Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head (Andy Williams album)

Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head is the twenty-fifth studio album by American pop singer Andy Williams and was released in the spring of 1970 by Columbia Records.[1] Williams was less focused on covering recent hits on this project and instead selected several songs from the singer-songwriter genre. Billboard magazine opined that the album "may well be titled 'A Journey Through Life.' Through carefully selected songs it conveys a message of dreams, hopes, reality, frustrations and ultimate truth."[3]

Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head
Studio album by
Andy Williams
Released1970
RecordedJanuary 11, 18, 1969
March 5, 1969
November 17, 1969
February 24, 1970
Genre
Length32:34
LabelColumbia
ProducerDick Glasser[2]
Andy Williams chronology
Andy Williams' Greatest Hits
(1970)		 Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head
(1970)		 The Andy Williams Show
(1970)
Alternative cover
UK Cover
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]
BillboardSpotlight Pick[3]

The album made its first appearance on the Top LP's chart in the issue of Billboard magazine dated June 13, 1970, and remained on the album chart for 19 weeks, peaking at number 43.[4] For its release in the UK, the name of the album was changed to Can't Help Falling in Love, and the song selection and track order were slightly different.[5] It entered the UK album chart that same month, on June 20, and reached number seven over the course of 48 weeks.[6]

The song "Can't Help Falling in Love" was one of the two tracks from the UK version of the album that did not appear on the original release. As a non-album single in the US, it entered Billboard magazine's Hot 100 chart in the issue dated February 28, 1970, and spent three weeks there, getting as high as number 88.[7] It also began a three-week run on the magazine's chart of the week's 40 most popular Easy Listening (or Adult Contemporary) songs in that issue, where it eventually made it to number 28.[8] The song debuted on the UK singles chart on March 14, 1970, and lasted there 17 weeks, four of which were spent at number three.[9] The other song that was on the UK album but not the original was "It's So Easy", which entered the UK singles chart on August 1 of that year and peaked at number 13 over the course of 14 weeks.[10]

The track from Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head that was left off of the Can't Help Falling in Love album in the UK was a new recording of "Sweet Memories", a song that Williams originally recorded in March 1968 with Nick DeCaro producing and arranging.[11] That version was released as a non-album single on April 30, 1968, and reached number 75 pop and number four Easy Listening.[7][8]

Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head was released on compact disc for the first time as one of two albums on one CD by Collectables Records on January 22, 2002, the other album being Williams's Columbia release from the fall of 1969, Get Together with Andy Williams.[12] 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.[13]

Liner notes

"About a year ago, I received a call from Mason Williams, excited about an idea he had for Andy. He asked me if I would like to produce this album with him. The concept was to give Andy's fans one complete side of continuous music, without any interruptions, and make it mean something. To me this medley represents a living story of life, which has been led by millions of people. Starting with "Little Boy" and "If Wishes Were Horses", right to the end with "Both Sides Now". The other side of the album is equally satisfying with such songs as "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head", "Bridge over Troubled Water", and "Sweet Memories". All in all this album has been a lot of work and fun. I have worked with a lot of artists, but this has been a personal experience which I am pleased to be a part of as a producer." – Dick Glasser[2]

"I worked in commercial television for about three years, mostly on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, but I also did two TV specials for Andy. One of the standard forms of TV writing is the medley. In television the medley is usually those parts of popular songs most identifiable to the public, strung together in a musical collage with some kind of theme or storyline connecting them. I always thought it would be a nice experiment, rather than take the most popular parts of songs, to take good parts of good songs (not necessarily popular) and string them together to have a good theme or storyline instead of just a familiar one. It's a slightly different use of the TV medley concept applied to recording. I did this when I was interested in interpolating the forms of one medium into the forms of another. I think it worked out fine for Andy." – Mason Williams[2]

Reception

Billboard described the album as "a pretty work of art, skillfully created by Andy Williams."[3]

