This Is Love (Johnny Mathis album)
| This Is Love | ||||
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| File:Johnny-Mathis-This-Is-Love---2-475447.jpg | ||||
| Studio album by Johnny Mathis | ||||
| Released | 1964 | |||
| Genre | Pop | |||
| Length | 42:57 | |||
| Label | Mercury | |||
| Producer | Johnny Mathis | |||
| Johnny Mathis chronology | ||||
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This Is Love (1964) is the 20th original studio album released by singer Johnny Mathis. It is his fourth album released on Mercury Records.
Contents
Overview
Very much in the mould of his earlier work for Columbia Records, This Is Love is once again a collection of lushly orchestrated ballads. The songs include selections from contemporary Broadway shows and films, standards, a cabaret classic and two further original songs by Bart Howard. The album was recorded under the musical direction of Allyn Ferguson.
In 1974, eight songs from this album were reissued and included on Mathis' Columbia Records album, What'll I Do. The album's title song was from 1957's Warm, and was released to capitalise on the fact that the Irving Berlin classic received a revival that year as part of the score of the film The Great Gatsby.
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| Allmusic | link |
Track listing
- "Put On a Happy Face" (Charles Strouse, Lee Adams) - 3:15
- "Poinciana (Song of the Tree)" (Buddy Bernier, Nat Simon) - 4:07
- "The Touch of Your Lips" (Ray Noble) - 3:28
- "Just Move Along, Meadow Lark" (Eddie Snyder, Paul Vance) - 2:43
- "Under a Blanket of Blue" (Jerry Livingston, Al J. Neiburg, Marty Symes) - 3:45
- "Over the Weekend" (John Benson Brooks, Joseph McCarthy) - 3:52
- "More (From Mondo Cane)" (Norman Newell, Nino Oliviero, Riz Ortolani) - 2:56
- "You Love Me (From Tovarich)" (Anne Crosswell, Lee Pockriss) - 3:47
- "Limehouse Blues" (Philip Braham, Douglas Ferber) - 4:23
- "What Do You Feel in Your Heart" (Bart Howard) - 3:12
- "The End of a Love Affair" (Edward Redding) - 3:32
- "Fantastic" (Bart Howard) - 3:57
Billboard Album Chart
This was Mathis' 25th consecutive charting album peaking at #40 on the Billboard album chart in its original release.[1]
Highlights
As with most Mathis albums of the period, Broadway musicals provide the inspiration for some of the selections here. From the 1960 musical "Bye Bye Birdie" comes "Put On a Happy Face" presented as a ballad by him as opposed to its usually uptempo treatment. "Tovarich" was a 1963 musical that starred Vivien Leigh. From its score comes "You Love Me". Film music was ever present on a Mathis album from this period. For this album he recorded his version of "More" the theme from the 1963 Italian film "Mondo Cane", a song recorded by many artists of the period.
Dipping once more into the repertoire of Nat King Cole, Mathis recorded versions of "Poinciana", "The Touch of Your Lips" and "The End of a Love Affair" paying a fitting homage to his musical hero while remaining musically true to himself. From the cabaret scene, Mathis includes "Over the Weekend" a song he learned from chanteuse Mabel Mercer. The standards included on this album are "Under a Blanket of Blue", a song recorded by everyone from Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald as a duet, through to solo versions by Frank Sinatra and Doris Day, and the exotic "Limehouse Blues" which is given a dramatic reading by Mathis. Once again, Bart Howard provided two original songs, "Fantastic" and "What Do You Feel in Your Heart".
