Customer Reviews

Don't Cry Out Loud

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Finally Arista/BMG Heritage is re-issuing some of Manchester's finest. This is the first, although Buddha re-issued "Melissa" with mixed reviews. Thank God Arista took over! Hopefully there will be a full catalog re-issue with bonus tracks. Perhaps if they sell well, Arista may be interested in releasing the material she recently recorded?!!

This 1978-79 release was 7th LP for Bell/Arista and considered one of her finest, next to Melissa and Better Days & Happy Endings. I heard that Don't Cry was previously released on CD along with Melissa Manchester (her 8th LP) back in the early 80's, but I was only able to find the later on CD. In 1996, Don't Cry was re-issued in Japan along with 6 other CD's with excellent results! The quality of this 2002 release is just as great as the Japan CD. Plus it includes the B-side to Don't Cry called We Had This Time. We Had This Time was also covered by Dionne Warwick and others at the time. The packaging is excellent with lyrics and other information. All original pictures are even better. It also contains an informative introduction by Michael Hill.

If you are just discovering the underated talents of MM, please start here~! She Shines Like She Should on this concept album. Marvin Gaye producer Leon Ware, produced this LP and wrote a couple of the songs with Melissa. The over all feel for this CD has warmth and soul. She glides through the optimistic dance tune Shine Like You Should and remakes The Supreme's upbeat Bad Weather (written by her idol Stevie Wonder).
Caravan is also one of my favorite songs with it's lyric of experience and growth. And of course, the big ballad title track about pride and self preservation.

We must Cry Out Loud for more re-issues like this!
Great work Arista! Fans and others...Enjoy!

Originally released in late 1978, Melissa's 7th LP brought chart success and a Grammy Nomination for the top 10 title track. It is written primarily by Melissa herself with the exception of the title song (written by Carole Bayer Sager & Peter Allen) and a remake of The Supremes hit Bad Weather (written by Stevie Wonder).

This set was produced by Marvin Gaye producer, Leon Ware, giving Manchester the right feel for the entire concept. The lead song, Shine Like You Should, is a bright optimistic R&B tune that invites you to dance. Caravan is a smooth jazz track with an insiteful lyric. Almost Everything is another playful tune with and edge toward R&B and jazz. it also includes one of her more poignant ballads Through The Eyes Of Grace. Singing From My Soul was originally released on Help Is On The Way with less of a lyric. The original version of To Make You Smile Again (from Tribute) is also here. Such A Morning is the gentle ballad here and became the B-side to her hit Theme From Ice Castles (Through The Eyes Of Love). Leon Ware co-wrote 2 of the songs with Manchester including sensually upbeat, Knowing My Love's Alive. Also included as a bonus is the non-LP B-side to Don't Cry Out Loud called We Had This Time (also recorded by Dionne Warwick).

The packaging and sound on this CD is excellent! It contains the original picures and lyrics as well as introduction written by Michael Hill. Arista did a great job and looking foreward to future re-issues with bonus tracks. Hopefully Home To Myself (with bonus Never Neverland) and Bright Eyes (with bonus O Heaven single version).

Many thanks to Arista (I'm sure with the persistant insistence of her dedicated fans) for re-releasing this album on CD and for including "We Had This Time", the B-side of the 45 single of "Don't Cry Out Loud". One of her best in my opinion. Maybe her fans could have the same affect on Arista in getting them to do a box set release to include the beautiful Grammy nominated theme from "The Promise" called "I'll Never Say Goodbye", which has never appeared on any of her albums.

This Wounded Bird Records reissue of DON'T CRY OUT LOUD marks the third time this album has been issued on CD. It was first issued on CD in Japan in the 1990's, and then reissued in the U.S. in 2002 with a bonus track. This latest reissue contains two bonus tracks, which are completely different from the bonus track on the previous edition.

DON'T CRY OUT LOUD is a classic, containing mostly songs written or co-written by Melissa Manchester herself. Blending her pop-singer/songwriter style with R&B, jazz and gospel influences, this was one of her most successful albums of the 1970's.

The sound quality of this issue is OK -- the volume was bumped up a bit from the previous issue, which increases the level of tape hiss you can hear, but overall it sounds a bit crisper. Unfortunately, the LP master from which it was made sounds fairly worn, but it has sounded this way on all the CD reissues, so without going back to the original multi-track masters, this is probably as good as we're going to hear.

The inclusion of "Through the Eyes of Love" (from the film ICE CASTLES) and "My Boyfriend's Back/Runaway" doesn't really make any sense -- neither track is from the era of this album, and both were included on GREATEST HITS in 1983. The previous U.S. CD issue contained "We Had This Time" as a bonus track, which was the b-side to "Don't Cry Out Loud" and made perfect sense as a bonus track. Why it was left off here is a mystery (it was included on the latest CD reissue of 1979's MELISSA MANCHESTER, though).

So for fans of this album who already have the 2002 reissue, this latest version is not a necessary purchase. If you don't already have this album on CD, then by all means grab this one while you can -- who knows how long it will be in print this time...

