Love Story (Johnny Mathis album)

Love Story
Studio album by Johnny Mathis
Released	February 1971[1]
Genre	Vocal Pop/Rock[2]
Length	32:17
Label	Columbia
Producer	Jack Gold Robert Mersey[3]
Johnny Mathis chronology
Johnny Mathis Sings the Music of Bacharach & Kaempfert (1970) Love Story (1971) You've Got a Friend (1971)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	link
Billboard	positive[1]

Love Story is an album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released in February 1971 by Columbia Records^[1] and included a recent Oscar nominee ("What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?"), a flashback to 1967 ("Traces"), a new song by Bacharach & David ("Ten Times Forever More"), a lesser-known one by Goffin & King ("I Was There"), and two songs that originated in film scores from 1970 and had lyrics added later: the album closer, "Loss of Love", from Sunflower and the album opener from Love Story, which was subtitled "Where Do I Begin". The norm for Mathis projects from this era was to cover recent hits, and the title track of this one was so recent that the version by Andy Williams began a 13-week run to number nine on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 chart that February that coincided with the release of this LP.^[4]

The Mathis recording of "Ten Times Forever More" was released as a single on January 21 of that year^[5] and spent two weeks on Billboard magazine's Easy Listening chart in March that included a peak position at number 32.^[6] The album's debut on the magazine's Top LP's chart was in the issue dated March 13 and led to a number 47 showing over the course of 18 weeks.^[7]

Love Story was released for the first time on compact disc in 1995 as one of two albums on one CD, the other LP being his Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head album from 1970.^[8]

Reception

Allmusic's Joe Viglione found much to praise about the album and Mathis. "His rendition of '(Where Do I Begin) Love Story' is riveting, a sweeping and majestic piece to lead off the record, and not the usual Jack Gold musical movement, but more pronounced and determined."^[2] Viglione was especially fond of how Lynn Anderson's country hit "Rose Garden" was given a mainstream arrangement. "As a pure pop tune, it works very well, a standout performance chock-full of backing vocalists and unique instrumentation. This could have been a hit for Mathis, as it goes beyond the usual formula of 'let's put some sweet accompaniment behind the voice and let Johnny do his thing.'"^[2] He describes side two as "careful and pleasant",^[2] except for its closing song, "Loss of Love", which "brings a sense of grandness back to the project and concludes an important component of the vast Johnny Mathis catalog."^[2]

Track listing

Side one

1. "(Where Do I Begin) Love Story" (Francis Lai, Carl Sigman) – 2:45
2. "Rose Garden" (Joe South) – 2:51
3. "Ten Times Forever More" (Burt Bacharach, Hal David) – 2:36
4. "It's Impossible" (Armando Manzanero, Sid Wayne) – 3:00
5. "I Was There" (Gerry Goffin, Carole King) – 2:26
6. "What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?" from The Happy Ending (Alan Bergman, Marilyn Bergman, Michel Legrand) – 3:00

Side two

1. "We've Only Just Begun" (Roger Nichols, Paul Williams) – 3:05
2. "Traces" (Buddy Buie, J. R. Cobb, Emory Gordy Jr.) – 2:45
3. "For the Good Times" (Kris Kristofferson) – 3:42
4. "My Sweet Lord" (George Harrison) – 3:16
5. "Loss of Love" (Henry Mancini, Bob Merrill) – 2:51

Personnel

• Johnny Mathis – vocals
• Jack Gold – producer (except as noted)^[3]
• Robert Mersey – producer ("I Was There")^[3]
• Perry Botkin, Jr. – arranger and conductor^[3]
• Phil Macy – engineer^[3]
• Jim Marshall – photography^[3]

References

Bibliography