Quote:
In addition to the original album, the I'm New Here 10th Anniversary Edition features two unreleased tracks - a cover of Richie Havens' 'Handsome Johnny' and a previously unheard Scott-Heron song 'King Henry IV' - as well as a selection of other recordings from the original I'm New Here sessions that were only previously available on a rare, vinyl only deluxe version of the LP.
Not exactly true -- the majority of these bonus tracks were also available on CD via a Rough Trade exclusive.
(At this early point I'm guessing that "Winter (Interlude)" is not truly an unreleased track but rather a split from the 5:33 recording of "Winter In America".)
Nevertheless, I'm definitely in for the other two tracks. Here's producer Richard Russell with a little additional context:
Quote:
Our cover of “Handsome Jonny” was the last recording Gil and I made on the last day of the last session for I’m New Here, at Clinton Studio in Hell’s Kitchen, NY, on September 19, 2009.
Gil had introduced me to the original version of the song, explaining how Richie Havens had performed it in his opening set at Woodstock some forty years earlier, and we added it to a list of material we were considering for the album. In the end we recorded some of these songs, like Bobby Blue Bland’s “I’ll Take Care Of You”, Bill Callahan’s “I’m New Here” and Robert Johnson’s “Me and the Devil”, and didn’t get round to some others, including Joy Divison’s “Disorder”.
