It seems that musical inspiration is dead, if it's let in the hands of the Big Nose guys.
Yeap, as it happened with Rod Stewart's "Still The Same... Great Rock Classics of Our Time", Barry Manilow attempts to REFURBISH (in a bad manner), classic tunes of the 70s that are authentic musical treasures by themselves, in their original versions. Therefore, nothing new is to be given to these wonderful tunes!
Don't waste your money on this CD. Go instead to the song list, and if by any chance it happens you don't have the original version of the song:
- THE WAY WE WERE (Gladys Knight & The Pips, and even Barbra Streisand have much better performances of this song)
- MY EYES ADORED YOU (Frankie Valli - the same from The Four Seasons)
- BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATER (Simon & Garfunkel)
- HOW CAN YOU MEND A BROKEN HEART (Bee Gees)
- IT NEVER RAINS IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA (Albert Hammond)
- YOU'VE GOT A FRIEND (both by Carole King and James Taylor, in separate solo versions)
- HE AIN'T HEAVY, HE'S MY BROTHER (The Hollies)
- SAILING (Christopher Cross)
- THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD (The Beatles)
- (THEY LONG TO BE) CLOSE TO YOU (Carpenters)
- IF (Bread)
- SORRY SEEMS TO BE THE HARDEST WORD (Elton John)

Get any good "The Best Of..." or "Greatest Hits" compilations of these authentic Music megastars, and enjoy the original version!

The main reason to own this latest collection from the Clive Davis assembly line is the tastefully stripped down and, at moments, breathtaking renditions of Barry's own hit songs from the nakesake decade. It is on these tracks (most notably Copacabana and Even Now) that there is a trace of emotional connection between the singer and the song, and something new to be found in revisiting familiar territory.

While it's impossible to dispute the commercial success of the formulaic collections that have become the Davis stock-in-trade, it is none-the-less unfortunate that a talent such as Barry, who has demonstrated an aptitude in the distant past for much more interesting interpretations of classic songs, is now satisfied with turning out such utterly bland and pointless material.

If you love Barry Manilow, you probably already have all you need. Don't bother.

Although I am a huge Manilow fan I was dissappointed with his 70's CD. The song selection could have been better and more upbeat. Hey if Johnny Mathis can do a version of I Will Survive why can't Barry???

There are some great songs here, specifically tracks 1-12. Why in the world re-record Mandy and the rest? Barry does seem somewhat uninspired. Barry, your much better than this. There are so many great songs from the 70's that you could have done, even a double cd and not even scratched the surface of the 70's material. The re-records are extremely boring. Five stars for tracks 1-12, one for 13-18. Avg. three. Very disappointing.