I Only Have Eyes for You (Johnny Mathis album)

Last updated
I Only Have Eyes for You
Mathis-Eyes.jpg
Studio album by
ReleasedMay 10, 1976 [1]
RecordedJune 16, 1975
January 20–21, 1976
February 23–March 5, 1976
March 12, 1976 [1]
Studio A&M (Hollywood) [2]
Genre
Length37:17
Label Columbia
Producer Jack Gold [4]
Johnny Mathis chronology
Feelings
(1975)
I Only Have Eyes for You
(1976)
The Johnny Mathis Collection
(1976)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [3]

I Only Have Eyes for You is an album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released on May 10, 1976, [1] by Columbia Records and included two new songs, "Yellow Roses on Her Gown" and "Ooh What We Do", which was written specifically for him, [3] as well as a contemporary arrangement of the 1934 title track that foreshadowed his recordings of standards that incorporated a disco beat ("Begin the Beguine", "Night and Day") a few years later.

Contents

The album made its first appearance on Billboard magazine's Top LP's & Tapes chart in the issue dated June 26, 1976, and remained there for 15 weeks, peaking at number 79. [5] The following month, on July 3, it made its first appearance on the UK album chart, where it reached number 14 during a 12-week run. [6] On December 1, 1976, the British Phonographic Industry awarded the album with Silver certification for sales of 60,000 units, and Gold certification for 100,000 units followed on April 15, 1977. [7]

The first song from the album to reach the US charts, "Yellow Roses on Her Gown", entered Billboard's list of the 50 most popular Easy Listening songs in the issue of the magazine dated July 24, 1976, and peaked at number 44 over the course of three weeks. [8] A second song, "Do Me Wrong, but Do Me", entered that same chart in the October 2, 1976, issue, eventually getting as high as number 25 during its nine weeks there. [8] The only song to reach the UK charts, "When a Child Is Born", began a 12-week stay there the following month, on November 13, during which time it enjoyed three weeks at number one. [9]

Reception

Joe Viglione of AllMusic wrote retrospectively: "'Every Time You Touch Me (I Get High)'" has a dazzling arrangement, and moments like this make the covers worthwhile." [3] But he was most impressed with "Ooh What We Do", concluding that "it is the new song he discovered here that brings magic to this collection." [3]

Track listing

Side one

  1. "I Write the Songs" (Bruce Johnston) – 3:57
  2. "Do Me Wrong, but Do Me" (Alan O'Day) – 3:17
  3. "The Hungry Years" (Howard Greenfield, Neil Sedaka) – 4:35
  4. "I Only Have Eyes for You" from Dames (Al Dubin, Harry Warren) – 3:33
  5. "Yellow Roses on Her Gown" (Michael Moore) – 4:33

Side two

  1. "(Do You Know Where You're Going To) Theme from Mahogany" from Mahogany (Gerry Goffin, Michael Masser) – 3:47
  2. "Ooh What We Do" (Harriet Schock) – 3:25
  3. "Send in the Clowns" from A Little Night Music (Stephen Sondheim) – 3:35
  4. "Every Time You Touch Me (I Get High)" (Charlie Rich, Billy Sherrill) – 2:52
  5. "When a Child Is Born" (Ciro Dammicco, Fred Jay) – 3:41

Recording dates

From the liner notes for The Voice of Romance: The Columbia Original Album Collection : [1]

Song information

Barry Manilow's recording of "I Write the Songs" spent a week at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 [10] and two weeks at number one on the magazine's Easy Listening chart. [11] It also earned the Grammy Award for Song of the Year [12] and Gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America. [13] By the time this album was released, "Do Me Wrong, but Do Me" had already been recorded by Mel Carter [14] and Jack Jones. [15] "The Hungry Years" was the title track from Neil Sedaka's 1975 album. [16] And the highest-charting version of "I Only Have Eyes for You" was a number two hit for Ben Selvin & His Orchestra with Howard Phillips on vocal in 1934. [17]

