Right from the Heart

Last updated
Right From The Heart
Mathis-Right.jpg
Studio album by
ReleasedMarch 18, 1985 [1]
RecordedJune 1984–February 1985 [1]
StudioThe Complex,
Los Angeles, California,
Conway Studios,
Hollywood, California,
Sunset Sound Studios,
Hollywood, California [2]
Genre
Length36:37
Label Columbia
Producer Denny Diante [2]
Johnny Mathis chronology
Live
(1984)
Right From The Heart
(1985)
16 Most Requested Songs
(1986)

Right from the Heart is an album by the American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released on March 18, 1985, [1] by Columbia Records. It was his first album without songs that were previously recorded by other artists. The title track is one of the album's four ballads that, along with four of the remaining six up-tempo tracks, delve into the subject of relationships, but it is the synth-driven "Step by Step" and the anthemic "Hold On" on which Mathis take a break from the usual focus on love songs. The former offers the hope that can be found in change that comes gradually until "I can see the way free from yesterday to a new beginning". [2] The latter stresses the importance of being oneself: "Life is a party. Why don't you come the way you are?" [2]

Contents

Even though the title track was used on the ABC soap opera Ryan's Hope , [4] the album did not make it onto Billboard magazine's Top Pop Albums chart. The song "Right from the Heart" did reach number 38 during its two weeks on the magazine's list of the 40 Hot Adult Contemporary songs of the week in the US in May that year. [5]

Ryan's Hope cameos

In 1985, Mathis guest starred on the daytime drama Ryan's Hope in the April 9 and May 1 episodes, [6] the latter of which included a performance of the song "Right from the Heart". [7] In the plot of the show, Dave Greenberg (Scott Holmes) has written the song, and Katie Ryan Thompson (Julia Campbell) "takes the song to Mathis in the hope he'll record it". [4] Mathis lip syncs to his recording of the song as he pretends to be recording the song in a recording studio while the characters look on from the control room. [8]

Reception

People magazine gave the album a mixed review, noting the up-tempo songs, "such as "Touch by Touch", on which Mathis forces it a little". [9] Lamenting the lack of duets, the reviewer wrote that "he has had such success doing them", [9] and this is his first studio album since 1977 that has not included one. The reviewer does praise the title track as "vintage Mathis" [9] and asserts that "there's still nobody better when it comes to creating a warm, relaxed, mellow mood". [9]

Track listing

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

1. "Touch by Touch" (Brent Mason, Keith Stegall) – 4:21
2. "Love Shock" (Michel Colombier, Denny Diante, Kathy Wakefield) – 4:19
3. "Just One Touch" (Robbie Buchanan, Diane Warren) – 4:02
  • Robbie Buchanan – keyboards and synthesizers
  • Paul Jackson, Jr. – guitar
  • Edie Lehmann – background vocals
4. "Hooked on Goodbye" (Colombier, Diante, Wakefield) – 4:02
5. "I Need You (The Journey)" (Colombier, Wakefield) – 5:09
6. "Step by Step" (Brian Fairweather, Wakefield) – 4:34
  • Robbie Buchanan – synthesizers; synthesizer programming
  • Paulinho da Costa – percussion
  • Brian Fairweather – lead guitar, synthesizers, background vocals
  • Dann Huff – guitar
7. "Right from the Heart" from Ryan's Hope (Earl Rose, Wakefield) – 4:25
8. "Falling in Love" (Douglas Getschal, John Robinson) – 4:28
9. "Here We Go Again" (Dave DeLuca, Marvin Morrow) – 4:04
10. "Hold On" (Colombier, Diante, Wakefield) – 4:31
  • Wayne Anthony – harmony vocals
  • Seline Armbeck – background singer
  • Teri Armbeck – background singer
  • Ron Bergan – background singer
  • Buster Brafford – background singer
  • Toni Brafford – background singer
  • Darrell Brown – background singer
  • Robbie Buchanan – synthesizers; synthesizer programming
  • Jeff Clarke – background singer
  • Judy Clarke – background singer
  • Tammy Clarke – background singer
  • Michel Colombier – Fender Rhodes
  • Paulinho da Costa – percussion
  • Jim Ganduglia – background singer
  • Dann Huff – guitar
  • Phillip Ingram – background singer
  • Paul Jackson, Jr. – guitar

Recording dates

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

Personnel

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

Related Research Articles

<i>Other Roads</i> 1988 studio album by Boz Scaggs

Other Roads is the tenth studio album by Boz Scaggs released in 1988. After an eight-year hiatus from recording, Scaggs returned in 1988 with this album, a record aimed primarily at the adult contemporary market.

