Essence of Melissa Manchester

Melissa Manchester | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 20, 1997)
• Original Release Date: May 20, 1997
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Arista
• ASIN: B000002VT5
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #55,992 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

20 songs personally chosen by one-time Paul Simon student and Bette Midler backup singer, Melissa Manchester! Includes Midnight Blue; Don't Cry Out Loud; You Should Hear How She Talks About You; Just You and I; Fire in the Morning; Through the Eyes of Love (Ice Castles Theme); Whenever I Call You Friend , and more. The notes are a good read, too, with pieces by Barry Manilow and Carole Bayer Sager. --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Still my favorite songbird after twenty-five years, April 6, 2000

By 

Thomas Lapins (Orlando, Florida USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Essence of Melissa Manchester (Audio CD)

Only one other CD retrospect release did I anticipate with such hope that my favorite songs would be included. I was standing at the music store's door to find the answer to that question the day "The Essence of Melissa Manchester" was released. I was so completely disappointed by what had been left out. As other reviews have stated, songs like "Better Days"; "Happy Endings"; "Help Is On The Way"; "I Don't Want To Hear It Anymore"; "Pretty Girls" and "For The Working Girl" have all been excluded. As any MM lover would know, these are all foundation songs to her career. Plus they deserve to be on compact disc. However, how wonderful to have nineteen songs on disc, after all these years of waiting. MM's first two albums were still a bit of a mystery to me. The albums were scratchy sounding, so I hadn't listened to them as I would have liked to. The inclusion of "Home To Myself"; "Easy"; "Alone" and "Bright Eyes" make the CD worth the money. These early MM songs are her most intropsective and soulful. Her yearnings and conflicts are universal, and sung by a songbird. The next two albums "Melissa" and "Better Days & Happy Endings" are the two that hooked me on her soulful and silken voice and lyrics. "Essence" includes five songs from these two albums. However, these two albums verged on being greatest hit collections in themselves. MM and Carole Bayer Sager consummated the most serious female collaboration on these two albums. "Better Days & Happy Endings" is the 70's successor to "Tapestry", hence three songs were included. But the whole album needs to be on disc. "Essence" continues with some of the usual standards, most of which had been on an earlier greatest hits collection. So I already had them and had wished for some other material. The poignant and original version of "Come In From The Rain" was included instead of the more popular version from the album "Ricky". That was a step in the right direction. All her music deserves to be on disc. Many are available as a Japanese import, but very difficult to find. I have collected all of them and I'm happy to say they are all of the highest quality, with almost all of MM's songs of significance on them. There is even a "Best Of" collection which I prefer to this collection. Kind of ironic that this American artist is so much more appreciated in Japan. I suggest any MM lover purchase this collection and keep searching the internet for the imports. Very much worth the effort.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant songwriter, singer and pianist, December 16, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (London, UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Essence of Melissa Manchester (Audio CD)

I was looking around for something new, wondering if there were any songwriters I didn't know who were as good as Carole King. Melissa Manchester is the one - I can't get over how good this collection is. Nearly all the material is self-written (and the few songs that aren't are tellingly inferior), and peerlessly beautiful. She covers a variety of styles - piano balladry not unlike Carole King (Just You and I), gospel (O Heaven), pop (You Should Hear How She Talks About You), soul (Lovers After All) and the lyrics (some supplied by Carole Bayer Sager, some Melissa Manchester herself) are uniformly heart-felt, direct, touching and honest. And all of this before you even consider her fantastic voice, which knocks all the competition into a cocked hat. I'd be surprised if anyone was disappointed with this fantastic CD. I was enchanted from the first listen. By the third , I couldn't understand why any of her individual albums were out of print.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Let's Start a Petition, April 8, 2000

By 

Les McRae (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Essence of Melissa Manchester (Audio CD)

I agree with other reviewers! I also long for the first four albums on CD. I appreciate the ESSENCE albumn but question some of the inclusions. Her earlier muscial gems contained some of the best jazz vocals I have ever had the pleasure to not only hear but feel. The first time I heard LET IT RIDE on FM Radio I had to pull my VW over and write down the name of the artist/goddess/diva. I knew then and there that she was destined for great things and possessed unparreleled musical talent. She still remains an under rated writer, composer and vocal stylist. I think we should start a petition to get her orginals reprinted on CD.....