Barry Manilow Album - Barry Manilow's The Greatest Songs of the Fifties

No one can reinvent the great classics of the 1950’s better than Barry Manilow. He breathes new life and vitality into these truly wonderful songs and they sound fresh and timeless. We are together on a mission to bring to a new generation the great songs of a different era, and reuniting with him makes it all the more special. -Clive Davis

Highlighted by a guest appearance from Phyllis McGuire of the McGuire Sisters on the medley of 1954 hits, "Teach Me Tonight/Sincerely," THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE FIFTIES is a veritable jukebox of favorites – from his remake of the Four Lads’ "Moments To Remember" (1955) and the Everly Brothers’ "All I Have To Do Is Dream" (1958), to Bobby Darin’s "Beyond The Sea" (1959)– but to hear them collected on one album is a dream come true. The project (just like the era it emulates) cuts across musical genres, from The Four Ace’s,"Love Is A Many Splendored Thing" (1955), to Frankie Avalon’s "Venus", to Johnny Mathis’ "It's Not For Me To Say" (1957), to Tommy Edwards’ "It’s All In The Game" (1958), and Dinah Washington’s signature "What A Diff'rence A Day Made" (1959). Some of America’s greatest artists are evoked on songs that are forever associated with them, for example, Tony Bennett on "Rags To Riches" (1953) and the Four Aces on the motion picture title tune hit "Love Is A Many! Splendored Thing" (1955). More: the spirit of Frank Sinatra imbues "Young At Heart"(1954) and Elvis Presley is remembered with "Are You Lonesome Tonight." "Unchained Melody" (1955) remains one of the most-recorded songs in contemporary popular music.

For Manilow, THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE FIFTIES is a true labor of love.

Review - Amazon.com :

Clive Davis's ear earns him more accolades than most of his talents' vocal chords. Now it's time to give it up for his enterprising instincts. The Greatest Songs of the Fifties arrives on the heels of another of the famous producer's backward-looking projects, the ubiquitous, uber-successful Great American Songbook series by Rod Stewart. The short story: same vibe, different era. With songs like "All I Have to Do Is Dream," "Venus," and "Unchained Melody" (first recorded in the '50s but best known for its '60s Righteous Brothers rendition), Manilow sidesteps the stuff that rocked the sock hops in favor of cheek-to-cheek selections--the better to remind longtime fans of his nostalgia-steeped '70s hits. Overall, the approach works, especially when the bona fide '50s legend Phyllis McGuire steps in to heat up the "Teach Me Tonight/Sincerely" medley, and Manilow swings across genres to lovingly tackle Dinah Washington's "What a Diff'rence a Day Made." Vocally, a warm haze covers these tracks; whether it's there to evoke fuzzier times or to mask a voice that's gone slightly south is unclear. What couldn't be more crystal, though, is Manilow and Davis's commitment to first-class, sophisticated record-making. --Tammy La Gorce

Customer review - 2006-02-09

- Timeless songs revisited

It all started in the used record bin... As our son had recently discovered the wonders of vinyl, we bought him a nice turntable for Christmas. One of his cousins gave him a stack of used records, some of them classics, some of them silly and one of them a treasure for me. Buried among the albums was one of Barry Manilow's first efforts. I probably squealed like a school girl as I gave it a play. Suddenly, I was seventeen again and listening to these wonderful songs on the record player (the kind with a handle so you could carry it around!) in my room. Before the night was through, I was on Amazon ordering the Ultimate Manilow and was not disappointed. My husband, however, thought I was nuts. I think that's a pretty fair reflection of most people's reaction to Barry Manilow's music- you LOVE him or you DON"T, not much in between. While I'm not a weird, rabid fan, I do love his music and have especially enjoyed "The Greatest Songs of the Fifties." His more mature voice fits the genre and by giving the songs a little Manilow style he makes them both fresh and his. My favorites are Unchained Melody (makes me melt), All I Have To Do Is Dream, Venus and Young At Heart. If you like/love this man's music, then you'll like/love this CD.
In response to some of the critics:
1. If I wanted to hear Elvis or any other of the original artists do this material I would buy the original recordings- but I don't- I wanted to hear what Barry could do with these songs.
2. You're right, at 60+, he doesn't sound like he did when he was 32, neither did Sinatra, neither does Rod Stewart or any other singer, but that doesn't stop it from being a rich musical experience.

Customer review - 2007-01-12

- Manilow, Fifties and Sixties

Folks - I am a long-standing Manilow fan in an environment where it is not always considered PC to be in that Category. I think his "Paradise Café" album is one of the all-time greats. But these two are rubbish.

The voice has gone - it even SOUNDS 60+. The selection is great, and so lulls one into the notion that BM plus whatever just has to be good.

That used to be the case. I think BM's rendition of "Come Fly/Dance With Me" (on the Sinatra abum) is at least as good as the originals as well as being more innovative. But I hafta say that every one of the tracks on these two albums is inferior to the originals. I am not alone in this opinion - everyone to whom I have spoken has expressed disappointment in the discs and is looking to sell them off as rapidly as possible before the news gets around that Manilow has bombed.

Customer review - 2006-01-31

- wonderfully lost in the 50's

Five Stars? This CD deserves more. How many stars in the sky? Thank you Barry Manilow from all of us Seniors.This CD has us singing along and yes dancing to the fabulous songs of the 50's! As one of the tracks says...we are once again.."Young at Heart". Hats off to Rod Stewart(Great American Song Book) and Carly Simon{Moonlight Seranade}for starting this trend of bringing back these great oldies!My favorite track is the duet with Phyliss McGuire..."Sincerely-Teach Me Tonite" Buy this CD!! Then get yourself wonderfully lost once again in the 50's!!

Customer review - 2006-02-27

- Man is Manilow Magnificent

Good for Barry to be back on top. Like the young singer (and fellow Las Vegas Hilton Hotel Headliner) Michael Buble, Manilow knows how to inject himself into the music and make it sweet.
Talented beyond words as a song writer and gifted as a singer in his own right Manilow makes marvelous music!! Great buy!!!

Customer review - 2006-03-09

- Goodness me ! This is really terrible !

Oh my god... how can be possible that he had to fall in such deep nonsense, remaking a whole bunch of old tunes to end up like something much worse than even Muzak? This is the music you'll hear again and again at the supermarket, just sufficiently engineered to num the brain.
Frankly speaking , I liked his younger self's songs better than some of the Las Vegas numbers he's putting out these days.

This cd is mostly nothing new. And I couldn't help but feel like he was trying to crank money out of those old matrons who like his new bimbo look. Could he not have released a completely new album without Mr.Davis' bad advise ?
Is he aware of the ruinous massacre of the American songbook perpetrated by Davis and Rod Stewart ? Isn't this enough ?

List of Barry Manilow albums

Barry Manilow Album - Barry Manilow's The Greatest Songs of the Fifties