REVIEWCD Review: Barry Manilow - Live: Legacy Edition
June 16, 2006
Rebecca Wright
Live
Barry Manilow
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» DVD Review: Neil Young: Heart of Gold
» Vinyl Tap: Television - Marquee Moon
» CD Review: Katharine Whalen - Dirty Little Secret

Arista has beautifully restored Barry Manilow's 1977 album Live,
from the original 1976 concert recordings. The concert was recorded
at the Uris Theatre in New York City in December 1976. Released as a
two LP album in May of 1977, Live was Manilow's first number one
album (his second was 2006's The Greatest Songs of the Fifties),
sold over 3 million copies and managed to displace Fleetwood Mac's
classic Rumours – one of the biggest selling albums of all time –
from the top of the charts. Live was also Arista's first platinum-
selling double-LP. The album would eventually score platinum status
four times over. Barry Manilow was one of the biggest stars in the
music business that year.

For the first time ever, Live is available in the sequence as it was
heard by the audience at the Uris Theatre in 1976. Live: Legacy
Edition makes three significant changes to previous releases of the
album. This edition has been expanded into a two CD set, allowing
for the restoration of all three-parts of "Beautiful Music" as the
theme of Act II, which fills all of disc two by itself.

The new edition includes five previously unreleased songs, all in
their original places in the concert: "Let Me Go," "I Am Your
Child," "Tryin' To Get The Feeling Again," "Lady Flash Medley,"
and "One Of These Days." Resequencing the concert back to its
original order of performance makes the concert flow more evenly.
Having owned previous versions of the Live album, I've noticed that
the restored version no longer has the brief, choppy pauses where
material was moved or edited.

One of the highlights of Live: Legacy Edition is "A Very Strange
Medley," also known as "(V.S.M.)." It is in this medley that Manilow
sings several of the commercial jingles he wrote while trying to get
a break in the music business. Barry wrote some very well-known
jingles for McDonalds, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Band-Aids, and Dr.
Pepper, among others. Manilow started playing the medley after he
left his job as Bette Midler's musical director and started playing
clubs as a solo artist. "I didn't have a hit single at the time, so
I decided to include the only material I was associated with that
the audience knew: my commercials." Thirty years later, "The Very
Strange Medley" is still a highlight of Manilow's live shows.

By the time of the Uris theatre concert, Manilow had seven hit
singles in a row, all of which are performed on Live: Legacy
Edition. Listening to the album, it is clear that the live concert
gives Manilow an opportunity to show his musicianship, showmanship,
and singing ability. Barry is responding to the audience and they
are responding in turn. Manilow shows vocal skills when singing a
ballad like "Mandy," a sense of humor when delivering the "Very
Strange Medley," and a fun interpretation of pop-infused music when
singing the "Jump Shout Boogie Medley." The Medley includes
Manilow's 1975 reworking of "Bandstand Boogie," which was used as
the theme song for the long running television show American
Bandstand.

Live: Legacy Edition has been restored to show Barry Manilow at the
height of his success in the 1970's. The double-CD includes a four-
color booklet, Barry Manilow's original liner notes, new liner notes
from Rolling Stone's David Wild and previously unreleased
photography. Live: Legacy Edition is a must-have for any Barry
Manilow fan or anyone who enjoys live concert music.
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THE WHO TO UNVEIL LEEDS UNIVERSITY PLAQUE

THE WHO will unveil a commemorative blue plaque at legendary English
venue Leeds University when they launch their UK tour there tomorrow
(17JUN06). The plaque will pay tribute to the concert venue, where
The Who recorded their seminal LIVE AT LEEDS album in 1970. It was
also honour other bands who performed at the refectory rock venue,
including THE ROLLING STONES, SIR ELTON JOHN, LED ZEPPELIN, THE
CLASH, BOB MARLEY, RADIOHEAD, FLEETWOOD MAC and IGGY POP.
16/06/2006 18:03

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Taste: More celebrities pour into wine business
Friday, June 16, 2006

By Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher, The Wall Street Journal


Animal labels are so 2005. Now that winemakers have used up pretty
much all real critters for their labels and are resorting to
mythical creatures like two-headed cats, it's pretty clear that this
trend has peaked. Next up: paparazzi wines.




