| You Lay So Easy on My Mind | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | November 1974[1] | |||
| Recorded | June 18–19, 1974 September 18–19, 1974 [2] | |||
| Genre |
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| Length | 29:18 | |||
| Label | Columbia | |||
| Producer | Billy Sherrill[4] | |||
| Andy Williams chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [3] |
| Billboard | Top Album Pick[1] |
You Lay So Easy on My Mind is the thirty-fourth studio album by American pop singer Andy Williams, released in November 1974 by Columbia Records.[1] The idea for this LP was mentioned in an interview with Williams in the November 3, 1973, issue of Billboard magazine that emphasized his desire to move away from recording albums of Easy Listening covers of hits by other artists, noting that he was "planning an album to be cut in Nashville with Columbia's high-flying country-pop producer, Billy Sherrill." The article coincided with the release of his first attempt to shift directions, Solitaire, which performed poorly. A return to the Easy Listening hits formula, The Way We Were, followed in the spring of 1974 but failed to even chart, so this next attempt to eschew soft rock songs leaned heavily on Country hits.
The album made its first appearance on the Billboard Top LP's & Tapes chart in the issue dated December 28, 1974, and remained there for four weeks, peaking at number 150.[5] The album was released in the UK on February 14, 1975, and on March 1, 1976, the British Phonographic Industry awarded it with Silver certification for sales of 60,000 units.[6]
The first song from the album to be released as a single by Williams was "Another Lonely Song", which entered Billboard magazine's list of the 40 most popular Easy Listening songs of the week in the US in the issue dated September 21, 1974, and stayed on the chart for eight weeks, peaking at number 29.[7] "Cry Softly" entered that same chart in the April 12, 1975, issue and reached number 20 over the course of six weeks,[7] and the title track from the album entered the UK singles chart the following month, on May 31, for a seven-week stay that took the song to number 32.[8]
You Lay So Easy on My Mind was released on compact disc for the first time as one of two albums on one CD by Collectables Records on February 19, 2002, the other album being Williams's Columbia release from the summer of 1975, The Other Side of Me.[9] Collectables included this CD in a box set entitled Classic Album Collection, Vol. 2, which contains 15 of his studio albums and two compilations and was released on November 29, 2002.[10] It was also released as one of two albums on one CD by Sony Music Distribution on June 21, 2004, paired this time with Williams's album from 1980, Let's Love While We Can.[11]
