Love Songs [Columbia/Legacy]

Performer: Johnny Mathis
Distributor: Sony Music Distribution (

Notes: Producers include: Ernie Altschuler, L. Russell Brown, Snuff Garrett, Jack Gold, Al Ham. Compilatin producers: Didier C. Deutsch. Recorded between 1957 & 1993. All tracks have been digitally remastered. Personnel: Al Caiola, Tony Mottola (guitar). Audio Mixer: Darcy Proper. Photographer: Sam Emerson. Arrangers: Cyril Ornadel; Don Costa; Ernie Freeman Combo; Gene Page; Glenn Osser; Henry Mancini; Michel Legrand. Yes, Love Songs is a compilation targeted toward the Valentine's Day market. And how many Johnny Mathis albums, really, could not be said to consist primarily of "love songs"? But actually, this is a little more interesting than it could have been, since it's not just a collection of some hits and favorites with rearranged sequencing. Only one of these 16 tracks, "The Twelfth of Never," was a hit, and the rest of them are songs associated with films and Broadway musicals, like "My Funny Valentine," "Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing," "She Loves Me," "A Man and a Woman," "Where Do I Begin," and "All the Things You Are." Spanning 1957-1993 (though all but two tracks predate the 1980s), it's characteristically lush orchestrated crooning. But it might make for a nice change of pace in those homes where Mathis serves as makeout music since the material isn't overly familiar. For Mathis fans, the chief treats, or the annoyances if you don't appreciate needing to buy an entire CD for a sliver of new offerings, are two unreleased 1965 tracks, the aforementioned "She Loves Me," and "Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing." The disc does stumble by including three mediocre covers of 1970s pop hits, "And I Love You So," "You Light Up My Life," and "You Are the Sunshine of My Life." ~ Richie Unterberger

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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