Solitaire greatest hits series#

It entered the UK album chart the following month, on December 22, and stayed there for 26 weeks, during which time it made it all the way to number three. The album made its first appearance on Billboard magazine's Top LPs & Tapes chart in the issue dated November 17, 1973, and remained there for six weeks, peaking at number 185.

Solitaire greatest hits series#

Retrieved October 8, 2016.Solitaire is the thirty-first studio album by American pop singer Andy Williams, released in the fall of 1973 by Columbia Records and was an attempt to move away from his formulaic series of recent releases that relied heavily on songs that other artists had made popular. ^ 'Image : RPM Weekly - Library and Archives Canada'.^ 'Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada'.London, England: Spotlight Publications: 20.

The Complete Guide to the Music of the Carpenters (1997) Omnibus Press, London ISBN 0-7119-6312-6 p. ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: 'Today's Mini-Concert - '.List of number-one adult contemporary singles of 1975 (U.S.).Williams makes the lyrics personal, perhaps reflecting his then current separation from his wife, while the Carpenters take some of the Andy Williams changes but elsewhere keep Phil Cody's original lyrics. There are significant differences between the lyrics in the Neil Sedaka, Andy Williams and Carpenters versions. Mark Lanegan on his 2013 album Imitations.Patricia Paay (Netherlands number 24) 1983.Johnny Mathis - included on his album Feelings (1975).Vic Damone - from his album Now and Forever (1982).Shirley Bassey – from her album All by Myself (1982).'Solitaire' did afford the Carpenters their twelfth of fifteen number 1 Easy Listening hits.Ĭhart performance Weekly charts Andy Williams It hit number 17 on the Billboard Hot 100, their least successful single since ' Bless the Beasts and Children' in 1971 it signaled a downturn in the group's popularity which, consolidated by the Top Ten shortfall of the lead single and title cut of the 1976 album A Kind of Hush, would prove irreversible. 'Solitaire' was issued as the third single from Horizon for the single version a guitar lead was added between the first verse and chorus. Despite assessing her vocal performance on 'Solitaire' as 'one of greatest', Richard says that, 'she never liked the song. The Carpenters recorded 'Solitaire' for the 1975 Horizon album Richard Carpenter, familiar with the song via the versions by Neil Sedaka and Andy Williams, was 'not crazy' about the song, but he felt it would showcase Karen Carpenter's vocal expertise. This is the version of 'Solitaire' that was released as part of Razor & Tie's 2007 Definitive Collection album. Later in 1975, a live-in-concert version recorded by Sedaka at the Royal Festival Hall was issued as the B-side of 'The Queen of 1964'. In 1974, Neil Sedaka's 1972 recording of 'Solitaire' was included on his comeback album Sedaka's Back.

The title cut from an album produced by Richard Perry, Williams' 'Solitaire' also became a US Easy Listening hit at number 23. Neil Sedaka recorded 'Solitaire' as the title cut for a 1972 album recorded at Strawberry Studios, Stockport, England: 10cc members Lol Creme, Kevin Godley and Graham Gouldman accompanied Sedaka while Eric Stewart, also of 10cc, engineered the session.Īppearing on 1972 album releases by both Tony Christie and Petula Clark, 'Solitaire' had its first evident single release in February 1973 as recorded by the Searchers however it was an autumn 1973 single by Andy Williams which would reach number 4 in the UK Singles Chart and afford Williams a number 1 hit in South Africa. Both Sedaka and Cody considered the composition to be a spiritual experience.

When he presented the tune to Cody, he came up with the words based on his recent divorce Cody had been playing solitaire frequently as a coping mechanism. Sedaka originally was inspired by Frederic Chopin (his favorite classical composer) for the chorus and by Roberta Flack in the verses.