Customer Reviews

Melissa Manchester - Greatest Hits

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This "Greatest Hits" collection compliments the Arista "Essence" release. There are twenty songs included, with five songs not included on any of the Arista or imports now available: "I Don't Care What The People Say," I Wanna Be Where You Are," No One's Ever Seen This Side Of Me," "Help Is On The Way," and "Funny That Way". For myself, I would buy the CD for "Help Is On The Way," as it is one of those wonderful collaborations between MM and Carol Bayer-Sager. In fact, it is either the last or one of the last songs they wrote together where they still had the "magic". The two selections from her "Singin'..." LP are respectable (both the "Help Is On The Way" and "Singin'..." LP's were a dry patch for Melissa, the incredible creativity and collaborations of the past four LP's took its toll). "Funny That Way" from MM's "Home To Myself" LP is another reason to own this CD. The "Essence" CD included three different selections from "Home To Myself," which is the next LP that should be put onto disc. "Happy Endings" and "Better Days" were included from her "Better Days & Happy Endings" LP (see my review of this "import" for more thoughts about this masterpiece). "If This Is Love" has been included from her "For The Working Girl" LP. This song is a huge favorite of mine. The updated version of "Come In From The Rain" is included here as opposed to the more beautiful original version from the "Better Days" and "Essence" release. The sound is excellent. The selections represent her well. I highly recommend this collection. ps: I have all the imports and would recommend all of them, they all have excellent sound and are packaged nicely. If you're a fan of MM you won't be disappointed.

This compilation is one of the best because it includes the title" I don't care what the people say", from the 1983 album Emergency. This compilation also offers many other rare tracks, that have previously been overlooked. The sound qualtiy is excellent, and the cover art is very inviting to collectors.
The only way to top this c.d. as Manchester's greatest ever title, is to release the full version of the album "Emergency" onto c.d. format. If Arista/BMG really wanted to make fans happy, they would release both Emergency and Mathematics on c.d. format. The 8-track tapes will probably return before Arista/BMG get around to recognizing Melissa Manchester as a true Diva...

Of all the 'Greatest Hits' and such of Melissa Manchester out there, this one is worth the money.
The presence of 'Better Days', a hard to find song of hers, is well worth the few extra bucks. Great song folks, really should hear it.
Her latter music is what seems to be lacking. I am hoping that a two disc collection will come out in the future. This former Harlette sure deserves it with her booming, wonderful voice.
This collection is a good place to start. But you would definitely have to add 'Tribute' to your collection. Those songs cannot be found anywhere else and are terrific.
So... for what is out there, this is certainly the most complete of MM. However, I do hope a double disc collection is on the way.

Since Melissa's other gems like "Better Days" and "For The Working Girl" are still not available on CD here in the US (Japan yes but not the US?... go figure) this is a great compilation with songs from the aforementioned two albums as well as all of her other great songs. This CD is also from Japan but for some reason it is pretty easy to obtain at a decent price unlike the other two which sell for excessive amounts on Ebay. I guess my big question is why release these hard to find tunes on CD format in Japan and not in the US? "Hello Arista" there is a large group of folks like myself waiting for these CD's here in the US unless you prefer supporting the Japanese economy over that of the US of A?