Track listing

North American release
Side one
  1. "Long Time Blues" (Mason Williams) – 3:06
  2. "It's Over" (Jimmie Rodgers) – 2:43
  3. "Sweet Memories" (Mickey Newbury) – 3:06
  4. "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (Burt Bacharach, Hal David) – 3:11
  5. "Bridge over Troubled Water" (Paul Simon) – 4:57
Side two
  1. "Little Boy/If Wishes Were Horses" (Mike Settle) – 2:18
  2. Medley – 3:52
    a. "Today" (John Hartford)
    b. "Today" from Advance to the Rear (Randy Sparks)
  3. "Reason to Believe" (Tim Hardin) – 2:58
  4. "Simple Thing As Love" (Hartford) – 2:44
  5. "Both Sides Now" (Joni Mitchell) – 3:43

UK release
Side one
  1. "Bridge over Troubled Water" (Simon) – 4:57
  2. "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (Bacharach, David) – 3:11
  3. "Can't Help Falling in Love" (George Weiss, Hugo Peretti, Luigi Creatore) – 3:15
  4. "It's Over" (Rodgers) – 2:43
  5. "It's So Easy" (Dor Lee, Dave Watkins) – 2:29
  6. "Long Time Blues" (Williams) – 3:06
Side two
  1. "Little Boy/If Wishes Were Horses" (Settle) – 2:18
  2. Medley – 3:52
    a. "Today" (Hartford)
    b. "Today" from Advance to the Rear (Sparks)
  3. "Reason to Believe" (Hardin) – 2:58
  4. "Simple Thing As Love" (Hartford) – 2:44
  5. "Both Sides Now" (Mitchell) – 3:43

Recording dates

North American release

From the liner notes for the 2002 CD:[14]

In his review of Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head on AllMusic.com, William Ruhlmann notes that the "LP's catalog number is out of sequence with his other releases, and it may well be that an earlier version was pulled back, since hits like the title track and 'Bridge Over Troubled Water' appear to have been added at the last minute and the recording sessions stretch across more than a year."[1]

UK release (additional tracks)

From the liner notes for The Complete Columbia Chart Singles Collection:[11]

Personnel

From the liner notes for the original album:[2]

  • Andy Williams – vocals
  • Dick Glasser – producer
  • Mason Williams – side two concept ("Little Boy/If Wishes Were Horses", "Today Medley", "Reason to Believe", "Simple Thing As Love", "Both Sides Now": conceived by Mason Williams)
  • Al Capps – arranger, conductor
  • Peter Romano – engineer
  • Rafael O. Valentin – engineer
  • Keats Tyler – front and back cover photos
  • Peter James Samerjan – inside photo

References
  1. "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head – Andy Williams". AllMusic. Retrieved October 21, 2010.
  2. (1970) Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head by Andy Williams [album jacket]. New York: Columbia Records CS 9896.
  3. "Album Reviews". Billboard. June 6, 1970. p. 66.
  4. Whitburn 2010, p. 844.
  5. "Can't Help Falling in Love by Andy Williams". rateyourmusic.com. Retrieved October 21, 2010.
  6. "Andy Williams". Chart Stats. Retrieved October 21, 2010.
  7. Whitburn 1999, p. 702.
  8. Whitburn 1993, p. 256.
  9. "Andy Williams – Can't Help Falling in Love". Official Charts Company. Retrieved October 22, 2010.
  10. "Andy Williams – It's So Easy". Official Charts Company. Retrieved October 22, 2010.
  11. (2002) Album notes for The Complete Columbia Chart Singles Collection by Andy Williams, [CD booklet]. New York: Sony Music.
  12. "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head/Get Together with Andy Williams". AllMusic. Retrieved October 16, 2010.
  13. "Classic Album Collection, Vol. 2". AllMusic. Retrieved October 16, 2010.
  14. (2002) Album notes for Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head/Get Together with Andy Williams by Andy Williams, [CD booklet]. New York: Sony Music.

Bibliography
  • Whitburn, Joel (1993), Joel Whitburn's Top Adult Contemporary, 1961–1993, Record Research Inc., ISBN 0-89820-099-7
  • Whitburn, Joel (1999), Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles, 1955-1999, Record Research Inc., ISBN 0-89820-140-3
  • Whitburn, Joel (2010), Joel Whitburn Presents Top Pop Albums, Seventh Edition, Record Research Inc., ISBN 0-89820-183-7
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