Varese Records
1959
To You Sweetheart, Aloha
About This Album
In February 1959, Andy Williams hit the Top Ten with "The Hawaiian Wedding Song." On August 21 of the same year, Hawaii became the 50th state of the United States. These were events that clearly called for an album of Hawaiian music from Williams, and To You Sweetheart, Aloha was it. It was becoming clear that Archie Bleyer, head of Cadence Records, saw himself as the equivalent of Decca's Jack Kapp and Williams as the new Bing Crosby, and he adopted the same approach Kapp had taken with Crosby 20 years earlier, pushing his singer to try a variety of types of music, including Hawaiian music. In fact, several of these titles, notably "Blue Hawaii" and "Sweet Leilani," had first been recorded by Crosby. (Showing that Bleyer also could be a cynical record executive, both songs as well as "The Hawaiian Wedding Song" were recycled from Williams' Two Time Winners album, released the same year.) Bleyer eschewed the usual practice of employing traditional Hawaiian instruments and importing the islands' musicians, settling instead for Hawaiian-styled arrangements played by a standard orchestra. But what mattered was Williams' typically warm vocal interpretations, which made the album a romantic touchstone. (In 1965, Columbia Records reissued To You Sweetheart, Aloha under the title Hawaiian Wedding Song.) [The 2001 reissue adds three tracks from the Two Time Winners album ("Blue Hawaii," "Sweet Lelani," "Love Letters in the Sand") and the bonus track "House of Bamboo"] ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
Track List (try tracks 2,6,12 and 16)

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