| Close To You | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio album by Johnny Mathis | ||||
| Released | 1970 | |||
| Genre | Pop | |||
| Label | Columbia | |||
| Producer | Jack Gold | |||
| Johnny Mathis chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| All Music Review | (?) [1] |
Close To You is the thirty-third original studio album released by singer Johnny Mathis.
Contents |
Once again combining film songs with covers of recent hits, Mathis is heard on this album under the musical direction of Ernie Freeman. As with much of his output on Columbia Records at this time, Mathis is strictly in adult contemporary mode on this album.
This album peaked at #61 on the Billboard album chart, Mathis' thirty-ninth album to place on the chart.[2] Mathis also enjoyed two hit singles from this album, with "Pieces Of Dreams" peaking at #9 and "Evil Ways" reaching #30 on the Adult Contemporary Chart.[3]
This album was released as a LP, Reel to Reel, and Casette.
The work of two songwriting teams featured on previous Mathis recordings is heard on this album. Burt Bacharach and Hal David wrote the title song back in 1963 but it was not until 1970 that it became a #1 hit when recorded by The Carpenters. Alan and Marilyn Bergman's lyrics have been interpreted many times over the years by Mathis. Here, he performs their "Pieces Of Dreams", which had been featured in the 1970 film of the same name. Songs performed by The Beatles also feature on a number of Mathis albums around this time. Here, he includes "The Long and Winding Road", which was also used as the album's name in the UK.
Where more than half of his previous album had been made up of film songs, for this set only one such song is featured. "Come Saturday Morning" was heard in the 1969 film The Sterile Cuckoo starring a young Liza Minnelli.
Popular song hits covered by Mathis on this album include "Evil Ways", a top-ten hit for Santana, "Until It's Time for You to Go" by singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie and "Everything Is Beautiful", a hit for Ray Stevens, who would in turn would find success with a cover Mathis' "Misty". Adding an international twist to the mix are "Song of Joy (Himno a la Alegria)", a #14 hit for Miguel Ríos and Antonio Carlos Jobim's song "Wave".