Auburn Annie
11-13-2007, 06:09 PM
Published: 2007-11-13
Delightful duets
Murray revisits catalogue to sing with female artists including Dion, Twain, lang, Furtado, Arden
By STEPHEN COOKE Entertainment Reporter
MANY READERS who picked up the recent book The Top 100 Canadian Records were a little puzzled by the glaring omission of one of the country’s greatest musical successes, Anne Murray.
One theory is that most listeners think of the Springhill-born singer as a singles act, while the book’s author himself, Bob Mersereau, speculates that because Murray has so many albums, it was hard for voters to pick one definitive title for inclusion
That number grows to 35 today with the release of Murray’s latest, Duets: Friends & Legends. The record features new recordings of some of her best-known songs, with an all-star cast of vocal partners including Martina McBride, Emmylou Harris, Nelly Furtado and Shania Twain.
It seems like a logical step in the wake of recordings full of pop standards and country classics for Murray to revisit her own catalogue, although the singer once swore that her last recording, I’ll Be Seeing You, would be just that: her last recording.
"That’s why I called it that, it was like, "See ya later!’," chuckles the CanCon pop icon over the phone from Toronto. "But they had an intervention at EMI, did a little arm twisting and I said, "Well, OK.’ But I told them to get a record producer and a list, and then come back to me."
Murray might have thought of I’ll Be Seeing You as her final release, but the 2005 disc ends with Vera Lynn’s We’ll Meet Again, and once esteemed producer (and first choice for the project) Phil Ramone said yes to helming Duets, the tune proved prophetic.
From the beginning, EMI Music Canada wanted to revisit Murray’s hits, which the singer wasn’t sure about, although she knew she wanted the project to feature all female vocalists, which EMI wasn’t sure about. But guess who got the last word?
"Around the boardroom table, to a person, they all went, "Oh no, we couldn’t do that.’ I wondered why, but they just said it couldn’t be all women, so I just tucked that idea away," she recalls. "Then we started asking people to contribute, and the first five were all women. So what does that tell you?
"You’ve got Shania Twain, k.d. lang people like that who all grew up listening to my music, and they said yes right away. Then we heard back from Emmylou Harris, and I said that maybe this is leading us towards only doing it with women. I liked the idea because it hadn’t been done before, and now here we are with 17 cuts of duets with women."
Ramone was a natural choice — his resume extends from working with Frank Sinatra and Ray Charles to Paul McCartney and Madonna — and with a list of eager participants, he and Murray recorded 17 songs over four sessions in L.A., Nashville, New York and Toronto.
Some artists jumped in with their favourites; McBride immediately asked for Danny’s Song.
"She jokes that she invited herself onto this project."
Olivia Newton-John opted for the Gordon Lightfoot-penned Cotton Jenny and Twain chose You Needed Me.
"Shania came back to me so fast, I couldn’t believe it. Absolutely she was thrilled to do it, and did a great job too," she says.
"Jann Arden (who joins in on Somebody’s Always Saying Goodbye) was the same, I called her on her cellphone and she just said, "Are you kidding? Omigod! Yes, of course I’ll do it!’ It was great the way it fell into place."
One of the most touching moments for Murray was being able to include the voice of her idol Dusty Springfield on I Just Fall in Love Again. Springfield — who passed away in 1999 — recorded the song in 1978, but it was Murray who had a smash it with it a year later.
It took a fair bit of wrangling with Springfield’s estate to get permission to construct a duet using her master tapes and Ramone’s new arrangement, but Murray’s long-standing friendship with the British pop star, and their tasteful treatment of the material, helped make it happen.
"The great thing about this is you can really hear Dusty’s voice for the first time," says Murray. "She used to bury her voice in these lush, lush orchestrations, and I just wanted to bare her voice. You can hear her so well in this particular arrangement, that’s something I really wanted to do. To sing it with her was magical.
"The last time I saw her was when I did a show for CBS in 1985 called Sounds of London, and she was my special guest. We filmed it at the Royal Albert Hall. And then I spoke to her when she was dying, we talked about old times and we said goodbye."
Duets: Friends & Legends is also a farewell of sorts to Murray’s longtime musical collaborator Doug "Dr. Music" Riley, who died suddenly of a heart attack in August. Riley played on the Toronto session, revisiting a tune familiar to Nova Scotians, which she recorded in 1982, Song for the Mira.
"That was his last recording of mine . . . and oh boy, he’s going to be missed. He did 26 of my albums, 26. What a talented guy, and so humble and unassuming," she says.
"I can remember when I first took him to Nashville, and those musicians down there, their jaws just dropped listening to him play. He’s one of the greatest musicians of our time, and so inspiring."
Now that she’s paid a visit to some of her best-loved songs on Duets: Friends & Legends, Murray will next be visiting her fans across the country with a tour that stops in the Maritimes in the spring. Dates and venues will be announced early in December, and Murray says she’s looking forward to one last trip from coast to coast.
"The last time I did a cross-Canada tour was in 1996, so I don’t want to wait another 10 years. But I think this will be the last one. I’m not saying I’m quitting altogether, I’m just saying that things are slowing down.
"It was ridiculous how much work Iused to do, it’s time to slow down. Things are revving up again here with this new record, and I’ve forgotten how busy it can be, but it’s all right, it’s a good thing."
