"Could It Be Magic" - Barry Manilow

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   At the present time, I don't have the equipment to do a direct A/B comparison between a CD and a vinyl 45.  But as far as I can tell, the 4:16 45 version of Barry Manilow's "Could It Be Magic" is now available on CD for the first time on the new 2 CD best-of compilation The Essential Barry Manilow (Arista 68227) released yesterday (4/26).  (The song can be downloaded for $0.99 at I-Tunes if anyone wants to check it out first before spending over $20 on the set!)

This remastered 34 song package contains all of the crooner's Top 40 hits except for "Let's Hang On" and "Oh Julie", the latter of which for some reason continues to not see the light of day on a U.S. CD release.  It's my understanding the only way to get "Oh Julie" on CD is on the Japanese import of Barry Manilow's 1982 album Here Comes the Night.

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Todd Ireland Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Music Fan Joined: 16 October 2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 18	Post Options Post Reply Quote Todd Ireland Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: "Could It Be Magic" - Barry Manilow Posted: 27 April 2005 at 10:28am
	At the present time, I don't have the equipment to do a direct A/B comparison between a CD and a vinyl 45. But as far as I can tell, the 4:16 45 version of Barry Manilow's "Could It Be Magic" is now available on CD for the first time on the new 2 CD best-of compilation The Essential Barry Manilow (Arista 68227) released yesterday (4/26). (The song can be downloaded for $0.99 at I-Tunes if anyone wants to check it out first before spending over $20 on the set!) This remastered 34 song package contains all of the crooner's Top 40 hits except for "Let's Hang On" and "Oh Julie", the latter of which for some reason continues to not see the light of day on a U.S. CD release. It's my understanding the only way to get "Oh Julie" on CD is on the Japanese import of Barry Manilow's 1982 album Here Comes the Night.

EdisonLite Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Music Fan Joined: 18 October 2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 0	Post Options Post Reply Quote EdisonLite Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 27 April 2005 at 11:54am
	<It's my understanding the only way to get "Oh Julie" on CD is on the Japanese import of Barry Manilow's 1982 album Here Comes the Night.> That is correct, Todd, but it's not the same mix as what appears on the US 45 or "Oh Julie" EP. It has extra background voices and maybe even an added keyboard part, if I recall. I've grown to like the version quite a lot, but still, it would be nice to have the regular (US?) mix come out on CD. I wonder if Barry hates this record and keeps refusing to have it reissued.

EdisonLite Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Music Fan Joined: 18 October 2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 0	Post Options Post Reply Quote EdisonLite Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 27 April 2005 at 12:02pm
	By any chance does "Essential Manilow" also have the single mix/edit of "It's a Miracle", or am I asking for too much? :) I believe it clocks in around 3:15. It's never been on CD anywhere.

Todd Ireland Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Music Fan Joined: 16 October 2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 18	Post Options Post Reply Quote Todd Ireland Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 27 April 2005 at 7:46pm
	EdisonLite: It looks as though "It's a Miracle" on The Essential Barry Manilow disc is the 3:43 edit that first surfaced on Manilow's Greatest Hits CD on Arista 8039. In other words, it's not the 45 version running 3:15. Interestingly, many websites such as www.allmusic.com and some paid download sites list "It's a Miracle" as being the "single edit" on Essential. I'm wondering... was there ever another vinyl 45 pressing out there containing this 3:43 version?

EdisonLite Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Music Fan Joined: 18 October 2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 0	Post Options Post Reply Quote EdisonLite Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 28 April 2005 at 12:16am
	I checked allmusic.com. Interestingly, they wrote "single edit" next to "It's a Miracle" and NOT next to the next song "Could It Be Magic" which IS the single edit. So I wonder if that's a typo. I've never come across a 3:43 45 of "Miracle" but that doesn't mean there isn't one. Also, Todd -- Is "Ready To Take a Chance Again" finally the stereo version, or still mono? Every US CD is mono. It appeared in stereo on 1 Japanese CD (which I do not own.)

Todd Ireland Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Music Fan Joined: 16 October 2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 18	Post Options Post Reply Quote Todd Ireland Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 29 April 2005 at 8:07am
	EdisonLite: "Ready to Take a Chance Again" on The Essential Barry Manilow CD is the usual mono version found on all other U.S. CD releases.

JMD1961 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Music Fan Joined: 29 March 2005 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 2	Post Options Post Reply Quote JMD1961 Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 06 May 2005 at 3:11am
	Just a quick question. Are we sure that this is the true 45 version of "Could It Be Magic"? The reason I ask is that my Whitburn's lists the time as 3:37, not the 4:18 that the current version runs. Now, I know that Whitburn has been wrong before. Is that the case here as well?

EdisonLite Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Music Fan Joined: 18 October 2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 0	Post Options Post Reply Quote EdisonLite Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 06 May 2005 at 8:05am
	Yes. I have the 45. It's listed as 3:37, and it runs 4:18. This was Arista's usual style of making a song look shorter than it really was so that presumably more DJ's would play it. I checked this mix closely when I bought the CD a couple days ago and it is definitely the 45 version.

JMD1961 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Music Fan Joined: 29 March 2005 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 2	Post Options Post Reply Quote JMD1961 Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 06 May 2005 at 1:26pm
	Thanks a lot. I've been looking for this version for a while for a personal project. Thanks again. I'm off to get it right now.

EdisonLite Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Music Fan Joined: 18 October 2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 0	Post Options Post Reply Quote EdisonLite Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 09 May 2009 at 6:23pm
	An update on "Oh Julie": As I previously reported, the only place this song has appeared on CD - albeit in an alternate mix -- is on the Japanese CD of Barry's "Here Comes The Night" album. The alternate mix has lots of extra background vocals and keyboards. I bought this CD in 1987, when it first was released in Japan. And btw, the mix on the Japanese CD isn't even the original Japanese mix either. I have the Japanese 45 and it has the same exact mix as the US 45 and the US EP (the song never appeared on an LP.) So what was used on the Japanese CD can best be described as an alternate mix, not even the original Japanese 45 mix. Well, I happened to be in a used CD store this week, and they had a used copy of the Japanese "Here Comes the Night" CD for $3.99, and this one said 1994 on it (my previous one I bought in 1987) -- so I figured, 'I might as well buy it at this price. I can always re-sell it on ebay (it probably fetches a high price), and maybe it will actually have the original mix of "Oh Julie." Well, as it turns out ... to my shock, it had the original mix of "Oh Julie" on it. So it can now be reported for the first time on the Downey chat board that the top 40 hit "Oh Julie" IS available on an import CD - in its proper (original) mix -- and it only took 15 years since its CD release for one of us to find out :) Makes me wonder if I'm missing other single mixes because I already have the import CD but not a later pressing of the CD. Who would ever think to re-buy "Here Comes The Night" in hopes of it actually correcting the problem? Until I saw this CD, I didn't even know there was a 1994 AND 1987 printing of this Japanese CD. Edited by EdisonLite