Notes
Real Gone Music and Second Disc Records continue their ongoing celebration of Johnny Mathis' legendary catalog with a new expanded two-for-one CD'and this one's even more packed with signature Mathis songs than usual! 1976's I Only Have Eyes for You and 1977's Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me both reunited Mathis with a pair of his favorite collaborators, producer Jack Gold and arranger Gene Page, for silky renditions of the day's pop smashes as only Mathis could deliver them. Page brought the same style of lush orchestration he perfected with Barry White to these sets featuring songs by the top songwriters of the day including Neil Sedaka ('The Hungry Years'), Alan O'Day ('Do Me Wrong, But Do Me'), Stephen Sondheim ('Send in the Clowns'), Marvin Hamlisch ('One'), and the team of Michael Masser and Gerry Goffin ('Do You Know Where You're Going To,' 'I Always Knew I Had It in Me'). I Only Have Eyes for You introduced the artist's longtime concert favorite 'Yellow Roses on Her Gown' and the Christmas perennial 'When a Child Is Born' as well as acclaimed singer-songwriter Harriet Schock's 'Ooh, What We Do.' Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me found Mathis saluting his Columbia Records labelmate Barbra Streisand with the romantic 'Evergreen,' breathing new life into the vintage standard 'All the Things You Are,' and giving a classy spin to the Annie anthem 'Tomorrow.' Two outtakes, 'Experience' and Stevie Wonder's spellbinding 'If It's Magic,' round out the deluxe package. Mike Piacentini at Sony's Battery Studios has remastered both albums, and The Second Disc's Joe Marchese has penned new liner notes based on fresh interviews with Harriet Schock and, of course, Johnny Mathis.
