THE COMPLETE COLLECTION AND THEN SOME... - Barry Manilow

YEAR: 1992

LABEL: Arista

TRACK LISTING: The Best of Me (Intro Only), Sweet Life (Live), I Am Your Child (Live), Could It Be Magic (Featherbed featuring Barry Manilow), Could It Be Magic, Brandy (Original Scott English Single), Mandy (Original First Take), It's A Miracle, Sandra (Live), I Write the Songs, As Sure As I'm Standing Here, New York City Rhythm, Tryin' To Get the Feeling Again (Alternate Take), All the Time, Ready To Take A Chance Again, Somewhere In the Night, The Old Songs, I Don't Want To Walk Without You, If I Should Love Again (Alternate Take), Copacabana (Home cassette of composing the song), Copacabana (At the Copa), Dancin' Fool, I'm Your Man, Hey Mambo, Big Fun, Riders To the Stars (Live), I Wanna Be Somebody's Baby (Live), Daybreak (Live), Even Now (Live), Life Will Go On (Live), Memory (Live), Ships (Live), If I Can Dream (Live), One Voice (Live), This One's For You (Demo), Lay Me Down, Big City Blues, Somewhere Down the Road (Demo), A Little Traveling Music Please, You Could Show Me, Ave Maria, Look To the Rainbow, Joey (Demo), Please Don't Be Scared, Baby It's Cold Outside, When October Goes, Ain't It A Shame, Brooklyn Blues, How Do I Stop Loving You? (Demo), Just Remember (Live), I Can't Teach My Old Heart New Tricks, Weekend In New England, Give My Regards To Broadway (Live), Send In the Clowns/Looks Like We Made It (Live), Can't Smile Without You (Alternate First Take), Beautiful Music, Fugue For Tinhorns, My Girl/No One In This World, Don't Talk To Me of Love, The Last Duet, Wild Places (Demo), Never Met A Man I Didn't Like, Who Needs To Dream, Read 'Em and Weep, Let Freedom Ring, Let Me Be Your Wings, If Tomorrow Never Comes, Another Life, I Made It Through the Rain (Alternate Take), The Best of Me

IMPRESSIONS: Whenever November rolls around, I always seem to grab for this box set. A superb retrospective of Barr's career including well-known hits, unreleased demos and alternate takes and live performances.

MY FAVOURITE TRACKS: Sweet Life (Live), I Am Your Child (Live), Could It Be Magic, Sandra (Live), Tryin' To Get the Feeling (Alternate Take), All the Time, Somewhere In the Night, Hey Mambo, Big Fun, Riders To the Stars (Live), I Wanna Be Somebody's Baby (Live), Even Now (Live), Ships (Live), If I Can Dream (Live), One Voice (Live), This One's For You (Demo), Lay Me Down, Somewhere Down the Road (Demo), A Little Travelling Music Please, Ave Maria, Baby It's Cold Outside, When October Goes, Brooklyn Blues, Just Remember (Live), I Can't Teach My Old Heart New Tricks, Weekend In New England, Beautiful Music, Fugue For Tinhorns, Don't Talk To Me of Love, The Last Duet, Never Met A Man I Didn't Like, Read 'Em and Weep, If Tomorrow Never Comes, I Made It Through the Rain (Alternate Take)

GUEST ARTISTS: Scott English (vocal on "Brandy"), Kid Creole & the Cocoanuts (vocal/performance on "Hey Mambo"), Full Swing (vocals on "Big Fun"), Mel Torme (vocal on "Big City Blues"), Gerry Mulligan (baritone sax on "Big City Blues"), Barbara Cook (vocal on "Look To the Rainbow"), K.T. Oslin (vocal on "Baby It's Cold Outside"), Michael Crawford (vocal on "Fugue For Tinhorns"), Hinton Battle (vocal on "Fugue For Tinhorns), Melissa Manchester (vocal on "My Girl/No One In This World"), Mirielle Mathieu (vocal on "Don't Talk To Me of Love"), Lily Tomlin (vocal on "The Last Duet")

FACT SHEET: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION AND THEN SOME... is a career-spanning box set containing 4 cds and 1 videotape (recently remastered and re-released with a DVD). "I Don't Want To Walk Without You" was written by Frank Loesser & Jule Styne. "Memory" was written by Andrew Lloyd Webber, Trevor Nunn & T.S. Eliot. "Ships" was written by Ian Hunter. "Look To the Rainbow" was written by Burton Lane & E.Y. Harburg. "Baby It's Cold Outside" was written by Frank Loesser (which won an Academy Award for Best Song) and "Fugue For Tinhorns" (from the musical "GUYS AND DOLLS"). Barry Manilow & Johnny Mercer wrote "When October Goes", "Just Remember" and "I Can't Teach My Old Heart New Tricks". George M. Cohan wrote "Give My Regards To Broadway". Stephen Sondheim wrote "Send In the Clowns". "My Girl" was written by Smokey Robinson. "Never Met A Man I Didn't Like" was written by Cy Coleman, Betty Comden & Adolph Green. "Read 'Em and Weep" was written by Jim Steinman. "If Tomorrow Never Comes" was written by Garth Brooks and Kent Blazy. "The Best of Me" was written by Richard Marx, David Foster and Jeremy Lubbock.

