I Wanna Be Around...

{{Infobox album

| name = I Wanna Be Around...

| type = studio

| artist = Tony Bennett

| cover = I Wanna Be Around.jpg

| alt =

| released = February 18, 1963[https://tonybennett.com/media.php?ty=album&tb=8 Tony Bennett.com]

| recorded = March 16, 1962–April 26, 1963

| venue =

| studio = CBS 30th Street (New York City)

| genre = Traditional pop, vocal jazz

| length = 27:21 original LP
44:39 CD reissue

| label = Columbia
CL 2000
CS 8800

| producer = Ernie Altschuler

| prev_title = Tony Bennett at Carnegie Hall

| prev_year = 1962

| next_title = This Is All I Ask

| next_year = 1963

}}

I Wanna Be Around... is a studio album by American singer Tony Bennett. released on February 18, 1963 by Columbia Records, it was produced by Ernie Altschuler.{{Cite web |title=I Wanna Be Around {{!}} The Interactive Tony Bennett Discography |url=https://discography.bloggingtonybennett.com/?album=i-wanna-be-around |access-date=2025-04-02 |language=en-US}}

The album debuted on the Billboard Top LPs chart in the issue dated April 6, 1963, and remained on the album chart for 44 weeks, peaking at number five.{{Cite book |last=Whitburn |first=Joel |url=https://archive.org/details/joelwhitburnstopp00whit/page/74/mode/2up |title=Joel Whitburn's top pop albums : 1955-1996 : compiled from Billboard magazine's pop album charts, 1955-1996 |date=1996 |publisher=Record Research |isbn=978-0-8982-0117-8 |location=Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin |pages=74}} it also debuted on the Cashbox albums chart in the issue dated March 16, 1963, and remained on the chart for in a total of 63 weeks, peaking at number two.{{Cite book |last=Hoffmann |first=Frank W |url=https://archive.org/details/cashboxalbumchar0000hoff/page/28/mode/2up |title=The Cash box album charts, 1955-1974 |date=1988 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=0-8108-2005-6 |location=Metuchen, New Jersey |pages=28}}

Two singles from the album, "I Wanna Be Around" debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 in the issue dated January 12, 1963, peaking at number 14 during its 16-week run.{{Cite book |last=Whitburn |first=Joel |url=https://archive.org/details/joelwhitburnstop00whitbur/page/52/mode/2up |title=Joel Whitburn's top pop singles 1955-2002 |date=2002 |publisher=Record Research |isbn=0898201551 |location=Menomonee Falls, Wisc. |pages=52}} number five on the magazine's Easy Listening chart, during its 16-weeks there.{{Cite book |last=Whitburn |first=Joel |url=https://archive.org/details/joelwhitburnpres0000whit/page/24/mode/2up |title=Joel Whitburn Presents Billboard Top Adult Songs, 1961-2006 |date=2007 |publisher=Record Research |isbn=978-0-8982-0169-7 |location=Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin |pages=24}} and number 15 on the Cashbox singles chart during its 16 weeks there.{{Cite book |last=Downey |first=Pat |url=https://archive.org/details/cashboxpopsingle00down/page/24/mode/2up |title=Cash box pop singles charts, 1950-1993 |date=1994 |publisher=Libraries Unlimited |isbn=1-56308-316-7 |location=Englewood, Colorado |pages=24–25}} "The Good Life", debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 in the issue dated May 11, 1963, peaking at number 14 during its 16-week run. number seven on the magazine's Easy Listening chart, during its ten-weeks there. number 25 on the Cashbox singles chart during its eleven weeks there. and number 27 in the UK during a 13-week stay.{{Cite web |date=1955-04-21 |title=TONY BENNETT |url=https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/2012/tony-bennett/ |access-date=2025-03-31 |website=Official Charts |language=en}}

The album was released on compact disc by Columbia Records in 1995 as tracks 13 through 24 on a pairing of two albums on one CD with tracks 1 through 12 consisting of Bennett's 1962 breakthrough studio album, I Left My Heart in San Francisco.{{cite web |title=I Left My Heart in San Francisco/I Wanna Be Around |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/i-left-my-heart-in-san-francisco-i-wanna-be-around-mw0000413301 |access-date=8 October 2024 |publisher=AllMusic}} On November 8, 2011, Sony Music Distribution included the CD in a box set entitled The Complete Collection.{{cite web |title=The Complete Collection - Tony Bennett |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-complete-collection-mw0002217006 |access-date=8 October 2024 |work=allmusic.com |publisher=}}

