Tina Arena, one
of Australia's most loved and celebrated voices, returns with SONGS OF LOVE &
LOSS 2, which sees her paying homage to her own most personal and favourite songs.
On SONGS OF LOVE & LOSS 2, Tina sings the songs that helped shape her
as a person and an artist, songs straight from the soundtrack of the singer's
own life: including "Call Me" [originally performed by Blondie]; "Your
Song" [Elton John]; "Close To You" [The Carpenters]; "I Hope
I Never" [Split Enz]; "Only Women Bleed" [Alice Cooper]; "Wouldn't
It Be Good" [Nik Kershaw]. And that's not even the half of it.
Recorded
alongside the London Studio Orchestra playing inspired arrangements by Simon Hale,
Tina takes these songs and literally breathes new life into them, truly making
them her own.
Of course, SONGS OF LOVE & LOSS 2 is the follow-up to
Tina's hit "comeback" album from last year. SONGS OF LOVE & LOSS
[Vol 1] was Tina's first new studio release in Australia in, unbelievably, six
years. And it instantly became one of the blockbuster releases of last Christmas,
debuting at No. 3 on the ARIA album chart and certified platinum within a week
of hitting stores.
Truth be told, Tina herself was somewhat overwhelmed
by the ecstatic reception that greeted her original volume of SONGS OF LOVE &
LOSS. "It was magical," says Tina. "I didn't expect that. I thought
it would take a little bit more time. I was really beautifully surprised."
As most Australians know, Tina wasn't idle in those six years between local
releases. The singer and her young family have been living in Europe and the UK
for the best part of the last decade, in which time Tina has established herself
as a major artist on the Continent, particularly in France. In fact, within a
month of releasing SONGS OF LOVE & LOSS here in Australia, Tina also released
a completely separate new French studio album, 7 Vies [7 Lives], which reached
No. 12 on the national French charts and No. 16 in Belgium.
Back here in
Australia, no matter how long our multi-ARIA Award-winning recording artist was
away from home, Tina's legions fans - spanning generations and spread right across
the length and breadth of this nation - couldn't wait to get their hands on the
new record from one of this country's most legendary and beloved singers, a hit-maker
since the age of seven.
Working in London with the same tight-knit team
that produced SONGS OF LOVE & LOSS - co-producers and multi-instrumentalist
Duck Blackwell and Paul Guardiani, string arranger Simon Hale, as well as a guest
role by producers, Paul Gordon Manners and Greg Fitzgerald - Tina decided that,
once again, it was all about selecting the right songs.
While the first
album was based on works originally sung by other great female singers, Tina didn't
place any limitations on herself when she started thinking about piecing together
the new set.
"I thought, 'Oh God, what am I going to do with this
one? Just concentrate on getting the songs that you love, first and foremost!',"
Tina explains. "As I was going along, I realised that most of the songs were
originally performed by the artists that had actually penned them. They're singer/songwriter
tracks, as opposed to the first record which was mostly sung by artists who had
nothing to do with the creation of the songs."
Another key element
linking the new tracks? "Intimacy," Tina says simply. "Intimacy
is very important to me. It's something that's very fundamental. 'Every Breath
You Take' is about intimacy. And 'Close to You'. I grew up listen to Karen Carpenter.
I was a huge fan and I was devastated when she passed away. It broke my heart."
Tina's
search or the perfect tracklist for Volume 2 led her to some unexpected choices,
songs that long ago made a lasting impression on the singer, from deep within
her own personal musical upbringing. None perhaps more so than Alice Cooper's
uncharacteristic but poignant ballad, "Only Women Bleed".
"I've
always loved Alice Cooper," says Tina. "I hated his character - the
make-up and the pythons - but when I met him a few years ago I realised he was
a very clever man that hid behind all of that facade, but who had a real brain
and a real heart. He's a very smart man who has incredible human empathy. "
Another
initially surprising inclusion is a complete remake of the 1980s Nik Kershaw hit,
"Wouldn't It Be Good". "It's a perfect example of an incredible
song that was totally buried in tragic 1980s production and lost its good intentions
( I don't think you can "lose intent")," says Tina. "We just
thought, 'Wouldn't it be fantastic if we just stripped that baby right back, so
people can actually hear the extraordinary lyric that Nik Kershaw wrote for it.'
And that's exactly what we did."
From closer to home, Tina's also revisits
the Tim Finn classic, "I Hope I Never", a song she says has always made
her sigh. "I'm a huge fan of Tim and Neil and I've known Tim for a long time,
and I've always said, 'I'm gong to do one your songs one day'. And this song is
just one of those that makes your heart melt."
Other classics reinvented
on SONGS OF LOVE & LOSS 2 include Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now",
The Moody Blues's "Nights In White Satin", and Blondie's "Call
Me", which Tina has given a bit of a James Bond treatment [with a swinging
result]. The album features one new original composition, the potent and beautiful
"Living A Lifetime Together", which Tina wrote ages ago with Paul Manners.
Also,
helping forge something of a direct thematic link between the Volumes I &
2, there are a couple of more songs first made famous by legendary British female
singers in the 1960s: "Downtown*", by Petula Clark, and the lead single
from SONGS OF LOVE & LOSS 2, Tina's interpretation of Lulu's "Oh Me Oh
My".
*only avail on iTunes album
"My two favourite Lulu
songs are 'To Sir With Love' [which Tina performed on Vol 1] and 'Oh Me Oh My'.
There's a vulnerability in that song. That's what I love about it."
SONGS
OF LOVE & LOSS 2 is a dynamic and moving new collection from the great Tina
Arena. If you loved SONGS OF LOVE & LOSS, then SONGS OF LOVE & LOSS 2
is this year's must-buy album.
Bigger and better and more intimate than
the original, SONGS OF LOVE & LOSS 2 is Tina Arena singing the songs that
made her the singer she is today - songs for the ages sung by one of the great
voices of our time.
Tina will tour Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane in 2009
with tickets officially on sale now. Dates are:
- Sydney State Theatre -
March 5 & 6 - ticketmaster.com.au and 136 100
- Brisbane Convention Centre
- March 13 - ticketek.com.au and 132 849
- The Arts Centre - Hamer Hall - March
27 ticketmaster.com.au and 1300 136 166
'Songs of Love & Loss
2' is out now.
