C'mon and Hear Della Reese! is a studio album by American singer Della Reese. It was released in August 1965 by ABC–Paramount and was her debut album released with the label. It was a collection of 12 songs, featuring both new recordings and covers of standards. One single was included on the LP: "After Loving You". The single reached positions on both the US Hot 100 and the adult contemporary charts. The LP received mostly a positive response by music publications.
Prior to her success as an actress (including the TV series Touched by an Angel), Della Reese was primarily known as a singer and a recording artist. She had her greatest commercial success while with the RCA Victor label, which issued a series of studio and live albums. Many singles were also released, including the number two US song, "Don't You Know?" (issued in 1959).[2] In 1965, Reese was signed by Larry Newton to ABC–Paramount,[3] the label-home of Ray Charles. For her debut label, Reese was paired with producer Bob Thiele and arranger Peter DeAngelis. It would be the only release from the label featuring both men.[2]C'mon and Hear Della Reese! was a collection of 12 tracks, consisting of new recordings and covers of standards. Cover tunes included "It's Magic", "A Hundred Years from Today" and "My Devotion". Original tracks included Reese's single "After Loving You".[4]
C'mon and Hear Della Reese! was released by the ABC–Paramount label in August 1965[5] and was distributed as a vinyl LP (offered in either mono or stereo editions). Six songs were featured on either side of the disc.[4] It was mostly given a positive reception by music publications. Billboard magazine found that Reese "made a tremendous impact" with her label debut album, noting that her delivery had hints of gospel music within it.[1]Record World also gave the album a positive reception finding that "she mixes the new the old and gets a pleasant blend of attractive chanting."[6] However, Walt Friedwald (author of the book A Biographical Guide to the Great Jazz and Pop Singers) gave it a less favorable response when describing Reese's discography. Friedwald criticized the album's production, finding it to be "well-chosen" material but "sabotaged by overdone strings-and-choir charts by Peter DeAngelis."[2] The album's only single was "After Loving You", which was first issued by ABC–Paramount in June 1965.[7] The song reached number 95 on the US Hot 100[8] and number 21 on the US adult contemporary chart in 1965.[9]
