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Over the past weeks, radio stations across America have been changing to holiday formats.  There’s a good chance that if you spin the radio dial, you’ll end up on the voice of Andy Williams.  The late singer’s 1963 favorite “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” has become an unofficial anthem of the Christmas season, and last year reached an all-time peak of No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 – an all the more impressive feat considering his first appearance on the chart was in 1956.  Williams’ ongoing relevance is no surprise; his warm, inviting presence was a mainstay on television as well as on records, and his classic recordings such as “Moon River,” “(Where Do I Begin) Love Story” and “Born Free” continue to sparkle today.

Now, Williams’ extraordinary career is being celebrated with a new special for PBS television as well as a special 4-CD anthology featuring all of the familiar hits, rarities, and previously unreleased tracks.  Andy Williams: Greatest Love Songs (My Music) premieres on PBS stations beginning this Saturday, November 28. (Check local listings, and watch a special preview here!) The My Music special presents many of Andy’s most beloved and most romantic classics including “Moon River,” “Can’t Get Used to Losing You,” “Dear Heart,” “More,” “Call Me Irresponsible,” “Can’t Help Falling in Love,” “Speak Softly Love (Love Theme from The Godfather),” and a special duet with Petula Clark, “Visions of Sugar Plums.”  These full-length performances are interspersed with remembrances from Andy as well as his friends and colleagues including Petula, Johnny Mathis, Donny Osmond, The Lennon Sisters, and Michael Feinstein.

https://youtu.be/Hx3QeyrESGg

Among the pledge incentives offered in conjunction with this new special is the most comprehensive compilation of Williams’ recordings ever, The Ultimate Collection.  Across four CDs and 92 songs, it takes listeners on a journey from Andy’s early Cadence recordings (“Canadian Sunset,” “Butterfly,” “I Like Your Kind of Love,” “The Hawaiian Wedding Song”) through the entirety of his Columbia Records years.  The set features his major hits (“Can’t Get Used to Losing You,” “In the Arms of Love,” “Music to Watch Girls By,” “Happy Heart,” “Love Story (Where Do I Begin),” “One Day of Your Life,” “Speak Softly Love (Love Theme from The Godfather),” “Solitaire”) as well as a generous selection of his smooth interpretations of the era’s finest top 40 fare (“Can’t Take My Eyes Off You,” “MacArthur Park,” “Everything I Own,” “Windy,” “Scarborough Fair/Canticle,” “If You Could Read My Mind,” “Both Sides Now”).

In addition, the set premieres eight never-before-heard tracks including a swinging take on Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s “What the World Needs Now Is Love;” a sensitive bossa nova reading of John Kander and Fred Ebb’s “A Quiet Thing” from the Broadway musical Flora, The Red Menace; Peggy Lee and Johnny Mandel’s beautiful,  Academy Award-nominated “The Shining Sea;” and Mickey Buckins’ “We Don’t Love Here (We Just Sleep Here)” from Andy’s sessions with famed producer Rick Hall in the soul mecca of Muscle Shoals, Alabama.  The Ultimate Collection additionally debuts on CD rare tracks such as “If We Only Had the Time” from ABBA hitmakers Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson and the full Spanish version of “A Mi Esposa con Amor” produced by Nashville country-and-western legend Billy Sherrill.

Everything in the set has been newly remastered by Vic Anesini at Sony’s Battery Studios, and the 20-page full-color booklet is packed with rare photos.  It features liner notes by TSD’s Joe Marchese drawing on archival quotes from Andy and Clive Davis as well as fresh memories from producer Jerry Fuller.

Andy Williams: Greatest Love Songs (My Music) premieres on PBS stations beginning this Saturday, November 28.  The Ultimate Collection will be available exclusively as one of the pledge gifts – along with a fresh Christmas CD compilation, Andy Williams: Greatest Christmas Songs – plus new DVDs of The Andy Williams Christmas Show (1964); Love, Andy (1967) with guests Henry Mancini, Claudine Longet, and Erroll Garner; and Andy Williams: Greatest Love Songs (the PBS special plus half a dozen additional song performances taken from Andy’s 1962-71 NBC-TV series) – all from your local PBS station.  To obtain any of these new Andy CD and DVD releases, you can make a donation to any participating PBS station across the country including this one from Andy’s home state of Iowa.

