Search - Barry Manilow :: Summer of 78

Mark L. from MEMPHIS, TN
Reviewed on 10/29/2014...

Great music from a great musician, Barry Manilow!

You + 1978= love this CD. Bravo, Barry!

CWC | Long Beach, CA | 06/21/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I remember this CD getting little to no publicity upon its release. What a shame! The orchestrations are incredible; Barry's voice has never sounded better. I'm surprised by all the diappointed reviews I'm reading. Contrary to opinion, 1978 was a lot of disco, but not all disco. There were great non-disco songs that were traversing the airwaves at the time too. Although not all the songs are specifically from 1978... more like 1975-1978... that's a very minor point. These were/are some great songs and Barry has done an incredible job of bringing "new life" to this collection of wonderful "FM station" tunes. The orchestrations are rich, multi-layered. I love popping this CD into my car player, cranking it up, and singing along with Barry over and over again. These new versions are bright, fresh, and positive and leave you with a great feeling- and wanting more after they have ended.The CD is definitely a "concept album," especially the way almost every song seems to flow into the other (for all those who remember when some songs on albums did that). I do agree with the one reviewer that I would have liked to have heard "Summer of '78" (a great new Barry Manilow original) in a more expanded and/or stand-alone version. This would have made a great single to release over the airwave and give this under-appreciated CD a boost. It would have been nice to have ended the CD with a shortened reprise from the song too to give the album an "ending" as well as having a "beginning."I've given this CD to many of my B.M. friends (all around my age) who have all raved about this collection after having listened to it. Maybe it was a period of time you had to live through to truly appreciate the music here....After some not so great CDs over the past few years from this talented artist, this one was a welcome relief. I, too, would love to see him do another album like this again. I highly recommend this CD and give it a "high five" star rating! And... yes, 1978 "... was one of those summers..." and "...I remember the summer of '78..." too! Bravo, Barry! Thanks for recreating some wonderful memories for me with these great songs!"

Ahh the 70s

CWC | 11/07/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I'm not much of a Barry Manilow fan or 70s music fan, however, I love this CD. It's one of the few we keep in the family van. The tunes here are catchy and the hooks, ah, you'll find yourself singing along. I haven't heard or listened to the original version of this songs. I was born after Manilow's hits has stopped coming, so I thought at first that these were his originally in the 70s. The music in this CD are different from the intense power ballads of the 80s; these are fresh and light, the pop song equivalent to equally fresh and light films of Meg Ryan like You've Got Mail and Sleepless in Seattle."