Andy Williams' Dear Heart

Last updated
Andy Williams' Dear Heart
Williams-Dear-2.jpg
Studio album by
Released1965
Recorded1965
Genre
Length31:49
Label Columbia
Producer Robert Mersey [2]
Andy Williams chronology
The Great Songs from "My Fair Lady" and Other Broadway Hits
(1964)
Andy Williams' Dear Heart
(1965)
Canadian Sunset
(1965)
Alternative cover
Williams-Almost.jpg
UK Cover
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [1]
Billboard Spotlight Pick [3]
Record Mirror Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [4]

Andy Williams' Dear Heart is the sixteenth studio album by American pop singer Andy Williams and was released in the spring of 1965 by Columbia Records [3] and was the last of his Columbia releases that remained exclusively within the realm of traditional pop. After covering two Beatles hits on his next non-holiday studio album, The Shadow of Your Smile , he would try out samba music on In the Arms of Love , aim for a much younger crowd with "Music to Watch Girls By" on Born Free , and focus more on contemporary material on subsequent albums.

Contents

This album made its first appearance on Billboard magazine's Top LP's chart in the issue dated April 10 of that year and remained on the album chart for 65 weeks, peaking at number four. [5] The name of the album was changed to Andy Williams' Almost There for its release in the UK, where it became Williams's first album chart entry, spending 46 weeks there and peaking at number four. (Two of his previous albums, Days of Wine and Roses and Other TV Requests —which was retitled Can't Get Used to Losing You and Other Requests for its UK release—and The Great Songs from "My Fair Lady" and Other Broadway Hits , appeared on the album chart in the UK following the success of this album.) [6]

Andy Williams' Dear Heart received Gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America on July 30, 1965. This was Williams's sixth album to receive this award as well as the one to do so the fastest thus far in terms of the amount of time between chart debut and certification, having accomplished this feat in less than four months as compared to the previous recordholder, Days of Wine and Roses and Other TV Requests , which did so in five months. [7]

Williams's acting role in the 1964 film I'd Rather Be Rich [8] included a performance of the original song "Almost There", [9] which makes its first album appearance here. As the B-side of "On the Street Where You Live" (the single from his last album), "Almost There" debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 in the issue of the magazine dated November 14, 1964, eventually reaching number 67 during its five-week stay. [10] It performed even better on the Easy Listening (or Adult Contemporary) chart, going as high as number 12 during its four weeks there. [11] The song's biggest success was in the UK, where it spent three weeks at number two during a 17-week run on the singles chart. [6] This album's A-side, "Dear Heart", written for the 1964 Glenn Ford/Geraldine Page movie of the same name, debuted on the pop and Easy Listening charts just two weeks later and spent 11 weeks on each of them, peaking at number 24 on the Hot 100 [10] and spending a week at number two Easy Listening. [11]

The album was released on compact disc for the first time as one of two albums on one CD by Collectables Records on March 23, 1999, the other album being Williams's Columbia release from May 1966, The Shadow of Your Smile . [12] The CD was included in a box set entitled Classic Album Collection, Vol. 1, which contains 17 of his studio albums and three compilations and was released on June 26, 2001. [13]

Reception

Allmusic's William Ruhlmann liked the album: "Williams applied his usual warm, smooth vocal style to all the songs, with string-filled arrangements that emphasized the melodies." [1] He also described the LP as "a well-assembled collection of contemporary material in what had become Williams's patented style." [1]

Billboard magazine felt that Williams "performed in his inimitable rich, warm style" [3] and asserted that his "interpretations of 'I'm All Smiles' and 'Who Can I Turn To?' are outstanding." [3]

