Rating:
Genre:
Rock
Release Date: 07/25/2006
On her second album,
Melissa Manchester remained largely under the influence of some immediate predecessors, though she was beginning to show evidence of an original talent. The impact of
Laura Nyro still could be heard on songs like the title track and
"O Heaven (How You've Changed to Me)," with their vibrant
gospel tone. If
Manchester seemed to come at such a style as a respectful outsider, as opposed to
Nyro's obsessively inside approach, it may have been that her arsenal of musical genres were secondhand, acquired through her mentor,
Paul Simon, for whom she wrote the bubbly
"Ode to Paul." Where
Nyro had the intensity of
Nina Simone,
Manchester was merely eclectic, assimilating elements of
jazz,
rock,
soul, and pre-
rock pop with an attractive playfulness that never lost a certain self-consciousness. Her new songwriting partner,
Adrienne Anderson, while closer to her sensibility than her previous one,
Carole Bayer Sager, nevertheless did not match
Manchester's own writing alone. And the improvement in that writing was the real story here: on songs like
"Inclined" and
"He Is the One," Manchester revealed a talent for sensitive writing combined with assured yet restrained singing on romantic piano
ballads that would prove to be her commercial breakout on her next album, after
Bell, her tiny record label, was converted into
Arista, an aggressive mini-major. As it was,
Bright Eyes marked a significant advance over
Home to Myself.
~William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
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