7 Classic Albums

I love Johnny Mathis and I've been able to remember his talent via a true local radio station.I like the songs, no question there. Nice combination of albums. The Christmas music may not have had to be there but most musicians end up making a Christmas Album. That's just the way it is. And he does his usual terrific job at it. (Not like Dolly P and her "Silent Night". Somehow that just came out wrong.)My #4 is maybe petty. All this great music! But some of his greater hits aren't on there. The second album, 'Wonderful, Wonderful' doesn't include that signature song, though it is there in the album itself. I'm very confused and disappointed. Maybe those songs could have been included and the Christmas songs ignored.

Where do you start with Johnny Mathis... perhaps the greatest ballad singer of the 2Oth Century. Do you start with the incredibly intelligent Father who understood the unique beauty of young Johnny’s voice, with all of it’s warm tender sensitive lyricism, and nurtured and developed it, rather than try and destroy it because it wasn’t alpha-male enough. For he understood that his Olympic caliber athletic son had a God given gift for singing "sweet" songs. Or Johnny Mathis the barrier-breaker... for being the first young Black male singer that Columbia, the biggest recording company in America, marketed as a young Sinatra to a young White female audience. (About ten years earlier when a photo of Billy Eckstine being mobbed by young White female fans at the stage door was printed on the front page of certain news papers in this country, it almost destroyed his career.) That was the 5O’s in the USA! And Johnny had a Black responsibility to succeed at Columbia similar to that which Lena Horne had when Hollywood signed her in the early 4O’s. Nobody knew about the 6O’s back in the 5O’s! Then at 19 he succeeded like no young Black male singer ever had before. Not in this country. He became a mega-star over-night, comparable to Elvis, and the whole world fell in love with his amazingly beautiful young Black voice. Which is what we get to listen to in these brilliant and wonderfilled multi-disk sets.I have now listened to these sets back to back and these are my subjective thoughts and feelings about these four excellent sets.TWO DISK SET: JOHNNY MATHIS SWINGS THE GREAT AMERICAN SONG BOOK:To my ears:To hear a volume similar to the other sets I played it at 22 to 24 with bass and treble at 0. I assumed that this would be mostly up-tempo songs, but there are really quite a few ballads here as well. Although less than the other sets. Johnny Mathis will always be known for his extraordinary lush intimate ballads, but make no mistake, young Johnny could definitely swing. And this selection is excellent in terms of musical quality.Up Side:A large and full, quite lush and clear sound. Perhaps a bit brighter over-all. Which gives it a lively energy and fresh vitality. Excellent separation and detail. Lots of expansiveness. Pleasing warmth.Down Side:May be somewhat flashier and demanding on the ear. Especially in the treble. Tonality and color could, ideally, be slightly richer. Or fatter. Also, with this set you only get two disks which both have a couple fewer tracks per disk. Yet I believe that it is actually, as yet, a bit more expensive than either 4 disk set.THREE DISK SET: MISTY: THE ESSENTIAL JOHNNY MATHIS:To my ears:To make the volume equal with the other sets I listened to it at a volume of 2O to 22 with bass and treble at 0. The selection is excellent in terms of musical quality. This set seems to have a lower percentage of up-tempo numbers, so if you want more ballads you might want to go with this set.Up Side:Big and bold sound with lots of body and depth. Excellent separation. Lots of aural and tonal nuance. Impressive clarity of detail. Rich color and pleasing warmth.Down Side:More demanding on the ear. Might have a kind of assertive sheen on the patina of the sound which could possibly tax the ear eventually. Great dimension but possibly not as lush.FOUR DISK SET: 1O1-MISTY: THE BEST OF JOHNNY MATHIS:To my ears:To hear a volume which sounded equal to the other sets I listened to it at a volume around 24 to 26 with bass and treble at 0. I think that I prefer the song selection of this set with regard to musical quality and it seems to have a slightly higher percentage of up-tempos numbers which are some of Johnny’s better ones. And, of course, in this set you get an entire 4 disks of excellent early Johnny Mathis at somewhat less cost than either of the 2 or 3 disk sets.Up Side:A clear and lush large full sound. Somewhat easier and softer and less demanding on the ear. Perhaps somewhat smoother. Excellent