Johnny Mathis & Deniece Williams

Johnny Mathis & Deniece Williams - That’s What Friends Are For
Columbia JC 35435 (1978) - US LP
Columbia Legacy CK 85655 (2003) - US CD - Reissue with 4 bonus tracks

Side One

1 - You’re All I Need To Get By
2 - Until You Come Back To Me (That’s What I’m Gonna Do)
3 - You’re A Special Part Of My Life
4 - Ready Or Not
5 - Me For You, You For Me

Side Two

6 - Heaven Must Have Sent You
7 - Just The Way You Are
8 - That’s What Friends Are For
9 - I Just Can’t Get Over You
10 - Touching Me With Love

CD reissue bonus tracks

11 - Emotion - Also in the Johnny Mathis album “You Light Up My Life”
12 - Too Much, Too Little, Too Late - Also in the Johnny Mathis Album “You Light Up My Life”
13 - Love Won’t Let Me Wait - From the Johnny Mathis album “A Special Part Of Me”
14 - Without Us - Previously Unreleased

Notes: 1) Album does not come with track-by-track musician credits. 2) Album was reissued by Columbia Legacy in 2003 with 4 bonus tracks: 11, 12 are singles which were also included in the Johnny Mathis 1978 solo album “You Light Up My Life” on Columbia 35259; track 13 is a song taken from the Johnny Mathis 1984 album “A Special Part Of Me”; track 14 is a previously unreleased track that was the theme song of the NBC-TV series “Family Ties”. 3) Columbia Legacy CD reissue comes with a differently cropped picture on rear inlay plus four more pictures of Mathis and Williams included in inner artwork, three of which in b&w and one in color. 4) Above picture is of original US LP while following credits were taken both from original LP and from CD reissue. 5) Bizarrely enough, the 2003 reissue on Columbia Legacy provides identification numbers for mixes, recording dates, chart positions and catalog numbers for singles, but has removed the musician credits which were included, albeit not in track-by-track fashion, on the original LP release. 6) 2003 reissue does not mention Glen Spreen as arranger and conductor for track 8, attributing arrangement and conduction to Gene Page instead. 7) According to the liner notes in the 1996 Deniece Williams anthology “Gonna Take A Miracle” on Columbia Legacy CK 64839 (see picture below), it can be inferred that Lee is the bass player on “Too Much, Too Little, Too Late”. No credits to that effect could however be found on the Mathis LP “You Light Up My Life”. 8) Title song is a cover of a 1976 Deniece Williams single and has nothing to do neither with the Paul Williams nor with the Bacharach/Bayer Sager songs of the same title. 9) The EU 1989 CD reissue of this album on CBS Collector’s Choice 902124 2 has same track order and content of original LP but lists the cover of the Marvin Gaye/Tammi Terrell song “Heaven Must Have Sent You” as “Your Precious Love”. Whether this is true also of other re-releases is unbeknownst to me. 10) The brief biographical passage which is quoted at the bottom of this entry is an excerpt of the liner notes by journalist Ellis Widner that are coming with the CD reissue, as they are printed on the outer back inlay of the CD package. Please see original booklet for the complete notes.

Original LP Credits

Johnny Mathis - Vocals
Deniece Williams - Vocals
Lee Sklar - Bass
Scott Edwards - Bass
Ed Greene - Drums
Mike Baird - Drums
Tim May - Guitar
David T. Walker - Guitar
Melvin “Wah-Wah Watson” Ragin - Guitar (as Wah Wah Ragin)
Lee Ritenour - Guitar
Steve Lukather - Guitar
Greg Phillinganes - Keyboards
Sylvester L. Rivers, Jr. - Keyboards
Michel Rubini - Piano
Nathan Ross - Violin
Stanley Plummer - Violin
Arnold Belnick - Violin
Endre Granat - Violin
Henry Roth - Violin
Ronald Folsom - Violin
Israel Baker - Violin
Jack Shulman - Violin
Glenn Dicterow - Violin
David Frisina - Violin
Sheldon Sanov - Violin
Ralph Silverman - Violin
Leonard Malarsky - Violin
William Hymanson - Violin
Marshall Sosson - Violin
Alexander Treger - Violin
Don Palmer - Violin
Kurt Dieterle - Violin
Nate Ross - Violin
Murray Adler - Violin
Henry Ferber - Violin
Jacke Krachmalnick - Violin
Assa Drori - Violin
Alex Neiman - Viola
Allan Harshman - Viola
David Schwartz - Viola
Gareth Nuttycombe - Viola
Myra Kestenbaum - Viola
Virginia Majewski - Viola
Rollice Dale - Viola
Gloria Strassner - Cello
Raymond Kelley - Cello
Armand Kaproff - Cello
Jesse Ehrlich - Cello
Raphael Kramer - Cello
Harry Schlutz - Cello
Douglas Davis - Cello
Ron Cooper - Cello
Ron Leonard - Cello
Dennis Karmazyn - Cello
David Allan Duke - French Horn
George Price - French Horn
Richard Perissi - French Horn
Gene Sherry - French Horn
Henry Sigismonti - French Horn
Bob Henderson - French Horn
Vince de Rosa - French Horn
Arthur Maebe - French Horn
Ernie Watts - Tenor Saxophone
Bill Green - Baritone Saxophone, Flute
Plas Johnson - Flute, Flute Solo
John Heitmann - Flute
Sheridon Stokes - Flute
Stevie Wonder - Harmonica Solo
Dorothy Jane Ashby - Harp
Tommy Vig - Percussion
Bob Zimmitti - Percussion
Alan Estes - Percussion
Paulinho Da Costa - Percussion (as Paulinho da Costa)
Maxine Willard Waters - Vocalist
Lani Groves - Vocalist
Jim Gilstrap - Vocalist

