''Mathis Magic'' is an

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by American pop singer

Johnny Mathis John Royce Mathis (born September 30, 1935) is an American singer of popular music. Starting his career with singles of standard music, he became highly popular as an album artist, with several dozen of his albums achieving gold or platinum s ...

that was released on September 17, 1979, 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 ...

and contained an equal balance of new material and songs associated with other artists. Although this album did not make any appearances on ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' magazine's Top LPs & Tapes chart, it did reach number 59 during a four-week run on the UK album chart. On December 31 of that year the

British Phonographic Industry British Phonographic Industry (BPI) is the British recorded music industry's Trade association. It runs the BRIT Awards, the Classic BRIT Awards, National Album Day, is home to the Mercury Prize, and co-owns the Official Charts Company wi ...

awarded the album with Silver certification for sales of 60,000 units in the UK. On January 27, 2015, Funkytowngrooves gave ''Mathis Magic'' its first pressing on compact disc as one of two albums on one CD, the other album being Mathis's

Columbia Columbia may refer to: * Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America Places North America Natural features * Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region in ...

release from March 1978, '' You Light Up My Life''.

Reception

People A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of proper ...

'' magazine's review praises the album's disco arrangements of " Night and Day", "

That Old Black Magic "That Old Black Magic" is a 1942 popular song written by Harold Arlen (music), with the lyrics by Johnny Mercer. They wrote it for the 1942 film ''Star Spangled Rhythm'', when it was sung by Johnny Johnston and danced by Vera Zorina. The song wa ...

", and "To the Ends of the Earth": "While other singers have embarrassed themselves redoing such hallowed material, Mathis makes it work." The reviewer concludes, "Twenty-two years after his first hit, ' Wonderful, Wonderful', Mathis' voice and phrasing are as ingratiating as ever."

Track listing

Side one

# "No One but the One You Love" (Cheryl Christiansen, Arnold Goland, Jack Gold) – 3:14 # " Night and Day" from ''

Gay Divorce ''Gay Divorce'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter and book by Dwight Taylor, adapted by Kenneth Webb and Samuel Hoffenstein. It was Fred Astaire's last Broadway show and featured the hit song " Night and Day" in which Astaire da ...

'' (

Cole Porter Cole Albert Porter (June 9, 1891 – October 15, 1964) was an American composer and songwriter. Many of his songs became standards noted for their witty, urbane lyrics, and many of his scores found success on Broadway and in film. Born to ...

) – 5:03 # "Love" (

Gerard Kenny Gerard W. Kenny (born July 8, 1947, New York City, United States) is an American singer-songwriter, based in London, England. In 1981, he received the Ivor Novello Award for Best Television Theme Music for his song "I Could Be So Good for You", ...

, Drey Shepperd) – 3:48 # "My Body Keeps Changing My Mind" ( Leslie Pearl) – 3:42 # "

New York State of Mind "New York State of Mind" is a song written by Billy Joel that initially appeared on the album ''Turnstiles'' in 1976. Although it was never released as a single, it has become a fan favorite and a song that Joel plays regularly in concert. Joel ...

" (

Billy Joel William Martin Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American singer, pianist and songwriter. Commonly nicknamed the " Piano Man" after his album and signature song of the same name, he has led a commercially successful career as a solo artist since th ...

) – 5:18

Side two

# "

She Believes in Me "She Believes in Me" is a song recorded by American country music singer Kenny Rogers. It was released in April 1979 as the second single from his 1978 album '' The Gambler''. The song was written by American singer-songwriter Steve Gibb (not to ...

" (Steve Gibb) – 4:22 # "

" (

Harold Arlen Harold Arlen (born Hyman Arluck; February 15, 1905 – April 23, 1986) was an American composer of popular music, who composed over 500 songs, a number of which have become known worldwide. In addition to composing the songs for the 1939 film ...

Johnny Mercer John Herndon Mercer (November 18, 1909 – June 25, 1976) was an American lyricist, songwriter, and singer, as well as a record label executive who co-founded Capitol Records with music industry businessmen Buddy DeSylva and Glenn E. Wallich ...

