Feelings | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | October 20, 1975 [1] | |||
Recorded | March 25, 1975 June 16, 1975 August 2, 1975 August 9, 1975 August 29, 1975 [1] | |||
Studio |
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Genre |
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Length | 35:26 | |||
Label | Columbia | |||
Producer | Jack Gold [3] | |||
Johnny Mathis chronology | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Allmusic | [2] |
Billboard | positive [4] |
Feelings is an album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released on October 20, 1975, [1] by Columbia Records and strayed slightly from the singer's usual practice of covering hits by other artists by including two new songs, both written by Jerry Fuller: "Hurry Mother Nature" and "That's All She Wrote", which Ray Price took to number 34 on the Country chart the following spring. [5]
The album made its first appearance on Billboard magazine's Top LP's & Tapes chart in the issue dated November 8, 1975, and remained there for 21 weeks, peaking at number 97. [6] On February 1, 1976, the British Phonographic Industry awarded the album with Silver certification for sales of 60,000 units. [7] It received Gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America on December 30, 1980. [8]
The first single from the album, "Stardust", entered Billboard's list of the 50 most popular Easy Listening songs in the US in the issue of the magazine dated November 29, 1975, and peaked at number four over the course of 12 weeks. [9] "One Day in Your Life" was released as the follow-up and entered that same chart in the March 13, 1976, issue, eventually getting as high as number 36 during its five weeks there. [9]
Billboard liked what they heard. "Covering other people's hits can be dangerous, but not for Mathis, who is in the right mood, tempo and vocal range this time around." [4]
AllMusic's Ed Hogan wrote a brief but positive retrospective review. "Produced by Jack Gold with great arrangements by Gene Page, Feelings is one of Johnny Mathis's best '70s era albums." [2]
This album's CD release as part of the 2017 box set The Voice of Romance: The Columbia Original Album Collection included two bonus tracks that were previously unavailable:
From the liner notes for The Voice of Romance: The Columbia Original Album Collection : [1]
The histories of some of the selections that Mathis made for this album are quite varied. Michael Jackson recorded "One Day in Your Life" before this album was released in 1975, [10] but his recording was not available as a single until 1981. [11] "Stardust" reached the charts 15 times through various recordings between 1930 and 1943. [12] Jack Jones had a number 25 Easy Listening hit with "What I Did for Love", which originated in the 1975 Broadway musical A Chorus Line. [13] Melissa Manchester's "Midnight Blue" spent two weeks at number one on the Easy Listening chart [14] in addition to reaching number six on the Billboard Hot 100. [15] And "The Greatest Gift" was performed by an unnamed chorus for the soundtrack of the 1975 film The Return of the Pink Panther. [16]
Albert Hammond's "99 Miles From L.A." is another number one Easy Listening hit [17] that Mathis covers here, although the song only managed a number 91 showing on the pop chart. [18] "Feelings" by Morris Albert fared much better on the Hot 100, making it to number six, [19] in addition to peaking at number two Easy Listening [20] and number four UK [21] and receiving Gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America. [22] And "Solitaire" had its best chart performance in the US as a number one Easy Listening hit for The Carpenters [23] that also got as high as number 17 pop, [24] but their number 32 performance with the song on the UK singles chart in 1975 [25] fell far short of the number four position that Andy Williams attained with his version on that same chart two years earlier. [26]
From the liner notes of the original album: [3]
Johnny's Newest Hits is a compilation album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released by Columbia Records on February 25, 1963, and includes the A- and B-sides of six of his singles.
The Great Years is a compilation album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released by Columbia Records in July 1964. Billboard magazine described the two-LP set, which included chart hits and album tracks, as "the best of Mathis".
Love Theme from "Romeo and Juliet" is an album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released on July 30, 1969, by Columbia Records. Of its 11 tracks, eight had been hits for other performers earlier that year, and one of the remaining three, "I'll Never Fall in Love Again", would become a huge success for Dionne Warwick several months later.
Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head is an album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released on February 25, 1970, by Columbia Records and included several covers of chart hits from the previous year along with 1964's "Watch What Happens" and the 1966 tunes "Alfie" and "A Man and a Woman".
Close To You is an album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released on August 19, 1970, by Columbia Records and mostly included his recordings of hits that other artists had that year. The exceptions were the new movie theme "Pieces of Dreams" and the 1967 songs "Wave" by Antônio Carlos Jobim and "Yellow Days", which was an Easy Listening hit for former Mathis collaborator Percy Faith. In the UK the album was retitled after a different song Mathis covered on it, "The Long and Winding Road".
