I Wanna Be Around... is a 1963 album by singer Tony Bennett.

I Wanna Be Around...
Studio album by
ReleasedFebruary 18, 1963[1]
RecordedMarch 16, 1962–April 26, 1963
StudioCBS 30th Street (New York City)
GenreTraditional pop, vocal jazz
Length27:21 original LP
44:39 CD reissue
LabelColumbia
CL 2000
CS 8800
ProducerErnie Altschuler
Tony Bennett chronology
Tony Bennett at Carnegie Hall
(1962)
I Wanna Be Around...
(1963)
This Is All I Ask
(1963)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[2]

The album debuted on the Billboard Top LPs chart in the issue dated April 6, of that year, and remained on the album chart for 44 weeks, peaking at No. 5[3] it also debuted on the Cashbox albums chart in the issue dated March 16, of that year, and remained on the chart for in a total of 63 weeks, peaking at 2[4]

The album was released on compact disc by Columbia Records in 1995 as tracks 13 through 24 on a pairing of two albums on one CD with tracks 1 through 12 consisting of Bennett's breakthough studio album from June 1962, I Left My Heart in San Francisco.[5]

Sony Music Distribution included this CD in a box set entitled The Complete Collection, which contains fifty-eight of his studio albums, 4 compilation, three DVDs, six volumes of Bennett’s non-album singles, a previously unreleased CD of his Las Vegas debut from 1964, and two discs of rarities, including Bennett’s first recording, an Army V-Disc of “St. James Infirmary Blues, and was released on November 8, 2011.[6]

Reception

edit

William Ruhlmann of AllMusic said "there were also some excellent arrangements, including a percussion-and-flute reading of "Let's Face the Music and Dance" that echoed the Beat of My Heart album and a nod to the South American trend with Antonio Carlos Jobim's "Quiet Nights (Corcovado)."[2]

Billboard gave the album a postive reviews, saying "He sings 'em all with the great heart ad warmth"[7]

Track listing

edit
  1. "The Good Life" (Sacha Distel, Jack Reardon) – 2:15
  2. "If I Love Again" (Jack Murray, Ben Oakland) – 3:19
  3. "I Wanna Be Around" (Johnny Mercer, Sadie Vimmerstadt) – 2:11
  4. "I've Got Your Number" (Cy Coleman, Carolyn Leigh) – 1:45
  5. "Until I Met You" (Freddie Green, Don Wolf) – 2:57
  6. "Let's Face the Music and Dance" (Irving Berlin) – 2:52 (omitted on CD reissue)
  7. "Once Upon a Summertime" (Eddie Barclay, Michel Legrand, Eddy Marnay, Mercer) – 2:00
  8. "If You Were Mine" (Matty Malneck, Mercer) – 2:15
  9. "I Will Live My Life for You" (Henri Salvador, Marcel Stellman) – 2:26
  10. "Someone to Love" (Harry Warren) – 1:58
  11. "It Was Me" (Gilbert Becaud, Norman Gimbel) – 3:04
  12. "Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars (Corcovado)" (Antônio Carlos Jobim, Gene Lees) – 3:16

Bonus tracks on CD reissue (all taken from the album "This Is All I Ask"):

  1. "Autumn in Rome" (Sammy Cahn, Alessandro Cicognini, Paul Weston) – 2:15
  2. "The Way That I Feel" (Harry Brooks) – 2:55
  3. "The Moment of Truth" (Tex Satterwhite, Frank Scott) – 2:14
  4. "Got Her Off My Hands (But Can't Get Her Off My Mind)" (Sam M. Lewis, Flip Phillips, Joe Young) – 2:00
  5. "Long About Now" (Fred Hellerman, Fran Minkoff) – 2:44
  6. "Young and Foolish" (Albert Hague, Arnold B. Horwitt) – 3:22
  7. "Tricks" (Alan Brandt, Bob Haymes) – 1:48

Recorded March 16, 1962 (#5), October 19, 1962 (#2–4, 6–9), December 19, 1962 (#1, 10–11), April 22, 1963 (#12, 17), April 24, 1963 (#14–15), April 26, 1963 (#13, 16, 18)

Personnel

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ Tony Bennett.com
  2. ^ a b Ruhlmann, William. "Tony Bennett - I Wanna Be Around: Rating & Reviews". AllMusic. Retrieved 2024-10-06.
  3. ^ Whitburn, Joel (1996). Joel Whitburn's top pop albums : 1955-1996 : compiled from Billboard magazine's pop album charts, 1955-1996. Menomonee Falls, Wis.: Record Research. p. 74. ISBN 978-0-8982-0117-8.
  4. ^ Hoffmann, Frank W (1988). The Cash box album charts, 1955-1974. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press. p. 28. ISBN 0-8108-2005-6.
  5. ^ "I Left My Heart in San Francisco/I Wanna Be Around". AllMusic. Retrieved 8 October 2024.
  6. ^ "The Complete Collection - Tony Bennett". allmusic.com. Retrieved 8 October 2024.
  7. ^ "Pop Spotlight: I Wanna Be Around". Billboard. Vol. 75, no. 12. March 23, 1963. p. 31.