The Hollywood Musicals is an album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis and American composer/conductor Henry Mancini that was released on October 17, 1986,[1] by Columbia Records. This project heralded Mathis's return to the genre of traditional pop, which he would revisit occasionally over the next few decades.
The album peaked at number 46 during an eight-week run on the UK album chart that began on December 13 of that year[4] and received Silver certification from the British Phonographic Industry for sales of 60,000 units in the UK.[5] It also spent two weeks on Billboard magazine's Top Pop Albums chart in January 1987 and made it to number 197.[6]
As The Broadway Album did for Streisand, The Hollywood Musicals brought Mathis back into familiar territory. He had spent the first 10 years of his recording career sticking with easy listening fare, but his 1966 LPThe Shadow of Your Smile included covers of two songs by The Beatles ("Michelle" and "Yesterday")[11] and became his first album to reach the top 10 since 1960's The Rhythms and Ballads of Broadway and the first to receive Gold certification since 1959's Faithfully.[6] Contemporary music became a Mathis album mainstay from that point on, but many of his releases from the 1970s made room for one or two classics such as "Since I Fell for You",[12] "Stardust",[13] "All the Things You Are",[14] and "That Old Black Magic".[15] By the mid-80s, however, his studio albums were focused more on original material, so much so that his 1985 effort, Right from the Heart, left out not only anything reminiscent of those early pop hits but also any covers of recent radio favorites as well. Whereas that album failed to chart in either the US or the UK, his 1983 UK concert album Unforgettable – A Musical Tribute to Nat King Cole was his best-selling disc, in terms of British Phonographic Industry standards, since That's What Friends Are For, his 1978 pairing with Deniece Williams.[5] Even though this success was on a much smaller scale than was available from the US buying public, the sales phenomena that was also enjoyed by both Ronstadt and Streisand in the US only underscored the interest in material that was in such sharp contrast to his recent output.
The 1993 box set The Music of Johnny Mathis: A Personal Collection includes his recording of a song from the 1944 Disney film The Three Caballeros, "Baía (Na Baixa do Sapateiro)", which had been recorded for this album but not included in the final track selection.[16] Another Disney song from this session that didn't make the cut, "Brazil (Aquarela do Brasil)" from Saludos Amigos, had its debut release on the 1998 compilation The Ultimate Hits Collection.[17]
Liner notes adapted from The Hollywood Musical by Clive Hirschhorn
References
^ abcd(2017) The Voice of Romance: The Columbia Original Album Collection by Johnny Mathis [CD booklet]. New York: Sony Music Entertainment 88985 36892 2.
^ abc(1986) The Hollywood Musicals by Johnny Mathis [album jacket]. New York: Columbia Records FC 40372.
