Andy Williams - Born Free (1967) Vinyl LP •PLAY-GRADED• Strangers in the Night

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Condition Details:

Vinyl plays with crackles and occasional clicks and pops (play-graded). Cover looks okay; a few creases near edges; moderate scuffing, tiny surface abrasions, discoloration spots, and surface impressions (front/back); "50¢" written near top-left on front; "Diana Boo!" written near top-left on back. Inner-sleeve is original (generic white); two seams partially split. Spine is mostly easy-to-read with some wear. Shelf-wear along top/bottom-edge and corners. Split near center of both edges. Opening is crisp with signs of light use and divots. Red 2-eye label; two tiny black marker spots on one side. Stereo pressing. (Not a cut-out.)

Tracks:

1. Born Free
2. Somewhere, My Love
3. Spanish Eyes
4. Strangers In The Night
5. Sherry!
6. Music To Watch Girls By
7. I Want To Be Free
8. Alfie
9. Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye
10. Sunny
11. I Will Wait For You
12. You Are Where Everything Is

About The Record:

For the sixth year in a row, Andy Williams greeted the spring with a new album keyed to the Academy Award Best Song nominations, and his audience rewarded him yet again with a Top Ten placing and a gold record. And, as usual, Williams took for his own songs popularized by his fellow male pop singers, Frank Sinatra's Strangers in the Night and Al Martino's Spanish Eyes. But Born Free marked a notable contemporization of the Williams formula. On his most recent albums, The Shadow of Your Smile and In the Arms of Love, he had leaned toward Brazilian sounds, recording more obscure material and several standards from the interwar period. He even recorded I Want to Be Free (AKA I Wanna Be Free) from the Monkees' first album. And he scored a Top 40 hit with a pop/rock arrangement of Music to Watch Girls By, the tune that originated on a Diet Pepsi commercial and had been an instrumental hit for the Bob Crewe Generation. At a time when non-rock pop singers were beginning to be marginalized, Williams successfully threaded the needle, reassuring his older listeners while proving adaptable to current trends. Singles from the album include Music To Watch Girls By, which reached No. 2 on US Adult Contemporary, and More and More, which reached No. 2 as well.