The Wonderful World of Andy Williams

William Ruhlmann of AllMusic said that the album "consisted of familiar ballads, dating back to the 1940s for Johnny Mercer's "Dream" (another choral performance not unlike the Pied Pipers' hit version) and coming up to the present for Williams versions of hits like Tony Bennett's "This Is All I Ask" and Jack Jones' "Wives and Lovers." "Softly, As I Leave You" was a good piece of material" Variety reported that the album showed "Andy Williams still leads the way through soloing neatly on "This Is All I Ask" and "A Fool Never Learns". American Record Guide referred to it as a "most pleasurable album" Record Mirror calls the Williams' family collaboration "smooth adult music with style, and loads of entertainment value." Nigel Hunter of Disc notes "Andy is featured on solocut on items like 'This is All I Ask', and 'September Song', wIth his wife on 'Let It Be Me'." It was given a three-star rating by The Encyclopedia of Popular Music as well. along with AllMusic, Disc, and Record Mirror. ==Track listing==

Side one • "Canadian Sunset" performed with The Williams Brothers (Norman Gimbel, Eddie Heywood) – 2:32 • "Sing a Rainbow" performed with The Williams Family Children (Arthur Hamilton) – 2:40 • "Dream" performed with The Williams Brothers (Johnny Mercer) – 2:40 • "This Is All I Ask" (Gordon Jenkins) – 3:19 • "Wives and Lovers" (Burt Bacharach, Hal David) – 2:20 • "First Born" performed with The Entire Williams Family (John Lehman, Jerry Reed) – 2:41 Side two • "A Fool Never Learns" (Sonny Curtis) – 2:01 • "Noelle" (Paul Kenny, Edward Pola, George Wyle) – 2:48 • "Pennies from Heaven" performed with The Williams Brothers (Johnny Burke, Arthur Johnston) – 3:32 • "September Song" (Maxwell Anderson, Kurt Weill) – 3:00 • "Let It Be Me" performed with Claudine Longet (Gilbert Bécaud, Mann Curtis, Pierre Delanoë) – 2:51 • "Softly, As I Leave You" (Giorgio Calabrese, Tony De Vita, Hal Shaper) – 3:13 == Charts ==

From the liner notes for the 2002 Collectables CD: • January 13, 1963 – "Softly, As I Leave You" • November 1, 1963 – "A Fool Never Learns" • November 7, 1963 – "This Is All I Ask", "First Born", "Noelle", "September Song" • November 27, 1963 – "Canadian Sunset" • December 3, 1963 – "Sing a Rainbow", "Dream", "Wives and Lovers", "Pennies from Heaven", "Let It Be Me" == Personnel==

From the liner notes for the original album: • Andy Williams – vocals • The Williams Brothers – vocals • Claudine Longet – vocals • Robert Mersey – arranger, conductor, producer • Frank Bez – photography • Parker of Vienna, Inc. – sweaters ==References==