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Julia Fordham deluxe edition

By Paul Sinclair

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Two years after reissuing her second and third albums, Cherry Red Records are to put out a deluxe edition of English singer-songwriter Julia Fordham‘s 1988 eponymous debut.

The album includes Happy Ever After, one of Julia Fordham’s best-loved singles (its no. 27 in peak in the UK charts made it her second biggest hit) as well as fellow 45s Comfort of Strangers, Woman of the 80’s and Where Does The Time Go?

Happy Ever After was the second single from Julia Fordham’s debut

The long-player has been remastered and expanded across two discs for the new deluxe edition and features a total of 25 tracks. Bonus material includes single versions, B-sides, an extended mix and live recordings that first appeared on the limited edition version of Julia Fordham (the one with the gold cover) issued in 1989.

The 2016 deluxe edition also includes a booklet with track annotations by Julia, written contributions from Hugh Padgham and Grant Mitchell who produced the original album as well as new sleeve notes, and lyrics etc.

The Julia Fordham reissue is due for release on 29 January 2016.

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track_listing

Disc: 1
1. Happy Ever After
2. The Comfort of Strangers
3. Few Too Many
4. Invisible War
5. My Lover’s Keeper
6. Cocooned
7. Where Does the Time Go
8. Woman of the 80’s
9. The Other Woman
10. Behind Closed Doors
11. Unconditional Love
12. I Wish
13. Waiting for a Miracle
14. My Mistake
15. The Comfort of Strangers (Single Version)
16. Woman of the 80’s (Radio Version)
17. Where Does the Time Go? (Radio Edit)
18. The Comfort of Strangers (Extended Version)

Disc: 2
1. The Other Woman (Live)
2. Cocooned (Live)
3. My Mistake (Live)
4. Few Too Many (Live)
5. Invisible War (Live)
6. Behind Closed Doors (Live)
7. My Little Secret (Live)

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24 Comments

24 thoughts on “Julia Fordham deluxe edition”

  1. The “finishing” of this product leaves a lot to be desired.

    I don’t all all formats of all singles (and obviously I don’t have access to JF or Universal vaults!) – but at least two tracks have been omitted:
    – the differently mixed “Behind Closed Doors (Live)” from the “Where Does The Time Go?” single
    – the version of “Happy Ever After” that runs slightly faster (3:38), included on some versions of “Happy Ever After” and “Woman Of The 80’s” singles.

    CD1#17 “Where Does The Time Go? (Radio Edit)” has a tiny snippet missing from the beginning.

    Credits for the additional tracks are a big mess in the booklet, there are many missing credits and many are erroneous.

    See the Discogs entry:
    https://www.discogs.com/release/9693370-Julia-Fordham-Deluxe-Edition/history

  2. Except as several people have made the point, the three reissues werent worth 18 months effort for two non digital tracks and the hardcore fans, who are the main market, havent bought it as we have all the tracks already.

  3. Hey Vinny, thanks for your reissues!! I’m not a Julia Fordham fan and don’t really care for her music but I’m sure you’ve worked hard on other projects that I did care about. I’m glad you do all you can to get us fans what we want. There sure as hell is an art to reissuing albums and it sounds like you’re a pro at it. Many thanks for bringing us what we want!!

  4. I’m happy to see ‘Julia Fordham’ receive the remastering and review. I thought her notes for the Porcelain & Swept re-issues were fun and the package was worth the price.

    I really hope Falling Forward and East West are in the works! FF had some great radio mixes and B Sides and East West’s spare Michael Brooks production is fantastic.

  5. As always, thank you to SDE for promoting reissues. Not just ones that I produce, but spotlighting a segment of the music industry that doesn’t always have an advocate in its corner. Remember to support the very few of us out there that put a lot of time, love, and care into each project, making sure we deliver the very best and complete picture of an act’s recorded output.

  6. Pingback: SDE Reissue Preview for 2016 | superdeluxeedition

  8. I have the original silver cd of this album and the limited edition gold version. Some of the songs on the latter had been mixed differently and were much punchier. Which versions will this deluxe have?

  9. I’m with Mike on this – would it really hurt Cherry Red to go the extra mile and license the BBC recordings to fill out the package (as Edsel have done with the recently announced Fun Living Criminals set)? You never know, Cherry might actual sell more copies that way…

    Check out this link to see a list of (some of the) recordings that the BBC have available – makes you want to weep to see the jewels they are sitting on…(and, yes, Julia is in there).

    http://www.bbcradioint.com/ContentFiles/In_Concert_Catalogue.pdf

    1. Available doesn’t mean they are available to license, Steven. There are legal restrictions both from the radio broadcast side and the artist/label side. Every effort was made to include what was available. Understanding the nuances of contractual negotiations and licensing restrictions are an important part of producing reissues. There are many swings and roundabouts when it comes to incorporating material into a project that is not controlled by a label. It’s not as cut and dry as you might expect, especially when it comes to radio broadcasts.

