Release Me 2 album 2021

Streisand / Discography

Release Me 2 (2021)

CD cover of Release Me 2 by Streisand

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  • ABOUT THE ALBUM
    • Released August 6, 2021
    • Executive Producers: Barbra Streisand & Jay Landers
    • Art Direction: Barbra Streisand & Gabrielle Raumberger
    • Cover Photo Design: Barbra Streisand
    • Package Design: Gabrielle Raumberger
    • Barbra Streisand Archivist/Production Supervision: Kim Skalecki
    • Production Coordinator: Grace Handy
    • Photography Front Cover: Bert Stern
    • Photo Restoration: Brynn Shuller
    • Liner Notes: Barbra Streisand & Jay Landers
    • Liner Notes Editor: Todd Sussman
    • Product Manager: Chriss Poppe
    • Tape Transfers: Post Haste Digital, Los Angeles, CA
    • Mastered by: Jochem van der Saag & Paul Blakemore
    • Special Thanks: Richard Story, Rob Stringer, Matt Howe, Richard Jay-Alexander
  • CATALOG NUMBERS

    CD (red) — 19439863402

    LP (red) — 19439863411

    Target (pink) CD — 19439876472

    Target (pink) LP — 19439876451

    Barnes & Noble (green) LP — 19439876431

    Spotify (blue) LP — 19439876441

    Prime Europe (purple) LP — 19439884071

    Official Store (hot pink) LP — 19439876421

  • CHARTS

    Debut Chart Date: August 21, 2021

    No. Weeks on Billboard 200 Albums Chart: 1

    Peak Chart Position: #15


    The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine.


Tracks

  • Be Aware [3:40]

    Written by: Burt Bacharach / Hal David


    Produced by Barbra Streisand & Burt Bacharach

    Arranged & Conducted by Burt Bacharach

    Additional Production & Mix: Jochem van der Saag

     

    Recorded in 1971 at A&M Studios, Hollywood & 2020 at Blue Studios, Malibu

  • You Light Up My Life [3.38]

    Written by: Carole King


    Produced by Barbra Streisand

    Arranged & Conducted by Alan Lindgren

    Additional Production & Mix: Jochem van der Saag

     

    Recorded in 1974 at The Burbank Studios and 2020 at Blue Studios, Malibu

  • I’d Want It To Be You (with Willie Nelson) [4:02]

    Written by: Steve Dorff, Bobby Tomberlin, Jay Landers


    Produced by Walter Afanasieff & Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds

    Arranged by Walter Afanasieff & William Ross

    Conducted by William Ross

    Additional Production Steve Dorff & Craig White

    Mixed by Jochem van der Saag

     

    Recorded in 2014 at Grandma’s House, Malibu/WallyWorld Studios, Hollywood/the Barbra Streisand Scoring Stage/Sony Pictures, Culver City/Pedernales Recording, Austin & 2020 at Masterfonics, Nashville/Blue Studios, Malibu

  • Sweet Forgiveness [5:12]

    Written by: Walter Afanasieff / John Bettis


    Produced by Walter Afanasieff & Barbra Streisand

    Arranged by Walter Afanasieff, Jeremy Lubbock & Barbra Streisand

    Conducted by Jeremy Lubbock

    Mixed by David Reitzas

     

    Recorded in April 7, 1994 at the Barbra Streisand Scoring Stage/Sony Pictures, Culver City

  • Living Without You [2:05]

    Written by: Randy Newman


    Produced & Arranged by Walter Afanasieff & Barbra Streisand

    Original Vocal Produced by Richard Perry

    Mixed by Jochem van der Saag

     

    Recorded in 1971 at Columbia Records Studios, NY & 2020 at WallyWorld Studios, Hollywood/Blue Studios, Malibu

  • One Day (A Prayer) [3:06]

    Written by: Michel Legrand /  Alan & Marilyn Bergman


    Produced by Barbra Streisand & Wally Gold

    Arranged & Conducted by Don Costa

    Engineered by: Don Meehan

    Mixed by Jochem van der Saag

     

    Recorded in 1968 at Columbia Records Studios, Hollywood

  • Rainbow Connection (with Kermit the Frog) [3:23]

