The premise is debatable (can you really call a disc with only one Beatles song a compendium of top '60s tunes?), but the product is anything but. The success of The Greatest Songs of the Fifties, released eight months prior to this latest exercise in musical time-travel, must have stoked Barry Manilow's interpretive skills, or else he's more a flowerchild at heart than his once overly wide lapels and disco shoes let on. Because formulaic as this disc is, it bespeaks a not easily achieved vocal mastery and a gift for gently prying a song away from its original owner. Which is to say it's better than its predecessor. Hand Manilow a Righteous Brothers tune ("You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'") and he magically minimizes its scale, making it seem more intimate still; pass him a classic made famous by both the Carpenters and Herman's Hermits ("There's a Kind of Hush"), and instead of sending his listeners off on undulating waves of nostalgia, he quietly makes them aware he should have sung it all along (no offense, Herman). "Cherish/Windy," a medley with the Association, works well, but it's the Bacharach numbers that will nudge themselves to the top of easy-listening fans' favourites lists. "This Guy's in Love with You," "What the World Needs Now is Love," and "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head," memorable as the original renditions are, have been reawakened; given the Manilow spin, they become the kind of songs the whole world wants to sing. --Tammy La Gorce

If you like Manilow you'll like his take on these 60's classics,..it's nothing earth-changing, just good, listenable, relaxing music produced the BM way. Also the Amazon reviewer doesn't know what they're talking about, there are 2 beatles songs on here, 'And I love her' which is a classic Lennon/Mc Cartney standard is also included.

brilliant as always, he makes me love songs I used to hate
the musicality is superb, the agnst and emotional feeling he puts into every song

This is a wonderful, make you feel good CD! All the Fanilows would be proud. Ignore the negative reviews, they dont know what they are talking about. This is real music with real emotion and will move you. ENJOY!

This CD has hardly been out of my CD player since it arrived 3 days ago. It is Barry at his best, singing so many of my favourite tracks. (David Cassidy still has the edge on Cherish though!!) He feels the music so well, and the orchestrations are great too. My daughter and I always have fun spotting the key changes, one of Barry's trademarks! Highly recommend this CD. (It got to no 2 on the Billboard charts in the US in it's first week of sales - need I say more).

This is atrocious - probably the worst thing ever recorded. It is a disgrace. Every song pales by comparison to the original. Barry does not even attempt to infuse any of the songs with any feeling or emotion. It is as if he is calling them in. The arrangements are completely karaoke.

At least could not certain capable producers have been called in to have come up with innovative arrangement -- maybe mix it a bit? To its credit, on "Strangers In The Night" there is an attempt to spice things up with guitar work from Diana Ross/Jane Child collaborator James Harrah, however even with renowned producer Phil Ramone leading the way, the track is just as unexceptional as all the others.

Ross fans remember Harrah from his work on her 1993 box set "Forever Diana" for his work on "Your Love" and "Let's Make Ever Moment Count". Here, this session writer, producer and player was used to his best ability as well as was he on nose-chained pioneer Jane Child's("Don't Wanna Fall in Love") second album "Here Not There" playing on quite a few of those numbers as well. He even co-penned a song called "Calling" for Jane. On this Manilow set, Harrah is simply not used to his best advantage.


My Father and I enjoy to this day some of the original Barry Manilow songs of the Seventies so I am not someone with an ax to grind. This album is horrible -- pure and simple. Clive Davis, one of the "producers", could not even hire reputable names. Time after time Clive Davis has enlisted the likes of producer Steve Tyrell for Rod Stewart and Tyrell even appears on Diana Ross' "I Love You", which had many Ross fans optimistic Clive would sign Diana because of the Tyrell-Davis connection. Couldn't Clive have once again enlisted a top producer for yet another one of his projects? Who is David Benson? How Clive could sanction this and not, as Diana Ross fans insist, pass on the opportunity of a lifetime and not sign Diana Ross toeven a one-off deal and release her "I Love You" set where the songs are sung with style; the arrangments are zippy and fresh and even the "worst" cut "This Magic Moment" is one-hundred times better than anything on this is astonishing.

Manilow's project is totally devoid of feeling, inspiration and it would appear to Diana Ross fans that Clive Davis is out of his gourd as "I Love You" is qualitatively so much better. From start to finish Ross' "I Love You" is framed thematically much more creatively and executed with feeling. Even the Hall and Oates take on the Righteous Brothers' anthem had life to it; how he sucked the life out of that one is a mystery. This project is however obviously laughable.