I saw the cover art for this CD and nearly dropped! HOWEVER, this is NOT the original 1973 version of this album - "One Of These Days", "Oh My Lady", "Could It Be Magic", "Flashy Lady", and "Sweet Life" were re-recorded in 1975 when this became BARRY MANILOW I and THOSE are the versions included here, just like the previous CD-incarnation. Just wanted to get that out of the way for those like me that foolishly hoped otherwise...

Now, on to BARRY MANILOW (I)- this album originally came out a year before I was born, and has been one of my all-time favorites for my entire life. Not many artists/albums make that personal list so Barry should feel special. :-)

Don't get me wrong, the '75 versions of these few songs are actually more polished and better vocally than the '73 ones, but it would still be nice to have a nice remastered CD copy of "Magic" with it's original vocal track and blaring electric guitar.

Overall this CD is EXCELLENT - the sound quality is definitely 5 out of 5 stars, superbly remastered compared to the previous CD issue, and the bonus tracks - well they're definitely worthy of release before now! Also of note are several clippings of various "white album" magazine adverts, and of course the updated liner notes and history of the album.

All in all Sony is doing a nice job with these, though I have to say they're just missing the mark a bit - BMG started a Manilow remasters project that was never completed, then when Sony took over I ended up buying the same CDs again for the extra, EXTRA bonus tracks. Maybe we'll get ALL the Manilow albums this time (crossing my fingers).

Oh well, it could be worse - these could have ended up like the Carpenters "remasters" from 98/99 - at least with Manilow it seems like a bit of time was put into both the packaging and sound quality. I'm very impressed so far!

I remember liking the "b side" of my "It's a Miracle" 45, called "One of These Days." Finally, I have that song in remastered quality on CD. The rest of the CD is good too! "Could it be Magic" is one of Barry's all-time greats!! A strong start for Barry.

Early Barry from 1973/75-ish and digitally remastered in 2006. This album has 11 tracks, plus 4 bonus tracks, totalling 15 tracks. It sounds like early Barry. Nothing wrong with that! Just means that you can hear it in his voice, that he is about 30 years old or so.

The album begins with "Sing It," a track of Grandpa trying to get Little Barry to sing Happy Birthday on the 25 cent recording machine in New York. The classics "Could It Be Magic," "I Am Your Child," "One of These Days," and "Sweet Life" are here and are very pretty. And, there are 12 more songs that I haven't heard before. "Oh My Lady" has a nice cruisin' down the highway sound to it. "Sweetwater Jones" is a sort of country rock song.

"Cloudburst" I recognize pieces of from routines in some of Barry's later videos. It's like a jazz routine (you know, where you talk/sing real fast so it almost runs the words together, like an auctioneer. But, you can clearly understand every word Barry sings. His enunciation is great, as always.)

Oooo. It's lightening outside and starting to crackle in the PC. Will be back to finish this review later.

OK. I'm back now and I did not get struck by lightening either. Sorry it took so long, but I got stuck on "The Summer of '78" album of Barry's. It is sooo drop dead gorgeous! Anyway, back to this album.

"Seven More Years" is a pretty and a kinda easy-listening song. "7 more years and I'll be home again . . . I'll miss her every day 'till then. . ." Sad song. About a guy who doesn't get his parole when it came up. Sad but I like it a lot. Nice beat.
"Flashy Lady" has a nice medium rock beat, kind a like movin'down the highway. Like a twist or a bop. Has a driving beat. Good song. "Flashy Lady, gonna strutt your stuff. . . people call you trash, but I love the flash, Flashy Lady. . ."
"Friends" same easy listening '70s rock beat as Flashy Lady. Could do the bop to it. "You've got to have friends . . "
"Caroline" Oh yeah. I certainly remember this one. I did not recognize the name originally. Slower to bop-type song. "Caroline. In all my life, I never fell for anyone like you..."
"Rosalie Rosie" sort of an easy-listening cha cha. "Run Rosie, run by the river. Let's try to make it together..."
"Star Children" is a slow song. "Losin' all our star children. Someone stop them please..."
"Let's Take Some Time to Say Goodbye" finishes the album. A slow song with a heavy type beat. "Let's turn the minutes into hours. You make the coffee and sit by the fire. . " This song reminds me of another song he does on later albums "Let's Take All Night to Say Goodbye". Nice song.

If you've read any of my other reviews, you know I LOVE Barry music and I am gathering up the not so popular Barry songs--just because. This album has plenty of not so popular ones and it's a great collection of early Barry. It is by no means my favorite Barry album but it is a great album and it sounds like the early to mid-70s style of music. I can picture Barry in his platform shoes standing and playing the piano on these tunes.

Update: August 2008--I liked this CD a lot before, but it grew on me a lot more lately. It has that early Barry plus 70s brass sound, especially in "Oh My Lady". I could just play that song over and over. Actually, I DID! This whole CD is just really great! Now don't call me a flamin' liberal, but "Seven More Years" really makes you feel the pain of a guy who was turned down for his parole again and is hoping his girl will just hang on and wait 7 more years for him. Barry has a wonderful talent for putting himself in the shoes of another, without passing judgement, and letting you see things from their perspective. I don't know offhand if he wrote the song or someone else did, but he had the courage to record it. It's a sad song, but I love it. Rosalie Rose is another song I love. The music on this CD is just awesome.

Nice to see the original picture is back on this CD. But I was expecting the original recordings from the Bell label on 2 of the songs,especially on "Could it be magic",which is the re-edited version we have here;the other one being "Sweet Life".Besides those,I think this one is a great buy,filled with songs that were not originally in the album.Plus you get the original picture and the edited picture from the re-release and the original back cover.

I used to hear this as the Arista 1975 release on my mom's stereo more than 30 years ago, and this reissue seems a bit tinny and compressed compared to that. This cd is the original Bell 1973 issue, and the liner notes state that Arista remixed some tracks for 1975. There are some bonus tracks here, but I don't see why some of the 1975 remixes couldn't be included. There was certainly room on the disc. "Sweetwater Jones" and "Could It Be Magic" seem to be the most impacted.