Singin'...

Singin'...

This was Manchester's sixth album and fourth and final collaboration with producer Vini Poncia who had produced her 1975 commercial breakthrough Melissa.

After the first of Manchester's two 1976 album releases': Better Days & Happy Endings failed to consolidate her stardom Arista had attempted to restore Manchester's chart fortunes by making the lead single from the subsequent Help Is on the Way album not a Manchester original but rather the Michael Franks composition "Monkey See, Monkey Do". This strategy proving unsuccessful Arista then had Manchester record "Singin'..." which eschewed Manchester's songwriting - save for one track: "No One's Ever Seen This Side of Me" - in favor of outside material including remakes of hits by Michael Jackson ("I Wanna Be Where You Are"), Sly and the Family Stone ("Stand"), Three Dog Night ("Let Me Serenade You") and the Beach Boys ("The Warmth of the Sun"). The tracklisting was completed by Manchester's versions of songs written and previously recorded by James Taylor ("You Make It Easy") and Wendy Waldman ("My Love Is All I Know") and a new song: "Sad Eyes" written by David Spinozza who played guitar on the album.

Singin'... was innovative for its time being an early example of the cover album. However upon its 1977 summer release Singin'... failed to boost Manchester's faded chart presence, the release of "I Wanna Be Where You Are" as a single being overlooked. However the last-named track did attract the attention of the song's composer Leon Ware who resultantly took over as producer as Manchester's producer for what would ultimately prove to be her comeback album Don't Cry Out Loud (although that album's Top Ten hit title cut would be produced by Harry Maslin).