Track listing

Side one

  1. "Red Roses for a Blue Lady" (Roy C. Bennett, Roy Brodsky, Sid Tepper) – 2:27
  2. "It Had to Be You" (Isham Jones, Gus Kahn) – 2:41
  3. "I Can't Stop Loving You" (Don Gibson) – 2:27
  4. "Till" (Charles Danvers, Carl Sigman) – 3:05
  5. "I'm All Smiles" (Michael Leonard, Herbert Martin) – 2:25
  6. "Who Can I Turn To (When Nobody Needs Me)" from The Roar of the Greasepaint – The Smell of the Crowd (Leslie Bricusse, Anthony Newley) – 2:24

Side two

  1. "You're Nobody till Somebody Loves You" (James Cavanaugh, Russ Morgan, Larry Stock) – 2:37
  2. "Emily" from The Americanization of Emily (Johnny Mandel, Johnny Mercer) – 2:22
  3. "Almost There" from I'd Rather Be Rich (Jerry Keller, Gloria Shayne) – 2:59
  4. "My Carousel" (Kenny Rankin, Yvonne Rankin) – 2:28
  5. "Everybody Loves Somebody" (Sam Coslow, Ken Lane, Irving Taylor) – 3:05
  6. "Dear Heart" from Dear Heart (Ray Evans, Jay Livingston, Henry Mancini) – 2:55

Personnel

From the liner notes for the original album: [2]

Related Research Articles

<i>Andy Williams Greatest Hits</i> 1970 compilation album by Andy Williams

Andy Williams' Greatest Hits is a compilation album by American pop singer Andy Williams that was released in early 1970 by Columbia Records. It was not, however, as its title might suggest, strictly a hit singles compilation, although some of his biggest songs since joining Columbia were included. A couple of selections were never released as singles by Williams, and his signature song, "Moon River", was released in the 7-inch single format but only for jukeboxes. His six Cadence singles that made the Top 10 on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 are passed over for the inclusion of his number 11 hit from that label, "The Hawaiian Wedding Song", and 17 of his Columbia recordings that made the Hot 100 up until 1970 are left out here in favor of "Charade", which spent its one week on the chart at number 100.

<i>Danny Boy and Other Songs I Love to Sing</i> 1962 studio album by Andy Williams

Danny Boy and Other Songs I Love to Sing is the eighth studio album by American pop singer Andy Williams and was released early in 1962 by Columbia Records. This was his first project after leaving Cadence Records, where his albums each had a specific theme, and his first in a series of LPs that covered songs established on stage and screen and other hits from the pop chart and the Great American Songbook. This trend would not be interrupted until his 1966 album The Shadow of Your Smile hinted at a shift toward contemporary material with its inclusion of songs first recorded by the Beatles.

<i>Warm and Willing</i> 1962 studio album by Andy Williams

Warm and Willing is the tenth studio album by American pop singer Andy Williams and was released in 1962 by Columbia Records. Allmusic's William Ruhlmann explained that Williams and producer Robert Mersey "followed the Sinatra concept-album formula of creating a consistent mood, in this case a romantic one, and picking material mostly from the Great American Songbook of compositions written for Broadway musicals in the 1920s and '30s by the likes of George and Ira Gershwin, then giving them slow, string-filled arrangements over which Williams could croon in his breathy, intimate tenor voice."

<i>Days of Wine and Roses and Other TV Requests</i> 1963 studio album by Andy Williams

Days of Wine and Roses and Other TV Requests is the eleventh studio album by American pop singer Andy Williams and was released in April 1963 by Columbia Records following his first season as host of his variety series, The Andy Williams Show. The LP has a studio recording of the closing theme from the show, "May Each Day", and continues the format of his previous Columbia releases by including songs from the 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s.

<i>The Wonderful World of Andy Williams</i> 1964 studio album by Andy Williams

The Wonderful World of Andy Williams is the thirteenth studio album by American pop singer Andy Williams and was released by Columbia Records to coincide with the December 31, 1963, broadcast of The Andy Williams Show. Various tracks were recorded with members of his family, including The Williams Brothers, who joined him for a remake of his first top 10 hit, "Canadian Sunset", from 1956.

