Carole Bayer Sager Moves to Center Stage

If you’re the type of person who reads songwriter credits, Carole Bayer Sager’s name should be more than a little familiar. Besides penning lyrics for most of Melissa Manchester’s material, she has written hits for Neil Sedaka, Leo Sayer, Cher, and many other artists. Until now, however, she has never tried her hand at singing and it’s difficult to see why, since her quavering, Melanie-like vocals make me suspect that she could become her own best interpreter. Sager’s unrequited-love songs, written with Manchester, Peter Allen, and others, are too shallow and MOR-oriented for my tastes. But all of them are catchy and professionally wrought, and several of the ones on her eponymous new LP sound like chart contenders.