Love Story (Johnny Mathis album)

Love Story
Studio album by
ReleasedFebruary 10, 1971
RecordedJanuary 18, 1969
July 15–August 14, 1970
December 16, 1970
December 23, 1970
January 4, 1971
Genre
Length32:17
LabelColumbia
ProducerJack Gold
Robert Mersey
Johnny Mathis chronology
Johnny Mathis Sings the Music of Bacharach & Kaempfert
(1970)
Love Story
(1971)
You've Got a Friend
(1971)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic link
Billboardpositive
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music

Love Story is an album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released on February 10, 1971, by Columbia Records and included a recent Oscar nominee ("What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?"), a flashback to 1967 ("Traces"), a new song by Bacharach & David ("Ten Times Forever More"), a lesser-known one by Goffin & King ("I Was There"), and two songs that originated in film scores from 1970 and had lyrics added later: the album closer, "Loss of Love", from Sunflower and the album opener from Love Story, which was subtitled "Where Do I Begin". The norm for Mathis projects from this era was to cover recent hits, and the title track of this one was so recent that the version by Andy Williams began a 13-week run to number nine on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 chart in February 1971, coinciding with the release of this LP.

The Mathis recording of "Ten Times Forever More" was released as a single on January 21 of that year and spent two weeks on Billboard magazine's Easy Listening chart in March that included a peak position at number 32. The album's debut on the magazine's Top LP's chart was in the issue dated March 13 and led to a number 47 showing over the course of 18 weeks. it also debuted on the Cashbox albums chart in the issue dated February 20, 1971, and remained on the chart for 18 weeks, peaking at number 46.

Love Story was released for the first time on compact disc in 1995 as one of two albums on one CD, the other LP being his Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head album from 1970.