Below, you’ll find a list of songs featured in Greatest Love Songs (My Music) as well as the track listing for The Ultimate Collection.

Songs featured in the program:

• “Can’t Get Used To Losing You”
• “Dear Heart”
• “More”
• “Born Free”
• “Love Story (Where Do I Begin)”
• “Butterfly”
• “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You”
• “Call Me Irresponsible”
• “Music To Watch Girls By”
• “Charade” – with Henry Mancini
• “Speak Softly Love” (Theme From The Godfather)
• “Happy Heart”
• “Visions Of Sugar Plums” – with Petula Clark
• “We’ve Only Just Begun”
• “Can’t Help Falling In Love”
• “Moon River”
• “A Time For Us” (Love Theme From Romeo & Juliet)

Andy Williams, The Ultimate Collection (TJL, 2020)

CD 1

1. Canadian Sunset
2. Butterfly
3. I Like Your Kind of Love (with Peggy Powers)
4. Lips of Wine
5. Are You Sincere?
6. Promise Me, Love
7. The Hawaiian Wedding Song (Ke Kali Nei Au)
8. Lonely Street
9. The Village of St. Bernadette
10. Danny Boy
11. Moon River
12. Don’t You Believe It
13. Stranger on the Shore
14. Can’t Get Used to Losing You
15. Days of Wine and Roses
16. May Each Day
17. Hopeless
18. The Angels Will Whisper (*)
19. A Fool Never Learns
20. Charade

CD 2

1. More
2. Wrong for Each Other
3. Call Me Irresponsible
4. On the Street Where You Live
5. Almost There
6. Dear Heart
7. I Cried for You (Now It’s Your Turn to Cry Over Me) (*)
8. …And Roses and Roses
9. Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars (Corcovado)
10. The Shadow of Your Smile (Love Theme from The Sandpiper)
11. What the World Needs Now Is Love (*)
12. One Rose from Vienna (*)
13. In the Arms of Love
14. The Shining Sea (*)
15. A Quiet Thing (*)
16. Born Free
17. Somewhere, My Love (Lara’s Theme from Doctor Zhivago)
18. Sunny
19. Spanish Eyes
20. Strangers in the Night
21. God Only Knows
22. When I Look in Your Eyes
23. More and More
24. Music to Watch Girls By

CD 3

1. Can’t Take My Eyes Off You
2. Holly
3. The More I See You
4. The Look of Love
5. Up, Up, and Away
6. By the Time I Get to Phoenix
7. This Is My Song
8. Theme from “Valley of the Dolls”
9. Sweet Memories
10. The Impossible Dream (The Quest)
11. Our Last Goodbye
12. Love Is Blue
13. Windy
14. Scarborough Fair/Canticle
15. For Once in My Life
16. Memories
17. Gentle on My Mind
18. Happy Heart
19. A Woman’s Way
20. Long Time Blues
21. Can’t Help Falling in Love
22. It’s So Easy
23. Shadows of the Night (Quentin’s Theme)
24. Battle Hymn of the Republic

CD 4

1. Love Theme from “Romeo and Juliet” (A Time for Us)
2. One Day of Your Life
3. Both Sides Now
4. Home Lovin’ Man
5. Where Do I Begin? (Love Story)
6. We’ve Only Just Begun
7. If You Could Read My Mind
8. MacArthur Park
9. Speak Softly Love (Love Theme from The Godfather)
10. Everything I Own
11. Who Was It?
12. Solitaire
13. Free as the Wind
14. Love’s Theme
15. Cry Softly
16. A Mi Esposa Con Amor (Full Spanish Version)
17. Love Leaves (*)
18. Love Said Goodbye (Theme from The Godfather Part II)
19. Sad Eyes
20. We Don’t Love Here (We Just Sleep Here) (*)
21. Tell It Like It Is
22. Sad
23. It Was Time
24. If We Only Had the Time (with Children of the World)

(*) previously unreleased track