) – 5:43 # "You Saved My Life" performed with

Stephanie Lawrence Stephanie Lawrence (16 December 1949 – 4 November 2000) was a British musical theatre actress. Background Stephanie Lawrence was born in 1949 in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. She was the daughter of a Welsh singer, to whom sh ...

(Chris Arnold, Geoff Morrow) – 2:50 # " To the Ends of the Earth" ( Joe Sherman, Noel Sherman) – 2:53 # "Heart, Soul, Body and Mind" (

Ben Peters Ben James Peters (born Greenville, Mississippi, June 20, 1933; died Nashville, Tennessee, May 25, 2005) was an American country music songwriter who wrote many #1 songs. Charley Pride recorded 68 of his songs and 6 of them went to #1 on the Americ ...

) – 4:10

Recording dates

From the liner notes for '' The Voice of Romance: The Columbia Original Album Collection'': *June 5, 1979 – "Night and Day", "That Old Black Magic" *July 9, 1979 – "No One but the One You Love", "She Believes in Me", "You Saved My Life" *July 23, 1979 – "Heart, Soul, Body and Mind", "Love", "My Body Keeps Changing My Mind", "To the Ends of the Earth" *September 5, 1979 – "New York State of Mind"

Song information

Leo Reisman & His Orchestra's recording of " Night and Day" with

Fred Astaire Fred Astaire (born Frederick Austerlitz; May 10, 1899 – June 22, 1987) was an American dancer, choreographer, actor, and singer. He is often called the greatest dancer in Hollywood film history. Astaire's career in stage, film, and tele ...

on vocal spent 10 weeks at number one in ''

'' magazine in 1933.

's "

" first appeared on his 1976 album ''

Turnstiles A turnstile (also called a turnpike, gateline, baffle gate, automated gate, turn gate in some regions) is a form of gate which allows one person to pass at a time. A turnstile can be configured to enforce one-way human traffic. In addition, a t ...

''. "

" by

Kenny Rogers Kenneth Ray Rogers (August 21, 1938 – March 20, 2020) was an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2013. Rogers was particularly popular with country audiences but also charted m ...

received Gold certification from the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/ ...

. after reaching number five on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and spending two weeks at number one on the magazine's

Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quiet ...

and

Country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, whil ...

charts.

Glenn Miller Alton Glen Miller (March 1, 1904 – December 15, 1944) was an American big band founder, owner, conductor, composer, arranger, trombone player and recording artist before and during World War II, when he was an officer in the United States Arm ...

& His Orchestra's version of "

", which featured Skip Nelson and

The Modernaires The Modernaires was an American vocal group, best known for performing in the 1940s alongside Glenn Miller. Career The Modernaires began in 1934 as "Don Juan, Two and Three," a trio of schoolmates from Lafayette High School in Buffalo, New ...

on vocal, enjoyed a week at number one in 1943, and

Nat King Cole Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's music career began after he dropped out of school at the age of 15, and continued f ...

made it to number 25

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * ''Pop'' (G ...

with "To the Ends of the Earth" in 1956..

Personnel

From the liner notes for the original album: *

– vocals *

– vocals ("You Saved My Life"), vocal harmony ("No One but the One You Love") *Jack Gold – producer *

Gene Page Eugene Edgar Page Jr. (September 13, 1939 – August 24, 1998) was an American conductor, composer, arranger and record producer, most active from the mid-1960s through the mid-1980s. His sound can be heard in the arrangements he did for Jeffe ...

– arranger, conductor *Dick Bogert – engineer *Jo-Anne Steinberg – production coordinator *David Vance – photographer *

Michael Boddicker Michael Lehmann Boddicker (born January 19, 1953) is an American film composer and session musician, specializing in electronic music. He is a three times National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (N.A.R.A.S.) Most Valuable Player "Synthes ...

– synthesizer ("Night and Day", "To the Ends of the Earth") * Eddie Bongo – congas ("Night and Day", "That Old Black Magic", "To the Ends of the Earth") *

Oscar Brashear Oscar Brashear (born August 18, 1944) is an American jazz trumpeter

References

Bibliography

* * * * {{Authority control 1979 albums Johnny Mathis albums Albums arranged by Gene Page Columbia Records albums Albums recorded at A&M Studios