Dusty Springfield "The Complete Philadelphia Sessions: A Brand New Me (Expanded Edition)"

The same thing is happening with the Real Gone Laura Nyro. It shows as unavailable now. My pre-orders are both still showing.

 

That's what I'm hoping.

 

It's going to take more listens to process the new mixes, but I'm immediately struck by nearly every song having a noticeably longer fadeout. They must have been very focused on AM radio play when choosing the original fade points.

A Brand New Me 2:30 old / 2:50 new
Never Love Again 3:25 old / 3:57 new
Bad Case of the Blues 2:03 old / 2:28 new
The Star of My Show 2:31 old / 3:12 new
Let's Talk It Over 2:29 old / 2:53 new
Lost 2:29 old / 2:54 new
Silly, Silly Fool 2:34 old / 2:35 new (not much difference here!)
Let Me Get in Your Way 2:48 old / 3:33 new
Joe 2:23 old / 2:45 new
Let's Get Together Soon 2:45 old / 3:04 new
I Wanna Be a Free Girl 2:57 old / 3:25 new
Something for Nothing 2:54 old / 3:16 new
Summer Love 2:49 old / 3:02 new
Cherished 2:38 old / 3:31 new
The Richest Girl Alive 3:01 old / 3:08 new
Goodbye 2:34 old / 2:51 new

 

Thanks for the info, that makes this release a lot more interesting. How's the sound? I recently bought an original vinyl pressing and was really disappointed with the sound.

 

Up to £43 on Amazon uk!

 

Now that is an incredible idea! The record companies should take note of that for all re-issues...

There are so many songs that could be extended for 30 secs or so, that would make a great selling point/reason to buy an umpteenth re-issue...

 

This is the UK version - I prefer it myself

 

I totally agree with this. It may not be important to some but when you're talking about an album that has become very familiar to its fans, differences like this give a new wrinkle to the listening experience.

 

I'm enjoying the new mixes. It's another fine Dusty Springfield reissue from Real Gone Records.

 

I sat down with the old Rhino/Atlantic "Brand New Me" CD and the new Real Gone CD. I played each track one by one, comparing the old version and the new mix. This new one has blown me away. I was amazed at how much was missing from the original mixes. There's instrumentation all over the Real Gone issue that we've never heard before and the depth of the sound is fantastic. Dusty's vocals are much clearer and less buried now too.

As Marry a Carrot posted above, the longer fades are great to hear as well. For any of the Dusty fanatics, this version of "Richest Girl Alive" sounds to me like a third vocal take and differs from the one on "Love Songs" and the one on the UK "From Dusty With Love" reissue CD. I'll have to listen again but I think that "Summer Love" may also be a different vocal than on the same two CD's I just mentioned. Furthermore, the unreleased song "Sweet Charlie" is so good that I wonder why it didn't make the cut for the original album. Real Gone has really hit it out of the park with this one. I couldn't stop smiling as I was listening. Thanks, folks! Brilliant job.

 

As best I know, "Sweet Charlie" was recorded after (February 12, 1970) the "Brand New Me" LP was in stores (January 1970). It could have been included on the UK release (April 1970) but I imagine it was held for possible inclusion on a second Philadelphia album. However, the commercial failure of "I Wanna Be a Free Girl" likely killed the project. Enter Jeff Barry...

 

I just got my copy in the mail today. I am listening to it as I write. I love the extended fades because I always thought the songs were too short in their original versions. However, I am really disappointed with the sound of the remixes. The sound is heavily compressed and there is some strange phasing on "Brand New Me" and "Lost." It was probably the artistic choice of the remixer. Some of the other tracks don't sound as bad. "Silly" and "Joe" fare better. After a while I was able to get past the sound and enjoy the music. Dusty was so very soulful on these tracks, perhaps even more so than on "In Memphis." I don't regret the purchase but the sound is a definite let down.

 

Mine's winging its way across from America as I type. Far too expensive from any UK supplier, and only Amazon.com offered reasonable postage charges.

 

Does anyone know the reason for the change up in the running order? Any mention of it in the innersleeve notes?

 

I looked through the booklet again and I see nothing that mentions changing the order of the tracks.

 

It just seems really random, I can't think of another case where a reissue has rearranged the original running order. If it was the intended order that then got mixed up it would make sense but without an explanation it's strange.

 

It was weird to me too. Both old US and UK releases used the same running order so I wonder why the change for this one.

For what it's worth and even though it's not the title track, I find that "Lost" is a better album opener. I think it has a more immediate energy than "A Brand New Me".

 

I'm actually really confused by all the recent releases because previously I had a bunch of her CDs from Memphis through to the unreleased one (Longing/Elements), so that's Brand New Me, See All Her Faces and Cameo. And that's all the Dusty I need because I'm only really into her soul recordings. And among those CDs there were a bunch of bonus tracks but now there's Faithful (I think it's called), this new Complete Philadelphia and there's a similar complete CD for her UK recordings of the same time, which all kind of overlap each other. As i love this period I should probably collect the stuff I don't have but don't really want a load of overlapping releases. I'm still not sure whether the Memphis CD I ahve is the best sounding one available either (I have the US Bill Inglot remastered version with 14 tracks on it). Anyone knowledgeable to break it down and tell me exactly how all these releases fit together and which give the best sound?

 

The best-sounding Dusty In Memphis is the SACD by far.

 

I can't tell you about all the overlap there might be among all the CD's that were issued later on but I do know that all of the tracks on "Faithful" are included as bonus tracks on the 1999 Rhino "Dusty in Memphis" (25 tracks) and the original Rhino "A Brand New Me" CD combined.

An older thread about "Dusty in Memphis" showed some people liking the 1992 Rhino (14 tracks) better than the one with 25 tracks but many others preferred the 1990 Philips CD with no bonus tracks and a light green border on the cover, #846 252-2. I don't know when the SACD was issued so the thread I was reading may have pre-dated that.

 

I just checked amazon for the other CD I mentioned and it's called Come For A Dream, and is basically See All Her Faces with some bonus tracks, and is, what they claim, was intended to be a full album. It just seems a bit strange that suddenly these 2 "lost" albums (Faithful & Come For A Dream) get cobbled together from tracks that were mostly all available as bonus outtakes on reissues of actual albums. All the while though, Elements/Longing has never been put out as a standalone album, which arguably has more right to be than the other two.

 

It has nothing to do with which album "has a right to be". Real Gone is not a charitable organization looking out for albums that have a right to be.

 

Whoah, someone needs their coffee

 

It's quite possible they are working on that, as well. With these releases, it seems as though they have access to Warner material, so I'm not sure whether they have access to the Universal catalogue. (Though they did release the Lesley Gore A&M and MoWest albums, so fingers crossed!)

 

Porkpie - did you ever pick up the Hip-o-Select compilation Beautiful Soul? It has the Cameo album as well as 9 of the original tracks intended for the album's release. My understanding is that there was one other song - Corner of the Sky - but Dusty had never completed the vocals; so Hip-o did not include. Anyway - thought I'd throw it out there if you hadn't heard of it.