Barry Manilow Chooses “The Greatest Love Songs Of All Time”

Song-belter Barry Manilow has hooked up with music mogul Clive Davis for a new studio album, titled The Greatest Love Songs Of All Time, which is due January 26 on Arista Records. Produced with Michael Lloyd (who did the Dirty Dancing soundtrack), the album “presents loving interpretations and arrangements of classic, nostalgic love songs for the Manilow and music fan alike,” and draws its material from movie soundtracks, Broadway, jazz, and American standards.

So what are the greatest love songs of all time? There’s “As Time Goes By” (originally written by Herman Hupfeld for the Broadway musical Everybody’s Welcome and re-introduced in the film classic Casablanca), Irving Berlin’s ”How Deep Is The Ocean,” “You Made Me Love You” (written by James V. Monaco), George Gershwin’s “I’ve Got A Crush On You,” Fats Waller’s “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love,” “The Shadow of Your Smile” (written by Johnny Mandel), “When You Were Sixteen” (written by James Thornton and revived and popularized by Al Jolsen in 1929), “The Theme From Love Story (Where Do I Begin)” (written by Francis Lai), “Nevertheless, I’m In Love With You” (written by Harry Ruby), Gershwin’s “Our Love is Here To Stay,” Johnny Mercer’s “Fools Rush In,” and “It Could Happen To You” (written by Johnny Burke and Jimmy Van Heusen).

Manilow also works his magic on “The Look Of Love” (written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David), “We’ve Only Just Begun” (Written by the songwriting team of Roger Nichols and Paul Williams), and “The Twelfth of Never” (written by Jerry Livingston and Paul Francis Webster).

“The real joy in creating this album was taking these classic songs that everyone knows and using my chops as an arranger to deconstruct then recreate them to make them my own,” explains the Grammy, Tony, and Emmy-winning artist.

Says Clive Davis: “Barry and I have a mission to bring to a new generation the great songs that are the soundtrack of our lives. This album does just that and Barry is sounding better than ever.”

Clive Davis has collaborated with Barry on virtually all his recordings. In 1974, Manilow was the first signing to Davis’ Arista Records; Davis helped him score a #1 with his debut single, “Mandy.” The Greatest Love Songs Of All Time is the latest in a series the pair have cooked up since 2006 (The Greatest Songs Of The Fifties through 2008’s The Greatest Songs Of The Eighties.)

We anxiously await Manilow’s Greatest Songs Of The 00’s.

Here’s the track list for Love Songs.

1.  As Time Goes By

2.   How Deep Is The Ocean?

3.   You Made Me Love You

4.   We’ve Only Just Begun

5.   The Twelfth Of Never

6.   I’ve Got A Crush On You

7.   I Can’t Give You Anything But Love

8.   The Shadow Of Your Smile

9.   When You Were Sweet Sixteen (1898)

10. The Look Of Love

11. Theme From Love Story (Where Do I Begin)

12. Nevertheless (I’m In Love With You)

13. Our Love is Here To Stay

14. Fools Rush In

15. It Could Happen To You

16. I Only Have Eyes for You