Arista
2007
The Greatest Songs Of The Seventies
About This Album
Barry Manilow not only lived through the '70s, but found most of his popular success during the Me Decade: he entered 1970 as a jingles writer and nightclub pianist but left 1979 as pop music's biggest star. While he was writing and performing the biggest hits of the decade, he undoubtedly was also admiring its best songwriting, from artists such as Paul Simon, Carole King, Elton John, Burt Bacharach, and Lennon/McCartney (the latter just barely fit in the '70s). And when the previous volume in his Greatest Songs series, The Greatest Songs of the Sixties, hit number two on the charts in late 2006, it was clear that a third volume would be just around the corner. The song selection on The Greatest Songs of the Seventies appears perfectly suited to Manilow's talents -- nothing too energetic, nothing rough or ragged -- and Manilow treats these songs just as he did on his albums of '50s and '60s classics, singing them straight while his band plays it smooth, with soft adult contemporary arrangements in the background. "(They Long to Be) Close to You" is among the best here, partially since it begins with Manilow and solo piano instead of the soft keyboard wash that marks most of the songs.
Track List (try tracks 5,7,9,10,13 and 15)

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