Sarah Brightman

[CD-cover] La Luna (non-European version)

Below follows, after some initial remarks, the track list of the CD La Luna as it is released in August 2000 outside Europe, at least in the USA/Canada, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan and Indonesia. It has the songs of the European version as released in April 2000 but in a different order and some new songs.
Apparently the record company, Angel Records, found it necessary to release a version different from the one released in Europe (by Eastwest Records) -- it is a mystery why they do this and a rather frustrating: this means European fans must miss songs again. The same thing happened with Eden, except that now the difference is even bigger.
[CD-cover] The December 2000 letter of the Fan Club reports that across Europe the La Luna album will be re-launched early 2001 with more tracks, making it identical to the US-version. Why didn't they do this in April 2000 ???

The new release has a cover different from the April and August 2000 releases; it is shown on the right (it mentions some European tour dates between 21 Nov. and 14 Dec. 2000). Actually, this is the picture on the special card slip box mentioned in the Fan Club letter; inside is the CD in the normal box with the same cover picture as the other releases. The picture is one that is inside the CD-booklet of the previous releases.

 
The songs marked with a * are not on or different from the April 2000 European version; the other songs are the same as those of that European version.
Some notes are given below the track list, as well as personal comments on the CD.

 

Contents

  1. *  LA LUNE    (2:53)
    music: Frank Peterson
    lyrics: Anna-Lena Strasse
  2. *  WINTER IN JULY    (4:32)
    music: Tim Simenon, Guy Sigsworth
    lyrics: Loretta Heywood
  3. SCARBOROUGH FAIR    (4:11)
    music & lyrics: traditional, adapted by Peterson
  4. FIGLIO PERDUTO    (4:37)
    music: Ludwig van Beethoven
    , adapted by Soltau lyrics: Chiara Ferraù
  5. *  A WHITER SHADE OF PALE    (3:38)
    music: Matthew Fisher & Gary Brooker
    lyrics: Keith Reid
  6. *  HE DOESN'T SEE ME    (4:29)   --   [see note 1]
    music & lyrics: Goldman / Romanelli
    English lyrics: Read / Ingebrigsten / Marazzi / Adams
    adapted by Frank Peterson
  7. SERENADE (instrumental)    (1:16)   --   [see note 2]
    music: Frank Peterson / Michael Soltau
  8. HOW FAIR THIS PLACE    (1:09)   --   [see note 3]
    music: Sergei Rachmaninov
    lyrics: G. Galina
  9. HIJO DE LA LUNA    (4:28)
    music & lyrics: José Maria Cano
  10. HERE WITH ME    (5:24)
    music & lyrics: Dido Armstrong / Paul Stratham / Pascal Gabriel
  11. LA CALIFFA    (2:37)
    music: Ennio Morricone
    lyrics: Alberto Bevilacqua
  12. THIS LOVE    (6:12)
    music & lyrics: Craig Armstrong / Jerry Burns
  13. SOLO CON TE    (3:07)
    music: Georg F. Händel, adapted by Frank Peterson / Sarah Brightman
    lyrics: Chiara Ferraù
  14. GLOOMY SUNDAY    (3:48)
    music: Reszo Seress
    lyrics: Laszlo Javor / Sam M. Lewis
  15. *  LA LUNA    (4:59)   --   [see note 4]
    music: Antonin Dvorák, adapted by Frank Peterson
    lyrics: Chiara Ferraù
    *  MOON RIVER   --   [see notes 5 & 8]
    music: Henry Mancini
    lyrics: Johnny Mercer
[Total playing time: 61:00   --   see note 6]

Bonus tracks on other versions:

