Customer Reviews

"Barry Manilow - Greatest Hits, Vol. 1"

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The two stars are not because of the music...Arista has done Barry Manilow and his fans a terrible disservice with this rip-off CD and its two companions. Ten songs each, each guaranteed to leave off plenty of favorites. Plus, the beginning of "Mandy" on this is hissy and it uses the (non-hit) studio version of "Daybreak." The hit version came from "Barry Manilow Live." I had to look around to find the out-of-print CD version of the vinyl greatest hits album from 1978, which had 18 tracks. (The original Greatest Hits Vol. 2, also replaced by these atrocities, covered the hits from 1979-1983). Better as well to look for the British import "The Songs 1975-1990" than to reward Arista U.S. for its greed.

When it comes to Barry Manilow, he often gets unfair deal when it comes to both the critics and the publics. In addition to being a terrific vocalist, pianist, songwriter, and arranger - Barry Manilow provides the ability to entertain. Much of this comes from the excellent songwriting (whether it's Manilow's or third party) and the passion that is delivered by Barry Manilow. Manilow's career spans more than 30 years - but the peak of Manilow's career came in the early years of his career that took place in the mid 1970s. While there are many Greatest Hits compilations that are available by Barry Manilow. While Barry Manilow had already released some greatest hits collections, in 1989 Barry would release three CDs. I'm not sure what the logic is behind these re-compilations. While there is still good Barry Manilow music on this collection, I would question why this would be the set you would get.

One thing that makes Barry Manilow's music special is his ability to work the song and "build it to a climax/crescendo". The music group Air Supply employed a similar approach with many of their songs. Like Air Supply, Manilow does a fabulous job at building the song to this "climax". It was during the "peak" period of the mid 1970s where Manilow did this better than he ever did. It is worth listening to the "build up" to a "climax" in many of the Manilow songs such as "Mandy", "Looks Like We Made It", "Daybreak", and "Can't Smile Without You". While Barry didn't write all of these songs, his style works just as well to "build up" the song as it did with the songs he wrote.

The naming of this collection is something that is going to be very confusing. In 1989, Arista Records came out with three new "Greatest Hits" collections, Barry Manilow already had already released two Greatest Hits CDs. In 1978 Barry Manilow released a widely popular Greatest Hits collection called "Barry Manilow Greatest Hits" (I'll call this "Greatest Hits (1978)" to keep the names straight). This would cover Barry's material over his first seven albums through 1978. Five years later, Barry would release a follow-on collection called "Barry Manilow Greatest Hits Volume II" (I'll call this one "Greatest Hits Vol II (1983)") that would basically contain 11 songs that were done on albums following the 1978 release. Now along comes the three new "Greatest Hits" CDs (which I will call "Greatest Hits Vol 1, 2, 3 (1989)"), and they immediately use a similar naming convention - very confusing.

However, what I don't like is there really seems to be no rhyme or reason for how the "Greatest Hits Vol 1, 2, or 3" were assembled. It seems that "Greatest Hits (1978) was split over 1989's "Greatest Hits Vol 1 and 2" and "Greatest Hits Vol II" was the basis for "Greatest Hits Vol 3" - with a few exceptions here and there. At least with "Greatest Hits (1978)" and "Greatest Hits Vol II (1983)", you could basically look at it and say "Greatest Hits (1978) will provide Manilow's best work prior to 1978 and "Greatest Hits Vol II (1983)" will provide Manilow's best work from 1978 through 1983. That is not the case with the 1989 CDs as the Manilow tracks are shuffled. As a result getting one of these CDs might not give you the Manilow songs you want unless you purchase one of the other two volumes.

Focusing on "Greatest Hits Volume 1 (1989)", most of the songs come from the period prior to 1978. In fact, there is only one post 1978 song and that is "Some Kind of Friend" which is from Manilow's 1982 "Here Comes the Night" album. If you look at the 10 tracks on "Greatest Hits Volume 1 (1989)", you will see that the first 9 tracks resemble the order of the tracks on "Greatest Hits (1978)". With the exception of "Ready to Take a Chance Again", the order of 9 of the first 10 tracks on "Greatest Hits (1978) is exactly the same as the order of the first 9 tracks on "Greatest Hits Volume 1 (1983)". The 10th track is "Some Kind of Friend".

In addition to the "Greatest Hits (1978)" and "Greatest Hits Vol II (1983)", there are two other Barry Manilow collections worth considering:

"Ultimate Manilow": This is a 2002 release of 20 tracks. Once again most of the tracks are from "Greatest Hits (1978)" and "Greatest Hits Vol II (1983)". There are actually three key tracks that aren't a part of this collection: "New York City Rhythm", "All the Time", and "Beautiful Music". Those three tracks happen to be found on "Greatest Hits (1978)"

"The Essential Barry Manilow": This is the most comprehensive collection that is available in one package. This Barry Manilow release contains 34 tracks. While this may contain more songs than several of the other Greatest Hits collections, it is still missing one track - "All the Time".

Another thing that I don't like about "Greatest Hits Volume 1 (1989)" is that the tracks are not arranged in chronological order. With Greatest Hits collections, I prefer the tracks to be arranged in chronological order. This allows me to see how an artist has progressed during a period of time. This is clearly not the case with "Greatest Hits Volume 1 (1989)"

"Greatest Hits Vol 1 (1989)" focuses on 1978 and before. My advice is if you could find "Greatest Hits (1978)" (which is out of print), then I would try to get that one first. Otherwise, you may want to consider getting the newer "Essential Barry Manilow" or "Ultimate Manilow" collections. While there is some good music on this collection, my feeling is that the "Greatest Hits Vol 1 (1989)" is only worth the investment if you are going to buy all three volumes. Overall, I don't recommend this collection simply because there are better ones out there.

