Going back in time with Johnny Mathis

Take a tip from me. Don’t ever, ever listen to Johnny Mathis and his hit songs unless you are ready to get moony eyed while walking in the clouds. I just did this a while ago and I found out that the experience could screw up schedules and put you in a romantic time warp. Now I am familiar with how Mathis sounds. But the only times I had really listened to him were to his old Broadway album and his Christmas songs which I must say, are truly great. I never really paid attention to his other recordings. So when I got this Retro Collection Series edition with 36 of his hits, I made it a point to listen to everything.

First cut My Love for You was OK. But then there came Chances Are and Misty and film clips began to swarm inside my head. When he got to Warm, I started wondering how he could sound so sexy without oohs and aahs or the explicit lyrics soul balladeers favor nowadays. Then came When Sunny Gets Blue, When I Am with You, A Certain Smile, Twelfth of Never and I got to thinking how the standard AABC ballad structure remains so timeless and effective. When he got to All the Time, It’s Not for Me to Say, Come to Me, Maria, Tonight, Wild is the Wind there was no way anymore to avoid getting lost in the magic of the songs. And it really felt so Wonderful! Wonderful!

I am sure that you too would be a goner by the time he gets to Gina, My Funny Valentine, Smile, Stranger in Paradise, There Goes My Heart, You Belong to Me, True Love, All Alone Am I, Love is a Many Splendored Thing, All the Things You Are, A Man and A Woman, Speak Softly Love, Where Do I Begin?, A Time for Us, The Summer Knows, I’ll Never Fall in Love Again, and others. Concert promoters out there had better get Mathis out here quick. He will surely pack the biggest venue available. The retro CD has 36 hits. If he does a concert with only 20 of those songs, it would still be fantastic although I would hate to imagine how hard it would be to get tickets to his show, more so if it were held during the Valentine season. No doubt about it a Mathis love song is one of the most romantic things imaginable.

The new Retro Collection Series has also released a double CD album featuring the hits of Jerry Vale. I do not know if Vale, one of the great Italian balladeers, who made a tux and white gloves his signature look is still actively performing. But if he is, I am sure that his local fans would be more than thrilled to hear him do his hits like Go Chase a Moonbeam and You Don’t Know Me live. Besides, it looks like the Philippines has a special place in his heart. The retro album opens with Your Love is Mine, an English version of the Mike Velarde classic Dahil Sa ‘yo that Vale learned during one of his Manila visits in the ’60s.

Other songs that I am sure Pinoys remember from Vale that are included in the CD are Two Purple Shadows, If, Innamorata, Just Say I Love Her, Return to Me, Pretend You Don’t See Her, Two Different Worlds, Arrivederci Roma, Volare, I Have But One Heart, Mama, Be My Love, Al Di La, Don’t Tell My Heart to Stop Loving You, You Belong to My Heart, Love Me with All Your Heart, More, Blue Velvet, Till the End of Time, The Story of a Starry Night, I’m Yours, Ramblin’ Rose and All Dressed Up with a Broken Heart.

There are two volumes featuring Ray Conniff and his singers in the Retro Collection. That means four classic Conniff LPs are now available on just two CDs. Unfortunately, my favorite did not make the cut. This is the album, which is made up of amusing two-song medleys. I believe this was the very first that Conniff ever did, long before he became very successful rearranging Top 40 materials. Among the cuts I remember are Bewitched Bothered and Bewildered with I Wish I Didn’t Love You So and Dancing in the Dark with Dancing on the Ceiling. My second favorite Send in the Clowns is not also included.

What the retro versions have are Love Story, Somewhere My Love, It Must Be Him and Harmony. The choices are perfectly understandable. The four LPs are made up of very big hits that have become extra memorable and therefore big favorites over the past 30 years. Among these are Music to Watch the Girls Go By, Something Stupid, Release Me, Don’t Sleep in the Subway, Up Up and Away, The Impossible Dream, Harmony, Touch Me in the Morning, How Can I Tell Her, Sweet Caroline, It’s Impossible, Come Saturday Morning, For the Good Times, El Condor Pasa, If I Could Read Your Mind, For All We Know, Downtown, Charade, Days of Wine and Roses, Yesterday Once More and others.

Make this a weekend for nostalgia tripping. Enjoy the Retro Collection Series.