Appropriate to an age when gossip is ascendant and personality is
king, wine stores these days are a virtual People magazine of
labels. There are labels for race-car drivers (Richard Childress,
Randy Lewis, Jeff Gordon, Mario Andretti), golfers (Arnold Palmer,
Greg Norman, Ernie Els) and stars of other sports (Joe Montana,
Larry Bird). There are labels for live musicians (Bob Dylan, Vince
Neil of Motley Crue), dead ones (Jerry Garcia, Frank Sinatra) and
some who may or may not be dead (Elvis Presley). There are labels
for living Hollywood stars (Fess Parker) and immortal ones (Marilyn
Monroe). Madonna's father has his own winery -- Ciccone Vineyard &
Winery -- in Michigan. His winery says his first Madonna label will
be released any day now. There is even celebrity synergy: Football
commentator John Madden grows some of the Syrah grapes for the wines
of Olympic skater Peggy Fleming. John Madden on ice -- wow.

Of course, there have been some paparazzi wines for a long time. We
bought our first bottle of Always Elvis, with a shiny label outside
and bad Italian wine inside, in 1980. Around the same time, we had
our first Smothers Brothers wine and a Muscat Canelli from Pat
Paulsen. The director Francis Ford Coppola started his winery in
Napa 30 years ago; now it's one of the biggest in the U.S. However,
when Costco, Gallo and Martha Stewart all get involved, you know a
trend is coming ashore, so consider this: Costco will soon be
carrying a line of wines with Mick Fleetwood, drummer and co-founder
of Fleetwood Mac. Gallo now has MacMurray Ranch, named for actor
Fred MacMurray, who used to own the land where the grapes are grown.
And Martha Stewart has been quietly mixing up her own line of Sonoma
County wines. We're told she's particularly interested in making a
great rose. That will probably be her first release, along with a
Chardonnay.

Clearly this trend has hit the slipstream, as Mr. Lewis, the race-
car driver, whose wines are very well-regarded, might say. We seem
to see a new paparazzi wine every day. Some companies now specialize
in putting celebrities' pictures on wine labels. The question is:
How are they? When we conducted a tasting of animal labels a couple
of years ago -- we dubbed them critter wines, a name that has stuck -
- we found most of them, as we put it then, "beastly and fowl." How
about paparazzi wines? Are the pretty labels concealing ugly wine?
We conducted an extensive tasting to get the answer.

We found at least one wine from everyone mentioned above, plus quite
a few others -- more than 50 bottles in all. A few, such as Greg
Norman, are widely available. Others are obscure. In some cases, we
had to order directly from the winery and in other cases we had to
look hard to find wines from dealers who specialize in unusual
orders. While many wineries are owned by famous people, we only
bought wines in which a celebrity's picture or name, or some version
of the name, appeared on the label. We did not include Coppola
wines; they have done so well in our general blind tastings that we
can simply stipulate that these are good wines across a wide
varietal spectrum.

In most cases involving a live celebrity, the winery claims that the
star is intimately involved in every aspect of the winemaking. We
believe this. We also believe that Paris Hilton personally harvests
materials from sperm whales to make her namesake perfume. But it is
clear that some celebrities are more involved than others. Our
assistant, Melanie Grayce West, heard that popular '70s singer Boz
Scaggs made wine in California, so she called around to try to find
some. Then her phone rang. "This is Boz Scaggs," said the voice on
the other end. "You called about my wine?" Mr. Scaggs said his first
vintage was 2003, but he wasn't crazy about it, so he's waiting to
see how the 2004 "sits in the bottle for a few months" and said he
may release it -- around 200 cases -- later this year.

And, of course, death alone is no reason why stars can't be part of
the process. Two winemaking buddies, Christian Garvin and Andrew
Kahn, longtime Frank Sinatra fans, decided the day after Mr. Sinatra
died in 1998 to make a wine in his honor. With vintage Sinatra songs
wafting through Kahn Winery, which they opened in 1996, they made
one barrel of Cabernet Franc, which they called Cab Frank. Then, Mr.
Garvin told us, they wrote Old Blue Eyes' family to tell them what
they'd done and thus began a partnership of sorts in which more wine
would be bottled -- 2,000 cases at its peak -- and a portion of the
proceeds given to the Frank Sinatra Foundation.

We tasted the wines in blind flights over several nights and we have
good news: They were surprisingly tasty, and some were excellent.
The overall quality was high. To be sure, they weren't all winners.
We found the reds, in general, better than the whites. Indeed, we
tasted 10 Chardonnays and didn't like any of them. We also found
that live people make better wines than dead ones. We have never
much liked the well-known Marilyn Merlot brand and we didn't this
time, either. We tried several different Elvis wines from the
Graceland Cellars line and didn't like any of those. Nor did we like
any of the Jerry Garcia wines we tried. The Sinatra Merlot was an
excellent exception, but, sadly, it is no longer made. The 2001
Merlot we had was made after the two friends parted ways, Mr. Garvin
says, adding that the business, minus the Sinatra piece of it, was
sold last year. "It was a fun run," he says.

