By the time this two-CD, 40-track anthology hit the stores in 2004, consumers had a wide choice of
Johnny Mathis compilations that contained his biggest hits in variable surroundings, ranging from succinct single-disc collections to box sets. This one does have all of the major late-'50s/early-'60s hits you'd expect of anything with "essential" in its title, although -- in an effort to make this a career-spanning selection -- the entirety of disc two is devoted to his post-1970 work, when
Mathis was a run-of-the-mill adult contemporary singer (albeit one who did return briefly to the top of the charts in 1978 via his duet with
Deniece Williams, "Too Much, Too Little, Too Late"). Still, disc one does have a lot of
Mathis' best songs, and some of the most popular make-out music of all time. ~ Richie Unterberger