CoronaVinyl Day 233 (W): The Shadow of Your Smile by Andy Williams

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Today's CoronaVinyl category is "W," and apparently I own three Andy Williams records, which I assume I obtained as part of a larger lot of records at some point.

Today's selection is his 1966 album The Shadow of Your Smile, which was his 18th studio album.  With his silky baritone, Williams was a long-popular singer of standard pop and easy listening music.  Your parents' parents probably liked Andy Williams -- or at least they probably liked him more than they liked The Beatles or The Rolling Stones.  All I can think of when I hear "Andy Williams" is Nelson from The Simpsons fawning over Williams during a trip to Branson.  "I didn't think he was gonna do 'Moon River," but then bam! Second encore."

The Shadow of Your Smile is the standard jazzy, traditional pop schmaltz that you'd expect from Williams.  He does mix in a couple Beatles covers -- "Michelle" and "Yesterday," as well as "A Taste of Honey," which The Beatles covered on Please Please Me in 1963 -- and a couple bossa nova songs.  But this is not the type of music I would ever voluntarily listen to.

While the album didn't produce any songs that charted on the Billboard Hot 100, it still reached #6 on the Billboard album chart, a reminder that, even in the midst of '60s rock, Williams could still sell records.

All in all, Williams's career spanned over six decades.  He released 43 studio albums, had 28 Top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, including 9 Top 10s and one #1 (1957's "Butterfly").  His holiday classic "It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year" has climbed into the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 in each of the last three Decembers.

Favorite song from Side 1:  "Michelle"
At least it's a Beatles song.

Favorite song from Side 2:  "Yesterday"

At least it's a Beatles song.