The Complete Global Albums Collection

Last updated
The Complete Global Albums Collection
Mathis-Albums.jpg
Box set by
ReleasedNovember 17, 2014 [1]
Recorded1963–1966
Genre
Length8:04:29
Label Sony Music Entertainment
Legacy Recordings
Johnny Mathis chronology
The Classic Christmas Album
(2014)
The Complete Global Albums Collection
(2014)
The Singles
(2015)

The Complete Global Albums Collection is a 13-disc box set by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released in 2014 by Legacy Recordings. It includes the 11 studio albums recorded by Mathis's own production company, Global Records, and originally distributed by Mercury Records between 1963 and 1966, as well as 31 additional tracks, 16 of which were being made available for the first time.

A box set or boxed set is a set of items traditionally packaged in a box and is offered for sale as a single unit.

Johnny Mathis American singer

John Royce Mathis is an American singer-songwriter of popular music. Starting his career with singles of standard music, he became highly popular as an album artist, with several dozen of his albums achieving gold or platinum status and 73 making the Billboard charts to date. According to Guinness Music Chart historian Paul Gambaccini, Mathis has sold well over 360 million records worldwide, making him the third biggest selling artist of the 20th century. Mathis has received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and has been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame for three separate recordings.

Legacy Recordings US record label; imprint of Sony Music Entertainment

Legacy Recordings is an American record label that is a division of Sony Music. Formed in 1990 after Sony's acquisition of CBS Records, Legacy originally handled the archives of Sony Music-owned labels Columbia Records and Epic Records. In 2004, under the Sony BMG joint venture, the label began to manage the archives of RCA Records, J Records, Windham Hill Records, Arista, LaFace, Jive, and Buddah Records. Legacy Recordings now also handles Philadelphia International Records and the catalog of recordings produced by Phil Spector.

Contents

History

In 1963 Mathis left his original label, Columbia Records, for Mercury due to three factors: more money, "plus total control over his recording activities, and the added perk of owning his own masters." [2] The time of this transition was already a busy one: "During that same time I was working non-stop at different nightclubs around Manhattan... sometimes four or five performances a night at the Copacabana, The Blue Angel, Basin Street East. I was doing all this singing at night and then signed to record in the daytime. So a lot of the work I did at Mercury was done under a lot of duress." [2]

Columbia Records American record label; currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment

Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. It was founded in 1887, evolving from the American Graphophone Company, the successor to the Volta Graphophone Company. Columbia is the oldest surviving brand name in the recorded sound business, and the second major company to produce records. From 1961 to 1990, Columbia recordings were released outside North America under the name CBS Records to avoid confusion with EMI's Columbia Graphophone Company. Columbia is one of Sony Music's four flagship record labels, alongside former longtime rival RCA Records, as well as Arista Records and Epic Records.

Copacabana (nightclub) nightclub in New York City

The Copacabana is a New York City nightclub. Many entertainers, such as Danny Thomas, Pat Cooper and the comedy team of Martin and Lewis, made their New York debuts at the Copacabana. The Barry Manilow song "Copacabana" (1978) is named after the club.

Basin Street East was a notable nightclub of the 1960s in New York City. Several live albums were recorded there, including Peggy Lee's Basin Street East Proudly Presents Miss Peggy Lee (1961), and Billy Eckstine's At Basin St. East (1961).

Because Mathis was used to the mentors he'd always had while recording at Columbia, his new position of power was a bit of a shock. "Now, all of a sudden, I was in charge of my own decisions in the studio, and I didn't have someone to guide me on what I was doing, right or wrong." [3] Although Don Costa was at the helm of his first Mercury LP, Sounds of Christmas , Mathis took on the role of producer for the next several albums. "But I wasn't a producer, and I didn't really realize until then how important producers were and how much they assisted me in my work." [3] After his Mercury contract expired and he returned to Columbia (bringing the Global material with him), Mathis had a much clearer sense of what he had been missing during his time away. "I needed someone to listen and suggest alternatives as far as my note selections were concerned... a producer who listens to you and says, 'I like what you're doing, but I hate that last note you made. Don't do that... do this.'" [4] For the 48 years between his last recording session for Mercury and the release of this box set, he has stayed with Columbia.

