Live It Up! (Johnny Mathis album)

Last updated

Live It Up!
Mathis-Up.jpg
Studio album by
ReleasedDecember 11, 1961 [1]
RecordedApril 24–25, 1961 [1]
Genre Vocal [2]
Length37:29
Label Columbia
Producer Irving Townsend [3]
Johnny Mathis chronology
Portrait of Johnny
(1961)
Live It Up!
(1961)
Rapture
(1962)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Billboard positive [4]
New Record Mirror 5/5 [5]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [6]

Live It Up! is an album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released on December 11, 1961, [1] by Columbia Records and was the second of two album collaborations with arranger and conductor Nelson Riddle. The singer again eschewed ballads as he had on Swing Softly and selected a balance of new and established material.

Contents

The album debuted on Billboard magazine's album chart in the issue dated February 24, 1962, to begin a stay of 39 weeks, during which time it got as high as number 14. [7]

This album was released for the first time on compact disc in a two-disc set with his other Riddle project, 1961's I'll Buy You A Star , on June 9, 2009. [8]

Reception

Billboard was enthusiastic. "This is easily one of Mathis's best albums", [4] they wrote. "He's really in a swingin' mood, and he gets standout arrangements to match from Nelson Riddle." [4]

Track listing

Side one

  1. "Live It Up" (Alan Bergman, Marilyn Bergman) – 3:28
  2. "Just Friends" (John Klenner, Sam M. Lewis) – 4:01
  3. "Ace in the Hole" from Let's Face It! (Cole Porter) – 2:46
  4. "On a Cold and Rainy Day" (Lee Pockriss, Paul Vance) – 3:06
  5. "Why Not" (Otis G. Clements, Sydney Shaw) – 2:08
  6. "I Won't Dance" from Roberta (Dorothy Fields, Oscar Hammerstein II, Otto Harbach, Jerome Kern, Jimmy McHugh) – 3:58

Side two

  1. "Johnny One Note" from Babes in Arms (Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers) – 2:39
  2. "Too Much Too Soon" (Marvin Fisher, Jack Segal) – 2:51
  3. "The Riviera" (Cy Coleman, Joseph Allen McCarthy) – 3:03
  4. "Crazy in the Heart" (William Engvick, Alec Wilder) – 3:55
  5. "Hey, Look Me Over" from Wildcat (Coleman, Carolyn Leigh) – 1:48
  6. "Love" from Ziegfeld Follies (Ralph Blane, Hugh Martin) – 3:46

Recording dates

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

Personnel

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. "Live It Up! - Johnny Mathis". allmusic.com. All Media Network, LLC. Retrieved November 8, 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 (1962) Live It Up! by Johnny Mathis [album jacket]. New York: Columbia Records CS 8511.
  4. 1 2 3 "Spotlight Albums of the Week". Billboard . February 3, 1962. p. 24.
  5. Watson, Jimmy (March 10, 1962). "Johnny Mathis: Live It Up" (PDF). New Record Mirror . No. 52. p. 10. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 1, 2022. Retrieved August 5, 2022.
  6. Larkin, Colin (2007). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Omnibus Press. p. 922. ISBN   9781846098567 . Retrieved March 11, 2025.
  7. Whitburn 2010 , p. 503.
  8. "I'll Buy You a Star/Live It Up! - Johnny Mathis". allmusic.com. All Media Network, LLC. Retrieved November 5, 2016.

Bibliography