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!

Cleopatra Records has been releasing Melanie music of late what with its reissues and “new” releases from the alt-folk singer who graduated Long Branch High School to become a 1960s icon. The latest of which is In Focus Live ’88 with Jan Akkerman of the Dutch prog-rock band Focus (known for its biggest hit “Hocus Pocus” in 1971).

When Melanie Anne Safka [1947-2024] graduated Long Branch High School, she had no idea she’d become a cultural icon (known only by her first name), perform bravely by herself at the Woodstock festival in 1969 (capturing the heart of a generation) or have a composition of hers that she never even properly recorded be brought back to life by an acoustic goth folk cabaret duo from Brooklyn, Charming Disaster.

Known for her iconic performance at the 1969 Woodstock festival, Melanie [Long Branch] once recorded a cover version of “Rag Doll” by The Four Seasons [Newark] in 1984. The Fabulous Courettes, the duo from Brazil and Denmark, have taken Melanie’s cover and made a monster out of it that should fire-breathe your speakers into oblivion.