    Written by: Paul Williams / Kenny Ascher


    Kermit Vocal: Jim Henson


    Produced by Barbra Streisand & Jochem van der Saag

    Original Production by Gary Klein

    Arranged & Conducted by: Lee Holdridge

    Executive Producers: Charles Koppelman, Barbra Streisand & Jay Landers

     

    Recorded in 1979 at Capitol Studios & Sound Labs, Hollywood & 2020 Blue Studios, Malibu/Grandma’s House, Malibu

     

    Kermit the Frog courtesy of The Henson Company & The Walt Disney Company

  • Right As The Rain [3:00]

    Written by: E.Y. Harburg / H. Arlen


    Produced by Mike Berniker

    Arranged & Conducted by George Williams

    Recording Engineer: Frank Laico

     

    Recorded in 1962 at Columbia Studio C, NYC

  • If Only You Were Mine (with Barry Gibb) [2:34]

    Written by: Barry Gibb/Ashley Gibb/Stephen Gibb


    From Guilty Pleasures


    Produced by Barry Gibb & John Merchant

    Strings Arranged by Doug Emery

    Mixed by John Merchant

     

    Recorded in 2005 at Middle Ear Studio, Miami/Criteria Studios, Miami/Grandma’s House, Malibu

    & 2020 at Red Door Studio, Nashville

  • Once You’ve Been In Love [3:16]

    Written by: Michel Legrand / Marilyn & Alan Bergman


    Produced by Barbra Streisand

    Arranged & Conducted by Michel Legrand

    Rough Mix by John Arias

     

    Recorded in 1973 at Sunset-Highland Recording Studios- Hollywood, CA.

  • TARGET BONUS: When the Lovin’ Goes Out of the Lovin’

    Written by: Richard Parker / Bobby Whiteside


    Produced by Barbra Streisand

    Arranged & Conducted by Bobby Whiteside

    Recorded by: John Arias  

    Additional Production and Mix: Jochem van der Saag

    Executive Producers: Charles Koppelman & Jay Landers

     

    Recorded in 1984 at Capitol Studio “A”, Hollywood, CA / The Village Recorder, Los Angeles, CA,

    Mixed in 1984 at Studio 55, Los Angeles, CA and in 2021 at Blue Studio, Malibu, CA

About the Album

Barbra Streisand explained that “I couldn't do a new album of songs, which I was starting to collect when the quarantine happened. I can't meet with producers and use the studios and the engineers and all the people I have to work with, musicians and so forth. So that's when we said, 'Well, let's put out Release Me 2.' Because I have a lot of stuff in my vault.”


Because of technology, Streisand was able to work remotely on the album: “This album was done on my iPad, with my engineer at his studio and me in my nightie,” she stated. “He couldn't see me. (Laughs.) But it was lovely. It was so easy.”


“(Release Me 2) was a chance to finally add the finishing touches to some of the songs that need them and it gave me a walk down memory lane,” Streisand told the Toronto Star. “It also gave me an opportunity to share work that still resonates with me deeply, regardless of when it was recorded.”


Several of the songs on Release Me 2 were remixed to Streisand’s exacting tastes. “Although these are all my original vocals,” she said, “it was important to mix the songs again and raise certain phrases in them that I felt are important, and I wanted to bring out instruments and change certain chord structures.”


For publicity, Columbia Records led with the lyric video and single of Barbra’s duet with Willie Nelson.  Next, “Rainbow Connection” was released, with Barbra talking about Kermit on social media.  After that, “Sweet Forgiveness” was released on Spotify, Amazon, etc.


“Sweet Forgiveness” was created during Barbra’s 1994 concert tour. Jay Landers stated that “she wanted to add new material to the setlist, so she asked her friends, Alan and Marilyn Bergman and Marvin Hamlisch, if they had an idea for a philosophical song. Then she asked Walter [Afanasieff] if he could try to write a ‘big emotional ballad.’ The Bergmans and Hamlisch came up with ‘Ordinary Miracles,’ and Walter, working with lyricist John Bettis (Michael Jackson’s ‘Human Nature,’ the Carpenters’ ‘Yesterday Once More’), delivered ‘Sweet Forgiveness.’ Barbra went into the studio with Walter to record both songs, however, ‘Ordinary Miracles’ took much longer than expected to solidify. With time to do only one take of ‘Sweet Forgiveness,’ she offered this spellbinding vocal. Barbra ended up performing ‘Ordinary Miracles’ in her long-awaited concerts, and ‘Sweet Forgiveness’ went into the vault.”


