Singer
John Royce Mathis followed his classic
Nelson Riddle album,
I'll Buy You a Star, released on Columbia in 1961, with this interesting collection,
A Portrait of Johnny, which was also issued by Columbia.
A Portrait of Johnny is also called "the third in the
Johnny Mathis greatest-hits series," though the only true chart-climber that shows up is the leadoff track, "Starbright," which went Top 25 in the spring of 1960 and features
Glenn Osser's orchestra (sounding very much like
Ray Conniff's earlier work on "Wonderful! Wonderful!" -- going back to the singer's original chart entry sound). It was written by popular composers
Lee Pockriss and
Paul Vance, who also came up with
Perry Como's early 1958 number one smash, "Catch a Falling Star." Perhaps "Starbright" was a sequel to
Como's hit -- it was perfectly suited for
Mathis, who sang a number of dreamy songs utilizing the word "star" in the title. With four compilations released between 1959 and 1964 ("Starbright" showing up on 1963's
Johnny's Newest Hits as well as here), it seems like the "third in the
Johnny Mathis greatest-hits series" tag is just a marketing ploy. The liner notes read like a good biography from a PR firm, better fare than '60s albums usually offered for the album jackets, but there's no clarification on where this material was culled from. There's also a cover of Leiber & Stoller's uptempo and jazzy "All Is Well," which plays like the other Vance/Pockriss selection here, side two's "Hey Love," featuring an abundance of horns rather than
Mathis' trademark string accompaniment. Vance contributes five titles to this 12-song release, employing three different co-writers. The album sounds like a pastiche, but as always, with the sublime voice of
Johnny Mathis as the common denominator, it is as entertaining as ever and perhaps more interesting than usual with all the musical changes on each track.