''Andy Williams' Greatest Hits Vol. 2'' is a

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...

by American pop singer

Andy Williams Howard Andrew Williams (December 3, 1927 – September 25, 2012) was an American singer. He recorded 43 albums in his career, of which 15 have been gold certified and three platinum certified. He was also nominated for six Grammy Awards. He hos ...

that was released in June 1973 by

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

. This collection follows in the footsteps of its predecessor, ''

Andy Williams' Greatest Hits ''Andy Williams' Greatest Hits'' is a compilation album by American pop singer Andy Williams that was released in early 1970 by Columbia Records. It was not, however, as its title might suggest, strictly a hit singles compilation, although som ...

'', in that it is not limited to his biggest and most recent hit singles, although his final two US

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or " con ...

entries ("

(Where Do I Begin) Love Story "(Where Do I Begin?) Love Story" is a popular song published in 1970, with music by Francis Lai and lyrics by Carl Sigman. The song was first introduced as an instrumental theme in the 1970 film '' Love Story'' after the film's distributor, Pa ...

" and " Speak Softly Love (Love Theme from 'The Godfather')") were included.. It also has an album track not released as a single ("

The Impossible Dream (The Quest) "The Impossible Dream (The Quest)" is a popular song composed by Mitch Leigh, with lyrics written by Joe Darion. The song is the most popular song from the 1965 Broadway musical '' Man of La Mancha'' and is also featured in the 1972 film of the sa ...

"), a couple of hits from his time with

Cadence Records Cadence Records was an American record company based in New York City whose labels had a picture of a metronome. It was founded by Archie Bleyer, who had been the musical director and orchestra leader for Arthur Godfrey in 1952. Cadence also laun ...

(" Lonely Street" and " The Village of St. Bernadette"), two other singles that could have been included on the first volume (" In the Arms of Love" and " Music to Watch Girls By"), and two

Easy Listening Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to 1970s. It is related to middle-of-the-road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit songs, n ...

chart entries that never made the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 ("

Home Lovin' Man "Home Lovin' Man" is a song written by Roger Cook, Roger Greenaway, and Tony Macaulay and performed by Andy Williams. The song reached #7 in the UK and #10 on the adult contemporary chart in 1970.. The front and back cover design for the LP (by Anne Garner and

Norman Seeff Norman Seeff (born March 5, 1939, in Johannesburg, South Africa) is a photographer and filmmaker. Since moving to the United States in 1969, his work has been focused on the exploration of human creativity and the inner dynamics of the creative ...

) shows Williams as he is bursting through a wall-sized collage of black-and-white images from various periods of his career, mainly involving the Williams Brothers and his variety program. While the front cover does not show the one foot that it would seem he is standing on, the back cover depicts the front cover setpiece as seen from the reverse angle behind him and is shot so that neither foot is touching the floor, as if to suggest that Williams is literally flying through the wall. The British CBS album of the same name had only three of its 12 tracks in common with those on this album and used a different cover photo and design. This U.S. release made its first appearance on the ''Billboard'' Top LP's & Tapes chart in the issue dated July 7, 1973, and remained there for five weeks, peaking at number 174. This album was released on compact disc for the first time by

in 1989. A Columbia 3-CD box set including this album along with the US versions of ''

'' and his 1971 album '' Love Story'' was released on August 12, 1997.

Reception

''Billboard'' magazine was pleasantly surprised. "Can time be slipping away so quickly that we now have a second volume of top tunes as interpreted with genuine skill by Andy? It seems like he was just singing these contemporary biggies only yesterday. But here they are in the all-familiar greatest hits package, rekindling memories of the artistry and beauty of such writers as

Jimmy Webb Jimmy Layne Webb (born August 15, 1946) is an American songwriter, composer, and singer. He has written numerous platinum-selling songs, including " Up, Up and Away", "By the Time I Get to Phoenix", "MacArthur Park", "Wichita Lineman", "Worst ...

, Sigman and

Lai Lai or LAI may refer to: Abbreviations * Austrian Latin America Institute (Österreichisches Lateinamerika-Institut) * ''Latin American Idol'', TV series * La Trobe Institute, Melbourne, Australia * Leaf area index, leaf area of a crop or ve ...

Leon Russell Leon Russell (born Claude Russell Bridges; April 2, 1942 – November 13, 2016) was an American musician and songwriter who was involved with numerous bestselling records during his 60-year career that spanned multiple genres, including rock and ...

