Live It Up! (Johnny Mathis album)

Live It Up!
Studio album by
Johnny Mathis
ReleasedDecember 11, 1961[1]
RecordedApril 24–25, 1961[1]
GenreVocal[2]
Length37:29
LabelColumbia
ProducerIrving Townsend[3]
Johnny Mathis chronology
Portrait of Johnny
(1961) 		Live It Up!
(1961) 		Rapture
(1962)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Billboardpositive[4]
New Record Mirror5/5[5]

Live It Up! is an album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released on December 11, 1961,[1] by Columbia Records and was the second of two album collaborations with arranger and conductor Nelson Riddle. The singer again eschewed ballads as he had on Swing Softly and selected a balance of new and established material.

The album debuted on Billboard magazine's album chart in the issue dated February 24, 1962, to begin a stay of 39 weeks, during which time it got as high as number 14.[6]

This album was released for the first time on compact disc in a two-disc set with his other Riddle project, 1961's I'll Buy You A Star, on June 9, 2009.[7]

Reception

Billboard was enthusiastic. "This is easily one of Mathis's best albums",[4] they wrote. "He's really in a swingin' mood, and he gets standout arrangements to match from Nelson Riddle."[4]

Track listing

Side one

  1. "Live It Up" (Alan Bergman, Marilyn Bergman) – 3:28
  2. "Just Friends" (John Klenner, Sam M. Lewis) – 4:01
  3. "Ace in the Hole" from Let's Face It! (Cole Porter) – 2:46
  4. "On a Cold and Rainy Day" (Lee Pockriss, Paul Vance) – 3:06
  5. "Why Not" (Otis G. Clements, Sydney Shaw) – 2:08
  6. "I Won't Dance" from Roberta (Dorothy Fields, Oscar Hammerstein II, Otto Harbach, Jerome Kern, Jimmy McHugh) – 3:58

Side two

  1. "Johnny One Note" from Babes in Arms (Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers) – 2:39
  2. "Too Much Too Soon" (Marvin Fisher, Jack Segal) – 2:51
  3. "The Riviera" (Cy Coleman, Joseph Allen McCarthy) – 3:03
  4. "Crazy in the Heart" (William Engvick, Alec Wilder) – 3:55
  5. "Hey, Look Me Over" from Wildcat (Coleman, Carolyn Leigh) – 1:48
  6. "Love" from Ziegfeld Follies (Ralph Blane, Hugh Martin) – 3:46

Recording dates

From the liner notes for The Voice of Romance: The Columbia Original Album Collection:[1]

  • April 24, 1961 — "Ace in the Hole", "Johnny One Note", "Just Friends", "Live It Up", "The Riviera"
  • April 25, 1961 — "Crazy in the Heart", "Hey, Look Me Over", "I Won't Dance", "Love", "On a Cold and Rainy Day", "Too Much Too Soon", "Why Not"

Personnel

References

  1. ^ a b c d (2017) The Voice of Romance: The Columbia Original Album Collection by Johnny Mathis [CD booklet]. New York: Sony Music Entertainment 88985 36892 2.
  2. ^ "Live It Up! - Johnny Mathis". allmusic.com. All Media Network, LLC. Retrieved 8 November 2016.
  3. ^ a b c d e (1962) Live It Up! by Johnny Mathis [album jacket]. New York: Columbia Records CS 8511.
  4. ^ a b c "Spotlight Albums of the Week". Billboard. 1962-02-03. p. 24.
  5. ^ Watson, Jimmy (10 March 1962). "Johnny Mathis: Live It Up" (PDF). New Record Mirror. No. 52. p. 10. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 April 2022. Retrieved 5 August 2022.
  6. ^ Whitburn 2010, p. 503.
  7. ^ "I'll Buy You a Star/Live It Up! - Johnny Mathis". allmusic.com. All Media Network, LLC. Retrieved 5 November 2016.

Bibliography

  • Whitburn, Joel (2010), Joel Whitburn Presents Top Pop Albums, Seventh Edition, Record Research Inc., ISBN 0-89820-183-7