Neil Sedaka Albums (12)
'Steppin' Out'
Release Date 7/14/1998
Tracks 16
Label Varese Sarabande
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What The Critics Say
The third in a the trilogy of comeback albums that Sedaka recorded in the mid 1970s, this 1976 effort for Elton John's Rocket Records imprint featured the hits "You Gotta Make Your Own Sunshine," "Love in the Shadows" and the title track. This compact disc reissue also features the addition of four bonus tracks, "Should've Never Let You Go," "(Is This the Way To) Amarillo," "(Baby) Don't Let It Mess Your Mind" and the previously unreleased "Time Waits for No One," written with Sedaka's great collaborator, Howard Greenfield. ~ Cub Koda, All Music Guide
'Sedaka's Back'
Release Date 7/14/1998
Tracks 16
Label Varese Sarabande
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What The Critics Say
After a good ten-year hiatus from the pop charts, Neil Sedaka updated his groove and found his way back with this 1974 outing, which made the Top 20 album charts. The number one hit "Laughter in the Rain" is the big ticket, along with Sedaka's version of Captain & Tennille's "Love Will Keep Us Together" and "The Immigrant." Other highlights include "Sad Eyes," "The Other Side of Me," and "Our Last Song Together." This compact disc reissue also features the addition of four bonus tracks, "For the Good of the Cause," "Endlessly," "Love Ain't an Easy Thing," and the reflective "Alone in New York in the Rain." Strong songs never go out of fashion, and Sedaka proved it with this album. ~ Cub Koda, All Music Guide
'Neil Sedaka and Songs'
Release Date 1/1/1977
Tracks 36
Label Polydor
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What The Critics Say
Neil Sedaka and Songs looks like a special album the moment you open the gatefold to this double vinyl package. Six pages of personal photographs, some taken by Sedaka himself, others of the singer posed with Carole King, Connie Francis, Barbara Streisand, and co-writers Howie Greenfield and Phil Cody, combine with 36 performances for an intimate snapshot of an important artist with just his piano, voice, and many stories. It is brilliant, capturing the naked essence of a pop maestro without the strings, drumbeats, and production tricks others may use to hide potential flaws. And there are no major gaffes here, the term consummate performer created for people like Neil Sedaka. "Betty Grable" is the 31st of 36 titles which the singer/songwriter rattles off with ease and elegance; like every track here, it shimmers with life and is performed with total professionalism. This is a living history of this artist, beginning with Chopin's "Fantasy Impromptu" and followed by 17 Sedaka/Greenfield compositions, from the Connie Francis hits "Stupid Cupid" and a tremendous "Where the Boys Are" to "The Diary"; "Oh Carol"; "Stairway to Heaven"; "Calendar Girl," the original "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do"; the latter-day minor hit "Amarillo," which Sedaka states sold three million units for Tony Christie in Europe; a brilliant rendition of the tune written for chanteuse Jane Oliver, "One More Ride on the Merry-Go-Round"; up to the first composition included here co-written by Phil Cody, the poignant "Solitaire." It is one of only four titles Cody contributes, the others include their first hit together, "Laughter in the Rain," the John Lennon-inspired "The Immigrant," and an autobiographical "Brighton." Neil Sedaka rarely writes without one of his partners, but three of his solo efforts contain his own lyrics: "Leba's Song (Any Where You're Gonna Be)" (written for his wife), "Standing on the Inside," and the Top 30 "That's When the Music Takes Me," which hit two years prior to this 1977 recording. The drama and majesty of "Cardboard California" becomes an extraordinary example of Sedaka's piano technique and audience rapport. They start clapping along on "That's When the Music Takes Me," the only accompaniment on this disc. The encore is the 1975 slow version of the 1962 up-tempo hit performed earlier, "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do." There is no exact date of the concert written on this album, which was released in 1977, and most likely recorded at that time as well. The 1976 RCA release, Sedaka Live in Australia, recorded when daughter Dara Sedaka was seven, also fails to document the tour date, which was about 1970, and was released almost simultaneously with this record to capitalize on the new found fame, featuring an orchestra conducted by Lionel Huntington. There are many Neil Sedaka live recordings, but these two in particular are good to compare the depth of the artist while performing with and without other instrumentation. He captivates audiences with the same command Carole King and Neil Diamond have over their fans while performing live, and this disc includes just the right amount of talk in between the tracks to keep the flow going without distraction. Neil Sedaka and Songs is a very fine representation of Neil Sedaka's recorded history. ~ Joe Viglione, All Music Guide
