I've Gotta Be Me (Tony Bennett album)

I've Gotta Be Me
Studio album by
Tony Bennett
ReleasedEarly August 1969[1]
RecordedNovember 25, 1968 (#6, 8)
January 17, 1969 (#2, 11)
February 25, 1969 (#4, 7, 10)
March 27, 1969 (#1, 3, 5, 9)
StudioColumbia 30th Street (New York City)
GenreVocal jazz
Length36:10
LabelColumbia
CS 9882
ProducerJimmy Wisner
Tony Bennett chronology
Snowfall: The Tony Bennett Christmas Album
(1968) 		I've Gotta Be Me
(1969) 		Tony Sings the Great Hits of Today!
(1970)

I've Gotta Be Me is an album by American singer Tony Bennett,[2] originally released in 1969 on Columbia as CS 9882.

The album debuted on the Billboard Top LPs chart in the issue dated September 6, 1969, and remained on the album chart for 5 weeks, peaking at No. 137[3]

The album was released on compact disc for the first time by Beat Goes On on June 30, 2009 as tracks 11 through 13 on a pairing of two albums on one CD with tracks 1 through 10 consisting of Bennett's studio album from December 1967, For Once in My Life.[4]

On November 8, 2011, Sony Music Distribution included the CD in a box set entitled The Complete Collection.[5]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music[6]

In A Biographical Guide to the Great Jazz and Pop Singers, Will Friedwald described the album as "Terrific Album."[7]

Track listing

  1. "I've Gotta Be Me" (Walter Marks) – 2:54
  2. "Over the Sun" (Jamie Moran Aguirre, Arturo Castro) – 2:50
  3. "Play It Again, Sam" (Hal Hackady, Larry Grossman) – 3:43
  4. "Alfie" (Burt Bacharach, Hal David) – 3:21
  5. "What the World Needs Now Is Love" (Bacharach, David) – 2:44
  6. "Baby Don't You Quit Now" (Johnny Mercer, Jimmy Rowles) – 2:50
  7. "That Night" (Norman Gimbel, Lalo Schifrin) – 3:17
  8. "They All Laughed" (George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin) – 2:44
  9. "A Lonely Place" (Johnny Mandel, Paul Francis Webster) – 3:50
  10. "Whoever You Are, I Love You" (Bacharach, David) – 4:20
  11. "(Theme from) Valley of the Dolls" (André Previn, Dory Previn) – 3:37

Personnel

Strings

  • Charles McCraken, George Ricci, Alan Shulman, Harvey Shapiro, Tony Sophos – violoncello
  • Lamar Alsop, Max Cahn, Paul Gershman, Emanuel Green, Joe Malin, Marvin Morgenstern, George Ockner, Gene Orloff, John Pintavalle, Matthew Raimondi, Julius Schachter, Gerald Tarack, Raoul Polikian, Max Polikoff, Fred Buldrini, Sylvan Shulman – violin
  • Julien Barber, Al Brown, Theodore Israel, Richard Dickler, Harold Furmansky, Harry Zaratzian, Harold Colletta, Harold Furmansky, David Schwartz, Emanuel Vardi – viola

References

  1. ^ Billboard Aug 23, 1969
  2. ^ At Discogs
  3. ^ Whitburn, Joel (1996). Joel Whitburn's top pop albums : 1955-1996 : compiled from Billboard magazine's pop album charts, 1955-1996. Menomonee Falls, Wis.: Record Research. p. 74. ISBN 978-0-8982-0117-8.
  4. ^ "For Once in My Life/I've Gotta Be Me". AllMusic. Retrieved 8 October 2024.
  5. ^ "The Complete Collection - Tony Bennett". AllMusic. Retrieved 8 October 2024.
  6. ^ Larkin, Colin (2007). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Omnibus Press. p. 148. ISBN 9781846098567. Retrieved 2 November 2024.
  7. ^ Friedwald, Will (2010). A Biographical Guide to the Great Jazz and Pop Singers. Pantheon Books. p. 45. ISBN 9780375421495.