Solitaire (Andy Williams album)


Solitaire is the thirty-first studio album by American pop singer Andy Williams, released in the fall of 1973 by Columbia Records and was an attempt to move away from his formulaic series of recent releases that relied heavily on songs that other artists had made popular.
The album made its first appearance on Billboard magazine's Top LP's & Tapes chart in the issue dated November 17, 1973, and remained there for six weeks, peaking at number 185. It entered the UK album chart the following month, on December 22, and stayed there for 26 weeks, during which time it made it all the way to number three. On January 1, 1974, the newly formed British Phonographic Industry awarded the album with Silver certification for sales of 60,000 units in the UK, and Gold certification from the BPI, for sales of 100,000 units, followed on January 1, 1975.
The first single from the album was the title track, which entered Billboard's list of the 40 most popular Easy Listening songs of the week in the U.S. in the issue dated October 6, 1973, and stayed on the chart for nine weeks, peaking at number 23. Although the song did not make the magazine's Hot 100, it did make the top five in the UK, where it entered the singles chart two months later, on December 8, and reached number four during an 18-week stay. Williams's rerecording of another song from the album, "Remember", as a duet with his daughter Noelle resulted in another Easy Listening chart entry as of the January 5, 1974, issue that made it to number 30 over the course of seven weeks. A third song, "Getting over You", entered the UK singles chart four months later, on May 18, and lasted there five weeks, eventually getting to number 35.
Solitaire was released on compact disc for the first time as one of two albums on one CD by Collectables Records on February 19, 2002, the other album being Williams's Columbia release from the fall of 1972, Alone Again . Collectables included this CD in a box set entitled Classic Album Collection, Vol. 2, which contains 15 of his studio albums and two compilations and was released on November 29, 2002. Solitaire was paired with the UK version of Alone Again as two albums on one CD by Sony Music Distribution in 2003.

History

In 1966 Williams began to shift the focus of the material he recorded for his studio projects for Columbia Records away from traditional pop by recording the Beatles ballads "Michelle" and "Yesterday" for his album The Shadow of Your Smile. Covers of contemporary pop hits edged out his usual album fare of standards completely with the release of his 1968 album Honey and would dominate his LPs into the early 1970s.
Williams justified his latest decision to change his way of selecting music to record in an interview with Billboard in 1973. "'Middle of the Road music has changed drastically in the past two years,' says Williams. 'Easy Listening radio now plays predominantly the softer new rock records, not cover versions by MOR artists. My Columbia albums of hit covers have all made money, but I feel it's time for me to move along with the market.'" The magazine's editor Nat Freedland wrote, "The total sound of the Solitaire LP is not drastically different from other Williams albums; pretty ballads and lush string backgrounds are still much in evidence. The most obvious differences are a new concentration on strong rhythm instrument core and predominance of previously unrecorded songs."
The singer also took on a new approach to recording the album. "Williams, who generally has never recorded his vocals until the entire instrumental tracks were finished, here found himself singing along with the all-star rock session men putting down his basic rhythm tracks. 'I think everybody agrees now that you get better results when the artist sings along with the rhythm track sessions, even if you erase the vocal track afterwards,' says Williams. Ever the perfectionist, Andy wound up taping new vocals over the finished instrumental tracks. 'I just felt I could do it a bit better than I did at the live sessions,' he explains."

Reception

William Ruhlmann of Allmusic took note of the new Williams sound. "One doesn't usually think of Andy Williams as someone ahead of the curve in popular music trends, but in 1973 he anticipated the comeback of Neil Sedaka by recording the songwriter's tune 'Solitaire' and using it as the title track and lead single of an album. Unfortunately, getting out in front of fashions is as commercially dicey as falling behind them, and while Sedaka himself went on to commercial resurgence in 1974 and "Solitaire" became a hit for the Carpenters in 1975, Williams did not benefit from his prescience."
Ruhlmann also points out the logic behind the change in format. "With his record sales falling, Williams did not make a spring album in 1973, waiting until the fall to issue Solitaire, on which he not only cut his interpretations of recent pop hits but also worked a little harder at song selection, resurrecting the Everly Brothers oldie 'Walk Right Back' and covering LP tracks by George Harrison and Nicky Hopkins. There was also an excellent movie song, 'Last Tango in Paris,' with lyrics by Dory Previn. In keeping with the tone of the title track, the arrangements and Williams's tone tended to emphasize melancholy, so that even 'You Are the Sunshine of My Life' sounded somewhat sad." Ruhlmann concludes, "Solitaire was a cut above most Andy Williams albums, but commercially that didn't matter. The singer had not found a way to reverse his career decline, and the album barely grazed the charts."

