Rating:
Genre:
Rock
Release Date: 06/19/2001
Fired by
Columbia Records in 1973,
Clive Davis took over tiny
Bell Records in 1974 and turned it into
Arista, determined to re-establish his record-selling credentials. One beneficiary of this was
Melissa Manchester, who had made two good, but poor-selling albums for
Bell.
Davis turned on the money tap, and the result was this L.A.-recorded
Vini Poncia/
Richard Perry production that seemed determined to turn
Manchester into a
pop diva. She had demonstrated an eclecticism on her previous records, and she was run through a series of
pop styles --
disco on
"Party Music," Philly soul on
"Just Too Many People" (a Top 40 hit),
Stevie Wonder on both
"Stevie's Wonder" and
Wonder's own
"Love Havin' You Around." Returning to
pop lyricist
Carole Bayer Sager,
Manchester reined in the tendency toward sensitive singer/songwriterism she had revealed on
Bright Eyes, with the hoped-for commercial result.
"Midnite Blue" may have been more obvious and generic a romantic ballad than the beautiful
"Inclined" from the previous album, but it was also sexier and had a more pronounced hook and a sweeter production, which, along with
Arista's promotional muscle, made it a Top Ten hit and
Melissa a gold album. (Originally released as
Arista 4031,
Melissa was reissued as
Arista 8055.)
~William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
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