Andy Williams Sings Steve Allen

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Andy Williams Sings Steve Allen
File:Williams-Allen.jpg
Studio album by Andy Williams
Released 1956[1]
Recorded September 21, 1956
October 3, 1956
October 4, 1956[2]
Genre Traditional pop,
Vocal pop[3]
Length 29:03
Label Cadence Records
Andy Williams chronology
Andy Williams Sings Steve Allen
(1956)		 Andy Williams
(1958)Andy Williams1958
Alternate cover
1960 reissue
1960 reissue
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic 3/5 stars[3]
Billboard Recommended[1]

Andy Williams Sings Steve Allen is an album by American pop singer Andy Williams that was released late in 1956 by Cadence Records.[1] This was his first LP and features songs written or co-written by then-Tonight Show host Steve Allen.[4] The review of the album in the December 22 issue of The Billboard that year reads, "Cover shows only a photo of the singer with no copy and it might have been a better bet to identify the personality."[1] The cover of the 1960 reissue of the album attempts to rectify this situation with the title presented in two lines of large capital letters that sandwich a headshot of Williams this time instead of the seated pose of the original.[5]

The album was released 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 Cadence release from the spring of 1959, Two Time Winners.[6] 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.[7] It was also released as one of two albums on one CD by Ace Records on January 8, 2008, paired this time with a 1958 Cadence compilation entitled Andy Williams.[8]

Reception

Allmusic's William Ruhlmann had praise for the album's contributors: "Allen wrote in a sophisticated pop-jazz style, and conductor Alvy West gave the songs appropriately smoky, late-night settings heavy on tinkling pianos and bluesy horn parts, with some restrained strings."[3] Of the singer, he wrote, "This was yet another opportunity for Williams to show off his diversity, and though he couldn't ever be called a jazz singer, he sounded typically comfortable putting across the songs' slyly romantic lyrics in the melodies' minor keys. The result was a fine mood album and a good addition to his quickly growing album catalog."[3]

Track listing

All songs written by Steve Allen except as noted:

Side one

  1. "Tonight" - 2:50
  2. "Meet Me Where They Play the Blues" (Allen, Sammy Gallop) - 2:18
  3. "Stay Just a Little While" (Allen, Eula Parker) - 2:43
  4. "Playing the Field" - 2:28
  5. "Impossible" - 2:51
  6. "Young Love" - 2:38

Side two

  1. "Picnic" (Allen, George Duning) - 2:33
  2. "An Old Piano Plays the Blues" (Allen, Don George) - 2:46
  3. "Spring in Maine" (Allen, Carolyn Leigh) - 2:50
  4. "All the Way Home" (Allen, Buddy Kaye) - 2:40
  5. "Lonely Love" (Allen, Fred Sadoff) - 3:07
  6. "Forbidden Love" - 2:05

Song information

Some of the songs on this album had previously been covered by other artists. Jack Teagarden had already recorded "Meet Me Where They Play the Blues".[9] Nat King Cole did his rendition of "Impossible" in the late 1940s.[10] And The McGuire Sisters included "Picnic" on their 1956 album Dottie, Phyllis, Chris.[11]

Personnel

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ (1956) Andy Williams Sings Steve Allen by Andy Williams [album jacket]. New York: Cadence Records CLP 1018.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ (2002) Album notes for Sings Steve Allen/Two Time Winners by Andy Williams, [CD booklet]. Narberth, PA: Collectables Records.
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