We very much liked the Bracco Pinot Grigio. Lorraine Bracco, who
plays Tony Soprano's psychiatrist in the hit HBO series, told us she
has loved wine since she moved to France as a teenager and lived
there for 10 years. With all of the offers for her to endorse this
product or that, she jumped at the chance when her business manager
and an associate of his brought to her the idea of launching a line
of wines. "I loved the fact that I would own the business and I
loved the fact that it was something that I loved to do," she told
us. "I love to eat and drink." So with her importer, she visits
wineries in Italy and tastes and chooses the wines that will bear
her name, she says. Her dream, she adds, "is to have a fabulous
rose" in her portfolio.

We also really enjoyed Mick Fleetwood's wine, which is a blend of
Merlot and Cabernet Franc. Mr. Fleetwood, whose wines are made at
various wineries, told us he enjoys the blending process, the trial
and error it takes to get something good that he wants to put his
name on. "I don't mind the responsibility," he said. "Take it home.
I trust you will really love the experience of drinking it, but if
you don't you know who to blame." He added: "So far we've had almost
exclusively good comments. The wine is obviously accessible to a
broad palate, which it has to be to be really drinkable. I don't
like being hit over the head. I don't like to be traumatized. For
some people it's all about the full tannic approach where you feel
like the enamel is being stripped off your teeth. I don't like that."

In general, we would say that, at the moment, people, especially
live people, are a better bet than animals in the wine shop. Hmm.
Maybe that's a natural evolution.


The Dow Jones Paparazzi Wines Index



In a blind tasting of more than 50 wines named for, signed by or
somehow displaying a celebrity's image, these were our favorites.
Some are widely available, while others are obscure; one isn't being
produced anymore. We have listed the prices we paid in several
states, but because some of these are hard to find, prices vary
quite widely.


BEST WINE BY A ... : Living actress
VINEYARD/VINTAGE: Bracco Pinot Grigio delle Venezie 2004 (Italy)
RATING/PRICE: Good/Very Good. We wish more Pinot Grigio tasted like
this, with good fruit, nice minerals, some bracing acidity and stuff
underneath. We didn't like other Bracco wines as much. $11.99
BACKGROUND: Lorraine Bracco's line of eight wines appeared in March
in four states and will be in 14 other states by August, with around
50,000 cases in distribution.


BEST WINE BY A ... : Dead actor
VINEYARD/VINTAGE: MacMurray Ranch Pinot Gris 2004 (Russian River
Valley)
RATING/PRICE: Good/Very Good. Good minerals, some weight, with
bright, melon tastes. Some guts. $17.99
BACKGROUND: Gallo makes this on land once owned by the actor Fred
MacMurray. Gallo released its first MacMurray wines in 2002. Total
production is 60,000 cases.


BEST WINE BY A ... : Living musician
VINEYARD/VINTAGE: Mick Fleetwood 'Private Cellar' Cuvee (Merlot,
Cabernet Franc) 1998 (Santa Ynez Valley)
RATING/PRICE: Very Good. Smooth, velvety and elegant, with great
fruit and nice acidity. Real stature. Great with a rare steak. $29.99
BACKGROUND: This was Mr. Fleetwood's first vintage; the current one
is the 2004. His line of wines will start showing up at some Costcos
in Los Angeles and Hawaii this fall. Total production is targeted at
100,000 cases.
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No hearts broken by Petty, Nicks

By Mike Sarzo

Sentinel Staff Writer


Touring for perhaps the last time in their illustrious careers, Tom
Petty and the Heartbreakers stopped off at Nissan Pavilion in
Bristow, Va. for the second stop on their Highway Companion tour
with a very special guest helping them out.

After Petty ran through the band introductions, he introduced a
woman whom he'd noticed "running around since about 1978," and
described her as a "soul sister." That brought Stevie Nicks, front
woman for Fleetwood Mac and an accomplished solo artist in her own
right, onto the stage. Nicks sang "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around," a
song that was a number 3 hit. Nicks, sang it with Petty and the
Heartbreakers on her 1981 debut album release Bella Donna. Nicks
also added a fiery version of "I Need To Know," a Tom Petty and the
Heartbreakers song she has covered in each of her solo tours.