Don Costa American recording artist, conductor, record producer, music arranger, jazz guitarist

Dominick P. "Don" Costa was an American conductor and record producer. He discovered singer Paul Anka and worked on several hit albums by Frank Sinatra, including Sinatra and Strings and My Way.

<i>Sounds of Christmas</i> 1963 studio album by Johnny Mathis

Sounds of Christmas is the second holiday-themed album by vocalist Johnny Mathis and the first of his 11 studio projects for Mercury Records. His first yuletide effort, 1958's Merry Christmas, relied heavily on popular holiday carols and standards, but this 1963 release also included two new songs as well as covers of some lesser-known recordings by Andy Williams and Bing Crosby.

Album listing

The first 11 of the 13 discs each contain one of the Global/Mercury albums:

<i>Tender Is the Night</i> (Johnny Mathis album) 1964 studio album by Johnny Mathis

Tender Is the Night is an album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released by Mercury Records on January 23, 1964 and included selections from stage and screen as well as two new songs from "Fly Me to the Moon" composer Bart Howard.

<i>The Wonderful World of Make Believe</i> 1964 studio album by Johnny Mathis

The Wonderful World of Make Believe is an album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released by Mercury Records on July 10, 1964, and described by Greg Adams of Allmusic, who wrote, "The theme is fantasy, from imaginary locations to fanciful yearnings to vague, idealized realms ."

<i>This Is Love</i> (Johnny Mathis album) 1964 studio album by Johnny Mathis

This Is Love is an album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released by Mercury Records on September 18, 1964, and included three covers of Nat King Cole recordings as well as two more songs from "Fly Me to the Moon" composer Bart Howard.

The disc for The Sweetheart Tree includes three bonus tracks that were part of the recording sessions for the album but only included on the UK version, which was titled Away from Home:

  1. "Try a Little Tenderness" (Jimmy Campbell, Reg Connelly, Harry M. Woods) – 3:25
    • Alyn Aynsworth – arranger, conductor
    • recorded on May 8, 1965
  2. "If Love Were All" (Noël Coward) – 3:51
    • Tony Osborne – arranger, conductor
    • recorded on May 6, 1965
  3. "If I Had You" (Jimmy Campbell, Reg Connelly, Ted Shapiro) – 3:23
    • Alyn Aynsworth – arranger, conductor
    • recorded on May 8, 1965

The two remaining CDs contain songs that were originally distributed in the 7-inch vinyl format or were not commercially available before.

Singles and Unreleased, Vol. One

Track listing

  1. "Bye Bye Barbara" (Jack Segal, Paul Vance) – 2:38
  2. "No More" (Dottie Wayne, Ben Weisman) – 2:48
  3. "The Fall of Love" (Dimitri Tiomkin, Paul Francis Webster) – 3:00
  4. "Funny Little Girl" [A] (Charles Mound) – 3:16
  5. "A Great Night for Crying" (Dottie Wayne, Ben Weisman) – 2:48
  6. "The Taste of Tears" (Teddy Bart, Paul Wyatt) – 2:46
  7. "White Roses from a Blue Valentine" (Jerry Gladstone, Lew Spence) – 2:50
  8. "All I Wanted" [A] [B] (Morton Goode, Ralph Siegel, Gerhard Winkler) – 2:04
  9. "Listen Lonely Girl" [B] (Richard Ahlert, James Lyons, Robert William Scott) – 2:31
  10. "While Stephanie Sleeps" [A] (Ron Pataky, Alvin Waslohn) – 3:09
  11. "That Awkward Age" [A] (Jon Hendricks) – 2:56
  12. "Two Tickets and a Candy Heart" [B] (Leon Carr, Paul Vance) – 2:12
  13. "Reserved for Lovers" [A] [B] (unknown) – 2:56
  14. "Unbelievable" [A] (Charles Singleton) – 2:52
  15. "Keep It Simple" [A] (Lee Pockriss, Paul Vance) – 1:54

Personnel [3]

Claus Ogerman German composer

Claus Ogerman was a German arranger, conductor, and composer best known for his work with Billie Holiday, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Frank Sinatra, and Diana Krall.