separation and detail. Pleasing warmth.Down Side:Tonality and color could, ideally, be slightly richer and more nuanced. Or fatter.FOUR DISK SET: JOHNNY MATHIS: SEVEN CLASSIC ALBUMS:To my ears:To hear a volume which sounded equal to the other sets I listened to it at a volume around 22 to 24. This 4 disk set includes 7 early albums of Johnny Mathis. Disk one includes his first album “Johnny Mathis” and “Wonderful, Wonderful.” The second disk includes “Warm” and much of his religious album “Good Night, Dear Lord.” The third disk includes 3 tracks from the religious album and “Swing Softly” and much of his first Christmas album “Merry Christmas.” The fourth disk includes 4 tracks from “Merry Christmas” and his masterpiece “Open Fire, Two Guitars.”Up Side:The sound is clear and full. It is large and quite rich. Very good color and separation. In the past I have found the sound of these “Seven Album” series to be a bit thin sometimes. But this sounds great. Perhaps it is because Mr. Mathis was recorded so well by Columbia to begin with. This is, of course, a great way to get his early albums if you don’t have them and would like them. Especially “Good Night, Dear Lord” which is currently extremely costly to buy individually. This set is the least expensive of any of the others, although only slightly less than the other 4 disk set (Best Of).Down Side:The tonality could perhaps be a bit more nuanced. Ideally the treble could be a bit richer. The sound could perhaps be softer and warmer. But the real issue that I personally have with this set is the way they have broken up the albums. I would prefer that they put the religious album and the Christmas album together, so that I don’t have to listen to these specialty albums when I want to listen to his other albums which all have content made up mainly of standards. But I suppose others might feel exactly the opposite. There is also a second volume to this series which includes the albums “Faithfully” “The Ballads Of Broadway” “The Rhythms Of Broadway” “Johnny’s Mood” “I’ll Buy You A Star” “Live It Up” “Rapture.” These albums all deal more consistently with standards.CONCLUSION:The sound quality on all these sets is excellent and appealing for different reasons. They all have vulnerabilities that are minor issues. Use of bass and treble adjustment might mitigate some of them. I also think that some of these tracks were simply better recorded originally than others. Package design is equally attractive on all sets using some of the best photos of the young Johnny Mathis. None has a booklet with anything much more than track-listing. The 2 and the “Best Of” 4 disk sets are the thickness of one standard cd case. The 3 and “Seven Album” 4 disk set are just slightly more than the thickness of two standard cd cases. The 4 disk "Best Of" set contains no plastic. I suppose it really depends on how much early Johnny Mathis you are interested in as they are all, almost, equally excellent. It probably also comes down to what kind of sound you like and what songs you want.All of these sets provide a wonderfilled abundance of early Johnny Mathis. Although if you love early Johnny and you don’t own his masterpiece “Open Fire, Two Guitars” or “Wonderful, Wonderful” and “Warm” or the recently re-released, almost classically beautiful, “Rapture”... you might want to get them. The only thing I don’t understand is why none of these multi-disk sets has what I consider the Johnny Mathis ballad which is the most beautiful of all: “Will I Find My Love Today” from the “Wonderful, Wonderful” album. I am having a bit of a subjective crisis trying to figure out why, out of 9 disks of selected early Johnny Mathis, no one valued it enough to include it. (Except for the "Seven Album" set which simply has the entire "Wonderful, Wonderful album.) What does this say about my taste?Johnny Mathis has said that he wishes he was a better singer when he was young. But in the late 5O’s he had a voice which was far beyond the capacity of any other young male singer in the business. Sam Cooke and Johnny Nash, as well as many others, tried... but they couldn’t copy Johnny. The nuanced lyrical intimate tender beauty of the young Johnny Mathis was absolutely unique. No one else could do what young Johnny could do. And we may never hear the likes of it again.

I love the melodic voice of Johnny Mathis. They do not have voices like his these days and they will probably never have again. I loved it when a singer came out on stage wearing his finest tuxedo and his voice was the only gimmick he needed. Now anything goes. That is why I only listen to the musical talents of the past. Because the infamous, so called singers of today have no talent!