Henry Mancini Henry Mancini ( ; born Enrico Nicola Mancini, ; April 16, 1924 – June 14, 1994) was an American composer, conductor, arranger, pianist and flautist. Often cited as one of the greatest composers in the history of film, he won four Academy Award ...

, etc. These songs are from Andy's

Dick Glasser Richard Eugene Glasser (December 8, 1933 – July 10, 2000) was a singer, songwriter, and record producer. Biography Glasser was born in Canton, Ohio, the third of eleven children and the oldest of five boys: subsequent to graduating Minerv ...

-Nick DeCaro dates of the past few years, and they incorporate all the richness and large orchestral settings that people associate with the veteran singer."

Track listing

Side one

# "

" (

Francis Lai Francis Albert Lai (; 26 April 19327 November 2018) was a French composer, noted for his film scores. He won the 1970 Oscar for Best Music, Original Score and the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score for the film '' Love Story''. The s ...

Carl Sigman Carl Sigman (September 24, 1909 – September 26, 2000) was an American songwriter. Early life Born in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, New York to a Jewish-American family, Sigman graduated from law school and passed his bar exams to practice in ...

) – 3:10 #* recorded on 12/17/70 and released on 1/13/71; ''Billboard'' Hot 100: #9,

: #1 (four weeks) # "

MacArthur Park MacArthur Park (originally Westlake Park) is a park dating back to the late 19th century in the Westlake, Los Angeles, Westlake neighborhood of Los Angeles. In the early 1940s, it was renamed after General Douglas MacArthur, and later designated ...

" (

) – 5:03 #*rec. 1/4/71, rel. 6/30/72;

Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles (also known as Bubbling Under the Hot 100) is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. The chart lists the top songs that have not yet charted on the main ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Chart ...

: #102, Easy Listening: #26 # "Music from Across the Way" (

James Last James Last (, ; born Hans Last; 17 April 1929 – 9 June 2015), also known as Hansi, was a German composer and big band leader of the James Last Orchestra. Initially a jazz bassist (Last won the award for "best bassist" in Germany in each of ...

, Sigman) – 3:45 #* rec. 6/10/71, rel. 12/14/71; Easy Listening: #30 # " The Village of St. Bernadette" (Eula Parker) – 3:22 #* rec. 11/19/59, rel. Nov. 1959; ''Billboard'' Hot 100: #7 # " Music to Watch Girls By" ( Sid Ramin, Tony Velona) – 2:38 #* rec. 2/21/67, rel. 3/2/67; ''Billboard'' Hot 100: #34, Easy Listening: #2

Side two

# " Speak Softly Love (Love Theme from 'The Godfather')" (

Larry Kusik Larry Kusik (also known as Larry Kusic) is a lyricist. He is perhaps best known for writing the lyrics for the tune "Speak Softly Love", the love theme from the 1972 film ''The Godfather''. He has also written lyrics to many other movie themes, incl ...

Nino Rota Giovanni Rota Rinaldi (; 3 December 1911 – 10 April 1979), better known as Nino Rota (), was an Italian composer, pianist, conductor and academic who is best known for his film scores, notably for the films of Federico Fellini and Luchino Visco ...

) – 3:05 #* rec. 2/18/72 & 2/24/72, rel. 3/3/72; ''Billboard'' Hot 100: #34, Easy Listening: #7 # " In the Arms of Love" (

Ray Evans Raymond Bernard Evans (February 4, 1915 – February 15, 2007) was an American songwriter. He was a partner in a composing and song-writing duo with Jay Livingston, known for the songs they composed for films. Evans wrote the lyrics and Living ...

Jay Livingston Jay Livingston (born Jacob Harold Levison, March 28, 1915 – October 17, 2001) was an American composer best known as half of a song-writing duo with Ray Evans that specialized in songs composed for films. Livingston wrote music and Evans t ...

) – 2:56 #* rec. 6/23/66, rel. 7/8/66; ''Billboard'' Hot 100: #49, Easy Listening: #1 (2 weeks) # "

" (

Joe Darion Joe Darion (30 January 1917 — 16 June 2001) was an American musical theatre lyricist, most famous for '' Man of La Mancha'', which is considered, by some critics, as a precursor to 1980s sung-through musicals such as '' Les Miserables''. Dario ...

Mitch Leigh Mitch Leigh (born Irwin Michnick; January 30, 1928March 16, 2014) was an American musical theatre composer and theatrical producer best known for the musical ''Man of La Mancha''. Biography Early years Leigh was born in Brooklyn, New York as Irw ...

