Here at Second Disc HQ, the music of Johnny Mathis is, needless to say, very special to us. Johnny inaugurated our Second Disc Records label with the release of Life is a Song Worth Singing: The Complete Thom Bell Sessions. Now, we're thrilled to announce that our friends at Columbia Records and Legacy Recordings are collecting four discs' worth of Mathis Magic on a new box set.
On September 25, Columbia and Legacy will celebrate Mr. Mathis turning 80 years young with the release of Johnny Mathis: The Singles. (Johnny's actual birthday is September 30, just a few days after the release!) This landmark collection promises to bring together, for the very first time in one set, every Johnny Mathis recording first issued on 45 RPM, as well as the tracks released exclusively on compilation LPs such as 1958's Johnny's Greatest Hits (considered the first "greatest hits" collection ever issued), 1959's More Johnny's Greatest Hits and 1981's The First 25 Years--The Silver Anniversary Album. A full 31 of the 87 tracks on Johnny Mathis: The Singles are being released on CD for the very first time. This anthology contains every non-LP single side released for Columbia between 1956 and 1981 including seminal early hits like "Chances Are," "Wonderful! Wonderful!" and "It's Not for Me to Say" and later rarities like Jimmy Webb's "Evie" and Burt Bacharach and Hal David's "Ten Times Forever More" and their Promises, Promises tune 'Whoever You Are, I Love You." (The box does not contain single versions of tracks originally released on albums.) In addition, six bonus tracks are peppered throughout the set.
"When over the course of a career you record as many songs as I have recorded, you tend to forget a few," Johnny states in the press release. "Revisiting this music was a complete surprise. I was thrilled beyond belief that some of the songs that I recorded specifically for single records, some of which had simply disappeared once they had been released, are now going to be heard again. Listening to this collection, not only was I amazed at how great it sounds, but I was being reminded of some songs I had totally forgotten. It is my greatest hope that my fans will share my enthusiasm."
The Singles will prove to be a timely reminder of Mathis' legendary accomplishments and enduring career. Between 1957 and 1963, he notched 18 Top 40 hits; no fewer than 43 of his singles reached the Billboard Hot 100 through 1981. Between 1957 and 1978, he also scored 19 Top 40 albums. Johnny has earned 10 gold, four platinum and two multi-platinum awards from the Recording Industry Association of America, and at the most recent Grammy Awards, received his latest nomination.
Look for Johnny's The Singles on September 25 from Columbia Records and Legacy Recordings, and in the meantime, you can pre-order and peruse the track listing just below!
Johnny Mathis, The Singles (Columbia/Legacy, 2015) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. TBD)
CD 1
- When Sunny Gets Blue
- Wonderful! Wonderful! (#14)
- It's Not For Me To Say (#5)
- Warm And Tender
- Chances Are (#1)
- The Twelfth Of Never (#9)
- Wild Is The Wind (#22)
- No Love (But Your Love) (#21)
- When I Am With You
- Come To Me
- All The Time
- Teacher, Teacher (#21)
- Let It Rain
- A Certain Smile (#14)
- Call Me
- Stairway To The Sea
- You Are Beautiful
- Let's Love
- Someone (#35)
- Very Much In Love
- I Look At You (Bonus Track)
- The Flame Of Love (Bonus Track)
CD 2
- Small World (#20)
- You Are Everything To Me
- The Story Of Our Love
- The Best Of Everything (#62)
- Cherie
- Starbright
- All Is Well
- Hey Love
- My Love For You (#47)
- Oh That Feeling
- How To Handle A Woman
- While You're Young
- Jenny
- You Set My Heart To Music
- Should I Wait
- Laurie, My Love
- Wasn't The Summer Short?
- There You Are
- Christmas Eve
- My Kind Of Christmas
- Sweet Thursday
- One Look
- Unaccustomed As I Am
- Marianna
- I'll Never Be Lonely Again
CD 3
- That's The Way It Is
- Gina (#6)
- I Love Her That's Why
- What Will My Mary Say (#9)
- Quiet Girl
- Every Step Of The Way
- Sooner Or Later
- All The Sad Young Men
- I'll Search My Heart
- Don't Talk To Me
- Long Winter Nights
- Among The First To Know
- Night Dreams
- Whoever You Are, I Love You
- For All We Know
- The Last Time I Saw Her
- Wherefore And Why
- Darling Lili
- Sign Of The Dove
- Christmas Is...
- I Was There
CD 4
- Ten Times Forever More
- Evie
- Think About Things
- If We Only Have Love
- This Way Mary
- Sometimes
- I
- Take Good Care Of Her
- Walking Tall
- Turn The Lights Down
- The Very First Christmas Day
- Christmas In The City Of The Angels
- The Lord's Prayer
- When A Child Is Born
- Nothing Between Us But Love
- It Doesn't Have To Hurt Every Time (Bonus Track)
- There! I've Said It Again (Bonus Track)
- Three Times A Lady (Bonus Track)
- The Way You Look Tonight (Bonus Track)
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Is Maria, on this set, or is it a misprint?
"Maria" is likely absent because it appeared on Johnny's 1959 album FAITHFULLY. This collection presents Johnny's tracks which first appeared on 45s only.
It was a 45, it charted twice
What about Misty?
Since I already have so many Johnny Mathis cds, without those 2 songs I'll pass this on set.
So what, so was Maria, singles are singles weather or not they were from albums.Look at the Beatles how many were on lp's first, but they were all on 1.Bad move.
The article above says : "This landmark collection promises to bring together, for the very first time in one set, every Johnny Mathis recording first issued on 45 RPM . . ."
Where are Too Much, Too Little, Too Late -- a #1 hit and Begin The Beguine?
Just re-read the article -- missed the sentence that says "This anthology contains every non-LP single side released for Columbia between 1956 and 1981".
Indeed; the collection does NOT include every one of Johnny's singles; that would take far more than four discs!
Are the original single mixes used? I'm sure that much of this material was originally released in mono on 45.
No word yet on which tracks are mono and which are stereo. I will try to reach out to the label and confirm.
So, If the 45 predated the album it subsequently appeared on, shouldn't it be included on the box set? Or did the album always come out first before any of its songs were extracted for 45s?
I'm confused!
Well, it was on the "Merry Christmas" LP, but the UK single version of "Winter Wonderland" (edited down) has yet to appear on CD to my knowledge. There's a Public Domain download out there but obviously from vinyl. Also I suspect they've used stereo wherever possible, whereas I'd prefer mono versions of those earlier tracks.
What about Johnny's Single … Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me from 1977. The album that is from has not been on CD yet, even though the track has been used in a couple of movies from that era. I'm dying to get that on CD!
Wow! What a very misleading title. If something is called The Singles, then I better be darn sure of getting all the singles. I don't care if they were featured on an album or not. If somebody sees this in a store and doesn't read the back very closely, they're gonna be mighty disappointed when they get home. They lost me on this one. No Misty, no buy.
I agree, not only no Misty, No Maria., no buy for me either.
Please be so kind i bought this and the label did not have the decent gesture of stating mono or stereo HOW DISRESPECTFUL FOR THIS SO CALLED CONNOISSEURS LABEL TO BE SO VERY CARELESSS AND UNPROFESSINAL!! Please help me as i wish to know the case of whether this. A mono or STEREO RELEASE PROFESSOR HELMER
Can you please reply to my query whether it is mono or stereo ?!
It's all n mono singles without Maria & Misty, 2 songs we may never hear their mono versions.