|
Some jokes
never get old, but the music of Barry Manilow isn’t one of them. For his
latest, The Greatest Songs of the Fifties, the Man Who Writes the Songs instead takes a cue
from fellow dinosaur Rod Stewart, raiding the catalogues of yesterday’s
hit-makers for a tasty profit today. The result is an uninspired collection of
warmed-over classics, from an unabashedly vanilla take on “Unchained Melody” to
an Elvis Presley cover, “Are You Lonesome Tonight,” that recalls the King in
his youthful heyday… had he been neutered. For Manilow fanatics who’ve worn out
their copies of Showstoppers and A Christmas
Gift of Love, this is precious
stuff. Everybody else would be better
off saving their money for tickets to the schlockmeister’s long-running revue
at the Las Vegas Hilton. Or not.
|
