Barbra Streisand will share a selection of previously unreleased songs on her upcoming LP ‘Release Me 2’.
Due almost a decade after the Woman in Love hitmaker dropped her first ‘Release Me’ collection, the sequel album is due August 6 and features new cuts from the star’s music vault, such as Be Aware and One Day (A Prayer), as well as If Only You Were Mine with Barry Gibb and Rainbow Connection with Kermit the Frog.
Also included is a cover of Carole King’s You Light Up My Life and Randy Newman’s Living Without You, plus the Willie Nelson collaboration I’d Want It to Be You.
Release Me 2 – Coming August 6 – A new collection containing previously unreleased tracks from Barbra’s vault. pic.twitter.com/sTllT8crle
— Barbra Streisand (@BarbraStreisand) June 2, 2021
The track was originally intended for her 2014 duets album ‘Partners’, but Streisand ended up recruiting Blake Shelton to join her in the studio as Nelson’s part wasn’t ready by her release deadline.
In the album notes, the singer writes: “For me, the studio is a combination musical playground and laboratory… a private sanctuary, where the possibility of catching lightning in a bottle always exists.
“Whenever that kind of magic happens, it’s extremely satisfying. Sometimes though, when the arrangement doesn’t quite gel or the song no longer fits the tone of the album it was meant for, the tapes go into the vault for safekeeping.”
“Working on this 2nd volume of Release Me has been a lovely walk down memory lane,” she adds. “A chance to revisit, and in some cases, add a finishing instrumental touch to songs that still resonate for me in meaningful ways.”
