Tender Is The Night/Anywhere I Wander/Melodie D’amour/And This Is My Beloved/’Ol Man River/Stella By Starlight/Take Me In Your Arms/Faraway Places/A Beautiful Thing/If/(Its Been) Grand Knowing You/Stranger In Paradise
Talented MOR vocalist John Gary's rush released his second LP Encore. As was then commonplace it comprised the singer's interpretation of many popular standards in vogue at the time. (US:16)
"With Encore, a deliberate effort seems to have been made to offer a more solid, impressive sense of Gary's talent, and he covers more established standards in more formal arrangements. He certainly survives this maturation process, but there are a lot of people who sing Stranger In Paradise more or less the same way, so he comes off not quite as individually as he did on his label debut."
"A slightly more formal, self-conscious collection, its material and musical approach somewhat more conventional. Only the lead-off track, Tender Is The Night, and (It's Been) Grand Knowing You, were contemporary, the rest of the songs dating back as far as 1927."
"If Catch A Rising Star was an album that attempted, successfully, to attract attention to the versatility of Gary's vocal talent, Encore was one that tried to consolidate his newfound renown by making him sound like a more traditional pop singer than he had seemed at first."
"John's voice is as beautiful as the day he sang them, without echo chambers and 'manipulation' that is so common with 'singers' these days." "Another masterpiece of music and more Marty Gould's perfect arrangements for Mr. Gary's three octave voice."
"If you love classic love songs, or if you're just being introduced to them, and if lyrics really matter to you, you owe it to yourself to check out John Gary. Once he draws you in, with one listen you'll be hooked."
"John Gary could sing a song and interpret it in such a way that you'd swear you never heard anything so beautiful before."
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