Do is Dream".
"Copacabana" is next, Barry in all white with gold tie and gold suspenders. He sits on the stage steps to sing the BM classic "Even Now". The final song is the eternally sensual "Somewhere In the Night" sung by B as he plays the pretty white piano. The blue lighting accents those baby blues on the close ups.
"One Voice" (1980)
The first Barry special of the 80s begins with age 37 Barry in what appears to be a black satin shirt and trousers with a black velour jacket, singing "You Could Show Me. He calls this his "low-key opening". The so-hot-it's-on-fire "Whose Been Sleeping In my Bed" follows, one of my favorites. He peels off the jacket and wiggles in the tight trousers a lot. Another of my favorites is next, "Rain". I love the plunk-plunk rain drop sound on this one, along with B's singing, of course. B sits at the piano to perform most of the ever-so-pretty "When I Wanted You". A WWII clip shows B dressed as a sailor on a ship singing "I Don't Wanna Walk Without You". Oooooo, this is one of my MOST favorites. I just adore this song. He also does a tap dance routine of a respectable length in the sailor suit, as though he is day-dreaming it from the ship's belly. "We'll Meet Again" is next, which he has done for his London audience on one of my CDs. He tells us the song came from England and was about those separated from their families during that war. WWII clips follow as B sings the song and he says he hopes it [war] doesn't have to happen again. Dionne Warwick sings a high-powered "After You," then follows with two back-to-back duets with Barry playing piano and singing, "Déjà vu" and "I'll Never Love This Way Again". Barry solos next on "Sunday Father and Son," an emotional song about a father who lives for the Sundays when he gets to spend time with his little boy. He candidly talks about how he grew up without his father and how he saw him years later, one last time. It sounded like a very cold meeting from his father, but who knows what the man really thought in his heart. I think that just maybe he was very proud of B but just didn't want to...
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