Melissa Manchester (album)

Melissa Manchester is the self-titled and the eighth album release by singer-songwriter Melissa Manchester issued on Arista Records the first week of October 1979.

Although it was reported in August 1979 that Manchester was recording a followup to her 1978 album release Don't Cry Out Loud album with the title cut's producer Harry Maslin at Cherokee Studios the tracks on the Melissa Manchester album were all recorded with producer Steve Buckingham at Web IV Studios in Atlanta in September 1979.

Following Manchester's 1977 cover album Singin'... and the 1978 album Don't Cry Out Loud which was mostly original material (despite the Top Ten hit title cut not being written by Manchester), the Melissa Manchester album featured five Manchester originals and five tracks of outside material. The songs written by Manchester included two collaborations with Carole Bayer Sager who had been Manchester's regular lyricist for over five years: the tracks "It's All in the Sky Above" and "How Does It Feel Right Now", and also "I Know Your Love Won't Let Me Down" which reunited Manchester with lyricist Adrienne Anderson a regular collaborator in the first phase of Manchester's recording career, while "Lights of Dawn" - written by solely by Manchester - featured a newly written lyric to the tune of a song written and set aside five years ago. The Melissa Manchester album also featured Manchester's own version of the Kenny Loggins hit she'd co-written: "Whenever I Call You Friend", which Manchester recorded as a duet with Arnold McCuller.

Both the singles from the Melissa Manchester album were outside material: released three weeks prior to the album, "Pretty Girls" was the first upbeat single to lead a Melissa Manchester album and besides its standard 7" inch 45 issue the track served as Manchester's extended dance single debut (producer Buckingham was best known for the Alicia Bridges disco classic "I Love the Nightlife"). Although Manchester would have her biggest hit with the dance track "You Should Hear How She Talks About You" in 1982, her first foray into disco music with "Pretty Girls" barely translated into Top 40 success with the title peaking at #39 on the Billboard Hot 100. With the follow-up single: the ballad "Fire in the Morning", Arista attempted to curry favour with the easy listening market which had been the mainstay of Manchester's support with that track - featuring Paul Davis on harmony vocals - crossing over from the A/C Top Ten (at #8) to #32 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Without producing a Top 30 single, the Melissa Manchester album evidenced a drop in the singer's popularity from the precedent Don't Cry Out Loud album, with Melissa Manchester peaking at #63 as opposed to #33. However Manchester would re-team with producer Steve Buckingham for the subsequent For the Working Girl album (1980) before scoring a 1982 comeback with the Hey Ricky album and the #5 single "You Should Hear How She Talks About You" produced by Arif Mardin. Neither of the singles from the Melissa Manchester album was featured on Manchester's 1983 Greatest Hits album: the last-named did feature the Melissa Manchester track "Whenever I Call You Friend".

The 2007 reissue of the Melissa Manchester album by Wounded Bird Records augmented the original track listing with three bonus tracks: the single mix of "O Heaven (How You've Changed Me)" (which was later re-recorded in a different style for the singer's 1974 album Bright Eyes), "We Had This Time" which was the B-side of the "Don't Cry Out Loud" single, and "Nice Girls" a Steve Buckingham composition introduced on Manchester's 1983 Greatest Hits album ("Nice Girls" had charted at #41).