Like
Neil Diamond,
Barry Manilow embarked on a transition during the 1990s from being a contemporary pop singer/songwriter to being an interpretive singer on the model of
Tony Bennett, who achieved a career resurgence around the same time with a series of thematic albums.
Manilow followed 1991's
Showstoppers, an album of songs from Broadway shows, with
Singin' with the Big Bands, which found him covering swing-era standards, in some cases accompanied by the ghost bands of
Tommy and
Jimmy Dorsey,
Duke Ellington,
Harry James, and
Glenn Miller.
Les Brown & His Band of Renown were still active, and he backed
Manilow on a rendition of his hit "Sentimental Journey." For the most part, the songs covered were known more for their instrumental power than for the vocals of people like
Bob Eberly and Ray Eberle, and
Manilow matched them, while soloists re-created the signature sounds of the big band musicians and the arrangements were subtly updated. So, for example, when
Manilow sang
Benny Goodman's "And the Angels Sing," he equaled
Martha Tilton's vocal, and
Warren Leuning aped
Ziggy Elman's famous trumpet solo.
Manilow got in more trouble with songs like "Sentimental Journey," originally sung by
Doris Day with a marked sultriness he didn't even try to evoke, and with
Frank Sinatra trademarks like "All or Nothing at All" and "I'll Never Smile Again." Born just after World War II,
Manilow seemed to respond to the effervescence of the sweet swing sound, but to have no grasp whatsoever of the underlying longing and pain that went with and informed these songs of wartime separation. ~ William Ruhlmann