Having indulged himself with a jazz album, 1984's 2:00 AM Paradise Café, Barry Manilow returned to being a contemporary pop artist with Manilow. The generic title, from an artist who had called an album Barry five years earlier, suggested the schematic nature of the project. Five producers in addition to Manilow himself were employed to come up with ten potential singles in a variety of styles. There were by-the-numbers Manilow ballads like "If You Were Here with Me Tonight," naturally. But Manilow led things off with the uptempo synth pop number "I'm Your Man," its romantic lyric interpretable as a re-introduction of the artist to his audience. More problematic in that regard was the ballad that followed, "It's All Behind Us Now," since, while the nominal message was that trouble for a couple had been passed, it also seemed an acknowledgement of Manilow's commercial decline. Elsewhere, "Some Sweet Day" had a light Latin flavor reminiscent of "Spanish Harlem" and "At the Dance" (produced by George Duke) a more overt one that echoed Lionel Richie's 1983 hit "All Night Long (All Night)." As with "I'm Your Man," other uptempo tracks such as "In Search of Love" used studios full of synthesizers and programmed drums to give Manilow a contemporary edge, but it was still the ballads that impressed, notably "He Doesn't Care (But I Do)," the one song (other than an unlikely cover of Ashford & Simpson's "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing") that Manilow didn't have a hand in writing. Those songs, of course, appealed to Manilow's aging audience, but not to the new ones he hoped to attract with the more trendy tracks, and for old fans, there weren't enough of them. So, Manilow's commercial decline continued. Manilow was his first album to miss the Top 40 and fail to earn a gold record certification. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
Barry Manilow (Piano), Barry Manilow (Drums), Barry Manilow (Keyboards), Barry Manilow (Vocals), Barry Manilow (Vocals (Background)), Barry Manilow (Main Performer), Barry Manilow (Rhythm Arrangements), Bob Carlisle (Vocals (Background)), John Arrias (Engineer), John Arrias (Mixing), Kerry Ashby (Drums), George DelBarrio (String Arrangements), John Bogosian (Engineer), Artie Butler (Arranger), Artie Butler (Orchestration), Paulinho Da Costa (Percussion), Paulinho Da Costa (Drums), Raymond Crossley (Piano (Grand)), Michael Delugg (Engineer), Michael Delugg (Mixing), Kevin DiSimone (Arranger), Kevin DiSimone (Keyboards), Kevin DiSimone (Vocals (Background)), Kevin DiSimone (Synclavier), Kevin DiSimone (DX-7), Kevin DiSimone (Linn Drum), Kevin DiSimone (Piano (Grand)), Kevin DiSimone (Roland Synthesizer), Barry Fasman (String Arrangements), Tommy Funderburk (Vocals (Background)), Bob Gaudio (Rhythm Arrangements), Mitch Gibson (Assistant Engineer), John Gilutin (Keyboards), Khaliq Glover (Assistant Engineer), Bud Harner (Drums), Bud Harner (Drum Programming), Barry Hirschberg (Vocals (Background)), Marc Hulett (Assistant), Paul Jackson, Jr. (Guitar (Acoustic)), Paul Jackson, Jr. (Guitar (Rhythm)), Randy Kerber (Piano), Randy Kerber (Keyboards), Michael Landau (Guitar), Julie Last (Assistant Engineer), Julie Last (Mixing Assistant), Jon Lind (Vocals (Background)), Joe Marciano (Engineer), Peter Moshay (Drum Programming), Ron Pedley (Piano), Ron Pedley (Keyboards), Ron Pedley (Programming), John Pondel (Guitar), Howie Rice (Bass), Howie Rice (Guitar), Howie Rice (Drums), Howie Rice (Keyboards), Howie Rice (String Arrangements), Bruce Robb (Engineer), Terral "Terry" Santiel (Percussion), Jason Scheff (Vocals (Background)), Rick Shlosser (Drums), Neil Stubenhaus (Bass), Bob Sutton (Production Assistant), Tommy Vicari (Engineer), Tommy Vicari (Mixing), Luther Waters (Vocals (Background)), Oren Waters (Vocals (Background)), Erik Zobler (Engineer), David Eaton (Assistant Engineer), Steve Hirsch (Assistant Engineer), Marc Levine (Bass), Alice Murrell (Production Assistant), Ria Lewerke (Art Direction), Vic Anesini (Mastering), Glen Holguin (Engineer), Freddie "Ready Freddie" Washington (Bass), Matthew Rolston (Photography), Sue Reilly (Design), Eric Borenstein (Executive), Victor Vanacore (Conductor), Victor Vanacore (Keyboards), Billy Hughes (Vocals (Background)), Daniel Reed (Engineer), John "4 Daddman" Robinson (Drums), Martine Leger (Stylist), James Jolis (Vocals (Background)), Alan Foust (String Arrangements), Kevin "KAcey" Jones (Programming), Will Lee Voices (Bass)
Manilow was the self-titled album released in 1985 by singer-songwriterBarry Manilow. The album had little impact on the charts. The album features 1980s style rock n' roll with heavy synthesizers. He was lured away from Arista Records, but as cited by Manilow in an interview, the executives who brought him over were no longer there when the album was released. This may have led to poor record sales, as well as the album sound being primarily a modern uptempo and synthesized release sharply different from Manilow's renowned piano ballads.
The album was Manilow's first of four albums with RCA Records. The other releases with the company are an original soundtrack album of his 1985 CBS television movie Copacabana where he starred as Tony Starr with Annette O'Toole as Lola Lamarr. The other two RCA releases were foreign greatest hits albums that Manilow rerecorded some of the vocals of his hits in Spanish on Grandes Exitos En Espanol and in Portuguese on Especial. The idea RCA had was to make Manilow the next Julio Iglesias.
The hits from this album are:
I'm Your Man
Sweet Heaven (I'm In Love Again) from the television movie Copacabana
He Doesn't Care But I Do
In Search of Love
The album was a commercial success but is a relatively un-known release for several reasons: The hit songs made their impact on the Adult-Contemporary radio format, instead of the Pop Top-40. The other reason the Manilow album became a lost gem was because it was released between two of his most critically acclaimed projects: 2:00 AM Paradise Cafe and Swing Street.