<i>Surface Thrills</i> 1983 studio album by The Temptations

Surface Thrills is the first of two 1983 albums released by the American R&B vocal group, the Temptations, on Motown Records' Gordy label.

<i>Chemistry</i> (Johnny Gill album) 1985 studio album by Johnny Gill

Chemistry is the second solo album by singer Johnny Gill. It was released on April 22, 1985.

<i>El DeBarge</i> (album) 1986 studio album by El DeBarge

El DeBarge is the debut album by El DeBarge. It was released in 1986 on Gordy Records and featured the three hit singles, "Who's Johnny," which peaked at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100, "Love Always," which reached #43, and "Someone," which was a Top 20 Billboard A/C hit and made it to #70 on the Hot 100. Singer/actress Vanity featured on backing vocals on the track, "Secrets Of The Night". This album was certified by RIAA as gold in September, 1986, selling over 500,000 copies.

<i>Russell Hitchcock</i> (album) 1988 studio album by Russell Hitchcock

Russell Hitchcock is the self-titled debut solo album by Russell Hitchcock, best known as the lead singer of Air Supply, released in 1988. The album did not reach the charts, though singles "Someone Who Believes in You", "I Can't Believe My Eyes" and the covers "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore", "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted" and "Where Did the Feeling Go?" had minor recognition.

<i>Emotion</i> (Barbra Streisand album) 1984 studio album by Barbra Streisand

Emotion is the twenty-third studio album of pop singer Barbra Streisand, issued in October 1984 by Columbia Records four years after the release of Guilty, which has since become her highest selling studio album worldwide. The album was promoted with the release of three singles, but none of them entered the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100. The album has been certified Platinum in the US by the RIAA and Gold in the UK by the BPI.

<i>One Heartbeat</i> 1987 studio album by Smokey Robinson

One Heartbeat is a million-selling 1987 album by R&B singer/songwriter Smokey Robinson. It hit number 26 on the US Billboard Album Chart and number 1 on the US Billboard R&B album chart.

<i>Finder of Lost Loves</i> (album) 1985 studio album by Dionne Warwick

Finder of Lost Loves is a studio album by American singer Dionne Warwick. It was released by Arista Records on January 24, 1985 in the United States. Warwick worked with Richard Landis, Barry Manilow, and Stevie Wonder on the majority of the album, though she also reunited with Burt Bacharach for the first time in over a decade. The album includes a cover of the Bee Gees song "Run to Me" performed as a duet with Manilow as well as two duets with Wonder, which had previously been released on Wonder's soundtrack album to The Woman in Red. Finder of Lost Loves peaked at number 106 on the US Billboard 200 chart.

<i>Greatest Hits: Songs from an Aging Sex Bomb</i> 1993 greatest hits album by K. T. Oslin

Greatest Hits: Songs from an Aging Sex Bomb is a compilation album by American country music artist K. T. Oslin, released by RCA Records in 1993. "A New Way Home", a re-recording of a track from her Love in a Small Town album, and "Feeding a Hungry Heart" were the only singles released from the project. The album also includes a re-recording of Oslin's 1988 hit "Hold Me". The album reached number 31 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart.

<i>Till I Loved You</i> (album) 1988 studio album by Barbra Streisand

Till I Loved You is the twenty-fifth studio album by American singer Barbra Streisand, released on October 25, 1988, on Columbia Records. The album was particularly notable both for its thematic structure and its high-budget production, as many guest writers, producers and musicians participated during its making – Burt Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sager offered three brand new songs to the album, Quincy Jones produced "The Places You Find Love" and Luther Vandross and Dionne Warwick among others added backing vocals to the track. Also, the title track was a duet between Streisand and her then-boyfriend, actor Don Johnson. According to the liner notes of Streisand's retrospective box set: Just for the Record, the album also received a record certification in the Netherlands and in New Zealand.

<i>Two Eyes</i> 1983 studio album by Brenda Russell

Two Eyes is the third studio album by the American singer/songwriter Brenda Russell, released in 1983 on Warner Bros. Records. The album got to No. 16 on the Blues & Soul Top British Soul Albums chart.