) – 2:39 #*rec. 1968 for his album ''

Honey Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of plants (primar ...

'' # " Lonely Street" (

Carl Belew Carl Robert Belew (April 21, 1931 – October 31, 1990) was an American country music singer and songwriter. Belew recorded for Decca, RCA Victor, and MCA in the 1950s through 1970s, charting 11 times on Hot Country Songs. He also wrote singles f ...

, Kenny Sowder, W.S. Stevenson) – 2:46 #* rec. 8/23/59, rel. Aug. 1959; ''Billboard'' Hot 100: #5, Hot R&B Sides: #20. # "

Roger Greenaway Roger John Reginald Greenaway, (born 23 August 1938) is an English singer, songwriter and record producer, best known for his collaborations with Roger Cook. His compositions have included "You've Got Your Troubles" and the transatlantic mill ...

Tony Macaulay Tony Macaulay (born Anthony Gordon Instone; 21 April 1944) is an English author, composer for musical theatre, and songwriter. He has won the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors Award twice as 'Songwriter of the Year' (1970 an ...

) – 3:10 #* rec. 8/29/70, rel. 10/9/70; Easy Listening: #10 (1970), #27 (1972) # "

A Song for You "A Song for You" is a song written and originally recorded by rock singer and pianist Leon Russell for his first solo album '' Leon Russell'', which was released in 1970 on Shelter Records. A slow, pained plea for forgiveness and understandin ...

" (

) – 3:07 #* rec. 7/7/71, rel. 7/22/71; ''Billboard'' Hot 100: #82, Easy Listening: #29

Personnel

- vocals *

– producer ("Home Lovin' Man",(1972) ''

Alone Again (Naturally) "Alone Again (Naturally)" is a song by Irish singer-songwriter Gilbert O'Sullivan. It was recorded in 1972 at the same time as his album '' Back to Front'' and was a worldwide hit. The single spent six non-consecutive weeks at number one on ''Bi ...

'' by Andy Williams lbum jacket New York: Columbia Records KC 31625. "MacArthur Park",(1972) '' Love Theme from "The Godfather"'' by Andy Williams lbum jacket New York: Columbia Records KC 31303. "Music from Across the Way", "A Song for You",(1971) ''

You've Got a Friend "You've Got a Friend" is a 1971 song written by American singer, songwriter, and musician Carole King. It was first recorded by King and included on her second studio album, ''Tapestry'' (1971). Another well-known version is by James Taylor fr ...

'' by Andy Williams lbum jacket New York: Columbia Records KC 30797. "(Where Do I Begin?) Love Story",(1971) '' Love Story'' by Andy Williams lbum jacket New York: Columbia Records KC 30497. "Speak Softly Love (Love Theme from 'The Godfather')") *Nick DeCaro - arranger/producer ("The Impossible Dream", "Music to Watch Girls By") *Robert Mersey - arranger/conductor/producer ("In the Arms of Love") *

Archie Bleyer Archibald Martin Bleyer (June 12, 1909 – March 20, 1989) was an American song arranger, bandleader, and record company executive. Early life Bleyer was born in the Corona section of the New York City borough of Queens. His father was a well-kn ...

- arranger/conductor ("The Village of St. Bernadette"),(1960) '' The Village of St. Bernadette'' by Andy Williams lbum jacket New York: Cadence Records CLP-25038. conductor ("Lonely Street")(1959) '' Lonely Street'' by Andy Williams lbum jacket New York: Cadence Records CLP-25030. *Artie Butler - arranger ("Home Lovin' Man", "MacArthur Park") *Al Capps - arranger ("Speak Softly Love (Love Theme from 'The Godfather')") *

Ernie Freeman Ernest Aaron Freeman (August 16, 1922 – May 16, 1981) was an American pianist, organist, bandleader, and arranger. He was responsible for arranging many successful rhythm and blues and pop records from the 1950s to the 1970s. Birth and fam ...

- arranger ("Music from Across the Way", "A Song for You") *Carlyle Hall - arranger ("Lonely Street") * Dick Hazard - arranger ("(Where Do I Begin?) Love Story") *Anne Garner - design *

- design, photography

References

Bibliography

* * * * {{Andy Williams 1973 compilation albums Andy Williams compilation albums Albums produced by Dick Glasser Columbia Records compilation albums