STORMS - Various Artists

YEAR: 2003

LABEL: Cerpts Productions

TRACK LISTING: Storms - Fleetwood Mac, Knowing Me Knowing You - ABBA, Every Little Thing About You - Raul Malo, Lovesong - The Cure, Winter Kills - Alison Moyet, Blue - Sarah McLachlan, If I Could Reach You - The 5th Dimension, Back To Then - Darius Rucker, Blue - Barry Manilow & Sarah Vaughan, Don't Take Your Love From Me - Frank Sinatra, Neither One of Us (Wants To Be the First To Say Goodbye) - Gladys Knight & the Pips, No More Drama - Mary J. Blige, This Train Don't Stop There Anymore - Elton John, If I Could Only Stay Asleep - Patsy Cline, Ghost In This House - Allison Krauss, Trouble - Cat Stevens, Black - Pearl Jam, Who Am I Foolin' - Cheryl Wheeler, Two Star - Everything But the Girl

IMPRESSIONS: It was never my intention to put up a cd mix I made myself however there's no other I would consider before this one. The only cd mix I've made which has a fan base; everyone who has heard it declared it a classic. So who am I to argue with them? I would certainly say this is the one cd mix I consider a perfect jewel. Made on the 7th of January 2003, this cd was the result of a breakup and a broken heart ripped out of my chest and trodden on with golf shoes. Not only was the year 2002 a tough one for myself but for others I knew and this cd resonated strongly with all of us. Not only does it contain my number one favourite song of all time (Pearl Jam's "Black") but it also contains my number TWO favourite song (Mary J. Blige's "No More Drama"); both songs won Song of the Year Penguin Awards in their respective years. It features the song which had the most ever plays on my first ipod "City Lights" (Everything But the Girl's "Two Star" which had racked up 18 plays before I got my new ipod "Podzilla"). The cd also features the second saddest song ever recorded: The 5th Dimension's "If I Could Reach You" (the number one saddest song ever recorded, in case you're interested, is Stan Rogers' "First Christmas"). I am still extremely proud of the mood I managed to sustain on this cd and consider it my finest programming job.

MY FAVOURITE TRACKS: Storms - Fleetwood Mac, Lovesong - The Cure, Winter Kills - Alison Moyet, Blue - Sarah McLachlan, If I Could Reach You - The 5th Dimension, Blue - Barry Manilow & Sarah Vaughan, Don't Take Your Love From Me - Frank Sinatra, Neither One of Us (Wants To Be the First To Say Goodbye) - Gladys Knight & the Pips, No More Drama - Mary J. Blige, This Train Don't Stop There Anymore - Elton John, Ghost In This House - Alison Krauss, Trouble - Cat Stevens, Black - Pearl Jam, Who Am I Foolin' - Cheryl Wheeler, Two Star - Everything But the Girl

FACT SHEET: STORMS is a Cerpts CD Mix which was compiled on January 7, 2003. The cover art is by Edward Gorey.

2:00 AM PARADISE CAFE - Barry Manilow

YEAR: 1984

LABEL: Arista

TRACK LISTING: Paradise Cafe, Where Have You Gone?, Say No More, Blue, When October Goes, What Am I Doin' Here, Goodbye My Love, Big City Blues, When Love Is Gone, I've Never Been So Low On Love, Night Song, Paradise Cafe (Reprise)

IMPRESSIONS: Barr has said that the concept for the album came to him in a dream and its the album for which he'd most like to be remembered. Critically acclaimed at the time like no other album in his career, PARADISE CAFE has the feel of a late night bar filled with cigarette smoke with Frank Sinatra requesting the barman to "Set 'em up, Joe". This album first came to my attention through my good friend Paulster who played the tape during one of our million late night road trips. It was the dead of winter (the album came out in November 1984) and I remember loving it the first time I heard it. The process of recording each album side live in the studio in one single take with all the songs melding together was a brave one (one false note and they'd all have to start over at the beginning of song one again) and fits perfectly the style and mood of the piece. This is definitely a late night album (in the spirit of Sinatra's "IN THE WEE SMALL HOURS" or "FRANK SINATRA SINGS FOR ONLY THE LONELY" which was the perfect accompaniment for a late night drive on an icy winter's road trip.

MY FAVOURITE TRACKS: Paradise Cafe, Where Have You Gone?, Say No More, Blue, When October Goes, What Am I Doin' Here

GUEST ARTISTS: Sarah Vaughan (vocals on "Blue"), Mel Torme (vocals on "Big City Blues"), Gerry Mulligan (baritone saxophone), Bill Mays (piano, Fender Rhodes), Mundell Lowe (acoustic guitar, electric guitar), George Duvivier (double bass), Shelly Manne (drums, percussion).

FACT SHEET: 2:00 AM PARADISE CAFE is Barry Manilow's 14th album. The spark which brought the project to life was when the widow of Johnny Mercer gave Manilow a stack of the legendary songwriter's lyrics which had never been set to music (as per the late lyricist's wishes) so they could be turned into songs. While Manilow would set many of the lyrics to music (including the exquisite "Just Remember"), the only Mercer song appearing on this album is "When October Goes"; something of a modern standard which has also been recorded by Rosemary Clooney, Diane Schuur and Nancy Wilson. PARADISE CAFE was rehearsed for three days and then recorded live in the studio in one take with no overdubs. The album was a major departure from Manilow's patented easy listening pop and, though it never went very high on the charts, paradoxically went platinum. The album was arranged and produced by Barry Manilow.