Among the riches of Record Store Day 2018 is the first time release of the album Johnny Mathis recorded in 1982, written and produced by Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards of Chic. Though some of its tracks first came out last year on the boxed set The Voices of Romance: The Columbia Original Album Collection, this will be the first time the almost experimental I Love My Lady will be released as a standalone album, pressed on clear smoke vinyl. “That was just stuff that was happening at the moment and I’m glad I did it,” Mathis, 82, said in an interview with TVD. “It was a learning process, though. It was like: tell me what to do and I’ll try to do it.”.
It was a little weird for him, the smooth singing balladeer whose first hits came more than 60 years ago, teaming up with the duo who were behind big hits from Diana Ross and Sister Sledge, as well as their own indelible funk sound that provided the basis for hip-hop hits (and for Daft Punk’s last album). “It was a completely different process, as far as my making the recording,” says Mathis. “I got in there and they were writing the songs as I was singing. And along the way, they would say, ‘Oh, that sounds nice, let’s go with that a little more,’ and they’d write a melody or something. But it was mostly rhythmical, kind of words, not so much melody. But it was fun.”
Mathis says remaining open to new avenues is something he did throughout his career. “I started studying at a very early age with a voice teacher, but I also went to church and I heard church music. I also had classes in school listening to classical music, so I was just jumping in anywhere I was thrown,” he says. “With Bernard and Nile, it was fun. They were really, really enthusiastic. Of course, they were in a different genre of music than I was. But they were to me the first people who opened my eyes to the fact that just because you sing one kind of music doesn’t mean that people who do other kinds of music aren’t listening to you. So when I got an opportunity to work with them, I was thrilled.”
Mathis, who never stopped recording and touring more than six decades, says, “We made up a lot of stuff along the way, which was fun, because I got to put my own two cents in. And Nile was with me, Bernard was kind of quiet, and I didn’t really know who he was. But they were wonderful pals and we had a lot of fun doing it. And I’m amazed at how when I listen to it, how well it was done.”
Mathis says it’s exciting that it’s finally coming out—for an audience that may not be familiar with his music—or maybe even not that of Chic. “Over the years, I’ve had so much success in so many genres musically, but I’m still like a little kid,” I still get excited,” he says. “I started when I was 18 years old, making records, and how old am I? Eighty-two? And I’m still doing the same thing I did when I was a kid. You can get blasé, I guess. I know a few people who have. But not me.”
Two thousand copies have been pressed of I Love My Lady for Record Store Day on April 21.