  10. It is not negativity. This is SDE. This is neither super nor deluxe! I am sure a few people will enjoy the edition and good stuff if so as Julia Fordham is an amazing singer and songwriter with a substantial back catalogue; but as we all say time and time again about many SDEs, who are reissuers aiming at? Fans, casual buyers, who? Do Cherry Red actually want to sell in volume an album that is readily available and currently 1p on Marketplace? In Julia’s case, over three reissues there is not one track that wasnt issued by Circa between 1988 and 1992, even the promo edits are cheaply picked up on eBay. I do not believe that there was not one unissued track in the archives and surely her original demos, probably not owned by Circa, had to be available. Radio One have the In Concert series for licensing, Cherry Red just werent prepared to pay for it and ditto, Radio Clyde I am sure. I’ll shut up now :)

    1. Well, Mike. You’re getting it straight for a 25 year veteran of the reissue business. I came up with absolutely nothing from the vaults, producers, or Julia when it came to producing reissues of her material. It happens more than you know. What you must know is that every effort was made to include previously unreleased tracks. Many times, radio programs are not easily found or licensed. Take this from someone who spends many months, sometimes years, preparing and producing reissues. If tracks don’t exist, they can’t be pulled out of thin air. Having said that, I’m sure you’ll enjoy this reissue.

  11. Lot’s of negativity in these comments. I’ve already read online by the person who produced this reissue that they’ve included everything they could possibly include and that other rarities just don’t exist from this period of her career – even demos. Personally, there are songs on this reissue that I don’t own, so I’m VERY happy it’s coming out. :)

    1. Thank you, Steve. I appreciate the kind words. And I’m sure you will not be disappointed with the project. It’s difficult to walk people through the process of producing reissues because it can be a lot like an archaeologist on a dig . People often assume unreleased recordings exist. The truth of the matter is that many artists only record what they intend to feature on an album. If anything else was recorded, it was often either released on b-sides or completely scrapped. Many demos were lost over time because they were recorded on cassettes that decomposed, disappeared in moving house or studio closures, or used as part of the finished recordings.

  12. Absolutely fabulous album, loved Julia to bits. However this is, as Steven says above, nothing to shout home about. Seeing packages from artists that I couldn’t give a tinker’s cuss about release some patently brilliant SDEs it is a shame that someone whom I have adored since 1989 release this lukewarm re-hash. Not a single thing I don’t have many times over, not a demo or remix to be heard. A real boo-hoo from me.

  13. When the tracklist was released for this a couple of weeks ago I was baffled and I still am. Her small fanbase who probably have everything anyway, this reissue only has ‘Waiting for a Miracle’ new to CD, previously vinyl only – you could actually collect the CD singles and the 1989 album off Amazon marketplace in total for £2 less than the reissue and as the one of the comments above says, it doesnt need remastering, it being an absolute reference recording thanks to the superb production. I love Julia and this offers me nothing, so what is the point of it? Casual buyers will buy the 1p version if interested from Amazon. Over the three album reissues we have had only TWO songs not on CD singles (Antartica on Swept being the other) and not one iota of an unreleased track – utterly and completely pointless. What should have been included is; 1) Demos; 2) The remaining Radio Clyde 1988 concert not on the 1989 releases; 3) the 1989 Hammersmith gig either from the VHS release or the Radio One In Concert; 4) anything else live or studio unreleased at all! Rant over but so so disappointing. p.s. still love her wholehearterdly though, i blame the reissuer!

    1. Ooh, I like the idea of filling out the bonus disc with the Radio 1 in concert gig or the remaining Radio Clyde tracks – is it too late to get Cherry Red to beef up the tracklisting, I wonder?

      As things stand, this ‘Deluxe’ edition is distinctly underwhelming :(

    2. You can only blame the reissue producer if anything had been overlooked, Mike. As I mentioned in my reply to Steve, every effort was made to locate previously unreleased material. However, none exists. Had I uncovered something, it would have been included in this deluxe edition. I spent 18 months working on this project. Like every project I produced, no stone was left unturned. As I’ve said before, not every artist or group has previously unreleased material. It’s just the way things go. Julia was not an artist who recorded extra tracks that were left unreleased. She’s very economical in her writing and recording. As for the remaining Radio Clyde concert, two problems existed. Firstly, the tape could not be found. Secondly, the licensing of those tracks would not have been made available to us due to restrictions. So, I hope enjoy the amount of work and care that was put into this project.

  14. It always seemed like career suicide to release a song called Women of the 80’s – not least in 1988! It sort of stranded her in a particular era – which is doubly strange since she sounds much more like a 90’s artist. I remember this album from the time – I sort of liked it – but I found the production really sterile and airless and cold – I think – I may well be wrong – the production was largely digital – I think the songs would have benefitted from a more analogue production.

    1. Believe it or not, the production is analog. However, digital synths were used quite a lot. It was a sign of the times. There are some interesting production notes from the producers in the CD booklet. Check it out and be amazed at how some of it was recorded!

  15. This is what I would term a ‘bare bone’s deluxe package – really, I don’t think there’s anything here that hasn’t been released previously in some form or other.

    That said, on the plus side, at least Julia hasn’t dictated which b-sides and/or remixes can or can’t be included (yes, I’m looking at YOU Messrs Kershaw, Gabriel, Oldfield, Orzabal/Smith…)

    Still, it would have been good to unearth *something* new in the vaults, to add a bit of appeal for those of us that already have much of this from the first time around – some radio sessions, perhaps? A few more live tracks? Unreleased remixes/edits? Demos?

    1. Glad you like the selection of tracks, Steve. Please keep in mind that not every artist has additional material available in the vaults. Every effort was made to track down demos. However, the sands of time often swallow these things and, in many cases, make them disappear into the ether. There were no unreleased songs or mixes in the vaults. None were recorded according to Julia and the producers. So, what you get is what is available. Every effort was made to unearth previously unreleased material. As the old saying goes, “There is no there there.”

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