YOUR GROOVY HOST:
Billy Ingram
The greatest entertainers of the seventies -
especially those you never heard of!
Melissa Manchester
Bright Eyes
Melissa Manchester was a seminal artist of the seventies, her albums were and are evocative of that long ago era.
She started out as a background singer, working with Bette Midler and Barry Manilow just as they were becoming successful.
Melissa's debut album on Arista in 1973, 'Home to Myself', is at times dark and haunting, bare, and raw emotionally. It's a melancholy LP for the most part with many songs co-written with Carol Bayer Sager.
The entire production feels very personal. Track two 'Easy' is a prime example.
Her 1974 follow up, this time on Bell Records, is my favorite; although it's an uneven affair. This was an artist searching for her best avenue of expression.. and finding it. 'Bright Eyes' was a solid LP with more accessible songs than the previous outing, much more upbeat overall. For instance this gospel inspired single, 'Heaven' with the Dixie Hummingbirds (the single version is not nearly as good as the album track).
The Dixie Hummingbirds had just scored a massive hit with Paul Simon on 'Love Me Like a Rock' but lightning did not strike twice, this single failed to chart. Maybe if they had gone with the album arrangement, which is reminiscent of the Manhattan Transfer's 'Operator' and the Paul Simon single, they'd have had a hit.
My fave on the LP(and the B-side of the single) is 'Inclined', a haunting ballad that exemplifies what makes this artist so unique. No matter how upbeat some of the tunes were, like the title track that veers into disco territory, there was an undercurrent of sadness and longing. Or at least that's how I took it at the time.
On side two there's a classic from the American Songbook, 'I Can't Get Started With You' playfully sung with Cooker LoPresti, the bassist on most of the tracks on this and the previous release. Manchester would expand on that playfulness in later 1970s and early 1980s releases.
'Bright Eyes' was no more successful than 'Home to Myself' and failed to crack the top 150. Melissa Manchester's first hit came with her third album ' Melissa' in 1975, which rose to #12 thanks to a hit single, 'Midnight Blue' co-written with Carol Bayer Sager. That single landed at #6 on the Billboard charts. 'Melissa' is a dynamite album from start to finish and the one I would recommend if you were looking for a starting point... then go back to 'Bright Eyes'.
More top 40 hits followed, 'Just Too Many People' in 1975 and 'Just You and I' in 1976. Melissa Manchester scored two more Top Ten singles, 'Don't Cry Out Loud' in 1978 and her biggest hit, 1982's 'You Should Hear How She Talks About You' which hit #5 and won the Grammy for Best Female Vocal Performance.
Melissa Manchester co-wrote hits for other artists including 'Come in from the Rain' charted by the Captain & Tennille and Kenny Loggins' 'Whenever I Call You Friend.' Manchester recorded 'Come in From the Rain' in 1976.
Melissa Manchester
Bright Eyes
Track Listings
1. Bright Eyes
2. Alone
3. O Heaven (You've Changed Me)
4. Inclined
5. No. 1 (Ahwant Gemmeh)
6. Ode To Paul
7. I Can't Get Started
8. He Is The One
9. Ruby And The Dancer
Obscure 70s Looks At:
Walter Murphy's Phantom of the Opera
Mary Kay Place's Tonight at the Capri Lounge
Barbra Streisand's 1970s Albums
Sonny & Cher's Unreleased 1977 Album
Melissa Manchester's Bright Eyes
A track from 'For The Working Girls', Melissa Manchester's 1980 LP.
Obscure 70s Looks At:
Walter Murphy's Phantom of the Opera
Mary Kay Place's Tonight at the Capri Lounge
Barbra Streisand's 1970s Albums
Sonny & Cher's Unreleased 1977 Album
Melissa Manchester's Bright Eyes