Throughout
the 1980s and early 1990s Petula worked on numerous solo recording
projects of original material. These included issuing a handful of
country flavoured singles for the Scotti Brothers label in 1981 / 1982
(including the adult contemporary hit Natural Love) and sessions
produced by David Gest in 1991, resulting in three superbly produced
tracks including the radio single Oxygen. However, none of these
original recording projects resulted in a full-length studio album. In
fact, with the exception of two hit re-recording packages for the Jango
and Dino labels in 1986 and 1988, Petula's last solo album of original
material was the 1978 CBS offering 'Destiny'.
Fast forward 16 years, in the spring / summer of 1994, while performing
on Broadway in the Willy Russell musical BLOOD BROTHERS, Petula began
selecting new songs and working on their arrangements by recording the
project as a demo album to serve as a showcase for potential record
labels - the demos were never intended to be released but were to be
re-recorded once a deal had been secured. The new songs she chose came
from a variety of writers, including herself, expressing Petula's
feelings about life, love and our times - the 13-track demo album is
reminiscent of an off-Broadway, cabaret presentation, using songs that
were being presented at the time by singers such as Andrea Marcovvichi,
Nancy LaMott, Amanda McBroom and Judy Connelli. These recordings, often
referred to as THE NEW YORK SESSIONS culminated in 13 stunning songs
being recorded as demos including a solo / pop version of Tell Me It's
Not True (which has been released) from the musical BLOOD BROTHERS. The
recordings were produced by Joseph Baker (musical director on BLOOD
BROTHERS) at his New York recording studio. Joseph Baker went on to
produce other Petula recordings including Refugee (unreleased),
The
Rainbow, Another Christmas Without You, Away In A Manager and Butterfly
In The Snow for the album This Is Christmas, Come Along With
Me, To
Memphis (unreleased), Driven By Emotion (unreleased) and Living For
Today. The 1994 demo project was put to one side (and never revisited)
as Petula went on a US Road Tour of BLOOD BROTHERS quickly followed by a
sensational return to London's West End as Norma Desmond in Andrew
Lloyd Webber's SUNSET BOULEVARD.
The tracks recorded
by Petula as demos:
01. HERE WE ARE (Grant Sturiale / Barry Harman)* Re-recorded in 1998 for the album Here For You and performed on
Australian TV
Here
We Are was first performed live by Petula in 1996 for her BBC Radio 2 concert with the BBC Concert Orchestra
02. I'LL BE HERE WITH YOU (David Friedman)* Also recorded by Barry Manilow, Nancy LaMott, Kathie Lee Gifford,
David
Hasselhoff, Sam Harris, Linzi Hatley, Laurie Beechman and Bjorn Rosier
03. MY BOUNDLESS FAITH (Gerry Dieffenbach)* Also recorded by Gerry Dieffenbach
04. IN THIS LIFE (Shelly Peiken / Glen Burtnik)* In This Life was performed live by Petula in 1996 at the Derngate Theatre, Northampton
05. STRANGERS ONCE AGAIN (Lindy Robbins / John J Bucchino)* Also recorded by Julie Johnson, Joan Ryan and Andrea Marcovicci
Strangers Once Again was performed live by Petula in 1996 for her BBC Radio 2 concert with the BBC Concert Orchestra
06. MORE TODAY THAN YESTERDAY (Pat Upton)* Also recorded by Spiral Starecase, Diana
Ross, Andy Williams, Ray Quinn and Catherine Porter
07. TELL ME IT'S NOT TRUE (Willy Russell) ** From the musical BLOOD BROTHERS
08. PRELUDE TO LOVE (Grant Sturiale / Petula Clark)*
09. ONE DAY AT A TIME (David Friedman)* Also recorded by Joani O'Keefe
10. LOVE IS ON THE WAY (Albert Louis Hammond / Shelly Peiken)*
11. LOVE IS FOREVER (Allan Rich)*
12. PART OF YOUR SONG (Margaret Dorn / Lynn Flaherty)*
13. FLIGHT (Craig Carnelia)* Performed and or recorded by Ben Platt, Sutton Foster and Megan McGinnis,
Nic Rouleau
Flight was performed live by Petula in 1996 for her BBC Radio 2 concert with the BBC Concert Orchestra. This song was cut from the
broadcast.
**
Included on the
album Downtown To Sunset Boulevard (2000) and The Ultimate Collection
(2002)
*Unreleased
Midday
With Kerri-Anne (Australian TV 1998)
Corrections and
submissions are gratefully accepted.
Researched,
compiled and created by Steven Warner & Tim Hutton
Selected graphics by Ray Leaning @ Muse
Fine Art & Design
Images / videos / ephemera
from the Petula Clark Archive - Warner / Hutton Collection. Multimedia
files used on this website and our social media platforms are presented for entertainment and study
purposes only and are used within the guidelines of the fair use law.
Copyrights held by the various / respective owners who may request their
withdrawal by
e-mail
Fast forward 16 years, in the spring / summer of 1994, while performing
on Broadway in the Willy Russell musical BLOOD BROTHERS, Petula began
selecting new songs and working on their arrangements by recording the
project as a demo album to serve as a showcase for potential record
labels - the demos were never intended to be released but were to be
re-recorded once a deal had been secured. The new songs she chose came
from a variety of writers, including herself, expressing Petula's
feelings about life, love and our times - the 13-track demo album is
reminiscent of an off-Broadway, cabaret presentation, using songs that
were being presented at the time by singers such as Andrea Marcovvichi,
Nancy LaMott, Amanda McBroom and Judy Connelli. These recordings, often
referred to as THE NEW YORK SESSIONS culminated in 13 stunning songs
being recorded as demos including a solo / pop version of Tell Me It's
Not True (which has been released) from the musical BLOOD BROTHERS. The
recordings were produced by Joseph Baker (musical director on BLOOD
BROTHERS) at his New York recording studio. Joseph Baker went on to
produce other Petula recordings including Refugee (unreleased),
The
Rainbow, Another Christmas Without You, Away In A Manager and Butterfly
In The Snow for the album This Is Christmas, Come Along With
Me, To
Memphis (unreleased), Driven By Emotion (unreleased) and Living For
Today. The 1994 demo project was put to one side (and never revisited)
as Petula went on a US Road Tour of BLOOD BROTHERS quickly followed by a
sensational return to London's West End as Norma Desmond in Andrew
Lloyd Webber's SUNSET BOULEVARD.