''Wonderful, Wonderful'' is the second

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 ...

. It was released on July 8, 1957, on the

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 ...

label but does not include his hit song of the same name or any of his songs that were released as singles that year. The liner notes on the back of the original album cover proclaim that "he stamps as his very own such familiar rhythm tunes as '

Too Close for Comfort ''Too Close for Comfort'' is an American sitcom television series that aired on ABC from November 11, 1980, to May 5, 1983, and in first-run syndication from April 7, 1984, to February 7, 1987. Its name was changed to ''The Ted Knight Show'' whe ...

' and '

That Old Black Magic "That Old Black Magic" is a 1942 popular music, 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 Johnnie Johnston, Johnny Johnston and da ...

', injects new life in well-known ballads such as ' All Through the Night', gives new hearings to several fine standards that have been neglected in recent years, and even introduces a brand new ballad (Alex Fogarty's 'Will I Find My Love Today?')." This sophomore effort debuted 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 advertise ...

'' magazine's list of the 25 Best-Selling Pop LPs in the issue dated September 9 of that year and reached number four during its 26 weeks there.. The album was initially only available in the monaural format but was reissued in 1962 with a banner added to the original cover that read, "Electronically Re-channeled for Stereo". It was issued in Great Britain by

Fontana Records Fontana Records is a record label that was started in the 1950s as a subsidiary of the Dutch Philips Records. The independent label distributor Fontana Distribution takes its name from the label. History Fontana started in the 1950s as a subs ...

in 1957 with a different jacket design and cover photo and was released for the first time on compact disc on May 14, 2001, as one of two albums on one CD, the other LP being the UK version of his self-titled 1956 debut.

Reception

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

's Joe Viglione had high praise for Mathis here. "Even at the outset of his career, the voice that would become so familiar is in control and not just flirting with perfection -- the instrument is perfectly tuned and full of life." The reviewer also wrote, "The production is sublime and the album is a real treasure" and that "Jimmy Abato's alto sax and Ernie Royal's trumpet do wonders next to Mathis's voice."

Track listing

Side one

#"Will I Find My Love Today?" (Alex Fogarty, Sydney Shaw) – 3:32 #"Looking at You" (

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 ...

) – 2:16 #"Let Me Love You" (

Bart Howard Bart Howard (born Howard Joseph Gustafson, June 1, 1915 – February 21, 2004) was an American composer and songwriter, most notably of the jazz standard "Fly Me to the Moon", which has been performed by Kaye Ballard, Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, ...

) – 3:47 #" All Through the Night" from ''

Anything Goes ''Anything Goes'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. The original book was a collaborative effort by Guy Bolton and P. G. Wodehouse, heavily revised by the team of Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. The story concerns madcap ant ...

'' (Porter) – 2:56 #" It Could Happen to You" from ''

And the Angels Sing ''And the Angels Sing'' is a 1944 musical film directed by George Marshall and starring Dorothy Lamour, Fred MacMurray, and Betty Hutton. Released by Paramount Pictures, it is a classic example of a film written to capitalize on the title of a p ...

'' ( Johnny Burke,

Jimmy Van Heusen James Van Heusen (born Edward Chester Babcock; January 26, 1913 – February 6, 1990) was an American composer. He wrote songs for films, television and theater, and won an Emmy and four Academy Awards for Best Original Song. Life and care ...

) – 3:47 #"

" (

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 ...

) – 2:51

Side two

" from '' Mr. Wonderful'' (

Jerry Bock Jerrold Lewis Bock (November 23, 1928November 3, 2010) was an American musical theater composer. He received the Tony Award for Best Musical and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama with Sheldon Harnick for their 1959 musical ''Fiorello!'' and the Tony A ...

George David Weiss George David Weiss (April 9, 1921 – August 23, 2010) was an American songwriter and arranger, who was a president of the Songwriters Guild of America. He is an inductee in the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Biography Weiss was born in a Jewish fa ...

Larry Holofcener Lawrence Holofcener (February 23, 1926 – March 4, 2017) was an American-British sculptor, poet, lyricist, playwright, novelist, actor and director. He held British and American dual citizenship. Early life Holofcener was born in Baltimore, Ma ...

) – 2:34 #"

In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning "In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning" is a 1955 popular song composed by David Mann, with lyrics by Bob Hilliard. It was introduced as the title track of Frank Sinatra's 1955 album '' In the Wee Small Hours''. Background Mann and Hilliard wr ...