Even when Nicks wasn't on stage, Petty and his well-oiled band
blistered through a 21-song set that included hits
like "Refugee," "Free Fallin'," and "American Girl," which was one
of the three encores. The band also added covers including the Peter
Green-era Fleetwood Mac classic "Oh Well" and the Traveling
Wilburys' "Handle With Care," a song Petty sang with the late Roy
Orbison and George Harrison in the Traveling Wilburys. Guitarist and
harmonica player Scott Thurston ably sang Orbison's parts.

While some of Petty's later work may not have garnered him much
radio attention — and the song "The Last DJ" off the CD of the same
title was pretty much guaranteed not to get radio play on
increasingly conglomerate-controlled radio stations – he and his
band proved to be dynamic performers on stage, at times defying
their ages in this 30th anniversary tour.

While most of the audience was in attendance for Petty, a few Nicks
fans showed. Many of her fans in online communities hoped
desperately to hear "Insider," a song off Tom Petty and the
Heartbreakers' 1982 album Hard Promises. Most of them expected the
two to disappoint them with Nicks' reputation for playing it safe in
set lists instead of tailoring her shows to her diehard fans.
However, when Nicks returned to the stage, she and Petty launched
into an acoustic version of "Insider."

Petty and the Heartbreakers were touring in advance of Petty's
upcoming Highway Companion CD, which will include some help from The
Heartbreakers members including lead guitarist Mike Campbell. Petty
performed two new songs from that CD, including "Saving Grace."

Former Phish frontman Trey Anastasio opened the show, playing for
nearly an hour.
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MUSIC REVIEW TOM PETTY AND THE HEARTBREAKERS
Time, mileage improve band
Friday, June 16, 2006
Aaron Beck
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

JAMES D . D
Tom Petty and the boys, still draggin' some hearts around


We all have gifts. Some are blessed with athletic prowess, some with
the patience to teach children, some with the capacity to endure
office work.

Tom Petty is blessed with a voice like no other, and a person who
has spent even the slightest time around FM radio since 1976 — the
year Petty and the Heartbreakers released their self-titled debut —
can recognize that nasal, tobacco-smokebred delivery coming at them
through his ample, seemingly clenched teeth.

It sounded rare then, and — in 2006, when we can hear so many new
voices 24 hours a day on the Internet, satellite radio and beyond —
it sounds even rarer.

Rock 'n' roll fans should be thankful that the Gainesville, Fla.,
native is still gracious enough to share that instrument with us.

Petty and the Heartbreakers, on what they're hinting will be the
final big-venue hits parade, performed Wednesday night in a packed
Germain Amphitheater.

Petty, with drummer Steve Ferrone, guitarist and harmonica player
Scott Thurston, bassist Ron Blair and the two who have been with
Petty since 1975 — guitarist Mike Campbell and keyboardist Benmont
Tench — gave a performance suitable for a joint that holds 20,000.

There were hits, of course, and the set was packed with the familiar
from four decades, including Listen to Her Heart, from '78, with its
conspicuous Byrds jingle-jangle; You Don't Know How It Feels ('94);
I Won't Back Down ('89); and a duo of new tunes.

Those new songs — to be included on Petty's first studio album in
four years, Highway Companion — included Saving Grace. Carried by a
John Lee Hooker/Billy Gibbons-like guitar line, it was sinister,
bottomheavy rockabilly.

Square One, with Petty on acoustic guitar, touched on absolving
one's self of mistakes and guilt — something anyone with age marks
around the eyes ought to be able to understand.

There were surprises: "A lot of our music was influenced by people
coming over from England in the '60s," said Petty, who then led the
band into a pair of covers: I'm a Man (the Yardbirds' version) and
Peter Green and Fleetwood Mac's Oh Well.

And there was a guest: Stevie Nicks, whose husky, dusky pipes make a
perfect companion for Petty's twang.

Nicks' performance and presence significantly boosted the show's
energy. Twirling in her trademark frilly, friendly-witch garb, she
belted out Stop Draggin' My Heart Around ('81) with Petty and burned
the barn down with the band on I Need To Know ('78).

"We're just having some fun is all," Petty said, "just having some
fun."

And it was. But what truly is exciting is the future. Hitsstoked,
two-hour amphitheater shows are fun, familiar and a good way to
persuade people to pay upward of $80 a head to see them.

If Petty is serious about shelving the idea for a while, or for
good, so be it.

