Search - Various Artists :: Tribute to Barry Manilow

Stay AWAY!!!

05/30/2002

(1 out of 5 stars)

"This cd is so bad, that it would make a wonderful gag gift for a Manilow fan. (Don't be offended if they throw it away immediately!)
Various artist??? Sounds like the same person to me.
It is quite humorous to listen to the translation of the lyrics. For example, from Let's Hang On - "There ain't no good in us good-by'n, true love takes a lot of lying, Oh, I'm cry'n. ... You say your'e gonna go and call it quits - gonna check it all and break our love to bits."
There is a nice paragraph on the back cover that mentions Barry's career, but this alone is not reason enough to purchase the CD.
So buyer beware - unless you really want to tease someone about Barry's music.
Here At The Mayflower and Ultimate Manilow
are better buys!"

One to five stars... this cd deserves NONE

09/01/2003

(1 out of 5 stars)

"Love him or hate him, you've got to respect that Barry Manilow has put out hit song after hit song after hit song, and his work has proved to have the classic lasting power as artists such as James Taylor, Elton John, Billy Joel, and others in that class. After all these years, songs like "Mandy" and "Looks Like We Made It" and "Even Now" and "Somewhere Down The Road" and "Tryin' To Get The Feeling Again" and "I Made It Through The Rain" and "When October Goes" and "This One's For You" and "I Write The Songs" and "Weekend In New England" (etc.) are still as fresh as they were when they first came out and were enormous radio hits. If you are interested in rediscovering Barry Manilow's music, I urge you to pick up one of his "Greatest Hits" albums (i.e. the recent "Ultimate Manilow"), his Box Set, or one of his other recordings (my personal favorites are "Even Now" and "2:00 AM, Paradise Cafe"). But at all costs, you must avoid this "Tribute" album -- unless you're buying it for someone as a joke or you're just curious to check it out just for the experience of gazing at roadkill. Your mouth will hang open (and then you'll turn it off and wish you had your money back). Each of the tracks sounds like it was recorded by the same person, at 3 AM in a Holiday Inn bar/lounge, without any intelligent producer around to say "okay, that kinda stunk, let's try it again." I can't quite tell if the backgrounds are karaoke tracks, or if the performer had a Casio setup. But in any case, the overall effect is like listening to a whole disc of the rejects on American Idol -- they're singing with a lot of committment and sincerity, but it makes the listener cringe, plug his ears, and want to quickly run away. It's clear this guy enjoys singing and it's clear he appreciates Manilow's music, but that doesn't mean he's any good. He's not. Barry Manilow has a wonderfully rich body of work which deserves to have tribute albums, but due to no fault of Manilow's, listening to this album is like listening to dogs howling at the moon."

NEVER BUY THIS CD!

Stephenie Biskner | Cuyahoga Falls, OH | 12/08/2002

(1 out of 5 stars)

"I don't know whose idea it was to have horrible lounge acts singing the best of Barry's songs...but it was a BAD one. And for the review that gave this CD 5 stars (??) it was Edgar John that did 'Could It Be Magic', not Elton John. The recording wash horrible, and not only has no one ever heard of these singers, they can't sing Manilow at all. Let's hope they do better singing their own music."