In the Arms of Love (album)

Reception

Writing for Allmusic, critic William Ruhlmann theorized as to the why this album ended the string of “six consecutive Gold-selling Top Ten albums (not counting reissues and compilations” or Christmas LPs) that Williams was enjoying upon its release, offering that it “may just be a question of marketing. The album, with its austere black cover, was released late in the holiday season after Williams's summer single 'In the Arms of Love,' belatedly topped the Easy Listening chart in October. The song was written by Henry Mancini, who had meant dollar signs for Williams with such previous movie themes as 'Moon River,' 'Days of Wine and Roses,' and 'Dear Heart.' But this hit, which only made it halfway up the pop charts, came from an unsuccessful film, What Did You Do in the War, Daddy?, and mid-December was no time to start selling a new, non-seasonal release.” As to the quality of the album itself, he wrote, “Much of it is even calmer than usual for him, and the focus on foreign material makes you wish he'd just gone ahead and recorded a samba album or one made up entirely of international songs, since those tunes mix oddly with the choices from the Great American Songbook and recent film themes. Williams had indicated his interest in overseas material on his last album, The Shadow of Your Smile, but this one went even further, though without the quality of songs to sustain the direction."

Side one

1. "The Very Thought of You" (Ray Noble) – 2:42
2. "If I Love Again" (Jack Murray, Ben Oakland) – 2:33
3. "Theme from The Sand Pebbles (And We Were Lovers)" (Leslie Bricusse, Jerry Goldsmith) – 2:50
4. "Remember" (Irving Berlin) – 2:48
5. "Here's That Rainy Day" (Johnny Burke, Jimmy Van Heusen) – 2:43
6. "In the Arms of Love" (Ray Evans, Jay Livingston, Henry Mancini) – 2:56

Side two

1. "The Face I Love" (Ray Gilbert, Carlos Pingarilho, Marcos Valle, Paulo Sérgio Valle) – 2:03
2. "Sand and Sea" (Gilbert Bécaud, Mack David, Mike Vidalin) – 2:48
3. "So Nice (Summer Samba) " (Norman Gimbel, Marcos Valle, Paulo Sérgio Valle) – 2:37
4. "Pretty Butterfly" (Mario Albanese Loryn Deane, Ciro Pereira, Sunny Skylar) – 2:16
5. "A Man and a Woman" (Pierre Barouh, Jerry Keller, Francis Lai) – 2:50
6. "All Through the Night" (Cole Porter) – 2:09

Song information

Three different versions of "Remember" charted between May 1925 and February 1926: Jean Goldkette & His Orchestra featuring Seymour Simons on vocal reached number six, an instrumental recording by Isham Jones & His Orchestra spent a week at number one, and Cliff Edwards got as high as number 10. Ray Noble & His Orchestra spent five weeks at number one in 1934 with their recording of "The Very Thought of You" with Al Bowlly on vocal. That same year Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra went to number 16 with "If I Love Again" and number eight doing "All Through the Night" with Bob Lawrence on vocal. "Here's That Rainy Day" was first heard in the Broadway musical Carnival in Flanders in 1953, and that same year The Mills Brothers reached number 21 with "Pretty Butterfly".

Organist Walter Wanderley had the most successful recording of "So Nice (Summer Samba)", peaking at number three Easy Listening and number 26 pop after debuting in August 1966. Later that year the title song from A Man and a Woman by Tamiko Jones and Herbie Mann made it to number nine Easy Listening and number 88 on the Hot 100, and Frank Sinatra recorded "Sand and Sea" for his album That's Life. Another recording that practically coincides with the one on this album comes from Tony Martin, who reached number 22 Easy Listening with the "Theme from The Sand Pebbles (And We Were Lovers)" after it debuted in February 1967.

Personnel