Customer Reviews

Love Songs

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4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
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Andy Williams could belt out a song and invariably make it sound like the most passionate love ballad ever written. Andy's voice was strong, full of warmth and energy in a way so very few other singers could ever match. This album gives us sixteen of Andy's interpretations of classic love songs; and there's hardly a dud in the lot!

"Love Is A Many-Splendored Thing" starts the album with a thoughtful, passionate and strong ballad that celebrates the joys of love. Andy does indeed show the operatic qualities of his voice the way others have noted. I especially enjoy Andy's bossa nova/jazzy rendition of "The Look Of Love;" this number gives Andy a chance to perform this timeless number with panache and great sensitivity. Listen also for Andy to sing the theme from Love Story with the same remarkable sensitivity; his voice conveys all the emotions of the song far better than most other crooners ever could.

"My Cherie Amour," a number made famous by the great Stevie Wonder, sports the flavor of a mid to late 1960s love song performed by a master. The strings also work well on "My Cherie Amour." Andy also does great justice to the theme from The Godfather. Awesome!

"I Can't Stop Loving You" features Andy putting his own stamp on this love song with a strong backup chorus; and the album ends very well with the love theme from Romeo and Juliet entitled "A Time For Us." Andy never once sings a single superfluous note.

We also get the songs credits; and the artwork is beautiful.

People who want every Andy Williams album out there will, of course, want this one in their collections. I believe, however, that quite a few of these recordings (more than half) exist on other albums still for sale. It's equally true that this album is geared to a more casual fan who wants the highlights of Andy's artistry without the expense of buying every single Andy Williams album.

Although some of Andy's own hits are here (Can't take my eyes off you, Can't get used to losing you, Where do I begin, Solitaire, Can't help falling in love, Butterfly, Music to watch girls by, May each day), this collection is mostly made up of his distinctive covers of other people's hits. Big UK hits conspicuous by their absence include Almost there and Home loving man - however, these and Andy's other hits are easy to find on other compilations, notably the double CD Very best of. Andy's interpretations of some popular music classics will give enormous pleasure to his legions of fans.

So here you get Andy's versions of Something stupid (Nancy and Frank Sinatra), Seasons in the sun (Terry Jacks), Strangers in the night (Frank Sinatra), Fire and rain, You've got a friend (both James Taylor), We've only just begun (Carpenters), The way we were (Barbra Streisand), The look of love (Dusty Springfield), You are the sunshine of my life (Stevie Wonder), Touch me in the morning (Diana Ross), Without you (a number one UK hit for Nilsson in the seventies and Mariah Carey in the nineties), Unchained melody (a huge hit for several artists through the years but especially the Righteous brothers), Hawaiian wedding song (a minor hit for Julie Rogers, whose big hit was The wedding), I won't last a day without you (Carpenters) and Killing me softly (Roberta Flack).,

So relax and enjoy an easy-listening collection of classic songs from the sixties and seventies, delivered as only Andy can.

A nice compilation at a nice price, but since most of Andy William's hit singles were love songs this CD comes across as an oddly programmed collection of mostly 1970s covers of other peoples' hits mixed with a few older hits of Andy's. This is not the best choice for AW samplers (it's not even the best AW 1970's compilation) and AW fans will already have most of this material elsewhere. A better bet are some of the more hit-oriented AW compilations or, better yet, the original albums available as CD two-fors.

Oddly, the track listing above only lists 13 tracks, and not in the correct order. Here are the songs on the CD:

1. Can't take my eyes off you
2. Can't get used to losing you
3. Something stupid
4. Seasons in the sun
5. Strangers in the night
6. Fire and rain
7. You've got a friend
8. We've only just begun
9. Where do I begin
10. The way we were
11. The look of love
12. You are the sunshine of my life
13. Touch me in the morning
14. Without you
15. Solitaire
16. Unchained melody
17. Can't help falling in love (the 3rd Can't song on the album! LOL)
18. The Hawaiian Wedding song
19. I Won't last a day without you
20. Music to watch girls by
21. Butterfly
22. Killing me softly
23. May each day

When I say the album is flawed, it is because it in some of these songs, Andy has a very perceptible and somewhat annoying quaver in his voice. That seemed to start in some songs he recorded from the early 80s on. Sadly some singers start to lose their breath as they age, and Andy wasn't able to avoid that fate. I almost feel guilty mentioning it, because I've been a big Andy Williams fan for almost 50 years. However, in the songs with significant quaver, it spoils the song somewhat even though otherwise Andy is on key and holding a beautiful tone. I think the soft, mellow quality of his voice unfortunately accentuates an imperfection like that. "Seasons in the Sun" and "Solitaire" are probably the most effected, but it shows up on a few tracks.

There is a very odd element in "Without You". The song sounds great, but the sound engineering in the chorus makes Andy sound like he stepped backward into an echo chamber. He really picks up his voice for the chorus in that song, and the sound engineering makes him sound a bit like a wolf howling beautiful sounding words at the moon. LOL

The good news is that most of the tracks on the CD sound just fine, from both the standpoint of the sound engineering and Andy's voice. "Butterfly" is up tempo and spot on. "You've Got a Friend" sounds like vintage Andy. "Touch Me in the Morning" is smooth and soulful. "Unchained Melody" fans won't have to worry ... it sounds great.

Upon reflection, the background orchestration seems to vary from song to song, which makes me wonder if the CD was compiled from a number of recording sessions over the course of Andy's career. That would explain why just a few songs have the vocal quality issue.

Overall, I highly recommend the CD for Andy Williams fans.

This is a nice set of songs for setting a romantic mood. I removed a couple from my set, namely "I like your Kind of Love" and "The Hawaiian Wedding Song," both of which seem cheesy today, but the others are very nice.

Nicely done compilation highlighting Mr. Williams' well known romantic songs from 1957 to 1972. And Darcy Proper did a fine job mastering these smooth songs.