Fanilows: set your VCRs
Fanilow alert!
A Barry Manilow concert special tie-in to his latest CD “The Greatest Songs of the Seventies” (Arista) airs this weekend on PBS.
It will be shown Saturday at 10:30 p.m. and Sunday at 7 p.m. on KCET (28). Check local listings to confirm your cable system times.
The part-time Palm Springs resident released the third installment of his standards series last September. His vocals were recorded in town at Pepper Tree Studios.
The Beatles’ “Long and Winding Road,” Elton John’s “Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word,” Carole King’s “You’ve Got a Friend” (a duet with Melissa Manchester), Simon & Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” The Hollies’ “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother,” Albert Hammond’s “It Never Rains in Southern California” are some of the covers.
Personally, I think his “Fifties” and “Sixties” volumes are stronger. But “Seventies” benefits from six stripped-down Manilow hits. They’re basically just the singer at the piano – “Mandy,” “Weekend in New England,” “Even Now,” “Looks Like We Made It,” “I Write the Songs” and a great revamped “Copacabana (At the Copa).”
You can catch Manilow live later this month during his next round of Las Vegas Hilton dates on Dec. 27-30 as well as Staples Center on Valentine’s Day.