The Andy Williams Show | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 1970 | |||
Recorded | March 21, 1968 April 8, 1970 July 13, 1970 August 31, 1970 [1] | |||
Genre |
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Length | 31:50 | |||
Label | Columbia | |||
Producer | Mike Post Nick DeCaro [3] | |||
Andy Williams chronology | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Allmusic | [2] |
Billboard | Spotlight Pick [4] |
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [5] |
The Andy Williams Show is the twenty-sixth studio album by American pop singer Andy Williams, released in the fall of 1970 by Columbia Records. [2] In his review on AllMusic, William Ruhlmann writes that "The Andy Williams Show LP was not a soundtrack recording from the TV series, and it was not really a live album, although it gets categorized as such. What appears to be the case is that Columbia Records took a group of Williams' studio recordings, most of them made during the summer of 1970 and consisting of his versions of recent soft rock hits, and added a lot of canned applause along with some of the kind of musical interludes used to usher numbers on and off on the show, including bits of its "Moon River" theme music at the start and the finish." [2]
The album made its first appearance on the Top LP's chart in the issue of Billboard magazine dated November 14, 1970, and remained on the album chart for 17 weeks, peaking at number 81. [6] It entered the UK album chart the following month, on December 5, and reached number 10 over the course of six weeks. [7] it also debuted on the Cashbox albums chart in the issue dated November 28, of that year, and remained on the chart for in a total of 7 weeks, peaking at 82 [8]
The Andy Williams Show was released on compact disc as one of two albums on one CD by Collectables Records on February 5, 2002, along with Williams's 1971 Columbia album, You've Got a Friend . [2] Collectables included the CD in a box set entitled Classic Album Collection, Vol. 2, which contains 15 of his studio albums and two compilations, in 2002. [9]
Billboard noted that the album "has the added bonus of a handsomely produced color booklet, mainly photographs, featuring the artist and show guests. The album is paced nicely." [4]
From the liner notes for the 2002 CD: [1]
The Carpenters recording of "(They Long to Be) Close to You" spent six weeks at number one on Billboard magazine's Easy Listening chart [10] and four weeks in the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100, [11] reached number six on the UK singles chart, [12] received Gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America, [13] and earned The Carpenters a Grammy in the category of Best Contemporary Vocal Performance by a Duo, Group or Chorus. [14] "Joanne" by Michael Nesmith & The First National Band reached number 21 pop [15] and number six Easy Listening. [16] "Never My Love" earned Gold certification for The Association, [17] who took the song to number two on the Hot 100. [18]
Bread's "Make It with You" enjoyed a week at number one on the pop chart, [19] reached number four Easy Listening [20] and number five in the UK, [21] and was awarded Gold certification. [22] Simon & Garfunkel got as high as number 18 on the Billboard Hot 100 with "El Condor Pasa (If I Could)" [23] and took the song to number six Easy Listening. [24] "Snowbird" by Anne Murray spent six weeks at number one Easy Listening [25] and made it to number eight pop, [26] number 10 Country, [27] and number 23 UK [28] before becoming her first Gold record. [29]
"Leaving on a Jet Plane" is another Gold record that Williams covers here. [30] Peter, Paul and Mary's recording of the song enjoyed a week at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 [31] and three weeks in the top spot on the Easy Listening chart. [32] "What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?" comes from the 1969 film The Happy Ending , where it was sung by Michael Dees, [33] and Jaye P. Morgan took the song to number 40 Easy Listening. [34] Ben E. King peaked at number 10 on the Hot 100 [35] and number 15 R&B [36] with "Spanish Harlem". And "Hello, Young Lovers" was first performed by Gertrude Lawrence in the original Broadway production of The King and I in 1951. [37] [38] Perry Como had a number 27 hit with it that same year, [39] and Williams first recorded the song for his 1958 album Andy Williams Sings Rodgers and Hammerstein .
From the liner notes for the original album: [3]
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
The Shadow of Your Smile is the eighteenth studio album by American pop singer Andy Williams, released in April 1966 by Columbia Records. The album includes 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.
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.
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.
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".
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 project eschewed offerings from Broadway and Hollywood that had been predominant on his LPs with Columbia.
Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head is the twenty-fifth studio album by American pop singer Andy Williams and was released in the spring of 1970 by Columbia Records. Williams was less focused on covering recent hits on this project and instead selected several songs from the singer-songwriter genre. The concept for the album came from Mason Williams, who contacted producer Dick Glasser about co-producing an album that would give Williams's fans a medley of songs that did more than just highlight the most familiar parts of popular songs but rather focus on a unifying theme or storyline of songs that were not necessarily hit records. Billboard magazine opined that the album "may well be titled 'A Journey Through Life.' Through carefully selected songs it conveys a message of dreams, hopes, reality, frustrations and ultimate truth."
Love Story is the twenty-seventh studio album by American pop singer Andy Williams that was released on February 3, 1971, by Columbia Records. This was another in his series of cover albums, but the title track, subtitled "Where Do I Begin", was the one song included that he originated.
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.
Love Theme from "The Godfather" is the twenty-ninth studio album by American pop singer Andy Williams, released on March 21, 1972, by Columbia Records. The two new songs on what was otherwise another LP of covers of hits by other artists were the title track and "Music from Across the Way", which came from the songwriters behind his recent hits "Happy Heart" and "(Where Do I Begin) Love Story".
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.