Review of Manilow Live!

Introduction

Barry Manilow is much reviled among “music lovers”, but adored by his (mostly female) fans. This two hour Nashville concert sees him trawling through his musical career and entertaining his fans.

I guess you either love Barry’s music or hate it. Quite frankly, if you hate his music, you won’t be buying this DVD and so criticism of the music is irrelevant and I’ll confine myself to the disk.

Video

Picture is initially impressive. However, it does not remain so. While colours are well reproduced and the image appears sharp on fairly static scenes, any sharp movement causes the image to soften and lose focus. For example, when Barry jerks his head around to talk to the band, his head becomes a bit blurred.

This is just about tolerable but could have been better. A mediocre NTSC transfer.

Audio

Soundtrack options are DD 4.0 and DTS 4.0. There is little difference between the two, with the DTS version having slightly more clarity. The overall sound is rich and warm rather than crisp. Perecussion and drums are fairly muted in the mix and the strings blanket you in sound rather than having any attack.

For the musical style and intended audience, this is probably ideal, so I won’t complain. Interestingly, despite having no LFE, the bass is deep and rich.

Overall, fine.

Features

You get a slew of subtitle options (not the songs, just the banter), a fairly comprehensive biography of Barry and a discography. Fairly slim pickings and, if you are a Barry fan (and you wouldn’t be buying the disk if you weren’t) you will know all this anyway.

Conclusion

It starts well: “Tonight we are going to have an orgy”.

Of course, Barry means an orgy of music. What a character!

Actually, he is. I started viewing the disk thinking Manilow was a smug, grinning talentless MOR hack. Now, I’m not so sure. I’m not talking about a Damascus-style conversion to Manilowism – I still can’t stand most of his music – but I have more respect for his showmanship.

This DVD is not just a series of songs done live. Rather it is a night of entertainment for Barry’s fans. He doesn’t just sing, he jokes and chats with the audience, invites them up on stage to sing duets, plays the accordian and the kazoo (Oi Barry, NOOOO!!) and generally has a good time. And so does the audience. Sure, it must be an ego trip for him. But, you get the impression that he genuinely cares for his fans. When Michele from Arkansas duets with him and confesses that she has been a Barry-fan since age 5, he appears interested and flattered. He may be thinking, “Stalker!”, but he doesn’t let it show. Unlike a lot of modern artists, there is no disdain for his fans. And, that’s refreshing and wins him some respect from me.

As I said at the beginning, there is no point in critiqueing the music. If you like it, you’ll enjoy these performances and if you don’t, you have no business buying the DVD – it’s not for you.

If you are a Barry Manilow fan, this will be your idea of heaven. Barry sings all his hits, gives you a good two hours entertainment and will send you home with a smile on your face.

You’ll ignore the lacklustre picture and the sound will be perfect. If you are a Barry fan, ignore my ratings – it will be straight tens. Looking at it more objectively (and giving the music the benefit of the doubt) ...