''This Is Love'' is an album by American pop singer
Johnny Mathis, released by
Mercury Records
Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it i ...
on September 18, 1964.
[ The album includes three covers of ]Nat King Cole
Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's music career began after he dropped out of school at the age of 15, and continued f ...
recordings ("The Touch of Your Lips
The Touch of Your Lips" is a romantic ballad written by Ray Noble in 1936. The original version of the song, which has become a standard, was by Al Bowlly accompanied by Ray Noble and His Orchestra.
Three versions of the song reached the charts ...
" and " Poinciana (Song of the Tree)", from the Cole album ''The Touch of Your Lips
The Touch of Your Lips" is a romantic ballad written by Ray Noble in 1936. The original version of the song, which has become a standard, was by Al Bowlly accompanied by Ray Noble and His Orchestra.
Three versions of the song reached the charts ...
'', and "The End of a Love Affair", from Cole's album '' Where Did Everyone Go?''), as well as two more songs from "Fly Me to the Moon
"Fly Me to the Moon", originally titled "In Other Words", is a song written in 1954 by Bart Howard. The first recording of the song was made in 1954 by Kaye Ballard. Frank Sinatra's 1964 version was closely associated with the Apollo missions ...
" composer Bart Howard
Bart Howard (born Howard Joseph Gustafson, June 1, 1915 – February 21, 2004) was an American composer and songwriter, most notably of the jazz standard " Fly Me to the Moon", which has been performed by Kaye Ballard, Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, ...
.
''This Is Love'' made its first appearance on '' Billboard'' magazine's Top LP's chart in the issue dated October 17, 1964, and reached number 40 over the course of 20 weeks.
In 1974, eight songs from this album were reissued on Mathis's Columbia Records release ''What'll I Do'', which coincided with the inclusion of the title song by Irving Berlin
Irving Berlin (born Israel Beilin; yi, ישראל ביילין; May 11, 1888 – September 22, 1989) was a Russian-American composer, songwriter and lyricist. His music forms a large part of the Great American Songbook.
Born in Imperial Russ ...
that year in the film ''The Great Gatsby
''The Great Gatsby'' is a 1925 novel by American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. Set in the Jazz Age on Long Island, near New York City, the novel depicts first-person narrator Nick Carraway's interactions with mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby ...
''. The Mathis recording of " What'll I Do" originally appeared on 1957's '' Warm'' and was the only track on the 1974 release that was not from this Mathis LP.
''This Is Love'' was reissued on compact disc for the first time on November 16, 2012, as one of two albums on one CD, the other album being the follow-up, '' Olé'', originally released in autumn 1964. Both LPs were also included in Sony's Mathis box set ''The Complete Global Albums Collection
''The Complete Global Albums Collection'' is a 13-disc box set by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released in 2014 by Legacy Recordings. It includes the 11 studio albums recorded by Mathis's own production company, Global Records, and o ...
'', released on November 17, 2014.
Track listing
Side one
#" Put On a Happy Face" from ''Bye Bye Birdie
''Bye Bye Birdie'' is a stage musical with music by Charles Strouse and lyrics by Lee Adams, based upon a book by Michael Stewart.
Originally titled ''Let's Go Steady'', ''Bye Bye Birdie'' is set in 1958. The short story "Dream Man", authored ...
'' (Charles Strouse
Charles Strouse (born June 7, 1928) is an American composer and lyricist best known for writing the music to such Broadway musicals as '' Bye Bye Birdie'', ''Applause'', and '' Annie''.
Life and career
Strouse was born in New York City, to Jewis ...
, Lee Adams
Lee Richard Adams (born August 14, 1924) is an American lyricist best known for his musical theatre collaboration with Charles Strouse.
Biography
Born in Mansfield, Ohio, Adams is the son of Dr. Leopold Adams, originally of Stamford, Connectic ...
) – 3:15
#" Poinciana (Song of the Tree)" (Buddy Bernier Henry 'Buddy' Bernier (April 21, 1910 – June 18, 1983) was an American lyricist born in Watertown, New York, who was mainly active during the 1940s and 1950s. He came from a show business family and had two sisters, Daisy and Peggy who were each a ...
, Nat Simon Nat Simon (6 August 1900, in Newburgh, New York – 1979) was an American composer, pianist, bandleader and songwriter. From the 1930s to 1950s his songs were used in over 20 films. Between 1931 and 1940 he also took part in the musical Vaudeville r ...
) – 4:07
#"The Touch of Your Lips
The Touch of Your Lips" is a romantic ballad written by Ray Noble in 1936. The original version of the song, which has become a standard, was by Al Bowlly accompanied by Ray Noble and His Orchestra.
Three versions of the song reached the charts ...
" (Ray Noble
Raymond Stanley Noble (17 December 1903 – 2 April 1978) was an English jazz and big band musician, who was a bandleader, composer and arranger, as well as a radio host, television and film comedian and actor; he also performed in the United ...