 
Notes

  1. On the European version there is a song called She doesn't see him -- it is in fact the same song, but with somewhat adapted lyrics "more suitable for Sarah to sing".
  2. This instrumental song is here 26 seconds longer than on the European version, and Sarah sings several Ah-ah's here.
  3. On the European version this song is called How fare this spot, where 'fare' is a spelling error on the CD-cover and in de CD-booklet -- apparently this has been corrected on this CD.
  4. Sarah sings this song here somewhat less operatically than on the European version; the lyrics are exactly the same, though [thanks to Vibeke Patterson for noting this].
  5. This is a "hidden song", an encore not mentioned on the CD-cover or in the CD-booklet, and part of track 15: after La Luna there is silence for some 20 seconds, then Moon River follows, sung by Sarah.
    According to the CD-booklet, track 15 is 5 minutes (like La Luna is on the European version), but when put in a CD-player track 15 appears to be 7:25 minutes.
    On the back of the Japanese CD-cover, track 15 is said to be 7:23, but in the Japanese CD-booklet it says 4:59; neither mention Moon River.
  6. Strangely enough several songs are 1-3 seconds longer than on the European version; "Here with me" is 12 seconds longer and "Serenade" even 26; oppositely "La califfa" is 28 seconds shorter and "This love" 7 seconds.

  7. This bonus track, present on the European version, is also added on the Japanese version of La Luna; it is not on other non-European versions, as far as I can tell.
  8. There is also another version of La Luna available in the USA, that has numbers 1 through 15 mentioned above and as bonus track "Heaven is here" (from the CD Fly) coming after "La Luna". This version also has the hidden track "Moon river", now after "Heaven is here".
It is worth mentioning that "la luna" (song 15 and CD-title) is Spanish and "la lune" (song 1) is French for "the moon".
 
All lyrics are printed in the booklet, except for those of the encore "Moon River", which I received too.
===> Lyrics and translations of the "new" songs on a single page (7.4 kb)
           (i.e. the songs not on the European version)
===> All lyrics and translations on a single page (27 kb)

 

"La Luna" tour

There was a "La Luna" world tour by Sarah in the autumn of 2000 and Spring of 2001 which brought her to many cities in the world. I saw the concert in Rotterdam on 3 December 2000; follow the latter link for a "review" and the concert programme.

 

Comments

Basically, the comments to the European version also apply to this non-European version and it is therefore only relevant to make some remarks about the new/different songs here.

La Lune starts with a single beat on a gong (like in In Paradisum on Eden), is then a little pompous, but all in all it is a nice song.
The music of Winter in July has a disco beat to it, which I do not at all like. And A whiter shade of pale is a nice pop song (from what I remember of the original, I think Procol Harum's version sounds better). The change of the lyrics of She doesn't see him into He doesn't see me is nice because a woman is singing it, but it was not really necessary.
On this CD, Sarah sings the song La Luna a little less operatically than on the European version, and I must say: I like it more this way. And the addition of Moon River is nice: Sarah sings is slow, with a young, innocent voice.

As for the differences in the CD-booklet: it seems to be printed with a little more care than the one from the European vesion, though it still contains some printing errors. The number of pages is the same but more lyrics and translations had to be included (and some translations have been improved as well).
For that reason, probably, the booklet of the non-European version contains a one-page photo instead of a two-page photo of Sarah with some furry thing around her neck. Strange is that in the non-European version the three-page (really beautiful!!) photo of Sarah standing on a rock on the water cannot be folded out as nicely as in the European version.
Mary Erickson pointed out that if you turn the first page of the booklet and look at the ocean crashing into the rocks holding the picture against the light, is seems as if Sarah is like an angel with wings watching this ocean scene. A very strange thing, and for the Angel of Music quite apt, but somehow I do not think this is intentional. (The European booklet has not got this effect.)

The CD-disk itself has the same mirrored picture of the moon as the European version. The front of the CD-box has the same photo, but the back of the CD-box has a somewhat different photo of Sarah: on the European version she looks supprised with big eyes, on the non-European version she bends here head and has her eyes (almsot) closed.

 

Thanks to Geoffrey Kidd and Loo Jiaming for info on the CD and the track list, and many thanks to Loo Jiaming (who lives in Singapore and must have been one of the first to buy the CD, early August) and to Chung Kan Li (from Hong Kong) for the lyrics of the songs not on the European version before I had the CD myself. Thanks also to Colin M., Kong Kim Yuan, Hananto Prihanto, Robert Edwards and Cory for various info and help. And thanks to Ronald Teo for a description of the Japanese version (Angel Records, TOCP-65467, made in Japan by Toshiba-EMI Limited).

 
<=== European version of La Luna

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created: 20 July 2000
last modified: 25 May 2006