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The Wonderful World of Andy Williams is the thirteenth studio album by American pop singer Andy Williams and was released by Columbia Records to coincide with the December 31, 1963, broadcast of The Andy Williams Show.[4] Various tracks were recorded with members of his family, including The Williams Brothers, who joined him for a remake of his first top 10 hit, "Canadian Sunset", from 1956.[5]
The album made its first appearance on Billboard magazine's Top LPs chart in the issue dated January 25, 1964 and remained there for 24 weeks, peaking at number nine.[6] it also debuted on the Cashbox albums chart in the issue dated January 25, 1964, and remained on the chart for 37 weeks, peaking at number eight.[7] It received Gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America on August 17, 1964.[8]
The single from the album, "A Fool Never Learns," made its debut on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on January 11, 1964, eventually reaching number 13 during its 10-week stay.[5] It performed even better on the Easy Listening chart, peaking at number four.[9] number 13 on the Cashbox singles chart during its 12-weeks stay.[10] and number 40 in The U.K during its four-weeks stay.[11]
The album was released on compact disc as one of two albums on one CD by Collectables Records on January 22, 2002, along Williams's 1962 Columbia album, Danny Boy and Other Songs I Love to Sing.[12] It was included in a box set entitled Classic Album Collection, Vol. 2, which contains 15 of his studio albums and two compilations, released on November 29, 2002.[13]
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"[2]
Cashbox noted "the songster gives top-notch readings of such lyrical goodies as "Canadian Sunset," "Wives And Lovers" and "Pennies From Heaven", calling the album "First-rate listening enjoyment"[17]
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".[18]
American Record Guide referred to it as a "most pleasurable album"[19]
Record Mirror calls the Williams' family collaboration "smooth adult music with style, and loads of entertainment value."[14]
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'."[16]
The critics of Record Mirror, Disc, AllMusic, and The Encyclopedia of Popular Music each gave the album a three-star rating."[2][14][16][15]
From the liner notes for the 2002 Collectables CD:[1]
From the liner notes for the original album:[3]