When disc jockey
Brian Goslow
left the
Willie "Loco" Alexander
MCA Records
sessions for
Meanwhile...Back in the States
in 1978, he couldn't escape
Barry Manilow
's
"Copacabana (At the Copa)"
on the radio. Like a scene out of a movie as the radio station changed, the same song came blaring out of the speaker -- showing the radio power of
in 1978 -- every underground radio programmer's nightmare.
Manilow
had injected semi-
disco
into his previous albums, but this was an all out
dance
assault exacerbated by a 12" Spanish version,
"En el Copa,"
also finding popularity. With a Number One live album following up the previous studio disc,
This One's for You
, another year's worth of hits launched off of
Even Now
, with the title track going Top 20 after the Top Three showing of a
pop
masterpiece,
's rendition of
"Can't Smile Without You."
Clive Davis
must have heard
Engelbert Humperdinck
's excellent album track from his 1976 comeback,
After the Lovin'
, and with a little change in the original lyric a superb
confection manifested -- a sophisticated
"Jingle Jangle"
/
"Sugar Sugar"
produced by the singer of those
Archies
' hits,
Ron Dante
, along with
. The pair didn't stop there. They took
Helen Reddy
's 1975 Top 20 version of
"Mandy,"
cowriter
Richard Kerr
"Somewhere in the Night"
Top Ten in early 1979 (after
charted with a song from the film
Foul Play
in between the four-song chart run from this LP). Yes, there are still excesses on the
album (one being the successful
"Copacabana,"
) lows that go hand-in-hand with incredible highs like
"Can't Smile Without You"
and
"Somewhere in the Night,"
popular music that is as timeless and effective as it gets.
Marty Panzer
Barry
come up with a very impressive
cocktail
lounge
essay,
"I Was a Fool (To Let You Go),"
while another
cowrite,
"Losing Touch,"
displays some progress in the songwriting department for the showman.
England Dan and John Ford Coley
songwriter
Parker McGee
lends his excellent
"Where Do I Go From Here"
with
Jimmie Haskell
orchestration to the mix and it works, bringing back that query from the previous album -- why didn't
cowrite with the talented songwriters who gave him some of his finest moments? [
was re-released on disc in 2006, adding a bonus track in the unfinished "I'm Comin' Home Again."] ~ Joe Viglione