Quincy Jones American record producer, conductor, arranger, composer, television producer, and trumpeter

Quincy Delight Jones Jr. is an American record producer, multi-instrumentalist, singer, composer, arranger, and film and television producer. His career spans over 60 years in the entertainment industry with a record 80 Grammy Award nominations, 28 Grammys, and a Grammy Legend Award in 1992.

Salvatore "Torrie" Zito was an American pianist, music arranger, composer and conductor.

Recording dates [3]

Singles and Unreleased, Vol. Two

Track listing

  1. "Blowin' in the Wind" [A] (Bob Dylan) – 3:48
  2. "Lover" [A] (Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers) – 3:44
  3. "But Beautiful" [A] (Johnny Burke, Jimmy Van Heusen) – 3:57
  4. "Shall We Dance" [A] (Oscar Hammerstein II, Richard Rodgers) - 3:07
  5. "Some People" [A] (Stephen Sondheim, Jule Styne) – 2:07
  6. "Take the Time" (Robert Allen) – 2:52
  7. "The Slender Thread" [A] (Quincy Jones, Bob Russell) – 2:31
  8. "Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing" (Sammy Fain, Paul Francis Webster) – 3:44
  9. "The Glass Mountain" (Ray Evans, Percy Faith, Jay Livingston) – 2:59
  10. "After the Storm" (Tom Garlock, Alan Jeffreys) – 2:40
  11. "Portrait of My Love" [A] (Cyril Ornadel, David West) – 3:27
  12. "Bluesette" [A] (Norman Gimbel, Toots Thielemans) – 3:21
  13. "The Jimmy Brown Song (The Three Bells)" [A] (rehearsal track) (Bert Reisfeld, Jean Villard) – 4:40

Personnel [3]

The credits provided for this disc in the booklet are complete as shown here. Tracks 2, 3, 4, 5, and 9 have no personnel listed in the box set packaging.

Recording dates [3]

The CD booklet indicates that the recording dates for tracks 2, 3, and 4 are unknown.

Missing tracks

Six tracks issued on the Mercury Records label are not included here:

  1. "Come Back" Issued on 7" single Mercury 72184. Issued as an A-side in 1963.
  2. "Your Teenage Dreams" Issued on 7" single Mercury 72184. Issued as a B-side in 1963.
  3. "Dianacita" Issued on Mercury 72432. Issued as a B-side in 1965.

Three of these tracks were recorded with The Young Americans for the 1965 album The Young Americans Presented By Johnny Mathis:

  1. "What’s New At The Zoo"
  2. "Clap Yo' Hands"
  3. "Chim Chim Cheree"

Personnel

Box set [3]

Related Research Articles

<i>Johnny</i> (Johnny Mathis album) 1963 studio album by Johnny Mathis

Johnny is an album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released on July 15, 1963, by Columbia Records and later described on Allmusic as "a nice blend of standards, show tunes and then-new compositions."

<i>Romantically</i> 1963 studio album by Johnny Mathis

Romantically is an album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released on November 18, 1963, by Columbia Records and was also the final original studio album recorded by Mathis for the label prior to his moving to Mercury Records. Mathis had recorded exclusively for Columbia from 1956 to 1963. After a brief stint with Mercury, he returned to Columbia in 1967. His first Mercury project, Sounds of Christmas, was actually released six weeks before this one, on October 4.

<i>Olé</i> (Johnny Mathis album) 1964 studio album by Johnny Mathis

Olé is a Latin American album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released by Mercury Records in November 1964 and includes Spanish-language versions of English-language chart hits by Frank Sinatra ("Granada") and Sarah Vaughan ("Serenata") as well as the signature song of the I Love Lucy character Ricky Ricardo that was played by Desi Arnaz ("Babalu").

<i>Love Is Everything</i> (Johnny Mathis album) 1965 studio album by Johnny Mathis

Love Is Everything is an album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released by Mercury Records on March 5, 1965, and included covers of hit songs from the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s and 1960s as well as new songs from the composers of "Fly Me to the Moon", "What Will Mary Say", and "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year".

<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>So Nice</i> (Johnny Mathis album) 1966 studio album by Johnny Mathis

So Nice is an album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis released through Mercury Records on September 16, 1966. The singer included a trio of musical numbers from Man of La Mancha in this set as well as songs from Funny Girl, Kismet, and On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, shows that he had recognized on previous releases. Mathis also covers recent imports from France and Brazil and offers a rendition of a 1944 hit record as part of the mix.

