An update!!
Hi All,
Been thinking about The EDAs and must express my gratitude to you for being so encouraging, yet patient, about the forthcoming "Pieces Of You" 25th Anniversaryreissues! And yes, that is plural, as there will be two expanded editions available and each of them will be released in two formats. Since you've been so supportive of Jewel all these years, not to mention so encouraging to me, I thought I'd slip you some of the details about these expanded reissues in advance of the official announcements. I'd also like to give you a heads up to pay attention to Jewel's socials this coming Tuesday, as additional details will be revealed, including tracklists, and the roll-out info that you've been so patiently waiting for.
So... where to start? I guess I'll begin by saying this was one genuine labor of love if there ever was one! As many of you know, I've had some experience with expanded album reissues and archival projects and I strongly believe that the best ones provide thoughtful insight into a chapter of an artist's career. In the best-case scenario for classic album reissues, they allow listeners to experience the avenues explored during the making of the album, including the decisions made and the experiments abandoned along the way, which led to the final album we all know and love. I often thought about The EDAs when I was curating and engineering this content. I understand that you want to go deeper inside Jewel's creative process and I fully relate to that desire. In fact, I made it my primary goal to provide listeners exactly that experience with these POY25 reissues.
It all began with scouring Jewel's personal archive from the late 1993 into 1994 time frame, and then with my co-producer Mason Williams welcome assistance, locating everything long buried away in Atlantic's vaults - after all these years. I already had all of Jewel's personal tapes organized and catalogued, but it's worth mentioning that this era was the dawn of digital recording and we were dealing with several antiquated formats. Additionally, since we now had multiple tapes of many of these recordings, some in better condition than others, everything required cross-referencing and evaluation to determine the best available source for all the non-original album tracks. Although Jewel did have quite a few DAT reference masters, quite a bit of what she had was on cassettes for her own convenience - so she could easily listen to them at the time. The album itself, as well as the four live shows that Atlantic recorded at The Innerchange Coffeehouse, were all done on ADAT, the most popular digital multitrack format at the time. All of these things presented transfer and restoration challenges and had to be done in real time since everything still existed on tape. Thankfully, we were able to locate and restore everything needed, excluding a demo or two that only survived on Jewel's cassettes - and even in those couple of instances, the quality remained consistently excellent. This may get a bit confusing, but here's the basic overview on what's coming your way.
First up is the new "Pieces Of You - Deluxe Edition", which begins with the remastered original 14-track album, but is now expanded to 39 tracks. This will be available as both a 2CD set and a 4LP set for all you audiophiles and vinyl lovers out there. It's expanded to include the single versions and related B-sides, plus all the associated rarities and released outtakes (like the POY outtakes only previously available on "Shiva Diva Doo Wop", "Save The Linoleum", "Phyllis Barnabee" and from obscure various artist compilation releases). Additionally, a choice batch of studio outtakes from the POY recording sessions that you never knew existed will also be included - quite a few of them with Neil Young's Harvest-era band, The Stray Gators, backing Jewel. Oh, and something hardcore EDAs will truly appreciate more than anyone... All four of the outtakes from the uber-rare "Shiva Diva Doo Wop" cassette are now sourced from pure digital transfers of the original masters and blow away the quality of the original cassettes. Now all the expensive and difficult to find collectibles from that era will be conveniently available again in perfect quality - all in one place.
Which brings us to the Big Bambu, AKA the "Pieces Of You - 25th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition", which will be available as both a beautifully packaged 4CD box set and as a digital release. This also begins with the remastered original 14-track album, but is now expanded to a whopping 72 tracks! This will contain everything previously mentioned in the Deluxe Edition, but will additionally include an entire disc of studio demos and another disc recorded live at The Innerchange in quality that will astound you.
For the demo disc, I literally went through hundreds of demos. Beginning in December of 1993, shortly after Atlantic signed her, Jewel began her pre-production process for the album. Since she was already prolific, this consisted of recording demos on a frequent basis. She recorded them at various Los Angeles studios over the course of the following six months, so she could determine which songs to pursue for her first album. We're not talking lo-fi home demos here, but rather high quality studio demos, and because she was refining many of these songs along the way, many of them had multiple demos available. I made it a point to include only the earliest existing demo for each song on the album - so listeners can experience each of the POY album songs in their most embryonic form. That still left room to include plenty of additional demos for songs that didn't make the album, some of which eventually turned up on subsequent albums in very different form.
