Isn't It Romantic: The Standards Album

Isn't It Romantic: The Standards Album

Editorial Reviews
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Although his commercial triumphs rivaled Frank Sinatra's during his late 1950s breakthrough, Johnny Mathis the pop singer could seem both overshadowed and confined by that early success in the years since. But this rich, often warmly surprising entry into the contemporary Pop Standard Reinterpretation Sweepstakes finds a singer more artistically focused than he's been in years, employing a voice that remains one for the ages. His definition of "standard" here is variously classic (the majestic title track and "Love is Here to Stay"), loose (a take on Jobim's lilting "Dindi" that's the perfect showcase for every delicate nook of the singer's vibrato-rich tenor) and left-field (Herman's Hermits' brit-invasion hit "A Kind of Hush" perfectly recast as prime Mathis ballad), but his performances flow with a deceptively effortless grace that's a tribute to his nearly half-century as a recording artist. Producer/arranger Jorge Callandrelli frames Mathis in spare orchestral backdrops that allow him ample space to soar, then nudge him gently into swing mode on "This Can't Be Love" and "Day By Day." The album closes with an evocative, de facto medley pairing a magically innocent, if unlikely cover of The Muppets' "Rainbow Connection" with Mathis' duet with Ray Charles on "Over the Raindbow," culled from the r&b legend's final album. --Jerry McCulley

Isn't It Romantic: The Standards Album, Music, Johnny Mathis, Ballads, Pop, Pop Vocals, Show Tunes, Traditional Pop, United States of America, Vocal, Vocal Pop

Isn't It Romantic: The Standards Album

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