If you want a future, go out and get a past

Continuing my trip back through the 1961 album charts.

15/01/61 : The Rhythms And Ballads Of Broadway - Johnny Mathis

I'm quite happy to meet up with Johnny Mathis again - I have a slight suspicion this might be Broadway numbers, some up-tempo and some slower...

Well, this was a surprise - it's a double album (the first one this year, I think). Each one features a different kind of music - can you guess what they might be? The ballads one was a bit too much for me - the tracks all demonstrate his lovely voice and good control well, but it's all a bit pedestrian and plodding for a whole album. It also features a bizarrely slowed-down version of "On The Sunny Side Of The Street" which does the song no favours at all. 

I much preferred the rhythms album - it was pretty Frank-ish in its swinginess, but Johnny certainly doesn't disgrace himself when compared to such company. It was also somewhat surprising to meet our fourth version of "I Could Have Danced All Night" this year alone - it actually also appeared on a Peggy Lee album that we didn't get to listen to in the middle of the year (we will get to hear it in '60) so it's fair to say it had a good year. I definitely wasn't expecting to hear a second version of "The Cock-eyed Optimist" though. 

So, all in all, a bit of a strange game of two halves - Johnny's voice was more suited to the ballads but they just didn't hit the spot for me. I suspect a single album with the tracks more mixed up might have been a better option.

We're at #11 in the charts this week on its seventh week of a ten week run, with it having peaked at #6 in its third week. The top five this week were Elvis, South Pacific, Cliff, George and Peter & Sophia, which I really wasn't expecting to see in the top five. We also have two new entries in the chart for Frank (#10 - he doesn't like to be left out) and the Never On Sunday soundtrack (#17) - apparently it was a romcom about a carefree Greek prostitute and an American classical scholar. Ah, they don't make them like the old days, do they?

Wikipedia doesn't have a lot on the album other than explaining the format and saying it did well in the US, spending 27 weeks in the charts. It's funny looking at the musicals which contributed the songs because half of them I've never even heard of - Life Begins at 8:40, Fifty Million Frenchman or American Motors Industrial Show, anyone?

"Customers also listened to" Steve Lawrence, Paul Smith, Jack Jones and Andy Williams - some very nondescript names there! I suspect none of them would engage me quite as much as Johnny's managed but, whilst there was a lot of good stuff on here, it felt like it could have done with a bit of pruning.

08/01/61 - Nice enough, but not required listening
22/01/61 - An interesting listen