Skip to main content

This One's For You

Yesterday's focus was on Scott Walker. Today's focus is on Barry Manilow. Yes, the man behind such hits as "Mandy," "Can't Smile Without You" and a handful of other songs you couldn't escape in the Seventies. I grew up listening to his stuff and still like a lot of it. Yet I was appalled to see a display in a bookstore last night for his latest album, The Greatest Songs of the Sixties. Here's my reasoning:

A big chunk of Manilow's audience is older than me. So I've wondered why these people want to hear re-recorded versions of songs they've heard for most of their adult lives. Following up The Greatest Songs of the Fifties, Manilow goes through versions of "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head," "And I Love Her" and "Strangers in the Night" on this collection. Manilow doesn't drastically change the songs' arrangements here; it sounds like he's phoning this stuff in. Sure, he's serving his audience what they apparently want, but isn't this just trying to tread water as the boat slowly sinks?

Similar to Kenny G covering songs that you've heard enough times in your life (especially "My Heart Will Go On"), what attracts people to these retreads? The same can be applied to the people that watch American Idol and buy the CDs filled with these cover songs. While I may have an interest in hearing Tom Waits' version of "Somewhere," I doubt it's going to surpass the original cast recording version in my mind. So what gives?

I understand there is a market for people who don't like hard-sounding rock or pop. They like music to be a soothing, unchallenging matter. This is a mindset I hope to never have as a music fan. Music is just so endless, so why would I want to have something so limited in my regular rotation?

I'm sure Manilow and his record company are eyeing another record: The Greatest Songs of the Seventies. Will Manilow reprise some of the hits from his heyday? I'm not sure, but I'm pretty sure he'll cover songs by artists like the Carpenters, Carole King and Neil Diamond. So I wonder, is there a stopping point for these kinds of albums for Manilow? I doubt there will be collections of Eighties and Nineties material because that's a little too "young" for the audience. Well, there could be additional editions of the Fifties and Sixties material until the cows come home. In my mind, the cows are home and they need a rest.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Catherine Wheel

Originally posted: Tuesday, August 29th, 2006 Despite managing to release five proper albums, Catherine Wheel was one of those bands that always seemed to slip past the mainstream rock crowd. Yes, they got some nice airplay in their day, but people seem to have forgotten about them. You may hear “Black Metallic” or “Waydown” on a “classic alternative” show on Sirius or XM or maybe even on terrestrial radio, but that’s about it. For me, they were one of most consistent rock bands of the ’90s, meandering through shoegazer, hard rock, space rock and pop rock, all while eluding mainstream pigeonholing. Led by the smooth, warm pipes of vocalist/guitarist Rob Dickinson (cousin of Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson), Catherine Wheel featured Brian Futter on lead guitar, Dave Hawes on bass and Neil Sims on drums. They weren’t a pretty-boy guitar band, but they weren’t a scuzzy bunch of ragamuffins either. Though the band hailed from England, Catherine Wheel found itself more welcome on American air

Best of 2021

  Last year, my attention span was not wide enough to listen to a lot of LPs from start to finish. Too much went on in 2020 to focus on 10-15 albums, so I went with only a couple to spotlight. Well, 2021 was a little better, as I have a list of top four records, and a lot of individual tracks.  (I made a lengthy Spotify playlist ) So, without further ado, here’s my list of favorites of the year: Albums Deafheaven, Infinite Granite (listen) Hands down, my favorite album of the year. I was not sure where Deafheaven would go after another record that brought My Bloody Valentine and death metal fans together, but they beautifully rebooted their sound on Infinite Granite. The divisive goblin vocals are vastly pared-down here, as are the blast beats. Sounding more inspired by Slowdive, the band has discovered a new sonic palette that I hope they explore more of in the future. It’s a welcome revelation. I still love their older material, but this has renewed my love of what these guys do.  J