Product Description

This 39-track retrospective of the Grammy Award-winning Manhattan Transfer's Atlantic years contains such hits as "Birdland," "Route 66," "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square" and "Another Night in Tunisia."
No Track Information Available
Media Type: CD
Artist: MANHATTAN TRANSFER
Title: ANTHOLOGY-DOWN IN BIRDLAND
Street Release Date: 10/13/1992
Domestic
Genre: JAZZ VOCALS

Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Trickle Trickle
2. Gloria
3. Operator
4. Helpless
5. Ray's Rockhouse
6. Heart's Desire [Live]
7. Zindy Lou
8. Mystery
9. Baby Come Back to Me (The Morse Code of Love)
10. Route 66
11. Java Jive
12. Chanson d'Amour
13. Foreign Affair
14. Smile Again
15. Spice of Life
16. Speak Up Mambo (Cuèntame)
17. Soul Food to Go (Sina)
18. So You Say (Esquinas)
19. Boy from New York City
20. Twilight Zone/Twilight Tone

Disc 2:

1. Four Brothers
2. Blee Blop Blues
3. Candy
4. Gal in Calico
5. Love for Sale
6. On a Little Street in Singapore
7. Tuxedo Junction
8. That Cat Is High
9. Body and Soul
10. Meet Benny Bailey
11. Sing Joy Spring
12. To You
13. Down South Camp Meeting
14. Until I Met You (Corner Pocket)
15. Why Not! (Manhattan Carnival)
16. Another Night in Tunisia
17. Capim
18. Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square
19. Birdland

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #63133 in Music
• Brand: MANHATTAN TRANSFER
• Released on: 1992-10-13
• Number of discs: 2
• Dimensions: .59 pounds

Amazon.com
When Tim Hauser convened the original Manhattan Transfer in the early '70s, there was more than a whiff of camp to the vocal group's pre-rock pop perspective, but what may have started with tongue-in-cheek quickly shifted into an earnest (if still good-humored) mission--the preservation of closely-arranged choral pop. From their first mid-'70s hits forward, the Transfer has gone from strength to strength, extending their reach into r&b, jazz, Brazilian pop, and even the vocal equivalent of fusion. This first-rate two-CD package focuses on their long career at Atlantic Records, where they did their best work, and is correspondingly ripe with gorgeous group and solo vocals. --Sam Sutherland

Customer Reviews

Without a doubt, the masters of vocal jazz ensemble
My first Transfer exposure was Boy from New York City, and I enjoyed it, but as I got older, I began to appreciate just how special their talent was (and is) Tim Hauser & Janis Siegal do some great arrangements, and I just love how well their voices blend. Their collaborations with Djavan are great examples of how well this band can expand thie repertoire. If I had only two words to describe this 2 disc set, it would simply be, "Buy it!"

The Anthology: Down in Birdland - Manhattan Transfer
An album would have to be at the highest standard to warrant using Charlie Parker's moniker, and Manhattan Transfer have well and truly achieved that with this album. You will not hear crisper, cleaner harmonies. There are other groups and choirs that are as good, but none better.

The variety of music genres on this double album is very impressive; Jazz and Swing of course, Latin, Rock, Fusion, Soul and Folk, all performed with such skill, and in a manner true to the genre.

I saw Manhattan Transfer live recently, and wanted to buy one album that best decribed their work. I chose this album and was thoroughly pleased with the choice. If you like great music, and great harmonies, then this album will become one of your favourites.

Material too diverse for a 2-CD set
An earlier reviewer was exactly right; the musical styles the MT have covered over the years are so diverse and all over the map that this anthology gives a hint of all of it but not a satisfying dose of any of it. Mind you, dear readers, that is not necessarily a criticism. The Transfer are the absolute masters of vocal harmonizing. Nobody, I mean NOBODY does it better (makes you feel sad for the rest). But just as you are settling in to listening to some of their swing jazz or doo-wop, the track selection changes gears on you and you are hearing Brazilian music or any one of a half dozen other styles. This collection is scratch on the surface of their vast and very impressive catalog, but if this is your introduction to them then you are only getting a teasing glimpse. There may not be enough tracks of the style(s) you like best to sustain your interest in the entire collection, even though it is all good. There is just so much ground being covered that the breadth of it all overshadows the depth of the individual records in their catalog. (Did that make sense or was I just being too wordy again?)
For those of us who are already MT fans and have most or all of their back catalog, the absolute BEST reason to buy this anthology is for the booklet insert. It provides a relatively thorough timeline history of the group, and extensive track-by-track notes on all the tunes, down to the musicians who played on them, and much more.