Love Story (Johnny Mathis album)


Love Story is an album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released on February 10, 1971, by Columbia Records and included a recent Oscar nominee, a flashback to 1967, a new song by Bacharach & David, a lesser-known one by Goffin & King, 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 in February 1971, coinciding with the release of this LP.
The Mathis recording of "Ten Times Forever More" was released as a single on January 21 of that year and spent two weeks on Billboard magazine's Easy Listening chart in March that included a peak position at number 32. 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.
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.

Reception

's Joe Viglione found much to praise retrospectively about the album and Mathis. "His rendition of ' 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." 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.'" He describes side two as "careful and pleasant", 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."

Track listing

Side one

  1. " Love Story" – 2:45
  2. "Rose Garden" – 2:51
  3. "Ten Times Forever More" – 2:36
  4. "It's Impossible" – 3:00
  5. "I Was There" – 2:26
  6. "What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?" from The Happy Ending – 3:00

    Side two

  7. "We've Only Just Begun" – 3:05
  8. "Traces" – 2:45
  9. "For the Good Times" – 3:42
  10. "My Sweet Lord" – 3:16
  11. "Loss of Love" – 2:51

    2017 CD bonus track

This album's CD release as part of the 2017 box set included a bonus track that was previously unavailable:
a. "Goin' Out of My Head"
b. "Can't Take My Eyes Off You"

Recording dates

From the liner notes for :