Customer Reviews

Live on Broadway

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

 

 

Schmaltz is real! Perhaps the real charm is that the performance feels real! It's fun!

Perfect for a sing-along, especially in the car. Great percussion keeps you tapping, singing, bouncing, and smiling.

The gonzo medley brings back years of memories for a Manilow fan.

This album features a great variety of music and styles. It never fails to make me smile. By the time I arrive home, I've forgot the crazies and frustrations of work.

I will never forget the night they were recording this album in Chicago. It was a magical evening. I was a small town girl, new to this large city. When Barry's tickets went on sale, the lady asked which ones I wanted. "The best, of course!" My night of wonder began as they led my sweetie and I to front box seats! It was the first and only time in my life that I felt like a true princess. Mr. Manilow never sounded better and this album (opps - CD) envelops every powerful feeling each song was meant to mean. I have never liked "live" recordings, this is the exception. As always, Mr. Manilow's songs will delight, move and inspire...

This one will keep your toes tapping and your fingers snapping and there is always lot of laughing, singing, etc...you get the picture.

I don't like this. If I had been in the audience for this show, I'd want the CD as a keepsake. However, as a person who sometimes enjoys Barry's singing and playing in a serious listener sort of way, I find the chit-chat and the fooling around preserved here to be distracting and annoying. If you want good Manilow, try the CD's of "Paradise Cafe" or "Even Now" or "Swing Street" first.

I TRIED so hard to resist this album. You would have been proud of me, but, after a while, I gave in to the pressure. Well, it kept popping up whenever I opened up amazon.com. So finally, I gave up and bought it. It's not like I needed yet ANOTHER Manilow CD!

Wow! A wee bit under 1 hour 8 minutes, this is one awesome CD! What a sweet collection of songs! It has a lot of high-energy arrangements within it, and some slow pretty songs too. The title "Live on Broadway" might leave you thinking these are broadway tunes. If that thought turns you off, not so. This is a really cool Barry concert. One of my favorite Barry CDs.

"Sweet Life/It's a Long Way Up¨ was playing when I was thinking about someone in my family who is not well. Just as I was feeling a little weepy, the words came through ".. ..Keep on pushin through the darkness.. ..fight a little harder.. ..push a little more.. ..don't give up¨ mentality. It was sung in the context of perseverance, in trying to go forward in the music business, but it certainly fits a myriad of situations. One of the things I LOVE about Manilow music is that there is so much positive feeling and so much hope in many of the songs that Barry puts out there. Those simple words snapped me out of where I was. I didn't want to be there anyway, but had briefly slipped back into human frailty.

"The Gonzo Hits Medley¨ is a cool collection of all your Barry favorite "familiarlows¨, TONS of them. This track alone is worth getting the CD for. Barry tells you at the beginning that "someone wrote him that they got engaged over this medley, so maybe you'll get engaged tonight. If not, maybe you'll at least get lucky!" This high-energy mega-medley ranges from "One Voice, I Write the Songs, I Don't Wanna Walk Without You, Somewhere in the Night¨ to "Let's Hang On, Bandstand Boogie, Some Kinda Friend, New York City Rhythm, Copacabana¨ and many more in between. I mean, this medley ranged from beautiful to Cookin! I had to divert off the Interstate this morning and go through the stinkin' city traffic. Well, let me tell you, I just sang my little heart out with this Gonzo collection. Before I knew it, I was at work. Gonzo lasts a wee bit over 22 minutes by itself and it is just fantastic!

There's some intermittent chit-chat from Barry here and there and some songs I've never heard before. There is also a neat medley called "Up Front¨ in which the background singers do Diana Ross and Gladys Knight & The Pips type songs with Barry singing backup in the background. It's really good. "God Bless the Other 99¨ is a great song about how 1 in a 100 go for an audition and actually GET the job, but God bless the other 99 who don't get the job. It's a song about how you learn much from your non-successes, (I don't like the word "failure") and how you should keep on going and don't give up.

There's also an upbeat version of "It's a Miracle,different than the upbeat version on several other CDs and DVDs. This CD finishes with a beautiful rendition of another of my Manilow favorites "If I Can Dream" (previously performed by Elvis). I can't believe I picked this up for a song. It was Dirt Cheap! But, Sweet Heaven, I'm in Love Again now that I have it!

So, lemme tell you, I got "lucky," just by grabbing up this CD! (I'll work out the other part myself :-)

... but this one's pretty good. The sound quality leaves a little to be desired, but it's okay. Barry's got a great sense of humor, and the Gonzo medley is worth the price of the album.