" ( David Mann,

Bob Hilliard Bob Hilliard (born Hilliard Goldsmith; January 28, 1918 – February 1, 1971) was an American lyricist. He wrote the words for the songs: " Alice in Wonderland", "In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning", " Any Day Now", "Dear Hearts and Gentle ...

) – 3:13 #"Year After Year" (Howard) – 3:12 #"

Early Autumn ''Early Autumn'' is a 1926 novel by Louis Bromfield. It won the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel in 1927. In 1956, producer Benedict Bogeaus announced that he was adapting the book into a film to be titled "Conquest," but the film was never made. ...

" (

Ralph Burns Ralph Joseph P. Burns (June 29, 1922 – November 21, 2001) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger. Early life Burns was born in Newton, Massachusetts, United States, where he began playing the piano as a child. In 1938, he attend ...

Woody Herman Woodrow Charles Herman (May 16, 1913 – October 29, 1987) was an American jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, singer, and big band leader. Leading groups called "The Herd", Herman came to prominence in the late 1930s and was active until his dea ...

) – 3:38 #"

You Stepped Out of a Dream "You Stepped Out of a Dream" is a popular song with music written by Nacio Herb Brown and lyrics by Gus Kahn that was published in 1940. The song has become a pop and jazz standard, with many recorded versions. It was a centerpiece in the 1941 mu ...

" from ''

Ziegfeld Girl Ziegfeld Girls were the chorus girls and showgirls from Florenz Ziegfeld's theatrical Broadway revue spectaculars known as the ''Ziegfeld Follies'' (1907–1931), in New York City, which were based on the Folies Bergère of Paris. Descripti ...

'' (

Nacio Herb Brown Ignacio Herbert "Nacio Herb" Brown (February 22, 1896 – September 28, 1964) was an American songwriter, writer of popular songs, movie scores and Broadway theatre music in the 1920s through the early 1950s. Amongst his most enduring work ...

Gus Kahn Gustav Gerson Kahn (November 6, 1886October 8, 1941) was an American lyricist who contributed a number of songs to the Great American Songbook, including "Pretty Baby", "Ain't We Got Fun?", "Carolina in the Morning", "Toot, Toot, Tootsie (Goo' By ...

) – 2:44 #" Day In, Day Out" (

Rube Bloom Reuben Bloom (April 24, 1902 – March 30, 1976) was an American songwriter, pianist, arranger, band leader, recording artist, vocalist, and author. Life and career Bloom was born and died in New York City. He was Jewish. During his career, he wo ...

, Mercer) – 2:08

Recording dates

From the liner notes for '' The Voice of Romance: The Columbia Original Album Collection'': *March 27, 1957 — "Early Autumn", "In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning", "It Could Happen to You", "Let Me Love You" *March 28, 1957 — "All Through the Night", "Will I Find My Love Today?", "Year After Year", "You Stepped Out of a Dream" *April 1, 1957 — "Day In, Day Out", "Looking at You", "That Old Black Magic", "Too Close for Comfort"

Personnel

*Johnny Mathis – vocals *

George Avakian George Mesrop Avakian (; russian: Геворк Авакян; March 15, 1919 – November 22, 2017) was an American record producer, artist manager, writer, educator and executive. Best known for his work from 1939 to the early 1960s at Decca Re ...

– producer *

Percy Faith Percy Faith (April 7, 1908 – February 9, 1976) was a Canadian-American bandleader, orchestrator, composer and conductor, known for his lush arrangements of pop and Christmas standards. He is often credited with popularizing the "easy listenin ...

– arranger (except as noted); conductor *Bob Prince – arranger ("Day In, Day Out", "Looking at You", "Too Close for Comfort") *Jimmy Abato – alto sax *

Ernie Royal Ernest Andrew Royal (June 2, 1921 in Los Angeles, California – March 16, 1983 in New York City) was a jazz trumpeter. His older brother was clarinetist and alto saxophonist Marshal Royal, with whom he appears on the classic Ray Charles big ban ...

– trumpet *Normand Menard – photography

References

Bibliography

* {{Authority control 1957 albums Johnny Mathis albums Columbia Records albums Albums arranged by Percy Faith Albums conducted by Percy Faith Albums produced by George Avakian Albums recorded at CBS 30th Street Studio