Melissa Manchester puts life in “RE:VIEW” (series of re-recordings of her catalogue in 2020/2021)

Melissa Manchester puts life in "RE:VIEW" | Out In Jersey

Very interesting, honest and in-depeth interview with Melissa.

So far she has released four re-recordings: "Just You And I", "Midnight Blue", "Don't Cry Out Loud" and (ugh) "You Should Hear How She Talks About You".

 

I find that it’s always best not to mess with perfection, which 90% of her catalog already was! If she would like to un-disco or un-80’s some of her later recordings, I would be all on board for that!

 

I remember seeing her in concert and she talked about re-phrasing "(Don't) Cry Out Loud".

Later I heard Peter Allen's more understated version.

It is unfortunate that more common ground between artistic integrity and commercial success was not available to her.

Her catalog has not been treated well. The Japanese reissues in the 90s were all there was for too long. I am certain that the masters for her "Help Is On The Way" album have been misplaced - the CDs I have heard have been needledrops.

 

Here’s a new recording of “Come In From The Rain”…

 

Very nice! I'm not usually a fan of artists re-recording their old material, but these new versions of her classic songs have been really enjoyable. This one is particularly good with its lovely arrangement.

It's also nice that there's no obvious use of pitch correction here (i.e. I can't hear any AutoTune in the vocal). That's refreshing these days!

 

This is one of those songs I detest — no matter the arrangement! I know Melissa is not especially fond of it either — even if it won her a Grammy!

 

She knows she needs to perform it when she performs concerts though since it is her biggest hit on the charts and her Grammy winner though.

 

I saw her twice touring for “When I Look Down That Road”, once in Pittsburgh and once in San Francisco, and she did not sing it either time! I was pretty happy to be honest!!

 

You’d be surprised Brad. She’s only somewhat warmed to You Should Hear in recent years. I had a lovely chat with her years ago after a show during her When I Look Down That Road tour and asked her while she signed my Hey Ricky CD why didn’t she perform it or her other uptempo hits like Pretty Girls & Nice Girls? Basically she admitted that they were all artistic compromises between her and Arista. While they were fine songs in their time they don’t ring a bell in her as a performer hence why they weren’t in her act. She took it well when I admitted those songs were the ones that made me a fan as a kid and acted as a gateway to discovering all her self penned deep cuts on those albums. It’s just a shame all three of her top ten hits have faded from radio play now as she deserves to have something endure that new fans can discover and lead them to her even better stuff.

 

Definitely one of the best of the Adult Contemporary female artists ever, IMO. Great singer-songwriter and very versatile.

 

I wonder if the full length album will be released in 2022?!

 

I wish I could remember where I read this, but I could swear I read somewhere that it would be out in February or March of this year. That might be completely wrong, of course, but I'm hopeful we'll see the album in a couple of months!

 

Supposedly the full-length album will be released in April 2023.

Melissa Manchester Revisits "Through the Eyes of Love"

In the meantime, here's the latest re-recording:

 

wow she really hasn't lost much singing wise, obviously takes good care of her voice

 

Melissa just released her latest preview track, "Confide In Me", from the forthcoming project (which will be released on Primary Wave at some point):



Melissa Manchester inks new deal for her 25th album RE:VIEW | Melissa Manchester

 

Incidentally, she released the new version of "Whenever I Call You Friend" a few weeks back:

 

i like it!

 

This project has been in process since 2021! So far she's released 7 songs, so I'm curious how many songs will ultimately be on the final album.

 

The latest re-recording, "Just Too Many People":



I see that the CD is finally available to pre-order with a February 24, 2024 release date. Disappointed to see there are only 10 tracks...

 

The full album will finally be out tomorrow — including a duet with Dolly on “Midnight Blue”:

Watch Dolly Parton and Melissa Manchester Duet on 'Midnight Blue'

 

I LOVE this song...a personal favorite. This is pretty good...well done.

 

It will be interesting to hear the new duet version with Dolly, for which Melissa apparently re-re-recorded her vocals! I'm looking forward to hearing it tomorrow -- they really should have included the solo re-recorded version on the CD too!

 

been a fan of her since the day made her debut...I agree!