LOVE IS A MANY SPLENDORED THING - BARRY MANILOW
There’s a distinguishable line between schmaltz and melodrama. Push about five notches past the latter and you’ve got Barry Manilow’s “Love Is a Many Splendored Thing,” as close to pure camp as you’re going to find without a wig and press-on fingernails. The classic 1955 movie theme, which hit No. 1 by the Four Aces, is taken from Manilow’s No. 1 “The Greatest Songs of the Fifties,” and it bows to its original with mountainous period-appropriate background vocals, harps and whispy, sentimental instrumentation that carry it to the skies. Add Manilow’s forceful vocal and a key change that makes the heartbeat hasten, and you’ve got a quintessential guilty pleasure. Best of all, there’s little doubt that Manilow knows exactly what he’s playing with here (he co-produced); his humor, matched only by bravado, deserves a standing ovation. –Billboard
