Lani Hall - New Album Due

Steve Sidoruk

Founder, A&M Fan Net
Staff member
Moderator
A new Lani Hall release is reportedly due in April 2022. No further info yet, but would suspect that her recent single will be there.
 
Finally downloaded on Apple iTunes "Sundown Lady" (1972), "Hello It's Me" (1975) & "Sweet Bird" (1976). Don't like the Spanish stuff.
 
I especially love Lani's three Spanish albums, and the fourth "greatest hits" too, especially because that one showed up on CD.

Her Brazilian A BRAZILEIRA is probably one of her finest. I was one of the lucky ones to grab the Japanese Vivid Sound release of SUN DOWN LADY on CD. It's very pricey these days - and because of the nature of the music being so quiet and intimate, the CD is superb as there aren't the crackles and pops that are inherent in the vinyl.

I'll be looking forward to whatever she comes out with this year. As is the case with almost all of her albums, she's likely to sprinkle some "herbs" into the recipe.
 
Lani’s cool Brasil ‘66 style was more to my taste, too. But seeing her live in concert with Herb (Napa 2/29/20) allowed me to connect with what she’s doing now. I’m a fan, and I’m happy to hear there’s an album to follow (and maybe include) “Seasons of Love”.

I’d love to see a digital re-release of BLUSH and BRASIL NATIVO. But given that Apple Music has been without the first Brasil ‘66 album and LOOK AROUND for almost two months now (both are still on Spotify), I won’t hold my breath.
 
Finally downloaded on Apple iTunes "Sundown Lady" (1972), "Hello It's Me" (1975) & "Sweet Bird" (1976). Don't like the Spanish stuff.
I have all three of these on LP and I have recently played them on the turntable. I do not remember exactly when I finally got this album but it was not until 1976 or 1977. The two followups I found in stores as cutouts.
When Sun Down Lady was released, one local station played three selections and the DJ, who was a former high school instructor of mine, talked about Lani as being a singer with Brasil'66. The songs played were Vincent, Tiny Dancer and How Can I Tell You and they got the airplay until the station decided to change its format and they all went by the wayside. The followup albums were ignored on the stations here.
 
The station I listened to played "We Could Be Flying", "How Can I Tell You", "Come Down In Time" and "Love Song". I was working in a drug store part time to pay for college expenses and the adult lady who worked there full time would always claim how awful the repetitious high organ part was, so in order to keep "my" station on, I had to guard the radio whenever "We Could Be Flying" came on. I'd turn the volume way down at that point.
 
The station I listened to played "We Could Be Flying", "How Can I Tell You", "Come Down In Time" and "Love Song". I was working in a drug store part time to pay for college expenses and the adult lady who worked there full time would always claim how awful the repetitious high organ part was, so in order to keep "my" station on, I had to guard the radio whenever "We Could Be Flying" came on. I'd turn the volume way down at that point.
If the station in my area had not played the songs, I would have probably never known the album existed as there was no promotion of it at any store. I actually bought it from Record Club Of America as I don't think I ever saw it here.
 
This was the period where I was often content taping songs in stereo on my reel-to-reel tape recorder, so I likely grabbed all of the songs above onto various reels. It was more complicated to play a specific song that way when I wanted to, but I was fairly meticulous at noting the counter number of every song.

It would be a few more years before I found a cache of SUN DOWN LADY albums being tossed at the radio station I worked for. I have a good collection of that on mostly clean vinyl.
 
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Renowned author and Grammy award-winning singer Lani Hall returns to release her first new studio album in over 20 years, Seasons Of Love. Rising to fame in the 1960s as the lead singer for Sérgio Mendes & Brasil '66, Hall has been a prominent vocal talent for decades. She famously sang the title song for the 1983 James Bond film, Never Say Never Again. Her Latin albums in the 1980s yielded multiple gold records and a Grammy award for Best Latin Pop Performance. Hall continues to record and perform with husband Herb Alpert, and this new collection of songs is a major return to form. The title track, "Seasons Of Love", is an emotional rendition of the hit song from the Broadway show Rent. Bill Withers' "Lovely Day" and The Beatles' "Here Comes The Sun" are expertly reimagined. Classic standards "Waters Of March" and "Sorri" (a Portuguese take on "Smile") shine with the relaxed Bossa Nova feel that permeates the entire album. Herb Alpert co-produces and lends his unmistakable trumpet to the proceedings as well. Seasons Of Love is a can't miss effort from one of music's most enduring voices.
 
