Live It Up! (Johnny Mathis album)
| Live It Up! | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | December 11, 1961[1] | |||
| Recorded | April 24–25, 1961[1] | |||
| Genre | Vocal[2] | |||
| Length | 37:29 | |||
| Label | Columbia | |||
| Producer | Irving Townsend[3] | |||
| Johnny Mathis chronology | ||||
| ||||
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.[4] it also debuted on the Cashbox albums chart in the issue dated February 17, 1962, and remained on the chart for the totals of 40 weeks, peaking at number eight.[5]
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.[6] Live It Up! was also included in Legacy's Mathis box set The Voice of Romance: The Columbia Original Album Collection, which was released on December 8, 2017.[7]
Reception
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Billboard | positive[8] |
| New Record Mirror | 5/5[9] |
| The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [10] |
Billboard was enthusiastic. "This is easily one of Mathis's best albums",[8] they wrote. "He's really in a swingin' mood, and he gets standout arrangements to match from Nelson Riddle."[8]
Cashbox claims Mathis "soft, feelingful tones are expertly backed by the Nelson Riddle ork which provides a suitable accompaniment to his vocalizing in addition to being a sales plus."[11]
Variety wrote that "Johnny Mathis is in a peppy mood dishing out energetic vocal sounds that really bounce across the grooves."[12]
Jimmy Watson of New Record Mirror wrote "Johnny swings at mighty pace and lifts the songs right into new dressings."[9]
Track listing
Side one
- "Live It Up" (Alan Bergman, Marilyn Bergman) – 3:28
- "Just Friends" (John Klenner, Sam M. Lewis) – 4:01
- "Ace in the Hole" from Let's Face It! (Cole Porter) – 2:46
- "On a Cold and Rainy Day" (Lee Pockriss, Paul Vance) – 3:06
- "Why Not" (Otis G. Clements, Sydney Shaw) – 2:08
- "I Won't Dance" from Roberta (Dorothy Fields, Oscar Hammerstein II, Otto Harbach, Jerome Kern, Jimmy McHugh) – 3:58
Side two
- "Johnny One Note" from Babes in Arms (Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers) – 2:39
- "Too Much Too Soon" (Marvin Fisher, Jack Segal) – 2:51
- "The Riviera" (Cy Coleman, Joseph Allen McCarthy) – 3:03
- "Crazy in the Heart" (William Engvick, Alec Wilder) – 3:55
- "Hey, Look Me Over" from Wildcat (Coleman, Carolyn Leigh) – 1:48
- "Love" from Ziegfeld Follies (Ralph Blane, Hugh Martin) – 3:46
Charts
| Chart (1962) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| US Top LPs (Billboard)[4] | 14 |
| US Cash Box[5] | 8 |
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
- Johnny Mathis – vocals
- Irving Townsend – producer[3]
- Nelson Riddle – arranger and conductor[3]
- Bob Cato – cover photo[3]
- Curtis F. Brown – liner notes[3]
References
- ^ 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.
- ^ "Live It Up! - Johnny Mathis". allmusic.com. All Media Network, LLC. Retrieved November 8, 2016.
- ^ a b c d e (1962) Live It Up! by Johnny Mathis [album jacket]. New York: Columbia Records CS 8511.
- ^ a b Whitburn 2010, p. 503.
- ^ a b Hoffmann (1988), p. 244.
- ^ "I'll Buy You a Star/Live It Up! - Johnny Mathis". allmusic.com. All Media Network, LLC. Retrieved November 5, 2016.
- ^ "The Voice of Romance: The Columbia Original Album Collection - Johnny Mathis". allmusic.com. All Media Network, LLC. Retrieved November 14, 2015.
- ^ a b c "Spotlight Albums of the Week". Billboard. February 3, 1962. p. 24.
- ^ a b Watson, Jimmy (March 10, 1962). "Johnny Mathis: Live It Up" (PDF). New Record Mirror. No. 52. p. 10. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 1, 2022. Retrieved August 5, 2022.
- ^ Larkin, Colin (2007). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Omnibus Press. p. 922. ISBN 9781846098567. Retrieved March 11, 2025.
- ^ "Album Reviews: Popular Picks of the Week". Cash Box. Vol. 23, no. 20. February 10, 1962. p. 22.
- ^ "Variety Record Reviews: Mathis Live It, Kingston's Concert, Washington's Tears Top News LPs". Variety. Vol. 225, no. 10. January 31, 1962. p. 50.
Bibliography
- Whitburn, Joel (2010), Joel Whitburn Presents Top Pop Albums, Seventh Edition, Record Research Inc., ISBN 0-89820-183-7
- Hoffmann, Frank W (1988), The Cash box album charts, 1955-1974, Scarecrow Press, ISBN 0-810-82005-6