Track listing

This is the first Williams album that credits the musicians involved, and they are listed on the back cover of the LP with each track as follows:

Side one

  1. "Solitaire" - 4:22
  2. * Jim Keltner - drums
  3. * Lincoln Mayorga - piano
  4. * Jim Ryan - acoustic guitar
  5. * Tom Hensley - harpsichord
  6. * Red Rhodes - pedal steel guitar
  7. * Lyle Ritz - bass
  8. * Kirby Johnson - string and woodwind arrangement
  9. "Make It Easy for Me" - 3:12
  10. *Nicky Hopkins - piano
  11. *Louie Shelton - acoustic guitar
  12. *Vini Poncia - acoustic guitar
  13. *Klaus Voormann - bass
  14. *Hal Blaine - drums
  15. *Bud Shank - alto sax solo
  16. *Tom Scott - arrangement
  17. "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" - 3:11
  18. *Jim Keltner - drums
  19. *Joe Osborn - bass
  20. *Jimmy Calvert - electric guitar
  21. *Vini Poncia - acoustic guitar
  22. *John Morrell - acoustic guitar
  23. *Billy Fender - acoustic guitar
  24. *Tom Hensley - piano and choral arrangement
  25. *Tom Scott - string, horn and woodwind arrangement
  26. *Chuck Findley - flugelhorn solo
  27. "Getting over You" - 3:23
  28. *Klaus Voormann - bass
  29. *Jim Keltner - drums
  30. *Jimmy Calvert - electric guitar
  31. *Vini Poncia - acoustic guitar
  32. *Billy Fender - acoustic guitar
  33. *John Morrell - acoustic guitar
  34. *Tom Hensley - piano, string and horn arrangement
  35. "Remember" - 4:03
  36. *Nicky Hopkins - piano
  37. *Richard Bennett - acoustic guitar
  38. *John Morrell - mandolin
  39. *Tom Hensley - harpsichord
  40. *Gene Page - string arrangement

    Side two

  41. "That Is All" - 4:28
  42. *Jim Keltner - drums
  43. *Klaus Voormann - bass
  44. *Nicky Hopkins - piano
  45. *Tom Hensley - piano
  46. *Jimmy Calvert - electric guitar
  47. *Gene Page - string and vocal arrangement
  48. "Walk Right Back" - 3:10
  49. *Klaus Voormann - bass
  50. *Jim Keltner - drums
  51. *Tom Hensley - electric piano
  52. *Vini Poncia - acoustic guitar
  53. *Jimmy Calvert - acoustic and electric guitar
  54. *John Morrell - acoustic guitar
  55. *Tom Scott - string and horn arrangement
  56. "Last Tango in Paris" from Last Tango in Paris - 2:38
  57. *Hal Blaine - drums
  58. *Lyle Ritz - bass
  59. *Mike Lang - electric piano
  60. *Ben Benay - acoustic guitar
  61. *Clark Gassman - piano
  62. *Mike Deasy - electric guitar
  63. *Gene Cipriano - bass clarinet solo
  64. *Kirby Johnson - string arrangement
  65. "My Love" - 4:00
  66. *Jim Keltner - drums
  67. *Joe Osborn - bass
  68. *Jimmy Calvert - electric guitar
  69. *Vini Poncia - acoustic guitar
  70. *John Morrell - acoustic guitar
  71. *Billy Fender - acoustic guitar
  72. *Tom Hensley - electric piano, string and woodwind arrangement
  73. "The Dreamer" - 5:08
  74. *Nicky Hopkins - piano
  75. *Klaus Voormann - bass
  76. *Jim Keltner - drums
  77. *Vini Poncia - acoustic guitar
  78. *John Morrell - acoustic guitar
  79. *Billy Fender - acoustic guitar
  80. *Lon Van Eaton - percussion
  81. *Derek Van Eaton - percussion
  82. *Tom Hensley - choral arrangement
  83. *Del Newman - string and horn arrangement

    Song information

"Walk Right Back" by The Everly Brothers reached number seven on the Billboard Hot 100, and their run on the UK singles chart that paired the song with "Ebony Eyes" included three weeks in the number one position. "Solitaire" first appeared on Neil Sedaka's 1972 UK album of the same name but did not make the charts until the Williams version was released the following year. Stevie Wonder's recording of "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" reached number one pop, number one Easy Listening, number three R&B, and number seven on the UK singles chart. "Last Tango in Paris" entered the Billboard
charts as an instrumental recording by Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass that reached number 77 pop and number 22 Easy Listening. "My Love" earned Paul McCartney & Wings four weeks in the top spot on the Hot 100, three weeks at number one Easy Listening, a number nine hit on the UK singles chart, and Gold certification by the Recording Industry Association of America.
In 1973 Herman's Hermits lead singer Peter Noone released "Getting over You" as a single, and a trio of albums featured recordings of some of the lesser-known songs here: "Remember" was first sung by Johnny Mathis on Me and Mrs. Jones; George Harrison's "That Is All" was included on Living in the Material World; and "The Dreamer" was recorded by its composer/lyricist, Nicky Hopkins, for The Tin Man Was a Dreamer. "Make It Easy for Me" was eventually recorded by its composer/lyricist, Peter Skellern, for his 1975 album Hold On to Love, which also featured the song "My Lonely Room", which Williams later recorded for his 1976 album Andy.

Personnel

From the liner notes for the original album: