Customer Reviews

Better Together - The Duet Album

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This fine compilation finds one of the all-time greatest romantic crooners duetting with some great Soul and Pop divas. Of course, Mr. Mathis' duets with Dionne Warwick and Deniece Williams were major hits but this is a CD that's great from beginning to end. His duets with Patti Austin ("You Brought Me Love"), Jane Olivor ("The Last time i felt Like This") and Angela Bofill ("You're A Special Part Of Me") are simply superb and should be your real reasons for buying this CD. Romantic music at its finest!

Better Together: The Duet Album is a rather strong Johnny Mathis album; and I am baffled as to why this fine album is out of print. The quality of the sound is simple excellent and the artwork is great. Johnny sings with some mighty talented ladies on this duet album; it's a must for Johnny's fans as well.

"Better Together" starts the album; and this tune features Johnny Mathis singing a wonderful, lushly arranged duet with Regina Belle. Together Johnny Mathis and Regina Belle make this a very memorable number and I love it! "Better Together" makes a strong beginning to this album. "You Brought Me Love" is simply beautiful; Johnny sings this passionately alongside Patti Austin. Patti Austin always sang so wonderfully and together with Johnny this make "You Brought Me Love" a truly awesome ballad. The musical arrangement to accompany Johnny and Patti lacks nothing--it's all THAT good.

"Too Much, Too Little, Too Late" is one of my very favorite duets on this CD; Johnny and Deniece Williams sing this perfectly and their voices enhance the natural beauty of this number. "Too Much, Too Little, Too Late is a sad song but yet the melody is so pretty you can't help but feel great anyway whenever you hear it. "It's All In The Game" has Johnny singing his heart out with Take 6; together these artists do this one up right and "It's All In The Game" is easily a major highlight of this album.

"Love Won't Let Me Wait" is a beautiful cover done by Johnny with Deniece Williams; they sing this flawlessly and the lush musical arrangement is very well done and thoughtful at once. "The Last Time I Felt Like This" comes from a movie with Alan Alda entitled Same Time, Next Year; and Johnny sings this with Jane Oliver; together they sing passionately with all their hearts and souls. Excellent!

"In The Still Of The Night" has Johnny teaming up again with Take 6; sometimes it seems like Take 6 is singing off key; this is certainly intentional but it makes this number my least favorite on this CD. Johnny, however, does his usual spectacular job.

"You're All I Need To Get By" has Johnny yet again with Deniece Williams; together they make this sound fresh and new; what a great cover of this song!

Overall, with the one exception of "In The Still Of The Night," this is certainly a very strong duets CD. Johnny Mathis fans should get this and enjoy; people who enjoy duets and classic pop vocals will also love this album.

Johnny Mathis has blended his splendid voice with some of the finest voices in show business. Along with Deniece Williams, with whom he had his only #1 hit, the pathetic "Too Much, Too Little, Too Late", he's sung with Nana Moskouri, Natalie Cole, Dionne Warwick, Gladys Knight, even Lena Horne and Lorrie Morgan, among others. Unfortunately, few of these duets made it to this CD. Three new duets were included, ones with Regina Belle, Patti Austin, and a beauty with Ms. Warwick produced by Sergio Mendes. The rest had been previously released.

Better Together could have been a whole lot better. It's not that it's an unpleasant listening experience; to the contrary. The songs that were chosen are good ones. The thing is, there are even more good ones out there that could have been included, counting the ones from before 1991 alone. A sad omission: the Mathis/Warwick duet "I Got You Where I Want You" from the 1982 Friends In Love album, a delightful song. (Interestingly, both Mathis and Warwick both have an album with this same name, released the same year, and featuring this song and the title cut, which is included on Better Together.) Two Strong Hearts, another Mathis/Warwick gem from Mathis' Once in a While album, also deserves to be here. Another overlooked beauty, the slightly risqué "Different Kinda Different" featuring Mathis and the mysterious "Paulette" from the album of the same name. I could list several more, but won't. There are more than enough good duets and there was room for all of them. It's as if whoever is in charge of the ultimate content of recordings such as this one didn't trust the strength and beauty of the songs or the singers for this one, and that's unfortunate. Maybe Better Together part II will fill in the blanks. END

With the recent release of Tony Bennett's duets album, I was reminded of an album in my collection that I had not reviewed: "Better Together: The Duet Album" from 1991. At the time of the album's release, Johnny Mathis had been a musical legend for almost four decades.

During the late fifties and early sixties, Mathis had been one of the most dominant singers in popular music. He is still a major draw on the concert stage domestically, especially in Vegas and Atlantic City, as well as international venues.

"The Duet Album" finds Mathis paired with female singers, for the most part, that perfectly compliment his unique voice, most notably Dionne Warwick and Deniece Williams, both featured on two songs, respectively. Mathis and Williams scored a number one hit with "Too Much, Too Little, Too Late," featured on this album.

However, it's the pairing of Mathis and a cappella MALE virtuosos, Take 6, ("It's All in the Game" and "In the Still of the Night") that is the album's best. Mathis may have had an earlier success with an album entitled "Heavenly" but it is his soothing vocals, backed by the all-encompassing sound of the sextet, that is truly sent from above.

Observation: Mathis celebrated his seventy-first birthday on September 30th.

Anything by Johnny Mathis is great, but he teamed up with some great singers and this album was tops. The only problem - too short. I love it and play it often.

Great music from a great singer. Listen frequently. Really nice if you like Johnny Mathis