<i>Reservations for Two</i> 1987 studio album by Dionne Warwick

Reservations for Two is a studio album by the American singer Dionne Warwick. It was recorded during the spring of 1987 and released on July 30 of that year. Her eighth album for Arista Records, it was again executive produced by label head Clive Davis. Warwick reteamed with Barry Manilow and the duo Burt Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sager to work on the album, while Kashif, Jerry Knight, Howard Hewett and Smokey Robinson also contributed to the tracks.

<i>20/20</i> (George Benson album) 1985 studio album by George Benson

20/20 is the 22nd studio album by George Benson, released on the Warner Bros. record label in 1985. The lead single by the same name reached #48 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album was certified Gold by the RIAA. "You Are the Love of My Life" is a duet with Roberta Flack; it was one of numerous songs used for Eden Capwell and Cruz Castillo on the American soap opera Santa Barbara. Also included on 20/20 is the original version of the song "Nothing's Gonna Change My Love for You" which would later become a smash hit for Hawaiian singer Glenn Medeiros.

<i>Primitive</i> (Neil Diamond album) 1984 studio album by Neil Diamond

Primitive is the sixteenth studio album by Neil Diamond. It was released in 1984 on Columbia Records. Its singles "Turn Around", "Sleep With Me Tonight", and "You Make It Feel Like Christmas" reached numbers 4, 24, and 28, respectively on the Billboard Adult Contemporary singles chart, while "Turn Around" also reached number 62 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The album was certified gold by the RIAA on October 5, 1984.

<i>A Special Part of Me</i> 1984 studio album by Johnny Mathis

A Special Part of Me is an album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released on January 22, 1984, by Columbia Records and reunited him with his "Too Much, Too Little, Too Late" partner Deniece Williams on one of the LP's two duets, "Love Won't Let Me Wait", which is also the only song on the album that was previously recorded and released by another artist. This continuing trend away from the cover album genre would reach its limit with his next studio release, Right from the Heart, which only had original material.

<i>Mathis on Broadway</i> 2000 studio album by Johnny Mathis

Mathis on Broadway is an album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released on April 25, 2000, by Columbia Records and focuses upon songs included in musicals from the previous two decades.

<i>Imagination</i> (Helen Reddy album) 1983 studio album by Helen Reddy

Imagination is the fourteenth studio album by Australian-American pop singer Helen Reddy and was released in February 1983 as her second LP for MCA Records. As with the first of the two, 1981's Play Me Out, it did not reach Billboard magazine's Top LP's & Tapes chart. MCA ended their contract with her afterward; in her 2006 autobiography, The Woman I Am: A Memoir, Reddy wrote, "I was not surprised when I received a form letter from [MCA]'s legal department telling me that I'd been dropped from the label."

<i>Smoke Signals</i> (Smokey Robinson album) 1986 studio album by Smokey Robinson

Smoke Signals is a studio album by the American singer Smokey Robinson, released in 1986 by Motown. "Be Kind to the Growing Mind", featuring the Temptations, encourages songwriters to avoid distasteful lyrics. "Hold On to Your Love" was written with Stevie Wonder. Robinson supported the album with a North American tour.

<i>Mathematics</i> (album) 1985 studio album by Melissa Manchester

Mathematics is the twelfth studio album by singer-songwriter Melissa Manchester, issued in April 1985.

<i>Watching You, Watching Me</i> 1985 studio album by Bill Withers

Watching You, Watching Me is the eighth and final studio album from American soul singer Bill Withers, released on Columbia Records in 1985. This was Withers' first release in six years and would prove to be his final album before he retired from popular music.

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. 1 2 3 4 5 6 (1985) Right from the Heart by Johnny Mathis [album jacket]. New York: Columbia Records FC 39601.
  3. "Right from the Heart - Johnny Mathis". Allmusic. All Media Network, LLC. Retrieved 24 February 2014.
  4. 1 2 Peterson 1985 , p. B10.
  5. Whitburn 2007 , p. 179.
  6. "Johnny Mathis". IMDb. Retrieved 26 February 2014.
  7. "Rose's star is rising with Mathis record". Reading Eagle. 1986-03-30. p. B15.
  8. Ryan's Hope . Season 10. May 1, 1985. ABC.
  9. 1 2 3 4 "Picks and Pans Review: Right from the Heart". People. May 20, 1985.

Bibliography