Pop & Miscellaneous

Andy Williams - 16 Biggest Hits (2000)

2010-08-18T16:04:12Z

Andy Williams - 16 Biggest Hits (2000)


01. Butterfly
02. Canadian Sunset
03. I Like Your Kind of Love
04. Are You Sincere
05. Lonely Street
06. Village of St. Bernadette
07. Moon River
08. Can't Get Used to Losing You
09. Days of Wine and Roses
10. Dear Heart

11. Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars (Corcovado)
12. In the Arms of Love
13. Music to Watch Girls By
14. Theme from Love Story
15. Time for Us
16. Speak Softly Love

Andy Williams - Vocals
Robert Mersey - Arranger, Conductor, Producer 
Darcy Proper - Compilation Producer, Mastering

Determining the "16 biggest hits" of most recording artists isn't much of a challenge, but a couple of factors complicate such a task in the case of Andy Williams. For one thing, Williams scored different kinds of hits at different periods in his career. In the 1950s, he had a handful of Top Ten pop hits in styles ranging from light rock & roll to Hawaiian music. In the 1960s, he made a transition to big ballads, many of them movie themes, and as a result was among the top album and easy listening artists of the decade, though the rankings of his pop singles chart entries suffered. For another thing, some of the songs most closely associated with him are not among his biggest hits as measured by the singles charts, if they were singles at all -- the primary example being his signature song, "Moon River," featured on his breakthrough LP, Moon River & Other Great Movie Themes, but never even released as a single. Given these circumstances, the compiler of a Williams hits collection has more latitude in making his choices than he might for another artist.

Compilation producers Didier C. Deutsch and Darcy M. Proper have exercised their judgment in assembling 16 Biggest Hits. They begin with six of Williams' early pop hits, originally recorded for Cadence Records, among them the chart-topper "Butterfly." They also include two Top Ten hits recorded for Columbia, "Can't Get Used to Losing You" and the movie theme "(Where Do I Begin) Love Story." "Dear Heart," another movie theme, is also among Williams' biggest chart hits, having reached the pop Top 20 and just missing the top of the easy listening charts. Also included are "In the Arms of Love," which topped the easy listening charts, and "Music to Watch Girls By," another major easy listening hit. "Moon River" is featured, of course, as is "Days of Wine and Roses," the title song from Williams' highest charting album as well as being a Top 40 pop hit and Top Ten easy listening hit. Williams' versions of Antonio Carlos Jobim's "Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars (Corcovado)" and the theme from The Godfather, "Speak Softly Love," appear, although they were only minor chart records for Williams, and his cover of "A Time for Us," which completes the selections, was never even released as a single. Among the missing songs that properly belong in a list of Williams' biggest hits are "A Fool Never Learns," "Hopeless," and "Happy Heart" (Top 40 pop, number one easy listening). These songs are not as well-remembered as the titles that substitute for them here, at least as songs, although Williams fans may regret their omission. But more casual fans should be satisfied with the inclusion of original recordings of some of Williams' most popular songs, along with his versions of other well-known songs. ---William Ruhlmann, Rovi

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Andy Williams - Love Story (1971)

2009-10-13T11:15:39Z

Andy Williams - Love Story (1971)


1. (where Do I Begin) Love Story
2. Your Song
3. For The Good Times
4. Something
5. It S Impossible
6. We Ve Only Just Begun
7. I Think I Love You
8. Candida
9. Fire And Rain
10. Rose Garden
11. My Sweet Lord

Somewhere beneath the avalanche of accolades for Sinatra and Bennett, Andy Williams remains one of America's most underrecognized pop vocalists. In addition to the sheer beauty of his smokey high baritone, husky falsetto, power, diction, and superb control, Williams is one of the few from the old school who remained open to the changing musical scene that emerged in the 1960s. Eventually, in addition to singing the great standards, he branched out to embrace country, pop, rock, gospel, Christmas, and even disco tunes.

In the late '60s and early '70s, Williams covered many of the hits of the period. "Love Story" illustrates his ability to present these songs in ways comfortable for him, while retaining their contemporary feeling. Where other vocalists might have sounded awkward, Andy pulled it off, because he really got into the spirit of these tunes, as well as the contemporary style in which they were written.

Highlights include intimate versions of Elton John's "Your Song," George Harrison's "Something," and James Taylor's "Fire and Rain." There's a gospel-tinged reading of "My Sweet Lord." Andy even tackles unlikely teen ditties like "Candida" and "I Think I Love You" and turns them into his own. Artie Butler lends his modern horn- and guitar-dominated touches to the arrangements, as he did on charts for Mark Lindsay ("Silverbird," "Arizona") and Helen Reddy ("I Am Woman").

Although concentrating on covers during this period, Williams continued to break his own hits. As the title track proves, he never abandoned the great standards. His sweeping version of the vocally demanding theme from "Love Story" became a top ten hit in 1971 and remains one of his most requested songs. Notably, this album peaked at number three, achieving gold and platinum status in a year when the other top ten slots were occupied by the likes of Janis Joplin, Santana, Jimi Hendrix, and Chicago. ---Ben Alba, amazon.com

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Andy Williams - Moon River & Other Great Movie Themes (1962)

2010-03-06T23:01:47Z

Andy Williams - Moon River & Other Great Movie Themes (1962)


01. Love Is A Many Splendored Thing 
02. A Summer Place 
03. Maria 
04. Never On Sunday
05. As Time Goes By
06. The Exodus Song 
07. Moon River 
08. Tonight (From West Side Story) 
09. The Second Time Around 
10. Tender Is The Night 
11. It Might As Well Be Spring 
12. Three Coins In The Fountain

Moon River and Other Great Movie Themes is an album by American pop singer Andy Williams that was released in 1962 by Columbia Records. It made its first appearance on Billboard magazine's Top LP's chart in the issue dated May 12 of that year and remained on the album chart for 176 weeks (the longest chart run of any of his albums), peaking at number 3.

In his autobiography Moon River and Me: A Memoir, Williams describes how Archie Bleyer, the head of his former record label, Cadence Records, had discouraged the singer from recording the song "Moon River" in 1961, assuming that young people wouldn't understand the line "my huckleberry friend". Williams writes, "He thought it was too abstract and didn't think it would be a hit single, so he turned it down." Williams moved on shortly thereafter to Columbia Records, where the powers-that-be loved the idea of an entire album of songs from movies, and he wound up recording the rejected song on January 4, 1962. A few months later he was again offered the chance to sing "Moon River", this time at the Academy Awards on April 9 because of its nomination for Best Original Song. The April 28 issue of Billboard magazine reported that the album had "racked up orders, according to Columbia Records, of close to 40,000 within two weeks' release. Platter was rushed out by the label to coincide with Williams' performance of the Mancini tune on the Academy Awards Show a fortnight ago."

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