The Music Of Johnny Mathis: A Personal Collection [Slipcase]

Performer: Johnny Mathis
Artist: Take 6; Barbra Streisand; Dionne Warwick; Deniece Williams; Jane Olivor
Distributor: Sony Music Distribution (

Notes: This 4-CD box set contaning 86 tracks comes with a 68-page booklet featuring extensive biographical notes, track annotations by Johnny Mathis, many rare photos and 3 previously unreleased tracks. Personnel includes: Johnny Mathis, Dionne Warwick, Barbara Streisand, Take 6, Deniece Williams, Jane Olivor. The Music of Johnny Mathis: A Personal Collection is exactly that, a four-disc box set of recordings hand-picked by Johnny Mathis, with an accompanying booklet filled with biographical information and his recollections about each song. The 86 selections are arranged in chronological order from Mathis' first recording, "When Sunny Gets Blue" from 1956, through to a 1992 duet with Barbra Streisand. The set has a few previously unreleased cuts from late in Mathis' career and a number of hits, but due to the personal nature of the repertoire there is no particular focus on hits or singles; as a result very few of Mathis' '60s hits are included. Instead the program is oriented towards the standards and show tunes Mathis loves, and the booklet makes clear his appreciation for the fine lyricists and composers whose material he interpreted through the years. These melodically and lyrically sophisticated songs better demonstrate Mathis' superlative vocal abilities than many of the chart-bound pop songs the box set omits. The packaging is aggravating in that the track list on the box is alphabetical and in no way corresponds with the actual running order -- the listener must leaf through the thick booklet to find out the disc and track number for each selection. The Music of Johnny Mathis: A Personal Collection is for fans with an interest in Mathis as a person and as a singer's singer. For those who want a comprehensive anthology of Mathis' hits, no such box set has yet been assembled. ~ Greg Adams

Although Johnny Mathis got his start as a jazz singer, his velvety 1956 hit "Wonderful, Wonderful" set the course for the rest of his career as a smooth pop crooner and key supplier of make-out music. He maintained a steady career course over the following decades, and in the late '70s enjoyed a renewed popularity, scoring a few high-charting duets with Deniece Williams. One of the most popular recording artists of all time, Mathis has reputedly sold over 350 million records, and his 1958 greatest-hits collection--the first compilation of its kind--stayed on the U.S. charts for almost 10 years. Past his 50th year in show business, Mathis was still recording and performing, his special brand of silky pop balladeering never quite falling out of favor.

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