Chances Are/ The Twelfth Of Never

The A side may very well be Johnny Mathis' greatest hit ever (according to Bilozoard chart data), but I give this single 2 stars because the B side is such a special, perfect expression of love in a suitably soft-shoe arrangement courtesy of Ray Conniff and His Orchestra. There are many versions of "Twelfth" out there, but on this one Mathis sounds like he's singing for the gods... No other version touches this one. Note: This copy comes in a vintage Columbia Records factory sleeve. It has Near Mint labels with just very light touches of ringwear. The vinyl (styrene) has some light scuffing, grading EX. Unfortunately, this is not the "Near Mint or better audio" copy I had hoped for. There's enough styrene-related distortion on the A side to lower the overall grade to EX, but I still quite enjoyed listening to it, and Jackie — in the other room — said it sounded terrific from there (for what that's worth :-) On a second listen, I'd call "Twelfth"'s audio a strong EX.