Australian singer Tina Arena, releases a new album in Australia today.



Tracklisting
1 "The Look of Love" (Burt Bacharach, Hal David)
2 "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself" (Bacharach, David)
3 "So Far Away" (Carole King)
4 "To Sir with Love" (Don Black, Mark London)
5 "The Man with the Child in His Eyes" (Kate Bush)
6 "Do You Know Where You're Going To" (Gerald Goffin, Michael Masser)
7 "Love Hangover"(Marilyn McLeod, Pam Sawyer)
8 "I Only Want to Be with You" (Mike Hawker, Ivor Raymonde)
9 "The Windmills of Your Mind" (Alan Bergman, Marilyn Bergman, Michel Legrand)
10 "Everybody Hurts" (Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, Michael Stipe)
11 "Woman" (Arena, Trina Harmon, Tyler Hayes)
12 "Until" (Tina Arena, Duck Blackwell, Paul Guardiani)

According to the EMI Australia website: “The record was originally going to be entirely made up of Dusty Springfield covers but Arena decided this would be too creatively limiting so broadened the scope to include other torch songs which she felt matched the tone of the album."

Amazon USA:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000YI8X0M/?tag=imwan-20

Amazon UK:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000YI8X0M/?tag=imwan-21

Additional information can be found here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Songs_of_Love_%26_Loss

Sound clips can be found at EMI Australia's official website:

http://www.musichead.com.au/ecards/tinaarena

Added links. ~ Linda

Not to mention that Shelby Lynne beat her to it.

technically that's not really true -- since tina's is being released today and shelby's is being released in february!

Now, Renny, if you want to talk about a beautiful woman with a great voice, Tina Arena fills the bill.

Here's a track-by-track description of the album from Tina herself ...

1. The Look of Love
“Look of Love is a masterpiece written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, originally recorded for the 1966 version of 'Casino Royale.' It's essentially a romantic tune but the lyrics still hold an air of uncertainty and Simon Hale’s string arrangement is just beautiful. This particular recording is very special to me; it was late at night in the studio, I had been recording all day and was exhausted but we knew we were on a roll so the producers convinced me to sing through the song... just once. This is the result!”

2. I Just Don't Know What to do with Myself
“..was the first tracks I recorded for the album. It's was originally released by both Dusty Springfield and Dionne Warwick on either side of the Atlantic at around the same time - 1964, I think. It has a soaring, heartfelt vocal melody and it really sums up the absolute emptiness you feel when you realize - his love is gone.”

3. So Far Away
“Carol King is such an unappreciated writer. She was well known as an artist during the 70's but she also wrote some huge hits for James Taylor, Aretha Franklin and the like. So Far Away was always my favorite Carole King song from her most successful album, Tapestry. In honor of that, we deliberately tried to stay 'folk' on this interpretation.”

4. To Sir with Love
“Lulu was another of the UK's blue-eyed soul queens who dominated the charts in the late 60s. She had a few pop hits but for me, this was her most memorable moment."

5. I only want to be with you
“The original Dusty recording was very ‘Phil Spector-ish’; the vocal was really buried and lost in the wall of sound. Also, the song has been covered so many times, I was determined to give it a different spin. I love the way the song has changed simply by slowing the tempo down. I also think singing it in a minor key has given it a more melancholy appeal.”

6. Do you know where you're going to ?
“Diana Ross was, and still is, an amazing artist who's career history speaks for itself. She has ridden through the highs and lows and has always seemed to come out on top - she is such a survivor. The period after she left The Supremes was her most tumultuous and arguably her best. In the mid 70's she played the lead in Mahogany, a film directed by her soon-to-be ex-husband, Motown Records boss Berry Gordy. This was the theme song to the film.”

7. Love Hangover
“..Was recorded by Dianna Ross around the same period as Mahogany. The producer, Paul Manners, and I stripped a lot of the parts out from the original because they seemed superfluous. The result was a simple message set to a great groove.. and what brilliant title!!”

8. Windmills of your Mind
“.., is yet another masterpiece written by Bergman /LeGrand/ Bergman and is taken from the soundtrack of yet another Hollywood remake, The Thomas Crown Affair. My version has an electro, bossa nova feel and some really amazing string arrangements. They are intricate and complex but the song really builds to a hypnotic crescendo.”

9. The Man with the Child in his Eyes
“Kate Bush is a one-of-a-kind artist. Although she was always considered to be the kooky theatrical type, she's actually an amazing writer, vocalist and performer. I don't know that she's ever really been credited for all of the other artists she influenced, me included. She had so much insight at such a young age, she wrote Man with a Child in his Eyes when she was just 14 years old.”

10. Everybody Hurts
“It took some convincing to get me to record an REM track, mostly because Everybody Hurts isn't of the same genre as the other songs covered on the album. It’s also a relatively new song and is the only one originally recorded by a male vocalist, Michael Stipe. It is however the ultimate song of love and loss. The lyrics are simple, it conveys a simple message - but it sums up life beautifully.”

11. Woman
“..is a previously released album track from Just Me. I also recorded the French adaptation as the title track to Un Autre Univers in 2004 but really felt it was important to rerecord 'Woman' in this body of work. It's very much a labor of love and has special meaning to me.”

12. Until
“This was the last track recorded for the album. I wrote it with Paul and Duck, the albums producers, at the tail end of countless recording sessions we spent together throughout the year. We are all in a similar position in life; in love and starting families and I think that came through in the ultimate metaphor of love and loss - the planet’s future.”

I bought something by her a while back, and then kind of forgot about her. I listened to the clips and she really does have a wonderful voice.
Two points about her rundowns of the songs-I don't know what version of Dusty's "I Only Want To Be With You" she has has heard, but the original was a great record in part because of the vocal/backing mix, I think, and her version sounds like it has sucked all the life right out of the song.

I think"Windmills of Your Mind" is a pretentious piece of much ado about nothing-I never liked the song, and never will.

That said, I think I'm going to enjoy the rest of the record

Bumping this thread with news of another new Tina Arena album about to come out ~ this one is a French-language CD entitled [lilred]7 Vies[/lilred] which will be released, naturally enough, only in France on January 29th:



2008 French exclusive 12-track CD album from the Australian singer [her 2nd French language studio longplayer], includes the single 'Entends-tu le monde?', plus 'Dis-moi', a duet with Jean-François Bernardini from I Muvrini.

1. Entends-tu le monde?
2. Danser la vie
3. l’un pour l’autre
4. Ta vie
5. Tu pourras dire
6. Ombres chinoises
7. Ailleurs
8. Dis-moi (duet with Jean-François Bernardini from I muvrini)
9. Je vois ta lumiere
10. Hollywood boulevard
11. 7 vies
12. S’il m’est donné

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0010XRC0M/?tag=imwan-20