) – 3:28
#"Just Move Along, Meadow Lark" (Eddie Snyder
Edward Abraham Snyder (February 22, 1919 – March 10, 2011) was an American composer and songwriter. Snyder is credited with co-writing the English language lyrics and music for Frank Sinatra's 1966 hit, " Strangers in the Night".
Snyder was bo ...
, Paul Vance
Joseph Paul Florio (November 4, 1929 – May 30, 2022), known professionally as Paul Vance, was an American songwriter and record producer, primarily from the 1950s until the 1970s.
His most successful song compositions, all written with Lee Po ...
) – 2:43
#" Under a Blanket of Blue" (Jerry Livingston
Jerry Livingston (born Jerry Levinson; March 25, 1909 – July 1, 1987) was an American songwriter and dance orchestra pianist.
Life and career
Born in Denver, Colorado, Livingston studied music at the University of Arizona. While there he com ...
, Al J. Neiburg, Marty Symes Marty Symes (1904–1953) was an American lyricist.
Symes was born in Brooklyn New York in 1904. His first significant collaborator was composer Jerry Livingston. In 1932 they wrote "Darkness on the Delta", which became a hit for Mildred Bailey. T ...
) – 3:45
#"Over the Weekend" ( John Benson Brooks, Joseph McCarthy) – 3:52
Side two
#" More" from ''Mondo Cane
''Mondo Cane'' (literally "Doggish World" or "Dog's World", a mild Italian profanity) is a 1962 Italian mondo documentary film and directed by the trio of Gualtiero Jacopetti, Paolo Cavara, and Franco E. Prosperi, with narration by Stefano S ...
'' (Norman Newell
Norman Newell (25 January 1919 – 1 December 2004) was an English record producer, who was mainly active in the 1950s and 1960s. He was also the co-writer of many notable songs. As an A&R manager for EMI, he worked with musicians such as Shi ...
, Nino Oliviero
Nino Oliviero (13 February 1918 – 29 February 1980) was an Italian composer.
Born in Naples, Oliviero began his career as composer after the Second World War, composing a series of successful Neapolitan melodies such as "'Nu quarto 'e luna" a ...
, Riz Ortolani
Riziero Ortolani (; 25 March 192623 January 2014) was an Italian composer, conductor, and orchestrator, predominantly of film scores. He scored over 200 films and television programs between 1955 and 2014, with a career spanning over fifty yea ...
) – 2:56
#"You Love Me" from '' Tovarich'' (Anne Crosswell, Lee Pockriss
Lee Julian Pockriss (January 20, 1924 – November 14, 2011) was an American songwriter who wrote many well-known popular songs and several scores for films and Broadway shows, mainly during the 1960s and 1970s.
Early life and career
Born in ...
) – 3:47
#" Limehouse Blues" ( Philip Braham, Douglas Furber) – 4:23
#"What Do You Feel in Your Heart" (Bart Howard
Bart Howard (born Howard Joseph Gustafson, June 1, 1915 – February 21, 2004) was an American composer and songwriter, most notably of the jazz standard " Fly Me to the Moon", which has been performed by Kaye Ballard, Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, ...
) – 3:12
#"The End of a Love Affair" (Edward Redding) – 3:32
#"Fantastic" (Bart Howard
Bart Howard (born Howard Joseph Gustafson, June 1, 1915 – February 21, 2004) was an American composer and songwriter, most notably of the jazz standard " Fly Me to the Moon", which has been performed by Kaye Ballard, Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, ...
) – 3:57
Recording dates
From the liner notes of the 2012 CD release:[(2012) ''This Is Love/Olé'' by Johnny Mathis D booklet New York: Sony Music Entertainment RGM-0095.]
*March 12, 1964: "Limehouse Blues", "More", "Poinciana (Song of the Tree)"
*March 17, 1964: "The End of a Love Affair", "Over the Weekend", "Put On a Happy Face", "What Do You Feel in Your Heart", "You Love Me"
*March 19, 1964: "Fantastic", "Just Move Along, Meadow Lark", "The Touch of Your Lips", "Under a Blanket of Blue"
Personnel
* Johnny Mathis – vocals; producer;[ liner notes][
*]Allyn Ferguson
Allyn Malcolm Ferguson Jr. (October 18, 1924 – June 23, 2010) was an American composer, whose works include the themes for 1970s television programs ''Barney Miller'' and '' Charlie's Angels'' (1976-1981), which he co-wrote with Jack Elliott ...
– arranger,[ supervisor][
*Jack Feierman – conductor][
*]Bill Putnam
Milton Tasker "Bill" Putnam (February 20, 1920 – April 13, 1989) was an American audio engineer, songwriter, producer, studio designer and businessman, who has been described as "the father of modern recording". He was the inventor of the mo ...
– recording engineer[
*Jim Lockert – recording engineer][
* Ralph Cowan – cover portrait][
]
References
Bibliography
*
{{Authority control
1964 albums
Johnny Mathis albums
Mercury Records albums
Albums arranged by Allyn Ferguson
Albums produced by Johnny Mathis