He Can Really Sing--Plus A Bonus!

Johnny Mathis is a silky-smooth black singer who has been covering pop music and showtunes since the 1950's. (I remember seeing him on the old "Mike Douglas Show" in the mid-60's.) The guy really can sing. He has a nice tenor range, good expression, and his breathing doesn't get in the way. In other words, he know's what he's doing.

This is a 4-CD boxed retrospective of tunes that Johnny selected himself. The time frame is mid-50's to early 90's. The composers run the gamut of American pop music: Sondheim, Rodgers & Hart, Bacharach, Gershwin, Bernstein, etc. You've heard some of these tunes a million times: "Maria", "Misty", "If" (the old David Gates/Bread song), "Tonight", "When Sunny Gets Blue", "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face". In fact, I played some of these songs a million times when I was playing in wedding bands with my dad when I was a kid.

The production is very nice. It comes in a large box with four jewel cases inside and 64 page booklet with liner notes, a discography, a lot of pictures. There is a lot of useful historical information in here. The song selection is wonderful.

I don't pretend to know a lot about this music except to say this: The musicianship is always competent and Mathis has a fine, beautiful voice. There's also a lot of nostalgia value here. It's inoffensive. Now, if you're Foo Fighters Fan, you probably won't like this. It's dated, a lot of it is sugary dreck, and to the say the least it doesn't rock. So, unless you're already a Mathis or Sinatra or Tony Bennett groupie, why buy this?

I'll tell you why: even if you ARE a Foo Fighters fan, you should buy this because this is the BEST MAKE-OUT MUSIC EVER RECORDED. PERIOD. Nothing else comes close. Nothing. I kid you not.

So, do yourself a favor. Invest a few bucks in something you might never, ever, ever buy on your own.

Trust me. I'm looking out for your better interests.