'Sedaka Live in Australia at the South Sydney Junior Leagues Club'
Release Date 1/1/1976
Tracks 11
Label RCA
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What The Critics Say
While Neil Sedaka's career was having a second life on the Top 40 charts in 1976, Don Kirshner and RCA Records released a performance from the archives, Sedaka Live in Australia. With an orchestra conducted by ionel Huntington, this album finds this major talent at, of all places, the South Sydney Junior Leagues Club. The material includes standards, Neil Sedaka hits from the '60s in medley form, covers of Creedence Clearwater, the Archies, Simon and Garfunkel, as well as Ray Stevens, and other surprises. The absence of the artist's number one hits from 1974 and 1975, along with the fact that the four major covers all hit number one in the various trades around the end of 1969 and early '70 would indicate that this is from that era. With his dynamic voice, he shows Ray Stevens how to sing "Everything Is Beautiful," and it becomes a rare and wonderful moment for fans. Rather than treat us to "Workin' on a Groovy Thing," which he wrote for the Fifth Dimension, and which hit the Top 20 mid 1969, or previewing "Puppet Man," which hit Top 30 for both the Fifth Dimension and Tom Jones, he artfully blends the classic "Danny Boy" with "Bridge Over Troubled Water." It's not a perfect segue, but what amazes is Sedaka's vocal proficiency on a tune which allegedly took Art Garfunkel many takes to perfect. The opening of Sugar Sugar is actually a lot of fun, despite its presence being suspect. The Archies, after all, were manufactured by the man releasing this record, Don Kirshner. The version is certainly not what Wilson Pickett gave us, but, again, it is a treat to hear this major songwriter interpreting the hits of the day. He pulls it off. The medley of his hits is essential Sedaka, but the real treasure here is a terrific performance of "My World Keeps Getting Smaller Every Day," a title written specifically for Eydie Gorme. It makes up for the truncated "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" and "Calendar Girl." It's hard to understand why artists insist on giving less of the material that brought them their fame -- and undoubtedly attracted the audience to this performance. Before singing "The Father of Girls" he tells us that Dara Felice Sedaka is seven years old, and that his son, Mark Charles Sedaka, is four. That gives a firm point in time as to when this concert was recorded. There is a "History of Rock & Roll" written by Bruce Morrow, and it enables Sedaka to put Mary Hopkins' 1968 hit "Those Were the Days" around "Shake Rattle and Roll," "Blueberry Hill," "Great Balls of Fire," the Beatles' "She Loves You," and Tom Jones' "Delilah." Given the historical importance of this music, Kirshner could have given us some liner notes and more background information. What we do have is Sedaka performing Chopin's "Polonaise in A-Flat," working with an orchestra and giving evidence of why he and his music endure. Contrasting this big production with the stripped down performance that is Polydor's 1977 release, Neil Sedaka and Songs, is a good way to see how the talented composer gives consistent A performances through the years. Amazingly, a free outdoor concert in Boston in the summer of 1996, two decades after the release of Live in Australia, drew one of the biggest crowds of that year, and had Neil Sedaka in commanding form, as powerful vocally as he appears on this and the aforementioned Neil Sedaka and Songs. Despite being put on the market alongside his '70s output, Live in Australia is something the artist can be very proud of. ~ Joe Viglione, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Since Sedaka's Back was a hit, Neil Sedaka and co-producer Graham Gouldman saw no reason to mess with success on its follow-up, The Hungry Years. The record is essentially Sedaka's Still Back, complete with the same adult contemporary/MOR material and slick production that marked its predecessor. It also suffers from uneven material, but it's distinguished by a slow rearrangement of "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" and "Bad Blood," a duet with Elton John. The remainder of the album is pleasant but undistinguished soft rock from the mid-'70s. (Varese Sarabande's 1998 reissue of The Hungry Years contained four bonus tracks.) ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