Excellent! The reason for the 4 star vise 5 is the added holiday Christmas music; I don't believe the addition of this music serves any purpose and there is no way of hearing when it will appear in the list of music since there are no titles on the discs. What you hear is what you got. To put it in vegas terms, its a crap shoot.

Johnny Mathis is a national treasure! His voice is his own. Uncluttered and unfettered by electronic foo-foo that today attempts to pass off the talentless as somehow talented, Mathis is a singer of exceptional quality whose voice will continue to touch the hearts and souls of any that happen to own them. Like Sinatra, we will never see and hear such a talent again.

"How Sweet it Is!" What a velvety voice! What an amazing range! I can remember this image, from back in the Sixties. This young, teenage girl, named Betty. Her hair wrapped in curlers, she was ironing clothes--out on her front lawn!. This was on a Saturday morning, and she was dreamily listening to Johnny Mathis singing "The Twelfth of Never," as it gently wafted through her front screen door.... Ah! Those were so much simpler times, than now...

Digitally remastered on 4 CDs I purchased both these collections which at the price were a bargain. I have liked Johnny Mathis for some 50 odd years now this collection of his early works shows the magic of Johnny Mathis at his best.

The best value I've ever seen of Johnny. Great albums at a great price!Highly recommended as is Volume 2!

Fantastic & a great price too

YES IT'S A CLASSIC MATHIS ALBUM SET.

well pleased with this cd

Simply fantastic voice , with fantastic music, he is simply one of the best .

Great collection of songs, beautifully sung and really inexpensive considering what you are getting.

Mum loves it

absolutely great

what an amazing cd. His voice is simply devine. Seven wonderful cds. Love thesongs

OK

Great cd set 👍 just chill n' relax !! ( with a beer or 2 !!😄

brilliant value , highly recommended

good

EXCELLENT produit à un très bon prix. Je vous recommande ce coffret CD qui est en passant un album très complet pour tous les bons collectionneurs de musiques rétro. Vous y entendrez 84 chansons réunis sur 4 CD. Ce coffret contient un total de 7 albums. Qui sont :- JOHNNY MATHIS sortie en 1956Autumn in RomeEasy to loveStreet of dreamsLove, your magic spell is everywherePrelude to a kissBabaluCaravanFly me to the moonStar EyesIt might as well be springCabin in the skyAngel eyes- WONDERFUL, WONDERFUL sortie en 1957Will I find my love todayLookink at youLet me love youAll through the nightIt could happen to youThat old black magicToo close for comfortIn the wee small hours of the morningYear after yearEarly autumnYou stepped out of a dreamDay in, day out- WARM sortie en 1957WarmMy one and only loveBaby, baby, babyA handful of starsBy myselfI’ve grown accustomed to her faceThen I’ll be tired of youI’m glad there is youWhat’ll I doThe lovely things you doThere goes my heartWhile we’re young- GOOD NIGHT, DEAR LORD sortie en 1958Good night, dear lordSwing low, sweet chariotMay the good lord bless and keep youI heard a forest prayingThe RosaryOne godDeep riverWhere can I goEli EliKol nidreAve MariaAve Maria- SWING SOFTLY sortie en 1958You hit the spotIt’s de-lovelyGet me to the church on timeLike someone in loveYou’d be so nice to come home toLove walked inThis heart of mineTo be in loveSweet LorraineCan’t get out of this moodI’ve got the world on a stringEasy to say (But hard to do)- MERRY CHRISTMAS sortie en 1958Winter wonderlandThe Christmas songSleigh rideBlue ChristmasI’ll be home for ChristmasWhite ChristmasO holy nightWhat child is this (Greensleeves)The first NoelSilver bellsIt came upon a midnight clearSilent night, holy night- OPEN FIRE, TWO GUITAR sortie en 1959An open fireBye bye blackbirdIn the still of the nightEmbraceable youI’ll be seeing youTenderlyWhen I fall in loveI concentrate on youPlease be kingYou’ll never knowI’m just a boy in loveMy funny valentineVous y entendrez des perles rares de ses succès, que ce soit des chansons ballades, pop et de Noël. Ne manquer pas cette chance.