Reception

{{Music ratings

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}

| rev2 = The Encyclopedia of Popular Music

| rev2score = {{rating|4|5}}{{cite book |last1=Larkin |first1=Colin |title=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music |date=2007 |publisher=Omnibus Press |page=148 |isbn=9781846098567 |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofpo0000unse_v3u2/page/148/mode/2up |accessdate=30 November 2024}}

| rev3 = Record Mirror

| rev3score = {{rating|4|5}}{{Cite magazine |last=Waston |first=Jimmy |date=December 14, 1963 |title=LP Reviews by Jimmy Waston: The singing twosome's smoothing serenade |magazine=Record Mirror |pages=10 |language=en |issue=144}}

| noprose = yes

}}

Billboard mentions "He sings 'em all with the great heart ad warmth"{{cite magazine |date=March 23, 1963 |title=Pop Spotlight: I Wanna Be Around |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ewsEAAAAMBAJ&dq=tony+bennett+i+wanna+be+around+billboard+1963&pg=PA31 |magazine=Billboard |page=31 |volume=75 |issue=12 |editor=}}

Cashbox felt there are "some expressive and feelingful Bennett readings of a host of choice new and old tunes with some pulsating backing by the Ralph Sharon Trio."{{Cite magazine |date=March 23, 1963 |title=Cashbox Album Popular Picks Of The Week Reviews: I Wanna Be Around... |url=https://archive.org/details/cashbox24unse_26/page/22/mode/2up |magazine=Cash Box |pages=22 |volume=24 |issue=26}}

Variety notes "Bennett gives each song substance with his dramatic balladeering helped on occasion by The Ralph Sharon Trio and always by the orch and arranging supplied by Mark Manning"{{Cite magazine |date=March 13, 1963 |title=Variety Album Reviews Francis Boys, U.N's All Star, Bennett's Around Top New LPs: I Wanna Be Around |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_variety_1963-03-13_230_3/page/54/mode/2up |magazine=Variety |pages=54 |volume=230 |issue=3}}

William Ruhlmann of AllMusic said "there were also some excellent arrangements, including a percussion-and-flute reading of "Let's Face the Music and Dance" that echoed the Beat of My Heart album and a nod to the South American trend with Antonio Carlos Jobim's "Quiet Nights (Corcovado)."{{Cite web |last=Ruhlmann |first=William |title=Tony Bennett - I Wanna Be Around: Rating & Reviews |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/i-wanna-be-around-mw0000645315 |access-date=2024-10-06 |website=AllMusic}}

Track listing

"The Good Life" (Sacha Distel, Jack Reardon) – 2:15
"If I Love Again" (Jack Murray, Ben Oakland) – 3:19
"I Wanna Be Around" (Johnny Mercer, Sadie Vimmerstadt) – 2:11
"I've Got Your Number" (Cy Coleman, Carolyn Leigh) – 1:45
"Until I Met You" (Freddie Green, Don Wolf) – 2:57
"Let's Face the Music and Dance" (Irving Berlin) – 2:52 (omitted on CD reissue)
"Once Upon a Summertime" (Eddie Barclay, Michel Legrand, Eddy Marnay, Mercer) – 2:00
"If You Were Mine" (Matty Malneck, Mercer) – 2:15
"I Will Live My Life for You" (Henri Salvador, Marcel Stellman) – 2:26
"Someone to Love" (Harry Warren) – 1:58
"It Was Me" (Gilbert Becaud, Norman Gimbel) – 3:04
"Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars (Corcovado)" (Antônio Carlos Jobim, Gene Lees) – 3:16

Bonus tracks on CD reissue (all taken from the album "This Is All I Ask"):

"Autumn in Rome" (Sammy Cahn, Alessandro Cicognini, Paul Weston) – 2:15
"The Way That I Feel" (Harry Brooks) – 2:55
"The Moment of Truth" (Tex Satterwhite, Frank Scott) – 2:14
"Got Her Off My Hands (But Can't Get Her Off My Mind)" (Sam M. Lewis, Flip Phillips, Joe Young) – 2:00
"Long About Now" (Fred Hellerman, Fran Minkoff) – 2:44
"Young and Foolish" (Albert Hague, Arnold B. Horwitt) – 3:22
"Tricks" (Alan Brandt, Bob Haymes) – 1:48

Recorded March 16, 1962 (#5), October 19, 1962 (#2–4, 6–9), December 19, 1962 (#1, 10–11), April 22, 1963 (#12, 17), April 24, 1963 (#14–15), April 26, 1963 (#13, 16, 18)