After three bestselling collections of cover songs from the 1950s, '60s and '70s, Barry Manilow is back writing the songs.
Maybe not the songs that the whole world will sing.
"It's more of a rock 'n' roll album than I've ever done," said the once and future King of the Middle of the Road, who will perform Friday at Xcel Energy Center.
OK, we're not talking Bruce Springsteen or the Foo Fighters. It's Mr. Schmaltz rocking out.
"It's got a real concept to it, like my 'Paradise Cafe' and 'Year at the Mayflower,' which kind of tell a story, or each song is set in some situation," he said.
Of course, it's up to Clive Davis, the record mogul who signed Manilow in 1974, to decide whether this project will be the singer's next release.
"Clive Davis warns me that every artist of my ilk has not sold very many albums when they've tried to release their own original albums -- from Elton John to Paul McCartney to Joni Mitchell," Manilow said. "Frankly, I've never done it for the sales. It never dawns on me unless Clive tells me about it.
"He came up with these ideas about the greatest songs of the '50s, '60s and '70s. He has the greatest commercial ideas in the history of pop music. I just follow his lead. I love arranging these songs, I love producing them and singing them. But I really do miss the songwriting."
To be sure, he and Davis have talked about a 1980s collection, and the singer has started to look at songs. Would he consider another kind of project, say, a duets album with Bette Midler, for whom he was music director in the early '70s?
"We did two songs, one on each of those albums I produced for her," he said, referring to her recent tributes to Rosemary Clooney and Peggy Lee. "They were fun. I think she's a little busy now."
Next month, Midler will launch a Las Vegas residency, replacing Celine Dion at Caesars Palace. Manilow has been ensconced at Vegas' Hilton Hotel since February 2005, and he's booked through at least the end of 2008. "I think they're talking about a couple years more," he said. "I haven't been involved in that yet."
After having huge success last year with a few concerts in his hometown, New York City, Manilow has been sneaking away for occasional non-Vegas performances. The road shows are different from what he does in Sin City.
"It's kind of a blown-up version of the Vegas show," he explained. "They only let you do 85 minutes in Vegas and then they want the audience out there throwing their money away [in the casino]. So I've added a lot more songs and more hits that I usually don't do in Vegas."
In Vegas, he plays five consecutive nights a week, which must be a challenge for someone who'll turn 65 in June.
"Thanks for reminding me I'm in my 60s," he joked. "I feel like I'm in my 30s. I have a 29-inch waist, and I weigh 144 pounds, and I work out every day. I've got lots of energy."
Never thought he'd perform
In concert, Manilow is quite the entertainer, but he said he's clueless where his sense of showmanship comes from.
"It was the last thing I ever thought I was going to do, being onstage," he said. "I am a musician and an arranger and a songwriter and a producer. Being onstage, first of all, was the wildest thing that ever happened to me back in the '70s. And now being considered a showman is even crazier. I just never really thought about that."
Manilow's idea of a stage show is more than standing there "unless it's Neil Young or James Taylor or John Denver playing his guitar. I put my background singers in silly outfits, and I tell corny old jokes, and I put medleys together that go from here to there. I have a good time. If I just sat down at the piano and played 'Mandy' through 'Read Em and Weep' or whatever, I would be bored."
Manilow's 2006 resurgence was boosted by his second appearance on "American Idol." He hadn't even seen the show when he was first asked to appear on it in 2004.
"That was a big deal," he said. "I don't do things for the publicity or the money. I know that sounds odd. I can say that now that I've got all the money in the world."
Things didn't go as smoothly for Manilow when he was scheduled to appear on TV's "The View" last September. He backed out because he refused to be interviewed by Elizabeth Hasselback, who is known for her conservative views.
"I just do things the way I feel I've got to do them," he said. "And that was one that I felt like I had to do."
Halloween snowstorm
Manilow's Minnesota fans will vividly recall his three-day stand in 1991 to open the newly remodeled State Theatre. The first night was Halloween, when the snowstorm of the century -- OK, 31 inches -- began.
"I remember walking to the rehearsal," he said. "The snow -- holy mackerel!"
Twin Cities audiences have been consistently supportive, he said. "Minneapolis and St. Paul have been great to me. I'm this Jew boy from Brooklyn, and I don't know why these people from the Midwest connect with what I do. They've always been on my side."
Maybe it's payback because a "Jew boy" from Hibbing, Minn. -- Bob Dylan -- had to go to New York to get discovered. Manilow encountered the Minnesota icon once, in the late 1980s.
"It was an odd meeting," he recalled. It took place at a Seder, a ceremonial Passover dinner, at the home of songwriting legend Burt Bacharach. "He [Dylan] came over to me and said, 'Keep doing what you're doing, man. You're inspiring all of us.' Isn't that nice?"
Nice words, indeed. But how would Manilow like to be remembered? In 1987 he answered that same question from the Star Tribune with just one word: "Goosebumps."
"I was going to give you a more mature answer," he said last month. "I was going to tell you that I'd like to be remembered as a guy that made you feel something. 'Goosebumps' is a real wiseass answer, but it says the same thing. My goal is to make you feel something.
"After having done it for so many more years than I ever, ever thought I'd be doing it, I look out in the audience and their response is more important to me than ever. I don't mean their applause. I mean the fact that they're smiling and having the greatest time."
Jon Bream • 612-673-1719
