Cleopatra Records Continues Extensive Melanie Reissues
For the fourth straight month, there’s Melanie news. The Long Branch High School graduate, who died earlier this year, but not before winning the hearts of multiple generations from the 1960s on, is the subject of Reimaginings (Cleopatra Records), a 42-track, two-disc gem wherein the artist who absolutely refused to settle, and continued to tinker with new and old songs alike, gets her catalog overhauled. And she did it herself!
“I think of songs as living beings who develop and grow as they get older,” she said last year. Great artists often change up their beloved material during concerts. (Have you seen Dylan lately?) Melanie not only did that, but she also went back in and practically re-recorded them. She says she “gave up counting” how many budget compilations had come out under her name. So why not have some fun with the profound, humorous, irresistible songs she wrote? Some are reworked, others are in their original pristine mix. Taken as a whole, Melanie’s stature is unassailable. “Lay Down (Candles In The Rain),” “The Nickel Song,” “What Have They Done To My Song, Ma,” “Brand New Key” and, of course, “Beautiful People,” are all like old friends who sound even better today. (I’ll never forget seeing her do “Beautiful People” at Woodstock in 1969, a solitary figure hunched over her acoustic guitar, under the spotlight, the gaze of a half-million people focused directly on her as she bravely faced the elements, voice quivering, rain falling, her adding the phrase “beautiful wet people.”)
Husband-Producer Peter Schekeryk understood her vision more than anyone and tinkered with songs in a most audacious way. Case-In-Point is his remix of her Stones cover, “Ruby Tuesday,” which, in 1999, featured a rapper and the guitar riff from “Honky Tonk Women.” He remade “Brand New Key” as a reggae with Jimmy Cliff himself! Melanie’s cheeky sense-of-humor surfaces on her spoken-word intro to “You Could Have Had Me For A Nickel.” And her son Beau Jarred adds a dark, sinister take to her otherwise benign “Tuning My Guitar.” Other highlights include her delicious covers of Jimi Hendrix (“Purple Haze”) and the 1960 Shirelles hit “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow,” co-written by Carole King.
Available here: https://cleorecs.com/products/melanie-reimaginings-2-cd
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