The following review appeared in The Boston Globe:
Writer’s note: This piece garnered me the opportunity to compose liner notes for Columbia Records!
Through a baker’s dozen of digitally-remastered yet still vinyl-warm ballads, The Manhattans revive the oft lost art of balladry seduction. Opening up with a well-known one-two of “Shining Star” and “Kiss and Say Goodbye,” this compilation sways from the classic doo wop stylings of “It Feels So Good to Be Loved So Bad” to the meteorologically metaphoric “Cloudy with a Chance of Tears” and the Sylver-y “I’ll Never Find Another (Find Another Like You).”
Though the quartet occasionally gets stuck in sap (as is the way with such a repertoire), they remain Big Apple smooth and saucy throughout. Mixing originals by their founder and “spiritual leader” Winfred (Blue) Lovett with cozy covers including an echoey enhancement of “The Way We Were” / “Memories,” The Manhattans look back over a decade gone by of chart-topping harmonies which remain as bright and impressive as their namesake skyline.
– Matthew S. Robinson
