An aggressively "happy" album by
Ray Conniff and his singers,
Happiness Is combines exuberant singalongs, wordless vocals, and instrumentals in a grab-bag album that covers many -- if not most -- of
Conniff's bases. A couple of mellow moments don't detract from the overarching sunniness of the album, which lapses into delicious self-parody with "Popsy" and the hilarious title track (co-written by former teen idol
Paul Evans). "The Sheik of Araby" is whistled to a shuffling soft-shoe rhythm, and the joyous ba-ba's totally eclipse the inherent loneliness of "Blue Moon."
Happiness Is is a fun and very funny album that once again shows
Conniff's self-effacing sense of humor.