( scooke@herald.ca)
The Halifax Herald
Delightful duets
Murray revisits catalogue to sing with female artists including Dion, Twain, lang, Furtado, Arden
By STEPHEN COOKE Entertainment Reporter
MANY READERS who picked up the recent book The Top 100 Canadian Records were a little puzzled by the glaring omission of one of the country’s greatest musical successes, Anne Murray.
One theory is that most listeners think of the Springhill-born singer as a singles act, while the book’s author himself, Bob Mersereau, speculates that because Murray has so many albums, it was hard for voters to pick one definitive title for inclusion
That number grows to 35 today with the release of Murray’s latest, Duets: Friends & Legends. The record features new recordings of some of her best-known songs, with an all-star cast of vocal partners including Martina McBride, Emmylou Harris, Nelly Furtado and Shania Twain.
It seems like a logical step in the wake of recordings full of pop standards and country classics for Murray to revisit her own catalogue, although the singer once swore that her last recording, I’ll Be Seeing You, would be just that: her last recording.
"That’s why I called it that, it was like, "See ya later!’," chuckles the CanCon pop icon over the phone from Toronto. "But they had an intervention at EMI, did a little arm twisting and I said, "Well, OK.’ But I told them to get a record producer and a list, and then come back to me."
Murray might have thought of I’ll Be Seeing You as her final release, but the 2005 disc ends with Vera Lynn’s We’ll Meet Again, and once esteemed producer (and first choice for the project) Phil Ramone said yes to helming Duets, the tune proved prophetic.
From the beginning, EMI Music Canada wanted to revisit Murray’s hits, which the singer wasn’t sure about, although she knew she wanted the project to feature all female vocalists, which EMI wasn’t sure about. But guess who got the last word?
"Around the boardroom table, to a person, they all went, "Oh no, we couldn’t do that.’ I wondered why, but they just said it couldn’t be all women, so I just tucked that idea away," she recalls. "Then we started asking people to contribute, and the first five were all women. So what does that tell you?
"You’ve got Shania Twain, k.d. lang people like that who all grew up listening to my music, and they said yes right away. Then we heard back from Emmylou Harris, and I said that maybe this is leading us towards only doing it with women. I liked the idea because it hadn’t been done before, and now here we are with 17 cuts of duets with women."
Ramone was a natural choice — his resume extends from working with Frank Sinatra and Ray Charles to Paul McCartney and Madonna — and with a list of eager participants, he and Murray recorded 17 songs over four sessions in L.A., Nashville, New York and Toronto.
Some artists jumped in with their favourites; McBride immediately asked for Danny’s Song.
"She jokes that she invited herself onto this project."
Olivia Newton-John opted for the Gordon Lightfoot-penned Cotton Jenny and Twain chose You Needed Me.
"Shania came back to me so fast, I couldn’t believe it. Absolutely she was thrilled to do it, and did a great job too," she says.
"Jann Arden (who joins in on Somebody’s Always Saying Goodbye) was the same, I called her on her cellphone and she just said, "Are you kidding? Omigod! Yes, of course I’ll do it!’ It was great the way it fell into place."
One of the most touching moments for Murray was being able to include the voice of her idol Dusty Springfield on I Just Fall in Love Again. Springfield — who passed away in 1999 — recorded the song in 1978, but it was Murray who had a smash it with it a year later.
It took a fair bit of wrangling with Springfield’s estate to get permission to construct a duet using her master tapes and Ramone’s new arrangement, but Murray’s long-standing friendship with the British pop star, and their tasteful treatment of the material, helped make it happen.
"The great thing about this is you can really hear Dusty’s voice for the first time," says Murray. "She used to bury her voice in these lush, lush orchestrations, and I just wanted to bare her voice. You can hear her so well in this particular arrangement, that’s something I really wanted to do. To sing it with her was magical.
"The last time I saw her was when I did a show for CBS in 1985 called Sounds of London, and she was my special guest. We filmed it at the Royal Albert Hall. And then I spoke to her when she was dying, we talked about old times and we said goodbye."
Duets: Friends & Legends is also a farewell of sorts to Murray’s longtime musical collaborator Doug "Dr. Music" Riley, who died suddenly of a heart attack in August. Riley played on the Toronto session, revisiting a tune familiar to Nova Scotians, which she recorded in 1982, Song for the Mira.
"That was his last recording of mine . . . and oh boy, he’s going to be missed. He did 26 of my albums, 26. What a talented guy, and so humble and unassuming," she says.
"I can remember when I first took him to Nashville, and those musicians down there, their jaws just dropped listening to him play. He’s one of the greatest musicians of our time, and so inspiring."
Now that she’s paid a visit to some of her best-loved songs on Duets: Friends & Legends, Murray will next be visiting her fans across the country with a tour that stops in the Maritimes in the spring. Dates and venues will be announced early in December, and Murray says she’s looking forward to one last trip from coast to coast.
"The last time I did a cross-Canada tour was in 1996, so I don’t want to wait another 10 years. But I think this will be the last one. I’m not saying I’m quitting altogether, I’m just saying that things are slowing down.
"It was ridiculous how much work Iused to do, it’s time to slow down. Things are revving up again here with this new record, and I’ve forgotten how busy it can be, but it’s all right, it’s a good thing."
( scooke@herald.ca)
The Halifax Herald