It's not Barry that earned the 3 stars, it's Arista. This album needs more songs than just the ones listed. All three volumes should be on one CD. Try the Platinum Collection or some other compilation. It's good music, but you can find more Barry for a lesser price

intended to buy this CD to replace my original cassette tape of
Barry Manilow Greatest Hits (tape is many years old and damaged).
What a surprise! The original cassette contains all the selections of the CD version of Greatest Hits Volume 1 and Volume 2 and 1 selection from Volume 3. Would take 3 CDs to replace 1 cassette. Not such a great deal. The music is the tops but I am passing on the opportunity to pay triple for the privilege of hearing it all.

If you are looking for a great cd to listen to, here it is. Mandy is the main reason I wanted the cd, and the nine following made it even better. Can't Smile without you is the prettiest song I ever heard. Barry Manilow can sing any type of music if he wanted to, his voice was made for anything. You listen to any one of the songs on this cd and you hear why he is the best, at least to me.

I didn't know Manilow or his music, except "Looks Like We Made It," which sort of remained in my subconscious since I was a tot in the 70's. I didn't even know he sang it. I bought this CD for "Looks Like ..." only, and was really surprised to discover his other hits that I didn't even know nor heard. I love the beat of New York City Rhythm; Looks Like We Made It is a spare-no-melodrama love ballad. Daybreak and Can't Smile Without You are too commercial for my taste. It's A Miracle has a good beat. Even Now is another passionate ballad. Bandstand Boogie is swing. Tryin' To Get The Feeling Again is my ultimate favorite. When I heard this song for the first time from this CD, it was like discovering a new hit song. Some Kind Of Friend will get you dancing, sounds fresh too.

It isn't much of a stretch to see the similarity of the songs in this CD to the hits of the 90's from Shania Twain, LeeAnn Rimes, Celine Dion, Elton John, N Sync, etc. The arrangement and structure and style of the Manilow hits here are the grandaddy of the big hits of this decade, like Shania's "You're still the one", Lee anne's "How can I live". The lush arrangements, rich melodies, and lyrics about love and life and passion of these Manilow hits and the basic structure and elements of the songs in this CD are still the basic elements of today's pop hits.

Okay, Barry isn't the coolest guy in the music business, but he doesn't have to be. He is a extremely talented singer and all his songs are simply gorgeous. I think people in the music biz today are too concerned with projecting the right image and catering to the music critics instead of just being themselves and making good quality music. That what I like about Barry--that stuff doesn't seem to matter much to him. I bought this CD when it was first released and I must have listened to it a million times. Every song is uplifting and emotional. I don't agree with people who say every song of his sounds the same. He plays with different musical styles on this CD and explores various subjects. I think a lot more people would listen to his music if the media didn't stigmatize him so much. If you're into Celine Dion, Elton John, and upcoming artist Alicia Keyes (who appears to be the female hip-hop version of him) I think you will really enjoy this CD. The only things I don't like about it is that the sound quality isn't quite up to par and that I wish there were more than ten songs. Other than that, it's perfect.

This is the best collection of the 3 volumes in my opnion: "Mandy", "Looks Like We Made It", and "Can't Smile Without You" are classics! However, if you buy this, then you MUST buy the volumes 2 & 3 to get his other essential songs.

Before "Ultimate Manilow" was available, this was the best collection to have. It's ok if you buy this, but the packaging is not too good: no notes, no pictures, just song credits.

that's a line taken from one of my all-time favorite Manilow songs. "Even Now" was a huge Adult-Contemporary hit in 1978 back when the chart was called Easy-Listening or Middle-of-the-Road {or MOR for short}. on the pop side of things, it was a good-sized Top-30 hit. the simple fact that Manilow's long standing appeal has been with the AC audience doesn't surprise me that he was named the #1 Radio & Records AC Artist in 1989 for that publication's first 15 years in business (1974-1989) because in that time span the legend of Barry Manilow was crafted and set in motion. This 1989 CD was part of a three CD set that brought his classic hits to the CD age for the first time. Arista took 1978's 2-LP set "Greatest Hits" and the 1983 LP "Greatest Hits, Volume Two" and filled out these three 1989 CDs with selected material. each CD contains 10 songs {30 selections in all}. on volume two and three the fans are treated to two newly recorded songs {one new song on each CD} not found on the previous hits albums these songs were taken from. However, we're talking about Volume One today. This set includes 10 songs (8 were actual hits, two of them: 1975's "New York City Rhythm" and "Bandstand Boogie", were not). "Mandy", "Even Now", "Can't Smile Without You", "Tryin' To Get The Feeling Again", and "Looks Like We Made It" are all signature Manilow songs that all belong on Volume One. "Daybreak" and "It's a Miracle" are also good...i love "Some Kind of Friend" and i wish Arista would've put that song as track #2 and ended the CD with "New York City Rtythm" but instead "Some Kind of Friend" closes the CD. i'm not afraid to admit i like Barry Manilow to anyone who asks. i take pride in praising an act in pop music that actually cares for the LYRICS and not the fads or trends of the day. Manilow was a breath of fresh air in pop/rock music then and he remains a loyal supporter of the lyrics at a time when dance moves and stage antics are taken more seriously than song content.