The Impossible Dream (Jerry Vale album)

Jerry Vale had been a recording artist for Columbia since the 1950s, recording several pop hits.^[3] In the early 1960s, Vale achieved major commercial success via his albums featuring English and Italian standards.^[4] Vale would repeat the format with The Impossible Dream.^[5] The title track itself was from the 1965 musical Man of La Mancha. Like his previous release, the album was produced by Mike Berniker with arrangements by Glenn Osser and Marty Manning.^[5]

The Impossible Dream consisted of 11 tracks in total.^[6] All but three of the tracks came from movies and musicals. The three, "What Now My Love" and "Strangers in the Night", and "Dommage, Dommage (Too Bad, Too Bad)" were recent pop hits instead.^[7] "Smile" and "My Foolish Heart" were the oldest selections, first being recorded in 1936 and 1949 respectively.^[5]

The Impossible Dream was originally released in January 1967 by Columbia.^[8] It was the sixteenth studio album of Vale's career.^[2] The label originally offered it as a vinyl LP, with five songs on "Side A" and six songs on "Side B".^[5] It was available in stereo and monaural sound.^[2] In February, Columbia released it as an 8-track cartridge as part of a group of nine albums made available on the format by the label that month.^[9] Since then, it has been digitized onto streaming platforms in the 2020s as well.^[6]

The album received a positive critical reception upon its release. Cashbox magazine said that "Vale presents an album of romantic ballads," stating that "The artist's smooth, robust vocal style is ideally suited to the warm love songs on the LP, and the package should find favor with the singer’s many fans."^[1] The Post-Crescent believed that Vale's "styling are familiar," and stated that "as long as he turns recordings with such obvious conscientious performances, he will remain popular".^[10]

The album debuted on Billboard magazine's Top LP's chart in the issue dated March 18, 1967, peaking at No. 117 during a twenty-three-week run on the chart.^[4] The album entered Cashbox magazine's Looking Ahead Albums chart in the issue dated January 18, 1967, reaching No. 102 in March.^[11] It entered the Record World 100 Top LP's chart in the issue dated February 18, 1967, peaking at No. 87 in April 1967 during a seven-week run on the chart.^[12]

"Dommage, Dommage (Too Bad, Too Bad)" was released as a single in August 1966 backed by "Promises".^[13] It became a top-10 single on America's Billboard Easy Listening chart, rising to the number 5 position.^[13] The song debuted on Billboard magazine's pop-oriented Hot 100 chart in the issue dated October 8, peaking at number 93 during a two-week run on it.^[3] "Dommage, Dommage" became Vale's second biggest Easy Listening hit at that point, and the final Hot 100 entry of his career.^[3]

All credits are adapted from the liner notes of The Impossible Dream.^[5]

• Jerry Vale – vocals
• Glenn Osser, (tracks: A1 to A2, A4 to B6) – arranger, conductor
• Marty Manning, (tracks: A3) – arranger, conductor
• Don Hunstein – photography
• Sandy Speiser – photography
• Mike Berniker – producer