Produced by Jack Gold

Gene Page - Arrangements and Conduction (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10)
Glen Spreen - Arrangement and Conduction (8)
Harry Bluestone - Concertmaster

Dick Bogert - Recording Engineer
Tom Perry - Mix Engineer, Mastering Engineer

Recording Studio:
A&M Studios, Hollywood
Hollywood Sound, Hollywood (background vocals) (3, 6, 9)

Mixing Studio:
Hollywood Sound, Hollywood

Mastering Studio:
The Mastering Lab, Hollywood

Sam Emerson - Photography

CD Reissue Additional Credits

Original Recordings Produced by Jack Gold
Produced by Denny Diante (14)
Gene Page - Arrangements (11, 12, 14), Conduction (11, 12, 14)
Michel Colombier - Arrangement (13), Conduction (13)

Joseph M. Palmaccio - Mastering Engineer

Mastering Studio:
Sony Music Studios, New York

Didier C. Deutsch - CD Reissue Producer
Steve Berkowitz - Legacy A&R
Joy Gilbert Monfried - Product Manager
Darren Salmieri - A&R Coordination
Stacey Boyle - Tape Research
Matt Kelly - Tape Research
Ellis Widner - Liner Notes “Johnny and Deniece… That’s What Friends Are For”

Howard Fritzson - Art Direction
Risa Noah - Design
Art Maillet/Sony Music Archives - Photography (pages 3 & 7)
Sam Emerson - Photography (all other)
Linda Chang - Packaging Manager

“Special Thanks: Brian McKenna, Chris Theis & Tatsuya Sato”.

Track 1:
“Mx. HCO 128326, Rec. 5/5/78
(Record #3-10772, Rel. 6/15/78)”.

Track 2:
“Mx. HCO 128340, Rec. 5/12/78”.

Track 3:
“Mx. HCO 128337, Rec. 4/20/78
(Record #3-10772, Rel. 6/15/78)”.

Track 4:
“Mx. HCO 128324, Rec. 4/20/78”.

Track 5:
“Mx. HCO 128339, Rec. 4/20/78”.

Track 6:
“Mx. HCO 128341, Rec. 4/28/78”.

Track 7:
“Mx. HCO 128325, Rec. 5/5/78”.

Track 8:
“Mx. HCO 128344, Rec. 4/26/78”.

Track 9:
“Mx. HCO 128338, Rec. 4/20/78
(Record #3-10826, Rel. 9/19/78)”.

Track 10:
“Mx. HCO 128342, Rec. 5/5/78”.

Track 11:
“Mx. HCO 127920, Rec. 12/20/77
(Record #3-10693, Rel. 2/14/78)”.

Track 12:
“Mx. HCO 127922, Rec. 1/78
(Record #3-10693, Rel. 2/14/78)
(Charted 4/1/78; Weeks: 18; Peak: #1)”.

Track 13:
“Mx. HCO 134482, Rec. 8/16/83
(From The Album “A Special Part Of Me” (JC 38718), Rel. 1/84)”.

Track 14:
“(From The NBC-TV Series “Family Ties”
Mx. Unknown, Rec. 10/21/82
Previously Unreleased”.

“Original Album: JC 35435, Rel. 7/78”.

“In 1977. Mathis took another step that brought him squarely into the mainstream of American pop and soul music - he was teamed with the R&B singer Deniece Williams, a former member of Stevie Wonder’s Wonderlove. For Mathis, it was a bold step. He was a traditional singer, though he covered songs by modern writers. When he recorded this album with Williams, it would be the most diversified, contemporary album of his career.”.

“What are you going to listen to next? For a complete listing of titles from Legacy Recordings, please visit us at: // legacyrecords.com // sonymusic.com”.



Deniece Williams - “Gonna Take A Miracle” - US CD - front inlay

Songwriters:
Deniece Williams
Nickolas Ashford
Fritz Baskett
Marilyn Berglas
Morris Broadnax
Amber DiLena (as A. Dilena)
Lamont Dozier
Lani Groves
Brian Holland
Edward Holland, Jr.
Billy Joel
Jack Keller
Nat Kipner
Corey Maass
Clarence McDonald
Clarence Paul
Winston Sela
Valerie Simpson
Stevie Wonder
Additional Songwriters (CD reissue):
Vinnie Barrett
Jeff Barry
Bobby Eli
Barry Gibb
Robin Gibb
Tom Scott
John Vallins

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source/pics: my records