1978 Barry Manilow – Even Now
After releasing two top ten singles and one #1 single from a 1976 album, Barry Manilow’s only new single releases in 1977 included a pair of songs from his live album. Daybreak didn’t reach the top twenty, and It’s Just Another New Year’s Eve didn’t reach the Hot 100 at all.
A new album followed in 1978, and the result was much better. Christian Arnold, David Martin, and Geoff Morrow wrote the first single, Can’t Smile Without You. David released his own recording of the song in 1975, but it doesn’t appear to have charted. Barry recorded the song in 1977 and released it as a single in 1978. His single reached the top of the Adult Contemporary chart and reached #3 on the Hot 100 and remains in rotation on most oldies stations.
Marty Panzer wrote the lyrics for at least 100 songs for Disney and over thirty of Barry’s songs, including Even Now. Barry wrote the music and co-produced the song with Ron Dante. Ron sang lead vocals for the Archies on the 1969 hit record Sugar, Sugar, and did some backup vocals for many of Barry’s records. Ron also co-produced the first nine of Barry’s albums between 1973 and 1981.
Barry’s single became his ninth chart-topping record on the Adult Contemporary Chart but only reached #19 on the Hot 100.
Barry has identified the song as one of his favorites.
He had three more top ten singles on the Hot 100 in the next year, after which his big hits continued primarily on the Adult Contemporary Chart.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_Manilow
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_Manilow_discography#Singles
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Even_Now_(Barry_Manilow_song)
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What Was Left In 
I just listened to ‘Even Now’ for the first time in such a very long time
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In 2007, Barry included six “acoustic” versions of his past hits as bonus cuts on his Greatest Hits of the Seventies album. Even Now was one of those songs to receive the paired down arrangements, which served mainly to highlight his voice without a large orchestra competing with him. For this song, it’s just Barry at the piano with some synthesizer fill-ins to suffice for strings. We not only get Barry’s voice in a clean spotlight, but we hear his more mature voice with the musical nuance that comes from having sung a song hundreds of times over three decades. You can listen here on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TO4SU028HtY
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