- * Australian and Japanese Versions of "Ultimate Manilow" include "Let's Hang On," "Read 'Em And Weep," "Bermuda Triangle," "Some Kind Of Friend," "You're Looking Hot Tonight," "Moonlight Serenade," "Strangers In The Night," and "Blue" instead of "Bandstand Boogie," "Tryin' To Get The Feeling Again," "This One's For You," "Weekend In New England," "Looks Like We Made It," "Daybreak," "Ships," "When October Goes" and "Somewhere Down The Road" (Australia: September 16, 2002) (Japan: May 22, 2002) (K2 HDCD, Japan: Ariola/Sony Music, 2012) (Super Audio CD [SACD] Japan/Hong Kong: Sony Music Entertainment, 9/18/2015)
- ** UK Version of "Ultimate Manilow" includes "Let's Hang On," "Bermuda Triangle," "You're Looking Hot Tonight," "Strangers In The Night," "One Voice" and "Who Needs To Dream" instead of "Bandstand Boogie," "This One's For You," "Daybreak," "Ships," "When October Goes" and "Somewhere Down The Road" (March 8, 2004)
- Compilation Produced by Steve Bartels
- Creative Direction: Joe Mama-Nitzberg
- Art Direction: Courtney Walter
- Cover Photography: Jeff Katz
- Inside Photography: Matthew Rolston
- Mastered by Leon Zervos at Masterdisk, New York City
- Management: Garry C. Kief for STILETTO Entertainment
- ARISTA Thanks: Antonio "LA" Reid, Larry Mestel, Steve Bartels, Mark Shimmel, Steve Gawley, Lionel Ridenour, Matt Flott, Jordan Katz, Frances Georgeson, Matt Stringer, Justin Shukat, Adam Lowenberg, Joe Mama-Nitzberg, Laura Swanson, Adrienne Howard, A.J. Benson, John Conroy, Karen Kwak, Lawrence Grotts, Victor Campanile, Chelsea Chiodo, Diana Clemente, Courtney Walter, Greg Lawley, Bill Smith, Don Reilly, David Wild, Alex Miller & team, Gary Newman & team, Clive Davis, Don Ienner, Roy Lott, Tom Ennis, Ken Levy, Milton Sincoff, Mark Rizzo, Jim Cawley, Bruce Schoen
- STILETTO Entertainment and BARRY MANILOW are registered trademarks of Hastings/Clayton/Tucker, Inc.
Ultimately, for Barry Manilow, it's about the songs. The run of smash hits and popular classics now collected on one album for Ultimate Manilow can be heard as a testament to the abilities of an exceptionally gifted musician to bring to the world songs that connect in powerful and enduring ways. That's the way you run up a few dozen Top 40 hits in a row. That's the way you maintain a successful recording and performing career for over a quarter century, in a business more given to fly-by-night phenomenon. And ultimately, that's the way you become Barry Manilow. Recently I had the great pleasure of welcoming Barry as a guest on a new television show that I host on the Bravo network called Musicians. For the record, Barry was a perfect guest - funny, smart and just as charming as the down-to-earth persona he established early on with his self-deprecating on-stage patter. But what impresses me most about the man is his often-undervalued pure musical talent. For all his commercial success and the iconic status he's achieved thanks to millions of worshipful fans around the world, it's something overlooked that Manilow is a singer-songwriter-arranger-producer of rare abilities Barry Manilow's life has been literally full of music - all kinds of music. Manilow's music has found a place in the lives of millions of other people it has touched ... "We musicians - people who are musical - you just know it when you're born," Manilow told me. "I didn't know the details of music, and I didn't know the language, but I just always knew everything there was to know about music. I just felt it." "When I look back on the catalog of music, I'm very proud of it. I don't think I sold out at all. Because even though I recorded some songs that I didn't write, I think I put as much of myself, and as much of my talent, into these songs as I possibly could, so that I could look back at them, and be proud of all of them." Manilow's subsequent career - which has included jazz, show tunes, theater and most recently a fine concept album called Here At The Mayflower - has seen him following his first passion of music wherever it would lead him as he's kept his motor running ... "I think that in the end, it's not about what you do that counts, it's about how you made people feel. You know, when it's all over, I would like to think that the music that I've made has made people feel good." Take a listen to Ultimate Manilow and you'll realize that the man doesn't have to hope. It looks - and sounds - like he's made it. David Wild
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