If you are only familiar with Melissa Manchester as the singer of maudlin ballads like the title track of this CD or vacuous A/C-lite like "You Should Hear How She Talks About You", then the singer/songwriter who shines on the remaining 10 tracks of this CD will blow you away.

Producer Leon Ware -- a quiet storm soul pioneer both for his production work on Marvin Gaye's epic I WANT YOU and as a performer of rare groove classics like "If I Ever Lose This Heaven" and "Why I Came To California" -- places Melissa firmly in a pop/R&B/jazz setting and allows her to be soulful in a way she only hinted at in earlier recordings like "Easy" from HOME TO MYSELF, and "I Wanna Be Where You Are" and "A Love Of Your Own" from SINGIN'. So many of the songs here are superlative that it's hard to pick a favorite  "Singin' From My Soul", "Knowing My Love's Alive" and "Caravan" are all marvelous. "Almost Everything" would have fit nicely on any Quincy Jones LP from the 70s. "Shine Like You Should" is funky and upbeat. 70's pop/soul never got any better than this.

This is a cool, breezy, heartfelt and soulful Melissa Manchester album. The reviewer below who bemoans the dated quality of its sound is displaying a vast ignorance of pop history. Leon Ware (the producer of this album) is a widely-acknowledged genius, with a knack for sensual soul and pop. To dismiss this album as 70s-style filler, would mean that such legendary albums as Marvin Gaye's I Want You, Minnie Riperton's Adventures in Paradise and Ware's own Musical Massage album, all of which share the same sound, are also horribly dated rn'b filler. Yet tastemakers throughout the world hold up these albums as examples of beauty, great production, and great music.

I would offer the opposing view that it is the title track of this album that is the dud. It represents the first sign of Melissa relinquishing her sexy, soulful, earthy style of singing in favour of an Ethel Mermanish belt. It also signals the path for the albums Melissa went on to make after this, including For The Working Girl, Melissa Manchester and Hey Ricky. These albums are full of prototype Celine Dion style balladry - the kind of unsubtle, manipulative tear-jerkers that emotionally stunted people find touching, or think are deep. Enjoy this album, because it represents the last helping of early Melissa - cool, fun, foxy, real, and expressive, not stuck in the MOR straitjacket that Arista was about to foist on her.

I was happy to find this on CD - and am hoping that they continue to release her albums on CD - since last year I purchased Melissa - and have three of the collections by her - "The Many Moods of...", "Greatest Hits", and "The Essence of..." - which are all good, but there is something special about a complete original collection.

Not my favorite MM collection but some nice moments. She peaks with "Don't Cry Out Loud" and "Caravan" as far as commercial tunes. I like "To Make You Smile Again" but much prefer the later version on "Tribute". "Know'n My Love's Alive" is better than average. My two favorite songs are "Sing'n From My Soul" and "On Such A Morning"."Sing'n From My Soul" is MM in one of her most upbeat soulful moods. Should have been a single, or maybe it was and I didn't know about it. "On Such A Morning" she is tender as a new-born chick in a nest. This is one of those songs I didn't remember from when I had it first on LP. A nice re-discovery. "Through The Eyes Of Grace" does remind one of Bette Midler's "Hello, In There". Not as good but well done all the same. This CD is of the same calibre as her "Melissa" collection. Good moments but not my favorite. "Better Days & Happy Endings" remains her best 70's LP. Also, her "If My Heart Had Wings" is another MM masterpiece. These are my two favorite MM CD's. Wish "Tribute" was still available. I have it but would like to be able to purchase it as a Christmas gift for others.

I have heard about Melissa Manchester numerous times, I mean after all she did sing backup for one of my favorite singers Ms. Midler but I never paid much attention to her. After listening to clips of this album, at first, I was unimpressed...until I heard "Don't Cry Out Loud'. The songs screams adult contemporary and mushy ballad but the song actually tells a story and Manchester accentuates it with her throaty belt of a voice. I have come to love that song and this album. When I received my copy, the first song (Shine Like You Should) just made me feel sooo effervescent and happy. The 2nd (Caravan) may take u a while to appreciate but I have to come like it. I can't describe the 3rd track in words (Don't Cry Out Loud) um.....heartrending? Other surprising gems is the heartbreaking 'Through the eyes of Grace", the fast and the funky "Bad Weather' and lighthearted "Such A Morning". Some tracks faltered like "To Make You Smile Again" but she quickly rebounds with her surprisingly soulful voice. I am open to any type of music but at first I was weary to try this cd out but I am glad I did. I have now become an admirer of this woman and plans to get her 1975 "Melissa" album. Don't sleep, peace.

This work is beautifully produced from the vocal arrangements, to the orchestral arrangements. "Shine Like You Should" opens with gorgeous tones. "Caravan" is a celebration. The title song "Don't Cry Out Loud" which was penned by Peter Allen, is a powerful vocal experience. "Knowin' My Love's Alive" is full of complexity and finesse. Most of these songs were penned by Melissa herself. Therefore, each is full of intensity, sensitivity, and soul. If you only have the LP you didn't get the bonus cut "We Had This Time" which is a sweet treat. Thanks for the wonderful journey of song, Melissa!