<i>Johnny Mathis Sings</i> 1967 studio album by Johnny Mathis

Johnny Mathis Sings is an album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released by Mercury Records on March 10, 1967 and was the last of his 11 studio projects for the label. Eight of the twelve tracks were recorded since the completion of his previous LP, So Nice, while four of the tracks were leftovers from the recording sessions for previous Mercury albums. The finished product included a number from Broadway's The Roar of the Greasepaint—the Smell of the Crowd, a cover of the Beatles hit "Eleanor Rigby", two offerings from songwriters Burt Bacharach and Hal David, and three cuts that originated in film scores but had lyrics added later: the melody for "Strangers in the Night" was written for A Man Could Get Killed; "Somewhere My Love" began as "Lara's Theme" from Doctor Zhivago; and "Lovers in New York" started out as the instrumental title track from Breakfast at Tiffany's.

<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>The First 25 Years – The Silver Anniversary Album</i> 1981 compilation album by Johnny Mathis

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.

<i>Friends in Love</i> (Johnny Mathis album) 1982 studio album by Johnny Mathis

Friends in Love is an album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released on April 5, 1982, by Columbia Records and included six original songs, two of which were duets with Dionne Warwick.

<i>The Christmas Music of Johnny Mathis: A Personal Collection</i> 1993 compilation album by Johnny Mathis

The Christmas Music of Johnny Mathis: A Personal Collection is a compilation album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released in October 1993 by Columbia Records and included selections from the four Christmas albums that he had recorded to date: Merry Christmas, Sounds of Christmas, Give Me Your Love for Christmas, and Christmas Eve with Johnny Mathis.

<i>Gold: A 50th Anniversary Christmas Celebration</i> 2006 compilation album by Johnny Mathis

Gold: A 50th Anniversary Christmas Celebration is a compilation album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released on September 19, 2006, by Columbia Records and Legacy Recordings. It includes selections from four of the first five Christmas albums that he had recorded: Merry Christmas, Sounds of Christmas, Christmas Eve with Johnny Mathis, and The Christmas Album. Two tracks that were recorded with other artists are also included: "O Tannenbaum", which comes from Mannheim Steamroller's 2001 album Christmas Extraordinaire, and a medley duet of "Winter Wonderland" and "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!" with Bette Midler from her 2006 holiday album Cool Yule.

<i>Broadway</i> (album) 2012 studio album by Johnny Mathis

Broadway is an album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was recorded in 1964 but not released by his then record label Mercury Records. The project first became commercially available on August 28, 2012, when Sony Music Entertainment released it as one of two albums on one compact disc, the other album being his 1965 LP Love Is Everything. Broadway was also included in Sony's Mathis box set The Complete Global Albums Collection, which was released on November 17, 2014.

Johnny Mathis discography discography

Johnny Mathis has recorded 73 studio albums, 18 of which achieved sales of 500,000 units and were awarded Gold certification by the Recording Industry Association of America. Five of his greatest hits albums also accomplished this, and of these 18 Gold albums, six eventually went Platinum by reaching sales of one million copies. In 1999, sales figures totaled five million for his first holiday LP, Merry Christmas, and three million for Johnny's Greatest Hits, a 1958 collection that has been described as the "original greatest-hits package" and once held the record for most weeks on Billboard magazine's album chart with a total of 490. His second longest album chart run was the 295 weeks belonging to his Platinum 1959 album Heavenly, which gave him five weeks in the top spot. In a ranking of the top album artists of the last half of the 1950s in terms of Billboard chart performance, he comes in at number two, for the 1960s, number 10, and for the period from 1955 to 2009 he is at number six.

References

  1. 1 2 "The Complete Global Albums Collection - Johnny Mathis". allmusic.com. All Media Network, LLC. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  2. 1 2 (2012) Tender Is the Night/The Wonderful World of Make Believe by Johnny Mathis [CD booklet]. New York: Sony Music Entertainment RGM-0083.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 (2014) The Complete Global Albums Collection by Johnny Mathis [CD booklet]. New York: Sony Music Entertainment 88843091432.
  4. (2012) So Nice/Johnny Mathis Sings by Johnny Mathis [CD booklet]. New York: Sony Music Entertainment RGM-0108.