Search - Barry Manilow :: Greatest Songs of the 60s

Pauline E. from SAN FRANCISCO, CA
Reviewed on 10/9/2006...

beautiful. makes me weep.

1 of 1 member(s) found this review helpful.

Essentially karaoke (Association not included)

Pat Rocchi | 11/13/2009

(1 out of 5 stars)

"I bought this CD when I learned that Barry Manilow did a medley of "Cherish" and "Windy" with original members of The Association. What a waste of money this entire CD turned out to be. I should have simply downloaded that one cut for $.99 from Amazon, because this number is fantastic. The original and 2nd-generation members who make up the new Association sound wonderful, dead ringers for the original. The medley is lovely, with vocal work you rarely hear any more.

But then there is the rest of the CD.

To begin, calling this "The Greatest Songs of the Sixties" is a misrepresentation. "There's a Kind of Hush?" "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head?" "Strangers in the Night?" Please! Don't insult my intelligence. Or my memory of good music.

Then Manilow's covers amount to little more than karaoke. Yes, he has good pipes and a pleasant style. But he adds no interpretation and sheds no new light on these tired chestnuts. He just sings against the same 40-year-old arrangements as before. Manilow is capable of more, and he does not deliver.

In all, this CD was gamble that I lost. I thought that Barry Manilow could rise above his turgid, sentimental style by reinterpreting some great songs. But the songs were not great, and neither is he.

"