“We didn’t have budget or the time to record an infinite number of tracks,” Streisand said about “Sweet Forgiveness.” “Decisions were made fast, and we’d have to take the best takes and mixes during a tight turnaround,” she stated. “I like that analog has a warmer sound, you could hear surrounding noises, I wanted to keep that. Digital recordings often sound too clean, it’s unlike life, it’s too cold. I had to go along with the times eventually, but I fought it for a while and had many things recorded analog anyway.”


Jochem van der Saag’s remix of “Sweet Forgiveness” was released as a digital single to promote the album.  Streisand shared that, “I have no idea about that kind of thing. I mean the record company liked it or wanted me to do it, I guess. So I did it, but my favorite is the orchestration as it was.”


Although Streisand’s original recording of “Rainbow Connection” was a solo version, Jay Landers suggested that they create a duet with Kermit the Frog. “He said, ‘Look, you've sung with all these people like Lionel Richie and [Andrea] Bocelli and Celine [Dion] but you've never sung with a frog who is evergreen!’ And I said, ‘Absolutely. I love it I love it.’”


For Randy Newman’s song, “Living Without You,” Streisand said, “I hadn’t heard that song in five decades, but I remember how I gave it the old Broadway way. Everything makes sense to me as an actress when I’m singing. I saw a three-act play in a three-minute song. I bit into that song and had a character ready for it. (Producer) Walter Afanasieff and I came up with a new arrangement that served the lyric better.”


“You Light Up My Life” — “I hired Neil Diamond’s piano player to do an arrangement and I didn’t like it,” Streisand said. “It didn’t support my vocal. It was too dull.”  She asked engineer Jochem van der Saag to record congas to augment the original recording.


Release Me 2 closes with “Once You’ve Been In Love,“ a Michel Legrand/Alan Bergman/Marilyn Bergman composition that Barbra recorded in 1973 as a live, single take in the studio.  She sang directly in front of the orchestra — no isolation booth to preserve her vocals or the separation from the orchestra for mixing later. Based on bootlegs of the original sessions, Release Me 2 has edited out the original introduction of this song (maybe for the better?).  In 1973, Legrand’s arrangement began with a loud and discordant orchestral cacophony, followed by the downbeat which begins the Release Me 2 track.  The cacophony has been edited out of the 2021 track.


The Target version of the album contained a bonus track — “When the Lovin’ Goes Out of the Lovin’”. It’s a shame this song is limited to Target store buyers because it’s one of the most loveliest songs on this collection.  “When the Lovin’” is from the Emotion album sessions, circa 1984. Streisand, again, has redone the arrangement of the song, although she cuts the first chorus short in the final edit.  Listening to a bootleg of the original 1984 recording, Streisand has removed the woo-woo electronic keyboards from the track and begins it, instead, with a simple (analog) guitar and her beautiful vocal. The backup singers from the original session have been minimized on the final mix. For Barbra Archives, this is one of the best songs on this album, made better by Barbra’s rejiggering.


As for future collections of unreleased songs (Release Me 3 ? Release Me 4 ?) Streisand confessed, “my A&R man says I have enough for eight, but I don't know if I believe that. It means me having to listen to a lot of stuff, which I am not in the mood for now. I'm releasing this, and worked as hard on the art direction as I did on the record. It took a while to do during this quarantine, when I was really trying to work on my book that I've been lax about.”


Streisand also told NPR that “I was saving the beautiful picture of the vault, and me standing in it, for the next Release Me album, called Release Me 3.”


Release Me 2 was released as a digital album as well as a CD digipak with a 32-page booklet–featuring liner notes by Barbra Streisand and Jay Landers, the album’s executive producers. Several collectible 12“ vinyl editions, art directed by Barbra Streisand, were released in a variety of color packages, color vinyl pressings, and a special picture disc. The blue Spotify version (only 500 were pressed) became an instant collectible, with copies being sold on eBay for over $600 !


Release Me 2 debuted at No. 15 on the Billboard 200 chart (dated Aug. 21). That placement qualified Barbra as the only woman with new top 20 — or even top 40 — albums in every decade from the 1960s through the 2020s. Billboard reported that Release Me 2 sold “22,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending Aug. 12, according to MRC Data.”  The album failed to place itself back on the Billboard 200 list after debuting at No. 15.


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