There was blood and a single gun shot - but just who shot who?

Continuing my trip back through the 1979 album charts.

11/02/79 : Even Now - Barry Manilow

Barry's been mentioned quite a few times over the years, but this is our first proper visit with the lad - I suspect we all know what I'm going to get here.

Yeah, for the most part it's extremely cheesy ballads - I have to admit they're well done cheesy ballads but they're not something I need in my life. However, we have to make an exception for "Copacabana (At The Copa)" because everyone needs that in their life - and while it's still super-cheesy, it does at least have a bit of life to it. The only other track I recognised was "Can't Smile Without You" which is decent enough but not as good as The Carpenters' version - I also learned that it was originally recorded by David Martin, who was one of the song's writers along with Christian Arnold and Geoff Morrow. I can't say I loved this album but I also didn't hate it and it really wasn't aimed at me - I do love the 70's fonts used on the album cover though. 

We're at #14 in the charts this week on his ninth week of a fourteen week run, with it peaking at #12 the week before - it also managed three other runs throughout '78 and '79, spending 28 weeks in total in the chart. The top five this week were Blondie, the Action Replay compilation, Bee Gees (a new entry), Elvis Costello and another compilation entitled Don't Walk - Boogie, which is a peculiar selection of mostly US disco outfits, but also includes T-Rex and Tom Robinson. The next highest new entry is The Dickies (#22), who are a US punk band and they're still going - I didn't think I was aware of their work, but they did the cover of The Banana Splits theme tune that was used in Kick Ass. 

Wikipedia tells us it's his fifth album and was very successful - and that's pretty much your lot. Looking at his entry to pad things out, his career started in '64 and he's still active now, although his fourteen night residency at the London Palladium last year were apparently his "last, last UK concerts". He comes across as a decent guy who doesn't take himself too seriously and his greatest hits album spent over 15 years in the US Billboard 200 chart. Back to this album, it was (somewhat surprisingly) nominated for the Album Of The Year Grammy award and he won the Best Male Pop Vocal award for "Copacabana (At The Copa)" - his only win out of fifteen nominations. Commercially, it did very well in the US, getting to #3 and selling over three million copies.

It doesn't however, feel like a record to drive the collectors wild and discogs.com tells us you can pick up a decent copy for 50p although if you want the reissue with blue/tan labels (and who doesn't?) it's going to set you back £55. I'm afraid I wouldn't even part with 50p to own this, but I can see that those who like this sort of thing will think it's a good example - they're decent songs and they're well sung.

04/02/79 - Fine but forgettable
18/02/79 - Some very fine tracks and some not so fine