Barry Manilow's Poo

Overall Album Score: 7.3 out of 10

At least I can say that this album starts out like it's going to take over China. "I Want to Be Somebody's Baby" is incredibly enjoyable and upbeat. It's has Manilow's '70s Vegas vibe and with a slightly strange, off-kilter feeling about it. It's quite an interesting song. He follows that up with a stellar song "Early Morning Strangers," a conventional soft-rock number but enough interesting ideas strewn throughout to keep it interesting. And of course "Mandy" follows after that, which I'm sure everybody has heard. Even people who hate Barry Manilow seem to like that song ... although he didn't write that song.

The following three songs are entirely tolerable although it seems clear that it's dropped off considerably in quality. "Two Of Us" is a ballad that never takes off when it should --- but at least it's pretty. The following two tracks are enjoyable though they're not too striking in my opinion.

After that, there's the strangely out-of-place "Avenue C," which sounds like a '50s commercial jingle. This worked on his more pointedly diverse previous album, but here it seems to stick out like a sore thumb. Despite that, I actually enjoy the song --- but it ruins the general feel of the album that Manilow seemed to be shooting for.

Well, at any rate, I'd take "Avenue C" on the boring ballads that follow it any day of the week. "My Baby Loves Me," "Sandra" and "Home Again" consists of the Axis of Evil even though "Home Again" is slightly less eviler than the others. All three of them are hopelessly corny ballads without great melodies. They are what preventing me from having good, overall words to say about this release.

It's been correctly pointed out that this is where Manilow decides what direction he wanted to take his career. This is also much more focused on cheesy ballads and Vegas-oriented pop music than his previous album, Manilow I! Well, this album loses some of the needed diversity though the switch. Simply put, this album is pretty boring to sit through... apart from the three opening tracks, that is.

Overall Album Score: 7.3 out of 10 (This isn't such a recommended album, but the first three songs are certainly worth hearing if you have a digital music streaming service, or you have $3 to spare on iTunes.)

Average Song Score: 7.8 (The songs are quite good --- but nothing else lives up to the first three songs.)

Album Tilt: 7.0 (This isn't album-rock, and the results are disasterous. Nobody in their right mind would sit through this ... why do you think I did?)

Artist Rating: 7.0 (I can point out a few interesting things that Manilow does, and of all the '70s AM radio popsters out there, this guy is pretty tolerable. But you don't get any points for stuff like "Sandra.")

Track Reviews

I Want to Be Somebody's Baby 9/10

This is Manilow's admission that he never had a mother! (HAH HAH...hah....... OK that's not funny.) Anyway, this is a very '70s sounding song for better or worse. I do enjoy it though, because the melody is rather catchy. That's the most important factor when listening to pop music, after all. The instrumentation is varied --- it consists of bongo drums and rather elaborate horn arrangements. Hey, he's already working to be the Vegas superstar!

Early Morning Strangers 9.5/10

What an enjoyable soft rock ditty. The melody is catchy, and it does contain one or two nice chord changes. Again, it sounds very '70s to a fault, but the melody makes up for it. It's also complex enough to give it some artistic merit (notably, it almost turns into a jazz song in the middle). The instrumentation is rather usual, but at least there's a clavinet! Yay!

Mandy 10/10

Everyone seems surprised to learn that this famous ditty is from Barry Manilow. Although please note that he didn't lend a hand in the songwriting. This was a megahit that is played all the time on the radio. And guess what? I like hearing it. It's corny and over-dramatic in the best way possible. Naturally, the melody is great and does warrant many listens.

The Two of Us 8/10

Here is a rather pretty ballad with a good melody. It's a little boring though --- I'm always expecting this song to explode into a sweeping pop song like "Mandy" but it ultimately doesn't. It's disappointing in those regards.

Something's Comin' Up 8/10

This interesting pop song is also rather complex. Manilow is the only credited songwriter for this one, so you can tell this guy was a pretty talented songwriter. At the same time, this track is pretty spotty. The upbeat sections are much better than the rest. That faux-gospel section at the end is fun --- it could have been an embarrassment, but he makes it work.

It's a Miracle 8/10

A fun and entirely upbeat song. I'm not a big fan of those cheesy back-up vocals, but ... on second thought this whole song is cheesy. This is way too '70s for most audiences to take, but I can stomach this stuff pretty easily. The melody is fine though I can't say I find it as catchy as everyone says it is. The proto-disco rhythm section is probably why this was a hit. I don't find this to be overly special.

Avenue C 7/10

This vomity song that sounds like an annoying '50s television commercial jingle. This guy used to be a commercial jingle writer, and it's painfully obvious. He proves that he can pull off these tricky vocals, but this song is pretty annoying. He pulled off this song in his earlier album, but it didn't sound so out of place there.... yeesh....

My Baby Loves Me 6/10

Eh, more cutsiness. Again, I have nothing against cutesy songs unless it doesn't have a melody that's catchy enough to distract me from that fact. This melody isn't anything special, and all that's left is this relentless sunshine-pop mood that's not convincing me enough to get in that mood. Those back-up singers are awful.

Sandra 5/10

A ballad tribute to a housewife??! (Oh, I guess that's who Manilow's primary audience was ... I don't know what the hell I'm doing listening to this.) I'm going to conveniently forget that I heard the lyrics (because I would really *hate* this song) and just concentrate on the melody. Parts of it are good, but not enough of it. It's not badly written though entirely generic --- in a bad way. This is so '70s that it hurts. He should let the mood evolve better instead of making this so boring.

Home Again 7/10

Yet another sentimental ballad. This album is on ballad overload, although this isn't as bad as the previous tune. The melody works a little more nicely ... the five+ minute running length is too much! At least Manilow lets the song rock out a little bit (as much as it can in such a mainstream pop album) even including a little electric guitar solo. The orchestral quality of this track picks up some of the slack also.

Good News 8/10

The good news is that he doesn't put another one of his freaking ballads at the end and instead delivers a modestly entertaining upbeat number. He obviously saved the best of that for the beginning of the album, but this is nice too.

BONUS TRACK

"Halfway Over the Hill" might be a bonus track, but it actually serves as a nice little closer to the album. It's another Vegasy song with a good melody and (naturally) bongo drums! The scaling violins were well orchestrated. This has a nice soaring quality that seems to define Manilow's best. Hooray!

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