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My primary interest in buying (again - I already owned the USA Collectibles release) this UK collection was for the new remastering, and because of the SOLITAIRE album. Among Andy's many many Lps of covering current chart hits, (I always had the feeling he or his producers just lifted whatever was the #1 or #2 hits of the previous 3 months and went into the studio and presto! The newest Andy Williams album...) this one was produced by a man who should have had co-star billing with Mr. Williams, Richard Perry. A genius with taste, who really knew how to get the best from the artists he produced and to find perfect material for their particular talents. And this album is among the finest, as far as I am concerned, of the 1970's recording. (The early to latish 60's recordings were all practically perfect as Andy sang the great standards and Broadway songs his voice was such a match for.) The SOLITAIRE song selections are superb; some familiar, some not, but what raises this from just another album of covers to something much finer, is that instead of just doing a somewhat close duplicate of the original hit, a bit more orchestrated, perhaps, Mr. Perry as producer, supplies both arrangements and musicians to this project that manages to find something new in the familiar material and bring the emotional content of the lyric to a fresh place. Not to mention that it is totally refreshing and a treat to have a good 3/4's of the album with Andy singing new or lesser known songs....
The other 3 albums in this release are all pleasant. Andy's version of THE GODFATHER is certainly inspired singing.
The remastering is great. The strings don't sound compressed and squeezed as on the Collectibles earlier release of these titles, and the sound is very spacious considering the time in the 1970's they were recorded. The Andy Williams USA previous releases sound ok, and acceptable enough. But to hear where a fresh remastering in the 21st century takes one is usually a thrill, sonically. Like Andy was still around recording instead of contemplating the 6 years (now in 2018) he has been gone.....
In a way, sitting here listening to Andy singing with that voice which just produced such perfect vocal production those top charting pop hit songs of the last century, marks that era, certainly,and perhaps having recorded them, he contributes to adding many of those tunes to the Great American Songbook. Andy's legacy.
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Brian Walley
Just sit back and just imagine that YOU are Andy Williams and you are about to go on stage
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 25, 2017