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CD
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BB 004CD
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Originally reissued in 2006. The Bureau B label presents Israeli chanteuse Esther Ofarim's album Is It Really Me?, originally released on Phillips in 1965, and re-titled Esther Ofarim In New York with Bobby Scott and his Orchestra, including one bonus track. This collection of evergreens from US musicals and shows rarely appears in discographies and was only released in the US and the UK, and Ofarim herself considers it one of her finest records. Musician, composer and arranger Bobby Scott ("A Taste Of Honey", "Chain Gang") spoke consistently in the highest terms of their collaboration until his death. "When was the last time that you were completely bowled over by an amazing new talent? If you can recall brushing the dust off your trousers and straightening your tie, get ready to go through it all over again. Esther Ofarim will knock you out." These words were penned over 40 years ago by Scott himself, appearing on the sleeve of the original album, which he recorded with the exceptional singer in New York. Only 24 years-old at the time of recording, Esther Ofarim was a star in Europe and Israel, and recording with Bobby Scott represented a kind of break in her career with her husband, ABI (Abraham) Ofarim, whom she divorced one year later. Esther mastered soulful ballads as easily as swinging up-tempo tracks, dreamy fantasies or blithe pop songs. It wasn't just the fact of Esther Ofarim's exceptional talent that caused such amazement: her vocal excellence was all the more remarkable in the light of her diminutive figure. In an interview conducted exclusively for this re-release, Ofarim reveals that she considers this to be one of her finest albums. Meeting Bobby Scott was, in her own words, a "coup de foudre," a flash of lightning or perhaps love at first sight -- in a creative sense, that is. Housed in a digipack with a 20-page booklet featuring rare photographs and extensive liner notes by biographer James Gavin, the original liner notes written by Bobby Scott, and an interview with Esther Ofarim.
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CD
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BB 024CD
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The Bureau B label presents a treasure from Israel's incomparable Maria Callas of pop & folk, Esther Ofarim. Appearing on CD for the first time, her eponymous solo album from 1972 has been given the new title Esther Ofarim In London. This masterpiece was produced by no lesser figure than Bob Johnston, famous for having produced legendary albums by Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Johnny Cash, and Simon & Garfunkel. Esther Ofarim In London sounds both composed and confident. Attentive listeners will hear a forceful orchestra behind what is a tender, fragile atmosphere. This bombastic, yet intimate quality is exactly what the producer was aiming for. The tracks were recorded in three sessions at the Command Studios in London, where Johnston enlisted the British arrangers Nick Harrison, Will Malone and Bob Merci. Once the recordings were completed, Johnston flew back to his home town of Nashville to mix the tapes. The extent to which he reduced the instrumentation in some places was nothing short of drastic. On one track, he removed almost the entire orchestra, leaving a basic framework of guitar, bass and electric piano. Johnston and Ofarim displayed wonderful intuition in their selection of songs, with compositions by Leonard Cohen sitting comfortably alongside some by Johnston and the musicians he worked with at the time. The result is a gently shimmering necklace of poetic pearls, sung by one of the most sweeping, heart-rendingly beautiful voices in folk/pop history. As one has come to expect of Bureau B releases, this reissue comes complete with a wealth of detail in a 16-page booklet, rare photographs, and an interview with the artist herself, Esther Ofarim. Both the CD and LP versions contain three bonus tracks: the A and B sides to a single that was recorded later in Nashville by Esther Ofarim and Bob Johnston, plus one track from the London sessions which, inexplicably, did not make it onto the original LP.
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LP
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BB 024LP
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LP version. The Bureau B label presents a treasure from Israel's incomparable Maria Callas of pop & folk, Esther Ofarim. Appearing on CD for the first time, her eponymous solo album from 1972 has been given the new title Esther Ofarim In London. This masterpiece was produced by no lesser figure than Bob Johnston, famous for having produced legendary albums by Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Johnny Cash, and Simon & Garfunkel. Esther Ofarim In London sounds both composed and confident. Attentive listeners will hear a forceful orchestra behind what is a tender, fragile atmosphere. This bombastic, yet intimate quality is exactly what the producer was aiming for. The tracks were recorded in three sessions at the Command Studios in London, where Johnston enlisted the British arrangers Nick Harrison, Will Malone and Bob Merci. Once the recordings were completed, Johnston flew back to his home town of Nashville to mix the tapes. The extent to which he reduced the instrumentation in some places was nothing short of drastic. On one track, he removed almost the entire orchestra, leaving a basic framework of guitar, bass and electric piano. Johnston and Ofarim displayed wonderful intuition in their selection of songs, with compositions by Leonard Cohen sitting comfortably alongside some by Johnston and the musicians he worked with at the time. The result is a gently shimmering necklace of poetic pearls, sung by one of the most sweeping, heart-rendingly beautiful voices in folk/pop history.
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