"(Do You Know Where You're Going To) Theme from Mahogany" by Diana Ross enjoyed a week at number one on both the Hot 100 [18] and Easy Listening charts [19] in addition to reaching number 14 R&B [20] and number five on the UK singles chart. [21] "Send in the Clowns" originated in the 1973 Broadway musical A Little Night Music [22] and won the Grammy Award for Song of the Year. [23] The hit version of the song by Judy Collins first peaked at number 36 pop, [24] number eight Easy Listening, [25] and number six in the UK [26] upon its initial release in 1975, and the reissue of her recording in 1977 that coincided with the release of the film version of the musical in the US made it to number 19 pop [24] and number 15 Easy Listening. [25] "Every Time You Touch Me (I Get High)" by Charlie Rich had a week at number one on the Easy Listening chart [27] and got as high as number 19 on the Hot 100 [28] and number three on Billboard's Country chart. [29] And Michael Holm's recording of "When a Child Is Born" made it to number 53 pop [30] and number seven Easy Listening upon its release at the end of 1974. [31]

Personnel

From the liner notes for the original album: [4]

Related Research Articles

<i>Ill Search My Heart and Other Great Hits</i> 1964 greatest hits album by Johnny Mathis

I'll Search My Heart and Other Great Hits is a compilation album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released by Columbia Records in April 1964 and gathered up five A-sides that reached the Billboard Hot 100, a corresponding B-side, and six songs that had previously been unreleased.

<i>The Sweetheart Tree</i> 1965 studio album by Johnny Mathis

The Sweetheart Tree is an album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released by Mercury Records on September 30, 1965, and included songs associated with Italy, France, Ireland, and Scotland as well as several selections, such as "I'll Close My Eyes" and "The Very Thought of You", from English composers.

<i>The Shadow of Your Smile</i> (Johnny Mathis album) 1966 studio album by Johnny Mathis

The Shadow of Your Smile is an album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released by Mercury Records in March 1966, and included covers of the same two Beatles songs that would be in stores one month later on an Andy Williams album of the same name. Mathis also tackled recent easy listening fare on this album in addition to show tunes from On a Clear Day You Can See Forever and West Side Story.

<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>Up, Up and Away</i> (Johnny Mathis album) 1967 studio album by Johnny Mathis

Up, Up And Away is an album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released on October 23, 1967, and was the first LP he recorded upon returning to his first record label, Columbia Records, where he then stayed for several decades after having just completed a four-year sojourn with Mercury Records. The title track starts the album on the contemporary end of the spectrum of material covered here, but Mathis also includes a standard from the 1940s, a hit that charted twice for the same artist in the 1950s, a trio of songs from Doctor Dolittle, and two songs that had lyrics added after originating as instrumentals: "Drifting" began as part of the score to the 1958 film Auntie Mame, and "Far Above Cayuga's Waters" was "a theme song of Cornell University before saxophonist Dave Pell retooled it and Sammy Cahn adapted the delightful fairytale-like lyrics."

<i>Those Were the Days</i> (Johnny Mathis album) 1968 studio album by Johnny Mathis

Those Were the Days is an album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released on November 6, 1968, by Columbia Records. It followed the formula of including covers of recent hit songs, the oldest, in this case, being "The End of the World", which hadn't been on the charts since 1963. Two of the 10 tracks, however, had not been released as singles by other artists: "Every Time I Dream of You", which had appeared as an instrumental on Bert Kaempfert's 1967 album Love That Bert Kaempfert, and "You Make Me Think About You", which was first heard in the 1968 film With Six You Get Eggroll.

<i>Love Theme from "Romeo And Juliet" (A Time for Us)</i> 1969 studio album by Johnny 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.

<i>Close to You</i> (Johnny Mathis album) 1970 studio album by Johnny Mathis

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".

<i>Love Story</i> (Johnny Mathis album) 1971 studio album by Johnny Mathis

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.

<i>Solitaire</i> (Andy Williams album) 1973 studio album by Andy Williams

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.