For the live disc, I created a seamless composite of all the POY album songs performed at the four Innerchange shows recorded by Atlantic's mobile unit on July 28 and 29, 1994. This allows listeners to not only hear nearly the entire album in live form, but opens a window into Jewel's personality at that precise moment in time. She was a bit mortified to hear herself so long ago, but I'm convinced you will appreciate hearing exactly what captivated listeners during her coffeehouse era, not to mention how rapidly her voice and stagecraft developed in retrospect. Because the quality of these live recordings is so outstanding, it's far better than being a fly on the wall and more like sitting front row at The Innerchange with Jewel performing right in front of you. In other words, it's a near-perfect time capsule that transports you right there 25+ years ago. The live disc also contains a few choice extras that I felt worthy of inclusion and I suspect you guys will likely appreciate the live disc and the demo disc more than anyone.
So, those will be the two expanded reissue packages and their available formats. I wanted to convey this to you beforehand, as it took me awhile to get a grip on it myself. I believe the 4CD/72 track 25th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition accomplished what I set out to do, without any sacrifices or compromises. For anyone desiring a deep dive into the process that Jewel went through creating the "Pieces Of You" album, this configuration was specifically designed to satisfy you!
And for any of my audiophile friends out there, fear not about the mastering! I worked very closely with Bill Inglot (look him up, he's literally the best in the reissue business, and I have admired his work for decades). Bill and I thought very much alike when it came to mastering all of this extra material and it was a great pleasure working with him. When we arrived at that final stage, my top criteria was to master it for audiophiles, NOT radio! I strongly dislike when albums are mastered for radio and I despise brickwalled mastering and heavy compression. Everything here has been mastered with great care, but with a light touch, preserving the dynamic range and outstanding clarity of the original masters. You might not appreciate the difference on earbuds, but listen to this material on good quality headphones or better yet, through real speakers moving air, and I guarantee that you will be beyond delighted!
Consider this long-winded post your prerequisite class to the POY25 reissues and please, help us spread the word! If this massive project proves successful, there's a chance they may unleash me again for additional projects like this moving forward into Jewel's career.
To wrap this up, one of the more interesting prospects that I have heard Jewel mention on multiple occasions, is that she has never performed the "Pieces Of You" album in it's entirety, even back then. And that she wants to tackle it top to bottom, in sequence - which would certainly be a first! This would require some homework, no doubt, as some of those songs haven't been performed live in many years, or in several cases, decades (like the title song, for instance). Keep those EDA fingers crossed, as I know she is seriously contemplating this, and what better time to do it than for the POY 25 launch, right? Perhaps this virtual world that we have all been living in can deliver such a treat for once, rather than just another Zoom call...
OK, that's plenty to absorb for now, but don't forget to keep an eye on Jewel's socials next Tuesday, when additional details and other exciting POY25 news will finally be officially announced!
Stay tuned, Alan
Of the above mentioned promos and EPs, here are their tracklists from
http://www.jewelwiki.comShiva Diva Doo Wop — Promotional Release1 1,000 Miles Away
2 She Cries
3 Painters
4 My Own Private God's Gift to Women
Save the Linoleum — Promotional Release 1 God's Gift to Women (Non LP Track)
2 Intro
3 I'm Sensitive (Live Version)
4 Who Will Save Your Soul (LP Version)
5 Race Car Driver (Non LP Track/Demo Version)
6 Flower (Non LP Track/Live Version)
7 I'm Sensitive (LP Version)
Phyllis Barnabee Finally Gets a Bra — Promotional Release 1 You Were Meant for Me (Juan Patiño Remix)
2 Cold Song
3 Rocker Girl
4 Emily
Foolish Games Single 1 Foolish Games (Radio Edit)
2 Angel Needs A Ride
3 Everything Breaks
The other bonus single tracks are already listed above.
