The Art of Excellence


The Art of Excellence is an album by the American musician Tony Bennett, released on May 3, 1986. It debuted on The Billboard Top Pop Albums chart in the issue dated June 21, 1986, and remained on the album chart for eight weeks, peaking at No. 160.
Sony Music Distribution included the album in the 2011 box set The Complete Collection.

Critical reception

Billboard notes, "Bennett is pensive and persuasive on a collection of lesser know songs by the likes of Irving Berin, Frank Loesser, Cy Coleman, among others." People deemed the album one of the 10 best of 1986.
William Ruhlmann of AllMusic believed that "Bennett demonstrated that he had spent his time off from recording gathering a bunch of good songs and refining his singing, such as 'A Rainy Day', and 'I Got Lost in Her Arms, were better than the new discoveries, like 'How Do You Keep the Music Playing?', and 'Everybody Has the Blues'."

Track listing

  1. "Why Do People Fall in Love?/People" – 4:05
  2. "Moments Like This" – 2:47
  3. "What Are You Afraid Of?" – 3:01
  4. "When Love Was All We Had" – 5:08
  5. "So Many Stars" – 3:44
  6. "Everybody Has the Blues" – 3:37
  7. "How Do You Keep the Music Playing?" – 4:20
  8. "City of the Angels" – 2:24
  9. "Forget the Woman" – 3:16
  10. "A Rainy Day" – 2:59
  11. "I Got Lost in Her Arms" – 4:27
  12. "The Day You Leave Me" – 2:46

Personnel