Wikipedia

The Shadow of Your Smile (Andy Williams album)

The Shadow of Your Smile is the eighteenth studio album by American pop singer Andy Williams and was released in April 1966 by Columbia Records[1] and included covers of "Michelle" and "Yesterday", the same pair of Beatles ballads that labelmate Johnny Mathis recorded for his 1966 album of the same name. For Williams these selections initiated a trend away from the traditional pop formula that his album output at Columbia up until this point had adhered to.

The Shadow of Your Smile
Studio album by
Andy Williams
ReleasedApril 1966
Recorded1966
Genre
Length34:18
LabelColumbia
ProducerRobert Mersey[2]
Andy Williams chronology
May Each Day
(1966) 		The Shadow of Your Smile
(1966) 		In the Arms of Love
(1966)

The Williams release made its first appearance on Billboard magazine's Top LP's chart in the issue dated May 14 of that year and remained on the album chart for 54 weeks, peaking at number six.[3] It entered the UK charts in July and spent four weeks there, reaching number 27.[4] it also debuted on the Cashbox albums chart in the issue dated May 7, of that year, and remained on the chart for 29 weeks, peaking at number 9[5] The album received Gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America on September 27, 1966.[6]

The A-side from this album, "Bye Bye Blues", "bubbled under" Billboard's Hot 100, reaching number 127,[7] and got to number 18 on the magazine's Easy Listening (or Adult Contemporary) chart.[8]

The album was released on compact disc for the first time as one of two albums on one CD by Collectables Records on March 23, 1999, the other album being Williams's Columbia release from the spring of 1965, Andy Williams' Dear Heart.[9] It was also released as one of two albums on one CD by Sony Music Distribution on December 28, 1999, paired this time with Williams's Columbia album from the fall of 1962, Warm and Willing.[10] The Collectables CD was included in a box set entitled Classic Album Collection, Vol. 1, which contains 17 of his studio albums and three compilations and was released on June 26, 2001.[11]

Reception

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Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic     [1]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music     [12]
New Record Mirror     [13]

William Ruhlmann of AllMusic wrote that this album "had a slower, more languorous feel than earlier Williams albums, and it had more vocal risk-taking." He described "notable changes in Williams' approach" that included the Beatles tracks and covers of two bossa nova songs by Antonio Carlos Jobim that "indicated that Williams was not content to simply turn out the same sort of album over and over, and that he was paying attention to the changes in popular music around him."[1]

Billboard magazine described the album as "well produced and well performed."[14]

Cashbox described the album as "a wonderfully pleasing listening experience" noted he does an equally sweet job on recent tunes the likes of “Yesterday” and “Michelle"[15]

New Record Mirror described the album as "a nice late-night album."[13]

Track listing

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Side one

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  1. "The Shadow of Your Smile (Love Theme from The Sandpiper)" from The Sandpiper (Johnny Mandel, Paul Francis Webster) – 3:04
  2. "That Old Feeling" from Vogues of 1938 (Lew Brown, Sammy Fain) – 2:51
  3. "Meditation" with Antônio Carlos Jobim (Norman Gimbel, Antônio Carlos Jobim, Newton Mendonça) – 3:06
  4. "Try to Remember" from The Fantasticks (Tom Jones, Harvey Schmidt) – 2:55
  5. "Michelle" (John Lennon, Paul McCartney) – 3:25
  6. "Somewhere" from West Side Story (Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim) – 3:00

Side two

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  1. "The Summer of Our Love" (Marty Paich, Paul Francis Webster) – 2:38
  2. "Peg O' My Heart" from Ziegfeld Follies (Alfred Bryan, Fred Fisher) – 2:24
  3. "How Insensitive " with Antonio Carlos Jobim (Vinícius de Moraes, Norman Gimbel, Antonio Carlos Jobim) – 2:40
  4. "Yesterday" (John Lennon, Paul McCartney) – 2:50
  5. "Bye Bye Blues" (David Bennett; Chauncey Gray, Frederick Hamm, Bert Lown) – 2:43
  6. "A Taste of Honey" (Ric Marlow, Bobby Scott) – 2:47

Grammy nominations

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This album brought the sixth and final Grammy nomination that Williams received over the course of his career, this time in the category for Best Vocal Performance, Male. This nomination did not focus on the performance of a particular song but rather Williams's performance of the album as a whole. The winner was Frank Sinatra for the single "Strangers in the Night", a song that Williams went on to record for his 1967 album Born Free.[16]

Personnel

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From the liner notes for the original album:[2]

  • Andy Williams – vocals
  • Robert Mersey - arranger/conductor ("That Old Feeling", "Meditation", "Peg O' My Heart", "How Insensitive", "Bye Bye Blues"), producer
  • Jack Elliott - arranger ("Yesterday"), conductor ("The Shadow of Your Smile", "Try to Remember", "Michelle", "Somewhere", "The Summer of Our Love", "Yesterday", "A Taste of Honey")
  • Bob Florence - arranger ("Try to Remember", "Michelle", "A Taste of Honey")
  • Dick Hazard - arranger ("The Shadow of Your Smile")
  • Johnny Mandel - arranger ("Somewhere")
  • Marty Paich - arranger ("The Summer of Our Love")

References

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  1. ^ a b c d "The Shadow of Your Smile". allmusic.com. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 24 August 2010.
  2. ^ a b (1966) The Shadow of Your Smile by Andy Williams [album jacket]. New York: Columbia Records CS 9299.
  3. ^ Whitburn 2010, p. 844.
  4. ^ "Andy Williams". Official Charts. Retrieved 20 April 2016.
  5. ^ Hoffmann, Frank W (1988). The Cash box album charts, 1955-1974. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press. p. 406. ISBN 0-8108-2005-6.
  6. ^ "Gold & Platinum". riaa.com. Retrieved 27 March 2017. Type Andy Williams in the Search box and press Enter.
  7. ^ Whitburn 2009, p. 866.
  8. ^ Whitburn 1993, p. 256.
  9. ^ "Dear Heart/The Shadow of Your Smile". allmusic.com. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 18 August 2010.
  10. ^ "Warm and Willing/The Shadow of Your Smile". allmusic.com. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 6 September 2010.
  11. ^ "Classic Album Collection, Vol. 1 - Andy Williams". allmusic.com. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 6 May 2011.
  12. ^ Larkin, Colin (2007). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Omnibus Press. p. 1498. ISBN 9781846098567. Retrieved 22 August 2024.
  13. ^ a b Jones, Peter; Jopling, Norman (6 August 1966). "new albums reviewed by Norman Joplin and Peter Jones new albums reviewed by Norman Joplin, Chris Montez's new album makes him sound likea male of Astrud Gilberto" (PDF). New Record Mirror. No. 282. p. 8. Retrieved 29 September 2024.
  14. ^ "Album Reviews". Billboard. 1966-05-07. p. 72.
  15. ^ "Cashbox Album Pop Picks Reviews: The Shadow Of Your Smile". Cash Box. Vol. 27, no. 39. April 30, 1966. p. 48.
  16. ^ O'Neil 1999, p. 117.

Bibliography

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  • O'Neil, Thomas (1999), The Grammys, Perigree Books, ISBN 0-399-52477-0
  • Whitburn, Joel (1993), Joel Whitburn's Top Adult Contemporary, 1961-1993, Record Research Inc., ISBN 0-89820-099-7
  • Whitburn, Joel (2009), Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles, 1955-2008, Record Research Inc., ISBN 0-89820-180-2}
  • Whitburn, Joel (2010), Joel Whitburn Presents Top Pop Albums, Seventh Edition, Record Research Inc., ISBN 0-89820-183-7
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