Dreamsville: Andy Williams' "Cadence Albums" Box Available Now from Edsel

Item: Dreamsville: Andy Williams' "Cadence Albums" Box Available Now from Edsel
Author: Joe Marchese

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Though born in the small town of Wall Lake, Iowa, Howard Andrew Williams always had his sight on the stars. From a young age, he sang with his older brothers Bob, Don, and Dick - first in church, then on local radio. While their father was a railroad worker, he encouraged his sons' showbiz dreams as they "graduated" on the airwaves from Des Moines to Chicago to Cincinnati. It wasn't long before word reached Hollywood of the brothers' potential, and upon moving there in 1943, they were rewarded with an MGM movie contract. One thing led to another; in 1944, they backed Bing Crosby on his chart-topping recording of "Swinging on a Star," even receiving credit on the label. The war temporarily broke up The Williams Brothers, but they reunited in 1947 with MGM alumna Kay Thompson and formed a nightclub act that would take them to the next level of entertainment. For five years, they were the toast of every town they visited. After 1952, the brothers splintered - but Andy persevered in the nightclub realm. In 1954, while performing at New York's prestigious Blue Angel, he was spotted by a talent scout for television personality Steve Allen. The host snapped up Andy for a role in his TV company - acting, singing, and dancing to a delighted audience. A star was born.

It was Kay Thompson who arranged an audition for Williams with Archie Bleyer of Cadence Records, home to The Chordettes, Julius LaRosa and soon, The Everly Brothers. (Andy's previous affiliation with RCA's X Records imprint had only yielded a couple of sides.) Bleyer offered the young singer with the good looks and the soaring choirboy voice a contract. The rest is musical history. At Cadence between 1955 and 1961, Andy developed his style and established his reputation for vocal excellence. He released eight albums at the label and scored some of his most beloved hits including "Canadian Sunset" (No. 7 U.S., 1956), "Butterfly" (No. 1 U.S. and U.K., 1957), "I Like Your Kind of Love" (No. 8 U.S./No. 16 U.K., 1957), "The Hawaiian Wedding Song" (No. 11 U.S., 1958), "Lonely Street" (No. 5 U.S., 1959), and "The Village of St. Bernadette" (No. 7 U.S., 1959). He also recorded his very first Christmas music at Cadence; the single "Christmas Is a Feeling in Your Heart" b/w "The Wind, The Sand, and The Star" was actually his debut for the label.

Williams' Cadence material has been packaged and repackaged numerous times in the CD era, including countless anthologies, a 5-CD series of two-fers on the U.S. Collectables label (including the core eight albums and two vintage compilations), and standalone releases in the U.S. and U.K. on labels including Varese Sarabande and Ace Records, respectively. But his material for the label had never been comprehensively collected in one place, until now. Demon Music Group's Edsel label has just released a deluxe set, The Cadence Albums, featuring all eight of Williams' Cadence albums plus 15 bonus singles on 8 CDs.

The sturdy, slipcased box includes the following Cadence albums. All are handsomely adorned with replica labels and packaged in mini-LP sleeves with original cover artwork (including the original, text-less cover for Sings Steve Allen which has been replaced on many subsequent reissues) and modified back covers:

Sings Steve Allen (1956, mono)
Andy Williams (1957, mono) plus bonus tracks
Sings Rodgers & Hammerstein (1958, mono)
Two Time Winners (1959, mono) plus bonus tracks
To You Sweetheart, Aloha (1959, mono)
Lonely Street (1959, stereo) plus bonus track
The Village of St Bernadette (1960, mono)
Under Paris Skies plus bonus tracks (1960, stereo)

At Cadence, Andy gamely tackled everything from pop and jazz to rockabilly, showtunes, and gospel, bringing to every genre his crystalline tone and innate warmth. He rarely embellished a song; instead, he delivered the lyric and melody with fidelity to the songwriters' intentions. Notably, he explored "concept albums" and various musical styles under Bleyer's direction, devoting entire albums to the songs of his early TV benefactor Steve Allen and the powerhouse Broadway team of Rodgers and Hammerstein; Hawaiian songs; sacred and inspirational material; and chansons, both authentically French and in that tradition.

The French-inspired set, Under Paris Skies, remains one of Williams' most beguiling with spellbinding arrangements by the young Quincy Jones and abundant Gallic charm. Equally enthralling is Lonely Street, a gorgeous expression of romantic yearning over twelve well-selected tracks. While Williams' 1957 self-titled sophomore album compiled non-LP singles - think of it as Williams' first greatest hits volume - his other Cadence platters are cohesive affairs, all placing Williams' vocals front and center in a variety of settings. The diverse bonus singles - including memorable tunes such as Wayne Walker's "Are You Sincere," Kurt Weill, Bertolt Brecht, and Johnny Mercer's "The Bilbao Song," and Henry Mancini, Jay Livingston, and Ray Evans' "Dreamsville" - round out the box set's vibrant portrait of the artist as a young man.

The 111-song collection also includes a 28-page full-color booklet with original liner notes as well as new ones by Alan Robinson that place his Cadence recordings in the broader context of his long and impressive career. Phil Kinrade has mastered all audio. To You Sweetheart, Aloha has been previously reissued on CD in stereo from Varese Sarabande whereas this presentation is of the original mono mix (as on the previous Collectables reissue). Two Time Winners and The Village of St. Bernadette are also heard here in mono. Both were released in true stereo but those mixes have never appeared on CD.

Andy Williams signed with Columbia Records in 1961, beginning a new chapter that would bring him further renown both on records and on television. The versatility he demonstrated at Cadence would find full flower at Columbia, where he effortlessly transitioned as the years passed from standards and adult pop to soft rock and even country. But the Cadence recordings as heard on this new box always occupied a close place in his heart. When he desired to see them reissued on Columbia, he simply bought the label from his old boss Bleyer!

Though Andy passed away in 2012 at the age of 84, his legacy of smooth and romantic music lives on. In 2020 alone, Demon Music Group's Crimson Productions released the late vocalist's Gold, a 3-CD, career-spanning anthology of many of his finest recordings, and Real Gone Music issued Emperor of Easy: The Lost Columbia Masters 1962-72, premiering 20 outtakes and singles on CD from a decade at the label. The Cadence Albums turns back the clock to a remarkable period of an extraordinary career. "He can sing sweet, but he's never sugary," Archie Bleyer wrote on the cover of 1957's Andy Williams. "He can keep it soft, but he can belt out a lyric, too. He's got jazz and bezazz. He's one of those he-males who slays the females. That's why everybody's wild about Williams." If you, too, are wild about Williams, The Cadence Albums is one-stop shopping for the foundation of his discography.

Note that The Cadence Albums is not available from Amazon U.S. or via Amazon U.K. for shipping to North America due to territorial restrictions. Please see your favorite import specialist or sites such as eBay (where numerous copies are available for shipment to the U.S.) to purchase a copy.

Andy Williams, The Cadence Albums (Edsel EDSL0064, 2020) (Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

CD 1: Sings Steve Allen (Cadence CLP 1018, 1956)