Feelings is an album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released on October 20, 1975,[1] by Columbia Records and strayed slightly from the practice of covering hits by other artists to include two new songs, both of which were written by Jerry Fuller: "Hurry Mother Nature" and "That's All She Wrote", which Ray Price took to number 34 on the Country chart the following spring.[5]
The first single from the album, "Stardust", entered Billboard's list of the 50 most popular Easy Listening songs in the US in the issue of the magazine dated November 29, 1975, and peaked at number four over the course of 12 weeks.[9] "One Day in Your Life" was released as the follow-up and entered that same chart in the March 13, 1976, issue, eventually getting as high as number 36 during its five weeks there.[9]
Reception
Billboard liked what they heard. "Covering other people's hits can be dangerous, but not for Mathis, who is in the right mood, tempo and vocal range this time around."[4]
AllMusic's Ed Hogan wrote a brief but positive retrospective review. "Produced by Jack Gold with great arrangements by Gene Page, Feelings is one of Johnny Mathis's best '70s era albums."[2]
March 25, 1975 – "Crazy Little Love Makin' Ways", "The Greatest Gift", "Let's Go On from Here"
June 16, 1975 – "99 Miles from L.A.", "One Day in Your Life", "What I Did for Love"
August 2, 1975 – "Midnight Blue", "That's All She Wrote"
August 9, 1975 – "Hurry Mother Nature"
August 29, 1975 – "Feelings", "Solitaire", "Stardust"
Song information
The histories of some of the selections that Mathis made for this album are quite varied. Michael Jackson recorded "One Day in Your Life" before this album was released in 1975,[10] but his recording was not available as a single until 1981.[11] "Stardust" reached the charts 15 times through various recordings between 1930 and 1943.[12]Jack Jones had a number 25 Easy Listening hit with "What I Did for Love", which originated in the 1975 Broadway musical A Chorus Line.[13] Melissa Manchester's "Midnight Blue" spent two weeks at number one on the Easy Listening chart[14] in addition to reaching number six on the Billboard Hot 100.[15] And "The Greatest Gift" was performed by an unnamed chorus for the soundtrack of the 1975 film The Return of the Pink Panther.[16]
Albert Hammond's "99 Miles From L.A." is another number one Easy Listening hit[17] that Mathis covers here, although the song only managed a number 91 showing on the pop chart.[18] "Feelings" by Morris Albert fared much better on the Hot 100, making it to number six,[19] in addition to peaking at number two Easy Listening[20] and number four UK[21] and receiving Gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America.[22] And "Solitaire" had its best chart performance in the US as a number one Easy Listening hit for The Carpenters[23] that also got as high as number 17 pop,[24] but their number 32 performance with the song on the UK singles chart in 1975[25] fell far short of the number four position that Andy Williams attained with his version on that same chart two years earlier.[26]
^ abcd(2017) The Voice of Romance: The Columbia Original Album Collection by Johnny Mathis [CD booklet]. New York: Sony Music Entertainment 88985 36892 2.