The guy's discography is deep and lined with so many good rock
songs. Watching him play those in new ways in new venues and using
that distinctive voice will make for some real news to share.


abeck@...
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Rock legend uncorks wine collection
By Sylvie Belmond belmond@...



PATRICK SHELBY/Acorn Newspapers HAPPY FAN-Michael Morrow of Canoga
Park is all smiles after receiving Mick Fleetwood's autograph at
Gelson's in Westlake Village recently. The drummer's John Hancock
was the final signature Morrow needed to complete his set of
Fleetwood Mac band members' autographs on his Rumors album cover.
Fleetwood was on hand to promote his Private Cellar wine
collection.

Andi Sherwin was overjoyed because Mick Fleetwood, one of the
founding members of Fleetwood Mac, was sitting a few feet away from
her at Gelson's Market in the Westlake portion of Thousand Oaks
recently.

Fleetwood was autographing bottles of his Private Cellar Col

lection wine for local residents who lined up for a glimpse of the
celebrity. Each visitor got to spend a few minutes talking with the
legendary rocker.

"I'm so excited," said Sherwin, who recalled that the Fleetwood Mac
song "Landslide" played at her wedding 28 years ago.

"The adventure with wine was pulled out of my fantasy wish list and
it has slowly become a reality," Fleetwood said.

Although he isn't a wine connoisseur, the rock musician explained
wine is something very personal for him. "It's been a lot of fun and
it's also been a learning process," he said.

"I've met some great people who have a passion about what they do,"
Fleetwood said, adding he's not doing this to boost his celebrity
ego. "I keep it simple and genuine and the wine is a reflection of
my style and journey," Fleetwood said.

"I have great options put in front of me, but keep a very closed
approach, in terms of: Is this what I like?"

Promoting the wine collection has many upsides, Fleetwood said.

"I've always had a lot of fun traveling, and talking to people is
something that comes very naturally," he said.

"We admired him for years," said Steve and Dana Geldman of Westlake
Village, who were also thrilled at the opportunity to meet
Fleetwood.

"If your wine is anything like your music, it's going to be first
class," Simi Valley resident Rich Cronin told Fleetwood when he
greeted the famous drummer.

"Music and wine," Fleetwood replied quietly as he chatted for a few
minutes with each visitor.

Most people showed up with a bottle of wine with the 58-year-old
rocker on the label, or with his latest CD, but 10-year-old Michael
Buchheit came with more. He brought his Fender Stratocaster for an
autograph.

"My favorite song is 'Don't Stop,'" the aspiring Westlake Village
musician said.

When he isn't performing with Fleetwood Mac or working on a music
project, Fleetwood drums up new entrepreneurial ideas with his
Westlake Village business partner Jonathan Todd, who owns Sabre
Entertainment.

Sabre Entertainment created Fleetwood Marketing, a corporation
devoted to marketing, licensing and branding products endorsed by
Mick Fleetwood. Todd is also co-executive producer of "Something
Big," The Mick Fleetwood Band's debut album.

From sample drum tracks for Sonic Foundry to collaborating with the
publisher of a unique collection of 12 hand-signed Salvador Dal
lithographs to developing new wines, Fleetwood's business ventures
are diverse.

He's found success in bringing his taste to the world, and
Fleetwood's private wine collection is no exception, Todd said.

Fleetwood came to personally introduce his Private Cellar label at
Gelson's because the small store chain committed to carrying the
brand, according to Todd.

"Mick enjoys wine and the concept was to find a wine that he can
serve to his friends," said John Henigin of Premium Distributors.

The wine's flavor is "earthy and oaky," Dana Geldman said.

Fleetwood's wines include Private Cellar Chardonnay, Mick Fleetwood
Private Cellar Cuvee and Mick Fleetwood Private Cellar Pinot Noir.
The wines come from California's Santa Ynez Valley and cost between
$15 and $30.

According to the Gelson market's press release, the Chardonnay is a
medium-bodied wine with flavors of tropical fruit and citrus. The
Cuvee is a rich, supple blend of 25 percent Cabernet Franc and 75
percent Merlot grapes, aged for 30 months in French Oak casks and 18
months in the bottle. The Pinot Noir Cuvee is a rich and mellow
blend of Pinot Noir grapes from Santa Barbara County.

Fleetwood's latest CD, "Something Big," was playing in the
background as people lined up in Westlake. The CD is The Mick
Fleetwood Band's debut album, which showcases the timeless yet
contemporary, rocking and eloquent sound of the band. Visit
www.MickFleetwood.com for more information.