Samples

Song Title Time Price 3:10 $0.99 5:27 $0.99 Visit our audio page for more information The Original Second Hits Collection that was Issued in the Early 80's (Later Replaced by Other Compilations). Manilow was at the Top his Game in this Period, Scoring Top Ten Smash after Top Ten Smash. He Experimented with Alternative Songwriters, Making Ian Hunter's 'ships' Into a Hit. He also Tried Alternative Producers as Well, as Evidenced by 'read Em and WEEP', Produced by Jim Steinman. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. For the most part, Barry Manilow's success would come in the 1970s. With each subsequent album that Manilow would make, it seemed like his popularity would continue to grow. Things would culminate in 1978 when Manilow would release his first greatest hits album entitled "Barry Manilow Greatest Hits". After 1978, things would begin to change in the music industry. The Disco movement of the 1970s was beginning to fizzle and the famous "backlash" on Disco artists would emerge. Barry Manilow was not a Disco artist (although at times he used a bit of Disco influence), but after 1978 it would also seem as though Manilow would suffer a similar backlash. However, Barry Manilow did some very good work during this time despite waning commercial sales. At the same time, Barry began to do some different things. In 1983, Manilow would release his second greatest hits album - "Barry Manilow Greatest Hits Vol II". This collection covers Barry's music from 1978 through 1983. This album will take songs from 4 albums: "One Voice", "Barry", "If I Should Love Again", and "Here Comes the Night". This album also contains two new songs "Put a Quarter In the Jukebox" - a duet with Ronnie Milsap and the song "You're Looking Hot Tonight". One thing that makes Barry Manilow's music special is his ability to work the song and "build it to a climax/crescendo". The music group Air Supply employed a similar approach with many of their songs. Like Air Supply, Manilow does a fabulous job at building the song to this "climax". Manilow's music in the 1970s was famous for this. His music moving into the early 1980s continued this trend. This is reflected in the Manilow songs such as "Ships", "I Made it Through the Rain", "Read 'Em and Weep", "Somewhere Down the Road", "One Voice", "The Old Songs", and even Manilow's cover of "Memory" from the Broadway musical "Cats". While Barry didn't write all of these songs, his style works just as well to "build up" the song as it did with the songs he wrote. Some of the new trends that are seen in the 1978 to 1983 period are that Manilow would start doing more covers of other artists. This would continue to be a staple of Manilow's career in his later years. In addition to the cover of "Memory", Manilow has a terrific cover of The Four Seasons' "Let's Hang On". I always thought nobody could come close to Frankie Valli's powerful vocals on that song, but Manilow delivers his own passion to that song doing it justice. We also see Barry explore some more of the early 1980s Synth-Pop sound. This is reflected on the song "Some Kind of Friend" and the song "You're Looking Hot Tonight". Barry shows he is very diverse. There are many other Greatest Hits collections that are available from Manilow. When considering the 1983 "Greatest Hits Vol II" (which is how I will refer to this collection), here are some other ones to consider: "Barry Manilow Greatest Hits" (1978): This is the collection that was released in 1978. It contains 18 songs from his first six studio albums in the 1970s. It also contains the song "Ready to Take a Chance Again" that was featured in the motion picture "Foul Play". This is a focused collection that covers the material from Manilow's peak period. Surprisingly, this collection has become very hard to find and has been replaced by several other Barry Manilow compilations. "Barry Manilow Greatest Hits Volume I, Volume II, Volume III" (1989): This is something that is going to be very confusing. In 1989, Arista Records came out with three new "Greatest Hits" collections. For the most part, the tracks on these compilations are also included on 1978's "Greatest Hits" and 1983's "Volume II". However 1989's "Volume I" and "Volume II" do not correspond to the 1978 and 1983 releases. 9 of the 11 tracks on 1983's "Volume II" are found on these collections with the exception being the new songs found on 1983's "Volume II". The song "Some Kind of Friend" is found on 1989's "Volume I". Eight of the other tracks from 1983's "Volume II" are found on 1989's "Volume III". There are not tracks from 1983's "Volume II" that are found on 1989's "Volume II". "Ultimate Manilow": This is a 2002 release of 20 tracks. Only four tracks from 1983's "Volume II" are contained on this collection. These songs are: "Ships", "I Made It Through the Rain", "The Old Songs", and "Somewhere Down the Road". "The Essential Barry Manilow": This Barry Manilow release contains 34 tracks. While this may contain more songs than several of the other Greatest Hits collections, it is still missing Manilow's cover of "Let's Hang On", and the two new songs found on the 1983 "Volume II" collection. I have no complaints about the content of what is on 1983's "Greatest Hits Vol II". The one gripe I have on this collection is how the songs are arranged. With Greatest Hits collections, I prefer the tracks to be arranged in chronological order. This allows me to see how an artist has progressed during a period of time. In the case this collection the ordering of the tracks was shuffled with no particular logic. As a result, you don't get the benefit of listening to how Manilow has progressed following his 1978 peak. Another minor drawback is that there is little in the way of liner notes. The reason is perhaps that this is a dated collection. The songwriting credits are listed in the liner notes with some publication credits. The musician credits are listed for the new songs. Overall, this is going to be the best place to get work from Manilow's 1978 through 1983 period. The thing I like about this collection is that it is a focused collection. It is a great companion if you get the out of print 1978 "Greatest Hits" collection. Highly recommended.

Barry Manilow - Greatest Hits, Vol. 3 Available from Amazon Price: $11.98 Updated on 10-2-2008.