Definitive Pop

The Manhattan Transfer | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 7, 2006)
• Original Release Date: 2006
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Rhino
• ASIN: B000GH3QCQ
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #133,596 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #48 in Music > Jazz > Vocal Jazz > Vocalese

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Operator

2. Tuxedo Junction

3. Candy

4. Gloria

5. Java Live

6. Helpless

7. Chanson D'amour

8. The Speak Up Mambo (Cuentame)

9. Four Brothers

10. Love For Sale

See all 15 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Boy From New York City

2. A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square

3. Smile Again

4. Until I Met You (Corner Pocket)

5. Spice Of Life

6. Mystery

7. Down South Camp Meetin'

8. Route 66

9. Baby Come Back To Me (The Morse Code Of Love)

10. Another Night In Tunisia

See all 15 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

Compilation of music from 8-time Grammy-winning jazz/pop harmony vocal group Manhattan Transfer!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars BUYER BEWARE - Incorrect Track Listing, January 16, 2007

By 

Bill Anthony "billjbfan" (North Texas United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Definitive Pop (Audio CD)

The tracks listed on Amazon.com currently (Jan. 2007) are not correct -
7 tracks listed here do not actually appear on the CD set. They are:
Ray's Rockhouse, Body And Soul, Helpless, Love For Sale,
Down South Camp Meetin, Sing Moten's Swing, and Stompin at Mahogany Hall.
In their place are 4 newer songs from 1997-2006, along with Popcicle Toes,
So You Say (Esquinas), and Why Not (Manhattan Carnival).
For me, the loss of Body & Soul and Ray's Rockhouse (both among their 15 "Greatest Hits") made this set a throwaway. Hold on to your old 2-CD box "Down In Birdland" from Rhino.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good collection for a casual fan, April 15, 2007

By 

Penn Carter (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Definitive Pop (Audio CD)

I'm not overly familiar with Manhattan Transfer's catalogue but I've liked a number of their songs over the years. I settled on this collection because it included their 90s song I always liked "The Offbeat of Avenues". However, it's not the album version of the song that I remember but the version from their "Symphony Sessions" album. But it's an interesting interpretation with the orchestra so I wasn't disappointed. The track list Amazon supplies is very off so don't use that to make your final decision. Here's the correct track listing:

DISC 1:

1. Tuxedo Junction
2. Java Jive
3. Candy
4. Gloria
5. Operator
6. Chanson D'Amour
7. Speak Up Mambo, The (Cuentame)
8. Four Brothers
9. Popsicle Toes
10. On A Little Street In Singapore
11. Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square, A
12. Until I Met You (Corner Pocket)
13. Trickle Trickle
14. Twilight Zone/Twilight Zone
15. Birdland

DISC 2:

1. Boy From New York City
2. Smile Again
3. Spice Of Life
4. Route 66
5. Mystery
6. Why Not! (Manhattan Carnival)
7. Baby Come Back To Me (The Morse Code Of Love)
8. Sing Joy Spring
9. Another Night In Tunisia
10. Soul Food To Go (Sina)
11. So You Say (Esquinas)
12. Stomp Of King Porter
13. Clouds
14. Nothing Could Be Hotter Than That
15. The Offbeat Of Avenues

This collection included all the "hits" I was looking for so I'm very satisifed.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Two Hours of Magic, January 24, 2009

By 

Steve Vrana (Aurora, NE) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Definitive Pop (Audio CD)

This two-disc collection is not so much an extension of Rhino's single-disc 1994 THE BEST OF THE MANHATTAN TRANSFER as it is an expansion of that earlier anthology. After all, only four of THE DEFINITIVE POP COLLECTION's 30 tracks were released after 1994. Instead, this new release digs a little deeper into the group's history. It duplicates all of THE BEST OF (except for "Ray's Rockhouse") and adds 15 songs.

All their Top 40 pop hits ("Operator," "Twilight Zone/Twilight Tone," "Boy from New York City," "Spice of Life") are here, along with "Chanson D'Amour," which topped the UK pop charts in 1976. And tracks like "Stomp of King Porter" and "Clouds" from 1997's SWING and "Nothing Could Be Hotter Than That" from 2000's THE SPIRIT OF ST. LOUIS show that a quarter of a century after their debut, The Manhattan Transfer are still churning out terrific music. Even "The Offbeat of Avenues" from 2006's THE SYMPHONY SESSIONS swings.

Whether covering jazz, doo-wop, pop or rock 'n' roll, the Manhattan Transfer are always entertaining. RECOMMENDED [Running Time - 56:53 (disc 1), 68:09 (disc 2)]