[TR24][OF] Johnny Mathis - Johnny Mathis Sings The Music Of Bert Kaempfert - 1969/2018 (Vocal Jazz, Pop, Easy Listening, Oldies)

In a career spanning over 60 years, Johnny Mathis has always had an unerring ear for a song witness his new, 2017 album featuring his recordings of future standards by Adele, Bruno Mars, and Pharrell Williams. At the dawn of the 1970s, Mathis was celebrating the great songwriters of that day, too, with a double album entitled Johnny Mathis Sings the Music of Bacharach and Kaempfert. Real Gone Music and Second Disc Records are proud to inaugurate a series of Johnny’s greatest albums of the 1970s and beyond. First-ever reissue of The Music of Bacharach and Kaempfert. Bert Kaempfert may not have achieved the same name recognition in the U.S. as Burt Bacharach, but Kaempfert’s contributions to the standards songbook are indelible, thanks to such songs as “Danke Schoen,” “Spanish Eyes,” “Strangers in the Night,” and “L-O-V-E,” all of which are sung in Johnny’s inimitably intimate style on this collection. Johnny was joined by German arranger-conductor Herbert Rehbein, a close collaborator of Kaempfert’s, for these very special sessions. Johnny’s relationship with Burt Bacharach dated to the late 1950s with classics including “Heavenly” and “Faithfully.” Soon, Bacharach’s style would define the sound of the 1960s, and Johnny was bringing his individual stamp to “This Guy’s in Love with You,” “I Say a Little Prayer,” and “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again.” All of these songs and more are featured on Mathis’ Bacharach salute.
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“The 1970 double album Johnny Mathis Sings the Music of Bacharach & Kaempfert paired an LP of new recordings of Bert Kaempfert songs with a compilation of Burt Bacharach songs Mathis recorded between 1959 and 1969. Combining old material with new had the net effect of making Sings the Music of Bacharach & Kaempfert seem stuffier than its 1970 companion, Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head, which concentrated on recent charting hits that had been quickly adopted as modern standards. Certainly, a number of songs on this 26-track LP were also heavily covered during the late ’60s and early ’70s – Bacharach held the edge on frequency, although “Danke Schoen” and “Strangers in the Night” showed up a lot, too – but the sensibility of the package is firmly a throwback to the sound and feel of Mathis’ earliest hits. It’s all pleasant enough – and the ease of Mathis remains impressive – but as a collective experience, it’s a tad sleepy.” (Stephen Thomas Erlewine, AMG)