<i>The Great Songs from "My Fair Lady" and Other Broadway Hits</i> 1964 studio album by Andy Williams

The Great Songs from "My Fair Lady" and Other Broadway Hits is the fifteenth studio album by American pop singer Andy Williams and was released in September 1964 by Columbia Records, one month before the premiere of the film version of My Fair Lady starring Audrey Hepburn.

<i>The Shadow of Your Smile</i> (Andy Williams album) 1966 studio album by Andy Williams

The Shadow of Your Smile is the eighteenth studio album by American pop singer Andy Williams and was released in April 1966 by Columbia Records and included covers of "Michelle" and "Yesterday", the same pair of Beatles ballads that labelmate Johnny Mathis recorded for his 1966 album of the same name. For Williams these selections initiated a trend away from the traditional pop formula that his album output at Columbia up until this point had adhered to.

<i>In the Arms of Love</i> (album) 1966 studio album by Andy Williams

In the Arms of Love is the nineteenth studio album by American pop singer Andy Williams and was released on December 19, 1966, by Columbia Records and was the last of twelve consecutive Williams studio LPs produced by Robert Mersey.

<i>Born Free</i> (Andy Williams album) 1967 studio album by Andy Williams

Born Free is the twentieth studio album by American pop singer Andy Williams and was released on April 10, 1967, by Columbia Records and includes half a dozen songs associated with movies or musicals. Two of these tracks, however, originated in the scores of the films indicated on the album jacket but had lyrics added later: the melody for "Strangers in the Night" was written for A Man Could Get Killed, and "Somewhere My Love" began as "Lara's Theme" from Doctor Zhivago.

<i>Love, Andy</i> 1967 studio album by Andy Williams

Love, Andy is the twenty-first studio album by American pop singer Andy Williams, released on October 16, 1967, by Columbia Records to coincide with the NBC special of the same name, which aired on November 6. The LP had a mix of covers of old and recent hits that included two songs from the 1940s that also had chart success in 1966 via Chris Montez: "The More I See You" and "There Will Never Be Another You".

<i>Honey</i> (Andy Williams album) 1968 studio album by Andy Williams

Honey is the twenty-second studio album by American pop singer Andy Williams, released in the spring of 1968 by Columbia Records. In reviewing the LP William Ruhlmann of Allmusic traced the progression of the Williams formula, noting that "he had been drawing on the recent hit parade for some of his material for years. But Honey marked his complete crossover to such an approach. Where earlier Williams albums had been a canny mix of movie songs, standards, pop hits, and foreign -- especially French -- material, ten of Honey's 11 tracks were songs that had been Top 40 hits in the last two years."

<i>Happy Heart</i> (album) 1969 studio album by Andy Williams

Happy Heart is the twenty-third studio album by American pop singer Andy Williams, released in the spring of 1969 by Columbia Records and continued the trend of his recent albums in relying exclusively on contemporary material. This particular project eschewed offerings from Broadway and Hollywood that had been predominant on his LPs with Columbia.

<i>Love Story</i> (Andy Williams album, UK version) 1971 compilation album by Andy Williams

Love Story is a compilation album by American pop singer Andy Williams that was released in the UK in July 1971 by the CBS Records division of Columbia and was mainly composed of tracks that had not been included on his studio LPs.

<i>Youve Got a Friend</i> (Andy Williams album) 1971 studio album by Andy Williams

You've Got a Friend is the twenty-eighth studio album by American pop singer Andy Williams, released in August 1971 by Columbia Records. The album bears a striking resemblance to the Johnny Mathis album You've Got a Friend released that same month. Besides sharing their name, the two albums are both made up of covers of easy listening hits of the time, with 11 songs each, and the two albums have seven songs in common that are positioned in a similar order.

<i>Alone Again (Naturally)</i> (album) 1972 studio album by Andy Williams

Alone Again (Naturally) is the thirtieth studio album by American pop singer Andy Williams, released in September 1972 by Columbia Records and mainly consisting of songs originated by other artists. For its release in the UK, the album was titled The First Time Ever , and three of the songs were replaced with the 7-inch single tracks "Who Was It?" and "Marmalade, Molasses & Honey" and a recording that was not released on vinyl in the U.S., "If You're Gonna Break Another Heart".

<i>The Way We Were</i> (Andy Williams album) 1974 studio album by Andy Williams

The Way We Were is the thirty-second studio album by American pop singer Andy Williams, released in the spring of 1974 by Columbia Records and was a return to singing songs that his audience was already familiar with after Solitaire, his previous LP that was less reliant on covers of recent pop hits, did not perform well.

<i>You Lay So Easy on My Mind</i> 1974 studio album by Andy Williams

You Lay So Easy on My Mind is the thirty-fourth studio album by American pop singer Andy Williams, released in November 1974 by Columbia Records. The idea for this LP was mentioned in an interview with Williams in the November 3, 1973, issue of Billboard magazine that emphasized his desire to move away from recording albums of Easy Listening covers of hits by other artists, noting that he was "planning an album to be cut in Nashville with Columbia's high-flying country-pop producer, Billy Sherrill." The article coincided with the release of his first attempt to shift directions, Solitaire, which performed poorly. A return to the Easy Listening hits formula, The Way We Were, followed in the spring of 1974 but failed to even chart, so this next attempt to eschew soft rock songs leaned heavily on Country hits.

<i>To You Sweetheart, Aloha</i> 1959 studio album by Andy Williams

To You Sweetheart, Aloha is the fourth studio album by American pop singer Andy Williams and was released late in the summer of 1959 by Cadence Records. This, his fourth LP for the label, has a Hawaiian theme that coincides with the admission of the 50th of the United States.

<i>Andy Williams Best</i> 1961 compilation album by Andy Williams

Andy Williams' Best is a compilation album by American pop singer Andy Williams that was released late in 1961 by Cadence Records. This second album to compile the singer's material features 10 songs that made the Billboard Hot 100 along with two of their corresponding B-sides.

<i>Andy Williams Newest Hits</i> 1966 compilation album by Andy Williams

Andy Williams' Newest Hits is a compilation album by American pop singer Andy Williams that was released early in 1966 by Columbia Records and was the first LP to compile the singer's Columbia material. Seven of the 12 tracks had reached the charts in Billboard magazine, and another had been released as a single in the UK. Three album cuts were also included along with a recent B-side.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Dear Heart". allmusic.com. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 18 August 2010.
  2. 1 2 (1965) Andy Williams' Dear Heart by Andy Williams [album jacket]. New York: Columbia Records CS 9138.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Album Reviews". Billboard . 1965-04-03. p. 64.
  4. Jones, Peter; Jopling, Norman (5 June 1965). "Andy Williams: Almost There" (PDF). Record Mirror . No. 221. p. 10. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 April 2022. Retrieved 17 August 2022.
  5. Whitburn 2010 , p. 844.
  6. 1 2 "Andy Williams". Official Charts Company . Retrieved 22 August 2010.
  7. "Gold & Platinum". riaa.com. Retrieved 27 March 2017. Type Andy Williams in the Search box and press Enter.
  8. "Soundtracks for I'd Rather Be Rich". imdb.com. Amazon.com. Retrieved 22 August 2010.
  9. "I'd Rather Be Rich". imdb.com. Amazon.com. Retrieved 22 August 2010.
  10. 1 2 Whitburn 1999 , p. 702.
  11. 1 2 Whitburn 1993 , p. 256.
  12. "Dear Heart/The Shadow of Your Smile". allmusic.com. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 18 August 2010.
  13. "Classic Album Collection, Vol. 1 - Andy Williams". allmusic.com. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 6 May 2011.

Bibliography