Even Now opens with Barry Manilow's clever Peter Allen imitation, "Copacabana (At the Copa)," a wonderful Ricky Ricardo disco riff fastened to a then-and-now story about a has-been showgirl ("She lost her youth and she lost her Tony/Now she's lost her mind"). Elsewhere on the same side are "Can't Smile without You," the agreeably infectious hit single, and "Leavin' in the Morning," which blends grinding electric guitars, Phil Spector-like percussion and Beach Boys harmonies into a surprisingly strong, sweet-and-sour concoction. "A Linda Song," the songwriter's apology for never having composed a tune for the woman who "was right there all along," is lovely. And, though it has to battle Manilow's cheesy crooning, the bluesy, big-band arrangement for "I Was a Fool (To Let You Go)" carries the day with elegant restraint.

While far from flawless, these five cuts manage to overcome the familiar Manilow mannerisms that dominate—and devour—the rest of the LP. Barry Manilow's notion of vocal dynamics is to sing increasingly louder as the song goes along; he seems to feel that if he sang softly, it would kill his momentum. Such a strategy might work for Ethel Merman, but it simply makes Manilow's voice impenetrable, like a foghorn. For emotional intensity, he invariably substitutes more volume, more strings and an upward key change leading into the final verse. And such orchestration! Who could possibly justify the kind of corny, crashing arrangements Jimmie Haskell wreaks upon "Losing Touch" and "I Just Want to Be the One in Your Life," songs whose schlocky lyrics are hard enough to sell anyway?

Well, I don't suppose anyone expects taste, poetry or wit from Manilow. But most of the first side sounds good, and on the whole, Even Now is certainly less pretentious than it could have been. (RS 265)

DON SHEWEY