So what's the attraction -
Feb. 29th, 2004 01:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kyburgSomebody said something to the effect of "I don't know much about his music - " when I was putting news stories in my journal a couple of weeks ago about Barry Manilow.
Fine, that's expectable. You say Barry Manilow and everyone pops up with "Mandy" or any one of the equally nice, but sleep-inducing tunes the guy put out in the late 70's, early 80's.
And so I chuckle. "Mandy" was a cover. And not even the first tune he got released on an album that made gold. But I thought about those two tunes again lately, realizing that here was a good opportunity to explain some of things I really like about the way he puts music together. With examples, good and bad. Before and After, even.
Before Arista re-released everything the last couple of years, there was a huge boxset released called Everything and Then Some - which included most of these snippets.
I don't quite recall how the story went that they went into the studio to play with this Scott English tune called "Brandy", but when they did, they changed the name to Mandy and went for it (here's the first take - oopsie!).
Take a listen. I was once told the key to good voice work had three pieces: performance, pauses and phrasing. What was the biggest change between the two versions? What was the biggest change between that first take and the finished product everyone knows? It's the same song - but the phrasing makes it.
And the one thing that sets "Mandy" apart for me is the incredibly warm piano - I don't know how they miked it, but you won't hear such a warm tone on any other song from Barry Manilow. That's unique to "Mandy."
"Mandy" was the one release on the Bell label before it went under; if you happen to find a 45 rpm with "Mandy" on the Bell label in your thrift shop dives, hang onto it - that, and the spanish version of "Copacabana" are really rare finds these days.
But there's something even rarer out there. Find "Can It Be Magic" by Featherbed.
Barry Manilow crossed paths with Tony Orlando once. Tony who-had-a-variety-show-and-a-string-of-hits-like-Knock-Three-Times Orlando. This was a long time ago when Barry Manilow was a studio musician and not a whole lot more in comparison. And he had this song he really wanted to get produced. Okay, Tony Orlando produced it. Even got the record pressed. Ooooog. It quite rightly bit the big one.
So he went back to the studio himself, and did it HIS way. To hear Bette Midler, like a man possessed. The end result was this - and in the end, you hear the three points. Performance, pauses...phrasing. And one heck of an orchestration - it's not four instruments and a lot of studio work.
That's a start - and it's not that I like this guy's stuff exclusively, or there weren't tunes I wish he hadn't taken on - but you end up being wrapped up in the performance in spite of yourself. Hell, even Axel Rose loves "Mandy," after all.
For your further listening pleasure - here's a rare track off the Everything and Then Some boxset:
Barry_Manilow_My_Girl__No_One_In_The_World.mp3 - the one duet he did with Melissa Manchester.
I'm sure this will continue at some point -
Fine, that's expectable. You say Barry Manilow and everyone pops up with "Mandy" or any one of the equally nice, but sleep-inducing tunes the guy put out in the late 70's, early 80's.
And so I chuckle. "Mandy" was a cover. And not even the first tune he got released on an album that made gold. But I thought about those two tunes again lately, realizing that here was a good opportunity to explain some of things I really like about the way he puts music together. With examples, good and bad. Before and After, even.
Before Arista re-released everything the last couple of years, there was a huge boxset released called Everything and Then Some - which included most of these snippets.
I don't quite recall how the story went that they went into the studio to play with this Scott English tune called "Brandy", but when they did, they changed the name to Mandy and went for it (here's the first take - oopsie!).
Take a listen. I was once told the key to good voice work had three pieces: performance, pauses and phrasing. What was the biggest change between the two versions? What was the biggest change between that first take and the finished product everyone knows? It's the same song - but the phrasing makes it.
And the one thing that sets "Mandy" apart for me is the incredibly warm piano - I don't know how they miked it, but you won't hear such a warm tone on any other song from Barry Manilow. That's unique to "Mandy."
"Mandy" was the one release on the Bell label before it went under; if you happen to find a 45 rpm with "Mandy" on the Bell label in your thrift shop dives, hang onto it - that, and the spanish version of "Copacabana" are really rare finds these days.
But there's something even rarer out there. Find "Can It Be Magic" by Featherbed.
Barry Manilow crossed paths with Tony Orlando once. Tony who-had-a-variety-show-and-a-string-of-hits-like-Knock-Three-Times Orlando. This was a long time ago when Barry Manilow was a studio musician and not a whole lot more in comparison. And he had this song he really wanted to get produced. Okay, Tony Orlando produced it. Even got the record pressed. Ooooog. It quite rightly bit the big one.
So he went back to the studio himself, and did it HIS way. To hear Bette Midler, like a man possessed. The end result was this - and in the end, you hear the three points. Performance, pauses...phrasing. And one heck of an orchestration - it's not four instruments and a lot of studio work.
That's a start - and it's not that I like this guy's stuff exclusively, or there weren't tunes I wish he hadn't taken on - but you end up being wrapped up in the performance in spite of yourself. Hell, even Axel Rose loves "Mandy," after all.
For your further listening pleasure - here's a rare track off the Everything and Then Some boxset:
Barry_Manilow_My_Girl__No_One_In_The_World.mp3 - the one duet he did with Melissa Manchester.
I'm sure this will continue at some point -