A1OUdyop+nL._AC_SL1500_.jpg

Renowned author and Grammy award-winning singer Lani Hall returns to release her first new studio album in over 20 years, Seasons Of Love. Rising to fame in the 1960s as the lead singer for Sérgio Mendes & Brasil '66, Hall has been a prominent vocal talent for decades. She famously sang the title song for the 1983 James Bond film, Never Say Never Again. Her Latin albums in the 1980s yielded multiple gold records and a Grammy award for Best Latin Pop Performance. Hall continues to record and perform with husband Herb Alpert, and this new collection of songs is a major return to form. The title track, "Seasons Of Love", is an emotional rendition of the hit song from the Broadway show Rent. Bill Withers' "Lovely Day" and The Beatles' "Here Comes The Sun" are expertly reimagined. Classic standards "Waters Of March" and "Sorri" (a Portuguese take on "Smile") shine with the relaxed Bossa Nova feel that permeates the entire album. Herb Alpert co-produces and lends his unmistakable trumpet to the proceedings as well. Seasons Of Love is a can't miss effort from one of music's most enduring voices.
Fantastic!!! Label? Release date?
 
Looking forward to it. Both "Sorri" and "Waters Of March" were featured on her last album, BRASIL NATIVO.
 
I could use a warm, upbeat album. Let's hope it delivers! 👍 I'm liking the song selection so far.
 
I'm surprised to see "Waters of March" appear yet again. In additions to Lani's previous take on it, there are several versions of it by Sergio Mendes floating around. I have never understood the "classic-ness" of that song.... I find it kind of boring and repetitious. It will be interesting to see what Lani and Herb do with it this time though. I'm always willing to give it yet another chance to find its way into my favorites list.
 
I'd first heard "Waters of March" on the Stan Getz/João Gilberto Best of Two Worlds album, with both João and Miucha taking verses. Can't say I've ever heard a version by Sergio but have listened to plenty of others. It's not my go-to pick for a Jobim or Brazilian song, but I usually don't skip it either. The version from Elis & Tom is often referred to as the definitive version, whereas Jobim's original recording, originally a newspaper insert, is a rare item.

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The first commercially released version was Elis Regina's, two years prior to her duet version with Tom Jobim.

The lyrics are an achievement. Jobim wrote both the Portuguese and English lyrics. It's interesting to note that in Brazil, March is the rainy month preceding Autumn in the southern hemisphere, whereas March precedes Spring for us in the northern hemisphere, so he had to adjust the English lyrics a little to account for that (as it wouldn't have made as much sense). Based on Brazil's rainfall in March, or a Spring thaw here in the northern hemisphere, the lyrics describe what a stream of water heading downhill might contain, or encounter along the way (a stick, a stone, a sliver of glass, a spike, a nail, the oak when it blooms, the fox in the brush, the end of the road, the car that got stuck, etc.). Almost like a stream of consciousness.

I would say that in my case, the lyrics win over the music, but I would guess that Jobim's use of a minimal melody was used to focus listeners more on the lyrics.
 
Heh! The first version of "Waters Of March" I ever heard was from Art Garfunkel on his BREAKAWAY album. I had no idea it was a Brazilian tune at that point. Sergio did it on VINTAGE '74, which took me awhile to find, and again later on BRASIL '88.
 
I'm looking forward to Getting this one Any Album Lani Puts out is a rarity and Real treat these days
 
Maybe it’s being born in March, but “Waters of March” has been pretty much my favorite song since the first time I heard it, on the 1973 JOBIM album (Which I heard the day it arrived as a promo copy at KIBS). Next was Garfunkel’s, then Lani’s. I don’t think I heard the Jobim/Elis duet until streaming the last decade or so. Love them all.

I know Lani’s (from BRASIL NATIVO) is controversial, but I think it shows that a song about life can be done both joyously and mournfully.
 
I heard the Tom & Elis version on a Verve compilation in the 90s. Wish I could remember the name of it. It had an early Walter Wanderley song on it (pre-A&M), Tamba Trio's "Mas Que Nada," and a couple of the more obvious Bossa Nova hits.

I know Lani’s (from BRASIL NATIVO) is controversial, but I think it shows that a song about life can be done both joyously and mournfully.
I don't recall her version, but Jobim's Portuguese lyrics were slanted more towards Autumn and life dying off, whereas his English lyrics changed those thoughts to "It's the promise of life/It's the joy in your heart" as a means of passing along Spring and rebirth, and to make more sense to those of us north of the Equator. I don't recall if anyone has done a translation of the Portuguese "Autumn" version to English.
 
I heard the Tom & Elis version on a Verve compilation in the 90s. Wish I could remember the name of it. It had an early Walter Wanderley song on it (pre-A&M), Tamba Trio's "Mas Que Nada," and a couple of the more obvious Bossa Nova hits.


I don't recall her version, but Jobim's Portuguese lyrics were slanted more towards Autumn and life dying off, whereas his English lyrics changed those thoughts to "It's the promise of life/It's the joy in your heart" as a means of passing along Spring and rebirth, and to make more sense to those of us north of the Equator. I don't recall if anyone has done a translation of the Portuguese "Autumn" version to English.
Rudy: Here's Lani's. The visual has nothing to do with it. Looks like Windham Hill grabbed the wrong photo:

 
"Waters Of March" was also on this Windham Hill sampler and it looks like they grabbed the wrong credits page for the video.

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