Oleta Adams - Circle of One (2018 reissue)

First of all: If you don't have "Circle of One" yet, you should definitely get it - I think it's a tremendous album, full of great songs, performed and produced well + fronted by an outstanding vocalist. And I recommend this reissue, but I can't review it without mentioning its flaws.

I was surprised by the packaging; I've gotten used to deluxe editions being "digipacked". Not that I mind a 2CD jewel case (although sometimes the CDs can be a pain to get out), but there is no mention of "Deluxe" (or even "Reissue") anywhere on the cover? Not even on the spine or in the inlay? If this release made it into stores (which I haven't seen yet), I'd have no clue it's a reissue (or even a 2CD) until I actually took it out of the rack and turned it over!

The main album has always sounded very good thanks to Roland's and David Bascombe's production. Andy Pearce's remastering made it a bit louder, I guess, but to my ears it still has a lot of dynamics and sounds pretty natural. (Something I wish I could also say about the 2013 remaster of "The Hurting", but that's another matter.)

The bonus tracks on disc 1 are all well worth buying: "Don't Look Too Closely" already featured on some CD editions of the album, but the others are rarer. There is the live version of "I've Got to Sing My Song" with TFF (from "Going to California", but with a bit less audience madness). Then we have the Oleta Adams Jazz Trio, so to speak: "Birdland" by Joe Zawinul is instrumental and great fun to listen to, as is a very swinging take on the standard "Watch What Happens" by the both recently deceased Michel Legrand (music) and Norman Gimbel (English lyrics). Even more fun is the self-penned "Think Again", a really funky and intricate track with Oleta playing electric piano and cutting loose on the vocals that deserved to be much more than just a b-side. To me it has definite hit potential! We also get the single following the album, Elton John's "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" (also featured on the all-star tribute album "Two Rooms: Celebrating the Songs of Elton John & Bernie Taupin") in two versions. The edit is a bit superfluous to me and I'm wondering why the more essential radio edit of "Get Here" was omitted. Two remixes of "Rhythm of Life" are also included - both listenable and the "Gospella" version actually has all of the programmed stuff removed, which makes it sound less dated.

But then there is a whole host of additional remixes on disc 2, and this is where the package falls down. I'm not even complaining that there are no outtakes or additional live tracks, although those would have improved the edition for those who already have all the songs included here, as there is nothing here that has not been commercially released before.

A mere look at the tracklisting shows this: Four versions of the title track in a row might still be acceptable, but eight times "Rhythm of Life" in one go? No way. Talk about getting sick of a song! I also would only call maybe three or four of these tracks essential in any way. The T Remix of "Circle of One" is the star here, as it's a completely different take on the song that harkens back to 70s funk and soul and adds some pretty lean and mean guitar, flute and sax. Relaxed and groovy!

I also have some love for the "Full Mega" version of "Rhythm of Life" because you can hear some of the original backing track here (which was also used for "Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams"). The album version itself is a remix by William Orbit, but here we come to the big omissions: 1) There was a longer version of the Orbit mix that appeared on 12" and CD singles - the full version runs 7:45. 2) The original mix, which was intended for the LP before it was remixed by William Orbit, was released as the "Twilight version" (4:04). This one is essential, as you can hear Roland's original programming and the arrangement that they worked out together (Oleta even refers to it in the booklet as "I loved what we had and it worked." - really bizarre that the buyer doesn't get to hear how it originally sounded!).

There is apparently a dub mix of "Circle of One" missing (this actually gets mentioned in the booklet, but not the three omissions mentioned above), but since I don't care much for dub mixes anyway, I'm not fussed. At least not as much as I am about the two missing "Rhythms".

And what makes these omissions worse: The 1995 remixes of "Rhythm of Life" are bad. I'm normally far more careful with my wording, because people have all kinds of different musical preferences, but in this case it really comes down to whether you have taste or not, I'm afraid. They are bad. They were made by people with little to no respect for the original song, for its writing and the original arrangement. Whole chunks of the song are cut out, others repeated ad nauseam, the backing is just typical cheap mid-90s run-of-the-mill eurodance programming, and Oleta's vocals are sped up and slowed down to a point where it sounds frankly ridiculous. Not to mention there is no connection between her singing and the computerized backing (there is some piano, but it doesn't sound like Oleta's playing - just typical disco one-note synthetic piano of the era), and while the "Heavenly Edit" is still acceptable and relatively short, the other three mixes are simply maddening with the extreme running times and those obnoxious sounding beats. Mind-numbing. I doubt many are going to listen to those mixes more than once or maybe twice.

This is how I would have arranged the bonus disc:

1. Rhythm of Life (Twilight Version) 4:04 [not on 2018 reissue]
2. Get Here (US Promo Edit) 3:27 [not on 2018 reissue]
3. Rhythm of Life (Full Length William Orbit 12") 7:45 [not on 2018 reissue]
4. Circle of One (T Remix) 5:58
5. Rhythm of Life (Full Mega) 8:02
6. Circle of One (Full Cycle) 6:25
7. Rhythm of Life (Syncopated Urban Mix 7” Version) 4:05
8. Circle of One (Hot Mix) 4:15
9. Rhythm of Life (Syncopated Urban Mix 12” Version) 5:01
10. Circle of One (Yvonne’s Circle Mix) 6:03
11. Rhythm of Life (Rhythm Dub) 5:39
12. Circle of One (Circle Dub / Swing on the Groove) 5:23 [not on 2018 reissue]
13. Rhythm of Life (1995 Heavenly Edit) 5:19

Basically mixing up the songs, keeping the more interesting tracks at the beginning and leaving the dub'n'club stuff at the end - except for the other three 1995 remixes, which I have no love for... and which don't really deserve a place here anyway, being done several years after the album. If anything they would have fitted (chronologically) on a reissue of the 1995 album "Moving On".

The track-by-track commentary is great, fantastic stuff, but I admit I miss some kind of introduction. Not just because I really enjoy Paul's writing whenever he does an essay or review, but also because I feel an important reissue always benefits from some historical notes on chart success etc. Some words on the b-sides (especially "Think Again") would have been cool too.

...and yeah, call me anal, but I REALLY would have liked printed lyrics, and especially a list of all players. The latter could have easily fitted into the (empty) inlay...

Anyhow, I'm glad to have this, but the last 23 minutes of disc 2 could have been used more wisely.

Ah, colour me envious! Before I could even make up my mind all the signed copies were already gone.

Yeah, I don't really mind the jewel case either (although in my experience double CD jewel cases are rather fragile, I've had to replace quite a few ones), but some kind of sticker, or putting "deluxe edition" on the cover, or in the inlay would have been nice for the casual buyers. Not that I have seen the CD for sale anywhere...

Shame about the missing tracks, and I guess it shows Paul isn't as infallible as we sometimes like to think. I've asked Steve Hammonds about this and he responded they didn't thought a 3CD set would be feasible. Whether that means they were aware of the missing tracks (or just that they considered putting the bonus tracks separate from the main album) I'm not sure though.

Thanks for the feedback! I've finally resigned to accept the fact that I have two rather compressed versions of The Hurting, but the 1999 remaster seems to have a bit better EQ.

I was actually shocked to see the Twilight version of "Rhythm" wasn't even available on YouTube!

Here's another omitted remix, the dub "Swing on the Groove" by Dr Ross & The Funky Ginger (who also did the "T remix").