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Andy Williams (album)

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Andy Williams
Compilation album by
Andy Williams
Released1958
RecordedMarch 15, 1956
July 2, 1956
August 30, 1956
January 23, 1957
April 5, 1957
August 6, 1957[1]
Genre
Length29:03
LabelCadence Records
Andy Williams chronology
Andy Williams Sings Steve Allen
(1956) 		Andy Williams
(1958) 		Andy Williams Sings Rodgers and Hammerstein
(1958)
Alternate cover
Reissue cover
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[2]
Billboard[3]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music[4]

Andy Williams is a compilation album by American pop singer Andy Williams that was released early in 1958 by Cadence Records.[3] This first album to compile the singer's material features his first six songs to make the Billboard Hot 100 along with their corresponding B-sides.

In The Music Lover's Guide to Record Collecting, author Dave Thompson writes, "Of additional interest among Cadence LPs of this period was [company founder Archie] Bleyer's insistence on adding droll commentaries" to the cover design.[5] For example, the cover for the album Kenneth Patchen Reads His Poetry quotes Bleyer as saying, "' Puts muscles in your ears.'"[6] Thompson, however, adds that "the most bizarre phrase is surely that which attends Andy Williams' Andy Williams album: 'He's All Male and Catnip to Quail,' Says Archie".[5] The cover photo alongside it shows Williams standing next to a quail and a squatting figure in a lion costume with a man in the far background seated on a stool with his back to the camera.[7] A much simpler cover design featuring the artist's name and photo with a list of the album's contents was eventually released.[8]

The album was issued on compact disc for the first time as one of two albums on one CD by Collectables Records on September 12, 2000, the other album being Williams's other Cadence release from early 1958, Andy Williams Sings Rodgers and Hammerstein.[9] Collectables included this CD in a box set entitled Classic Album Collection, Vol. 1, which contains 17 of his studio albums and three compilations and was released on June 26, 2001.[10] It was also released as one of two albums on one CD by Ace Records on January 8, 2008, paired this time with his first Cadence album, Andy Williams Sings Steve Allen.[11]

Critical reception

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William Ruhlmann of Allmusic explained that this album "illustrated the challenge of breaking a new artist in the wake of the rock & roll revolution fostered by Elvis Presley, who debuted on the charts the month before Williams did. Time would prove that Williams was at his best in an easy listening ballad mode, a natural successor to Bing Crosby and Perry Como, but in 1956 and 1957 that was a hard sell for a newcomer, and Cadence Records head Archie Bleyer gave Williams a variety of material."[2] Ruhlmann also warned, "Anyone accustomed to the later Andy Williams of "Moon River" may find this album somewhat schizophrenic, but it is an accurate portrait of the successful early days of the singer's career."[2]

Track listing

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Side one

[edit]
  1. "Canadian Sunset" (Norman Gimbel, Eddie Heywood) – 2:37
    • recorded 7/2/56;[1] Top 100[A]: #8[12]
  2. "I Like Your Kind of Love" (Melvin Endsley) – 2:30
  3. "Walk Hand in Hand" (Johnny Cowell) – 2:51
  4. "Lips of Wine" (Sy Soloway, Shirley Wolfe) – 1:46
  5. "Not Anymore" (Bob Terry) – 1:59
    • rec. 3/15/56;[1] B-side of "Walk Hand in Hand"
  6. "It Doesn't Take Very Long" (Sherman Feller, Kathleen Goodrich) – 2:51

Side two

[edit]
  1. "Baby Doll" (Bernie Hanighen, Kenyon Hopkins) – 2:04
  2. "Butterfly" (Bernie Lowe, Kal Mann) – 2:21
    • rec. 1/23/57;[1] Top 100: #1 (3 weeks)[12]
  3. "High upon a Mountain" (Jill Jackson, Seymour Miller) – 2:48
    • rec. 7/2/56;[1] B-side of "Canadian Sunset"
  4. "Stop Teasin' Me" (Y. Des Louvettes (a.k.a. Kay Thompson)) – 2:30
    • rec. 4/5/57;[1] B-side of "I Like Your Kind of Love"
  5. "Since I've Found My Baby" (Jesse Stone) – 2:25
    • rec. 8/30/56;[1] B-side of "Baby Doll"
  6. "Straight from My Heart" (Kay Thompson) – 2:27
    • rec. 8/6/57;[1] B-side of "Lips of Wine"
  • A All of the tracks on this compilation were released before Billboard created its Hot 100 chart for tracking song performance.

Personnel

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n "The Cadence Era: "Canadian Sunset" brightens Andy's disk career". Billboard. 1967-11-11. p. AW-20.
  2. ^ a b c d "Andy Williams (Cadence) – Andy Williams". allmusic.com. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 13 July 2011.
  3. ^ a b "Reviews and Ratings of New Albums". Billboard. 1958-02-03. p. 39.
  4. ^ Larkin, Colin (2007). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Omnibus Press. p. 1498. ISBN 9781846098567. Retrieved 22 August 2024.
  5. ^ a b Thompson 2002, p. 152.
  6. ^ "Cadence Label Album Discography". Both Sides Now Publications. Retrieved 2 July 2011.
  7. ^ (1958) Andy Williams by Andy Williams, [album jacket]. New York: Cadence Records CLP-3002.
  8. ^ (1960) Andy Williams Sings Steve Allen (reissue) by Andy Williams, [album jacket, back cover]. New York: Cadence Records CLP-1018.
  9. ^ "Andy Williams/Andy Williams Sings Rodgers and Hammerstein – Andy Williams". allmusic.com. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 14 July 2011.
  10. ^ "Classic Album Collection, Vol. 1 – Andy Williams". allmusic.com. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 6 May 2011.
  11. ^ "Andy Williams/Andy Williams Sings Steve Allen – Andy Williams". allmusic.com. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 2 July 2011.
  12. ^ a b c d e f Whitburn 2009, p. 1059.

Bibliography

[edit]
  • Thompson, Dave (2002), The Music Lover's Guide to Record Collecting, Hal Leonard Corporation, ISBN 978-0-87930-713-4
  • Whitburn, Joel (2009), Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles, 1955–2008, Record Research Inc., ISBN 0-89820-180-2
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