Johnny Mathis & Co. turn the American Songbook concept on its head with a newer-era pop collection
The first time Johnny Mathis and Clive Davis worked together closely, things didn't go quite as planned.
The year was 1973, and Davis - then the head of Mathis' label, Columbia Records - had paired the old-fashioned romantic crooner with producer Thom Bell for "I'm Coming Home," an album that set Mathis' distinctive high-pitched voice against the lush R&B sound known as Philadelphia soul.
"I thought it was one of the best things I'd done, and Tommy loved it," Mathis said recently. "But then Clive got fired before we could publicize the album, so it just kind of languished." The singer laughed gently, recalling Davis' untimely dismissal from Columbia after an expense-account scandal of which he was later cleared.
"Nobody ever really heard it," Mathis said of the album.
Forty-four years later, the two