<i>The Other Side of Me</i> (Andy Williams album) 1975 studio album by Andy Williams

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.

<i>Youve Got a Friend</i> (Johnny Mathis album) 1971 studio album by Johnny Mathis

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.

<i>Song Sung Blue</i> (album) 1972 studio album by Johnny Mathis

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.

<i>Me and Mrs. Jones</i> (album) 1973 studio album by Johnny Mathis

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>Killing Me Softly with Her Song</i> (album) 1973 studio album by Johnny Mathis

Killing Me Softly with Her Song is an album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released on May 25, 1973 by Columbia Records and leaned heavily on covers of the latest radio favorites.

<i>Im Coming Home</i> (album) 1973 studio album by Johnny Mathis

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.

<i>The Heart of a Woman</i> (album) 1974 studio album by Johnny Mathis

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.

<i>When Will I See You Again</i> (Johnny Mathis album) 1975 studio album by Johnny Mathis

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>Feelings</i> (Johnny Mathis album) 1975 studio album by Johnny Mathis

Feelings is an album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released on October 20, 1975, by Columbia Records and strayed slightly from the practice of covering hits by other artists to include two new songs, both of which were 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.

<i>The Best Days of My Life</i> 1979 studio album by Johnny Mathis

The Best Days of My Life is an album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released on January 29, 1979, by Columbia Records and scaled back considerably on his more than decade-long practice of recording recent hit songs by other artists. He did, however, cover two standards: "As Time Goes By" and "Begin the Beguine", the latter of which is given a disco arrangement.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 (2017) The Voice of Romance: The Columbia Original Album Collection by Johnny Mathis [CD booklet]. New York: Sony Music Entertainment 88985 36892 2.
  2. "Johnny Mathis – I Only Have Eyes for You (1976, Vinyl)". Discogs .
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "I Only Have Eyes for You - Johnny Mathis". allmusic.com. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 1 June 2013.
  4. 1 2 (1976) I Only Have Eyes for You by Johnny Mathis [album jacket]. New York: Columbia Records PC 34117.
  5. Whitburn 2010 , p. 504.
  6. "Johnny Mathis - Albums". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 1 June 2013.
  7. "BPI Certified Awards". British Phonographic Industry. Archived from the original on 24 January 2013. Retrieved 24 July 2017. Type Johnny Mathis in the Keywords box and select Artist in the Search by box and click Search.
  8. 1 2 Whitburn 2007 , p. 179.
  9. "Johnny Mathis - Singles". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 1 June 2013.
  10. Whitburn 2009 , p. 612.
  11. Whitburn 2007 , p. 172.
  12. O'Neil 1999 , p. 251.
  13. "Gold & Platinum". riaa.com. Retrieved 7 January 2017. Type Barry Manilow in the Search box and press Enter.
  14. (1973) "Treasure of Love/Do Me Wrong but Do Me" by Mel Carter [7-inch single]. Hollywood: MGM Records RO 714.
  15. (1974) Harbour by Jack Jones [album jacket]. New York: RCA Records APL1-0408.
  16. (1975) The Hungry Years by Neil Sedaka [album jacket]. Universal City: MCA Records PIG 2157.
  17. Whitburn 1986 , p. 382.
  18. Whitburn 2009 , p. 838.
  19. Whitburn 2007 , p. 236.
  20. Whitburn 2004 , p. 501.
  21. "Diana Ross". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 5 June 2013.
  22. "A Little Night Music". ibdb.com. The Broadway League. Retrieved 5 June 2013.
  23. O'Neil 1999 , p. 237.
  24. 1 2 Whitburn 2009 , p. 212.
  25. 1 2 Whitburn 2007 , p. 59.
  26. "Judy Collins". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 5 June 2013.
  27. Whitburn 2007 , p. 229.
  28. Whitburn 2009 , p. 816.
  29. Whitburn 2002 , p. 292.
  30. Whitburn 2009 , p. 449.
  31. Whitburn 2007 , p. 126.

Bibliography