The dictionary defines "emergence" as "the act or an instance of emerging," which is a redundant term for an established star releasing this album in 1971 while enjoying recent chart success writing "Workin' on a Groovy Thing" for the 5th Dimension on their Age of Aquarius album from 1969 as well as the Roger Atkins/Neil Sedaka composition "Puppet Man" on 1970's Portrait LP by that same group. This project is a deep musical statement from the team of Howard Greenfield and Neil Sedaka, featuring songs that provoke thoughts with their almost soap-opera look at Hollywood, the closest thing to a concept album by this legendary Brill Building duo. Listen to "Is Anybody Gonna Miss You" and see if Elton John and Bernie Taupin didn't base "Country Comforts" on it (as that pair based perhaps their entire career on Sedaka/Greenfield -- the piano man meets the lyricist and they work for publishers on two different continents!). Stephen Thomas Erlewine calls John's 1971 Tumbleweed Connection "a loose concept album about the American West," and the similarity is due either to serendipity or likeminded artists watching each other very closely a few years before they would all work together. Lee Holdridge arranges and conducts the strings on the production by Wally Gold, creating a dense sound that would change abruptly on 1972's Solitaire disc, which Sedaka himself produced and arranged in association with the band 10cc. The leadoff track, "I'm a Song (Sing Me)," is extremely lustful -- "Sing me, roll me around on your tongue" -- you really can't get more specific than that. There's also the conscious use of cliché: "I've got a rhyme that I've had for some time" is as typical as "Daniel" on a "plane...heading for Spain." On "Wish I Was a Carousel" the pair craft an idea that they would embellish on Jane Olivor's 1976 debut when she covered their "One More Ride on the Merry-Go-Round." Recorded in New York City's RCA Studios with music supervision by Don Kirshner, the album sounds like it was developed on the West Coast, "Cardboard California" and "Silent Movies" definitely evoking those themes. Ritchie Yorke's liner notes state that the disc took three months to "put down on tape," with Sedaka telling that writer, "These 12 songs are the best I've written in 18 years of working with Howie Greenfield," adding, "And we've written more than 500 songs together." The cover photo has the singer looking almost modern-day Tumbleweed Connection-ish in a "today" cowboy outfit standing against what could be a barn door. Perhaps there is a "connection." Like Solitaire which followed, this combination of tunes is Neil Sedaka the artist stretching out. Play the remake of "Cardboard California" from 1976's Steppin' Out to see the difference. Sedaka's voice battles the strings on an album he made with Dean Parks, Richie Zito, and West Coast session band the Section producer Robert Appere. Then listen to how comfortable the song sounds as recorded half a decade earlier with Graham Gouldman and company. ~ Joe Viglione, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Neil Sedaka is one of those artists who deserves to put out an album of original material at least once a year. His migrating to Elektra may not have been the wisest of moves after all the success at Elton John's record company, this disc containing the only Top 40 hit from Sedaka's time with the label that launched the Doors. And that came almost four full years after leaving Rocket Records, a staggering fact when you realize that Sedaka crammed the seven hits of his second wave into a span of less than two years. "Should've Never Let You Go" is a cute little father/daughter duet that climbed into the Top 20 in May of 1980, but it isn't the best moment on In the Pocket. Nor is it the best version of that tune. Originally tracked for the 1978 effort All You Need Is the Music, produced by Artie Butler and the singer, the solo performance entitled "Should've Never Let Her Go" shimmers and shines, proving that a good song is a good song and that this song is really special. Also confusing things is the co-write with daughter Dara, "You're So Good for Me," which is a surprisingly superb effort. Co-writer Phil Cody comes up with a gem with the words to "Letting Go" while the late Howard Greenfield contributes the classic "My Friend," destined to become the title track of the best-of tribute to Greenfield after his passing. This album works best when Sedaka is himself, the arrangement of the standard "What a Difference a Day Makes" getting the after-hours treatment Sedaka gave to "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" in 1975. When they dip into a bit of disco, the energy dissipates. It's production from Robert Appere and Sedaka reunited with some of the phenomenal session men from the "Laughter in the Rain" and Rocket Records glory days. Elektra's success with Tony Orlando in this genre was in those glory days, and by the time Sedaka hit at his new home, Queen were reigning on the charts. "Do It Like You Done It When You Meant It" sounds like Greenfield/Sedaka lyrically going back to their Captain & Tennille classic "You Never Done It Like That" from the 1977 George Martin-produced album that spawned the minor hit "Amarillo," though the formula isn't as good the second time around. An uneven album with some precious moments. If not exactly "in the pocket," it is still a good argument for consistent original albums from this unique and underrated composer/singer -- underrated when one considers the hits he's written for the 5th Dimension, Connie Francis, LaVern Baker, and others, though he still has not connected with that older crowd who seek out his contemporary, Neil Diamond. ~ Joe Viglione, All Music Guide
