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Andy Williams' Greatest Hits is a compilation album by American pop singer Andy Williams that was released in early 1970 by Columbia Records. It was not, however, as its title might suggest, strictly a hit singles compilation, although some of his biggest songs since joining Columbia (such as the Easy Listening number ones "Can't Get Used to Losing You" and "Happy Heart") were included. A couple of selections ("Born Free" and "More") were never released as singles by Williams, and his signature song, "Moon River", was released in the 7-inch single format but only for jukeboxes. His six Cadence singles that made the Top 10 on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 are passed over for the inclusion of his number 11 hit from that label, "Hawaiian Wedding Song", and 17 of his Columbia recordings that made the Hot 100 up until 1970 are left out here in favor of "Charade", which spent its one week on the chart at number 100.

The most noticeable change that was made for the UK release of the album was the replacement of the cover sketch with the photo of Williams found in the gatefold section of the album jacket of the US release. The other major difference was the fact that Williams's recording of "Can't Take My Eyes off You" was added to the track list for the UK version.

The album made its first appearance on the Billboard Top LP's chart in the issue dated March 7, 1970, and remained there for 20 weeks, peaking at number 42. In the UK it debuted on the album chart on April 11 of that year in the number two position out of 55 albums listed that week and eventually had five appearances at number one there out of a total of 108 weeks on the chart. The Recording Industry Association of America awarded the album Gold certification on September 13, 1971.

The US version of the album was released on compact disc for the first time by Columbia Records in 1988. A Columbia 3-CD box set including this version of the album along with the US versions of Andy Williams' Greatest Hits Vol. 2 and his 1971 album Love Story was released on August 12, 1997.

Track listing

1. "Born Free" (John Barry, Don Black) – 2:27
   • Nick DeCaro - arranger, producer
2. "Days of Wine and Roses" (Henry Mancini, Johnny Mercer) – 2:48
   • Robert Mersey - arranger, conductor, producer
3. "Moon River" (Henry Mancini, Johnny Mercer) – 2:46
   • Robert Mersey - arranger, conductor, producer
4. "Dear Heart" (Ray Evans, Jay Livingston, Henry Mancini) – 2:55
   • Robert Mersey - arranger, conductor, producer
5. "Hawaiian Wedding Song" (Al Hoffman, Charles E. King, Dick Manning) – 2:29
   • Archie Bleyer - conductor
   • Carlyle Hall - arranger
6. "More" (Norman Newell, Nino Oliviero, Riz Ortolani) – 2:32
   • Robert Mersey - conductor, producer
   • Dave Grusin - arranger
7. "Almost There" (Jerry Keller, Gloria Shayne) – 2:59
   • Robert Mersey - arranger, conductor, producer
8. "Charade" (Henry Mancini, Johnny Mercer) – 2:35
   • Robert Mersey - arranger, conductor, producer
9. "Happy Heart" (James Last, Jackie Rae) – 3:15
   • Jerry Fuller - producer
   • Al Capps - arranger
10. "Can't Get Used to Losing You" (Jerome "Doc" Pomus, Mort Shuman) – 2:25
    • Robert Mersey - arranger, conductor, producer
11. "May Each Day" (Mort Green, George Wyle) – 2:54
    • Robert Mersey - arranger, conductor, producer

For the UK version of this collection, "Can't Take My Eyes off You" (from the 1967 album Love, Andy) was inserted between "Almost There" and "Charade", but the track listing for the UK version was otherwise identical to that of the North American release.

Recording dates

• 11/3/58 - "Hawaiian Wedding Song"
• 1/4/62 - "Moon River"
• 12/2/62 - "Can't Get Used to Losing You"
• 1/16/63 - "Days of Wine and Roses", "May Each Day"
• 11/1/63 - "Charade"
• 2/28/64 - "Almost There"
• 8/19/64 - "Dear Heart"
• 9/18/67 - "Can't Take My Eyes off You"
• 3/8/69 - "Happy Heart"

Billboard & UK singles chart positions

Billboard & UK album chart positions

Personnel

• Archie Bleyer - conductor ("Hawaiian Wedding Song")
• Al Capps - arranger ("Happy Heart")
• Nick DeCaro - arranger/producer ("Born Free", "Can't Take My Eyes off You")
• Jerry Fuller - producer ("Happy Heart")
• Dave Grusin - arranger ("More")
• Eddie Karam - conductor ("Can't Take My Eyes off You")
• Robert Mersey - arranger, conductor, producer (see track listing)
• Andy Williams - vocalist

Notes

1. ^ "The Cadence Era: "Canadian Sunset" brightens Andy's disk career". Billboard. 1967-11-11. p. AW-20.
2. ^ (2002) Album notes for The Complete Columbia Chart Singles Collection by Andy Williams . New York: Sony Music.
3. ^ (2002) Album notes for Warm and Willing/Newest Hits by Andy Williams . New York: Sony Music.
4. ^ "Andy Williams' Greatest Hits - Andy Williams". allmusic.com. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 17 August 2011. Cite error: The named reference "allmusic" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
5. ^ "Billboard's Top Album Picks". Billboard. 1970-02-14. p. 62.
6. (1962) Moon River/As Time Goes By by Andy Williams . New York: Columbia Records 4-42497 ZSP 57366JB/57367JB.
7. ^ Whitburn 2009, pp. 1059–1060.
8. ^ Whitburn 2010, p. 844.
9. "Andy Williams - Greatest Hits". Chart Stats. Retrieved 19 August 2011.
10. RIAA Gold and Platinum Search for albums by Andy Williams
11. "Greatest Hits/ Greatest Hits, Vol. 2/Love Story". allmusic.com. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 16 August 2011.
12. (1967) Born Free by Andy Williams . New York: Columbia Records CS 9480.
13. ^ (1963) Days of Wine and Roses and Other TV Requests by Andy Williams . New York: Columbia Records CS 8815.
14. (1962) Moon River and Other Great Movie Themes by Andy Williams . New York: Columbia Records CS 8609.
15. ^ (1965) Andy Williams' Dear Heart by Andy Williams . New York: Columbia Records CS 9138.
16. ^ (1959) To You Sweetheart, Aloha by Andy Williams . New York: Cadence Records CLP-25029.
17. ^ (1964) The Academy Award-Winning "Call Me Irresponsible" and Other Hit Songs from the Movies by Andy Williams . New York: Columbia Records CS 8971.
18. ^ (1969) Happy Heart by Andy Williams . New York: Columbia Records CS 9844.
19. (1970) Andy Williams' Greatest Hits by Andy Williams . London: CBS Records 63920.
20. Whitburn 2007, p. 295.
21. Whitburn 2004, p. 624.
22. "Andy Williams". Chart Stats. Retrieved 16 August 2011.
23. "Number 1 Albums – 1970s". The Official Charts Company. Archived from the original on 9 February 2008. Retrieved 9 June 2011.

References

• Whitburn, Joel (2004), Joel Whitburn Presents Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles, 1942-2004, Record Research Inc., ISBN 0898201608
• Whitburn, Joel (2007), Joel Whitburn Presents Billboard Top Adult Songs, 1961-2006, Record Research Inc., ISBN 0898201691
• Whitburn, Joel (2009), Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles, 1955-2008, Record Research Inc., ISBN 0898201802
• Whitburn, Joel (2010), Joel Whitburn Presents Top Pop Albums, Seventh Edition, Record Research Inc., ISBN 0898201837

• Pages with empty short description
• 1970 compilation albums
• Andy Williams compilation albums
• English-language compilation albums
• Columbia Records compilation albums