Love Story is an album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released on February 10, 1971, by Columbia Records and included a recent Oscar nominee, a flashback to 1967 ("Traces"), a new song by Bacharach & David, a lesser-known one by Goffin & King, and two songs that originated in film scores from 1970 and had lyrics added later: the album closer, "Loss of Love", from Sunflower and the album opener from Love Story, which was subtitled "Where Do I Begin". The norm for Mathis projects from this era was to cover recent hits, and the title track of this one was so recent that the version by Andy Williams began a 13-week run to number nine on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 chart in February 1971, coinciding with the release of this LP.
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 (I Saw Your Face), 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".
Solitaire is the thirty-first studio album by American pop singer Andy Williams, released in the fall of 1973 by Columbia Records and was an attempt to move away from his formulaic series of recent releases that relied heavily on songs that other artists had made popular.
The Other Side of Me is the thirty-fifth studio album by American pop singer Andy Williams, released in the summer of 1975 by Columbia Records and including the 1973 recording of "Solitaire" from his album of the same name alongside 10 original recordings, four of which were also by "Solitaire" composer Neil Sedaka. After unsuccessful attempts to leave behind the formulaic album genre of easy listening covers of pop hits, The Other Side of Me offered a compromise by filling half of the sides with material that was popularized by other artists and the other half with either new or obscure selections.
You've Got a Friend is an album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released on August 11, 1971, by Columbia Records. The phrase "Today's Great Hits" can be found above the title on both sides of the record jacket as well as both sides of the LP label as if to emphasize that this is essentially an album covering songs that were recently on the charts. This was a common practice of many vocalists of the period, so much so in fact that fellow Columbia artist Andy Williams also released an album titled You've Got a Friend in August 1971 on which he coincidentally covers seven of the 11 tracks that Mathis recorded for this album.
Johnny Mathis' All-Time Greatest Hits is a compilation album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released in the spring of 1972 by Columbia Records and, despite its title, overlooks a good number of his Top 40 hits in favor of his singles that did not make the Billboard Hot 100 and album tracks that were not released as singles.
Song Sung Blue is an album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released on September 13, 1972, by Columbia Records and featured his renditions of mostly recent chart hits.
Me and Mrs. Jones is an album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released in January 1973 by Columbia Records. While it does cover several big chart hits of the day like his last album, Song Sung Blue, did, it also includes songs that didn't make the US Top 40 or had never charted.
I'm Coming Home is an album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released on September 21, 1973, by Columbia Records and was mainly composed of material written by the songwriting team of its producer, Thom Bell, and Linda Creed. Unlike several of the Mathis albums before it, I'm Coming Home relied primarily on new songs and included only two covers of established chart hits, both of which were by The Stylistics.
The Heart of a Woman is an album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released on November 25, 1974, by Columbia Records. Produced by ex-Motowner Johnny Bristol, the LP is made up mostly of new material, in that only three of the 10 songs had already been recorded by other artists.
When Will I See You Again is an album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released in March 1975 by Columbia Records and was again predominantly composed of covers of recent hit songs by other artists.
I Only Have Eyes for You is an album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released on May 10, 1976, by Columbia Records and included two new songs, "Yellow Roses on Her Gown" and "Ooh What We Do", which was written specifically for him, as well as a contemporary arrangement of the 1934 title track that foreshadowed his recordings of standards that incorporated a disco beat a few years later.
The Best of Johnny Mathis 1975–1980 is a compilation album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released in the fall of 1980 by Columbia Records. This collection is similar to his last major compilation, 1972's Johnny Mathis' All-Time Greatest Hits, in that it excludes many of his American radio hits of this period in favor of songs that made the UK singles chart or contemporary hits by other people.
The First 25 Years – The Silver Anniversary Album is a compilation album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released in 1981 by Columbia Records. The back cover of the album notes that there are four new tracks. A cover of the Commodores hit "Three Times a Lady" had been released on the UK version of his 1980 album Different Kinda Different, which was retitled All for You, but the Mathis rendition of the song makes its US debut here.
Unforgettable – A Musical Tribute to Nat King Cole is a soundtrack album released in the UK in 1983 by the CBS Records division of Columbia in conjunction with the broadcast of American pop singer Johnny Mathis's BBC television concert special of the same name that featured Cole's daughter Natalie. The front of the original album jacket credits the concert performers as "Johnny Mathis and Natalie Cole", whereas the CD booklet reads, "Johnny Mathis with special guest Natalie Cole".