It is so wonderful to have new Beth Sorrentino sounds. I got a nice gift on a beautiful Sunday morning! Thank you Beth....I've missed you!

Bee Gees - How deep is your love (Dario Caminita Revibe)

Here is an acoustic piece I composed, dedicated to the great Fred Rogers. Enjoy!

Red Cardigan

Nostalgia

This is another piano instrumental I have composed. It is called, Reflection. Enjoy and have a great summer!  

Reflection

Cover of Mariah Carey's ''All I want for Christmas is You'' acoustic feel, with a fun blues twist :D

All I want for Christmas is You (Cover)

Wankelmut - one day

BETH SORRENTINO
Would You Like To Go: A Curt Boettcher Songbook
Basta 30-9318-2 (2013 release)

Singer Beth Sorrentino was born in 1968, the year a now-mostly forgotten musical wizard named Curt Boettcher reached his peak. On her new album, she pays tribute to a musician she never knew, whose work has been largely overlooked.

Boettcher (pronounced BET-cher) was a songwriter, singer, arranger, and recording studio wizard who specialized in multi-harmony soft rock. He produced the first album by The Association (1966), and arranged their major hit "Along Comes Mary." Curt then formed The Ballroom, whose studio sessions (unreleased for decades) achieved legendary stature among West Coast Sixties Pop cognoscenti. Many Ballroom songs and recordings were later remixed with additional instruments and vocals for Boettcher's two collaborative album masterpieces, The Millennium's Begin and Sagittarius's Present Tense (with Gary Usher), both issued in 1968 on Columbia. The albums sold poorly, but are durable, compelling psychedelic artifacts, as well as forerunners of "Sunshine Pop."

For a decade Curt was a hustling session contributor, often drifting in and out of the Beach Boys orbit. He appeared as backing singer, musician, producer, or mixer on albums by The Byrds, Chad & Jeremy, Paul Revere & The Raiders, Bruce Johnston, Dennis Wilson, and Emitt Rhodes. He produced several hits for Tommy Roe, including "Hooray for Hazel," as well as dozens of worthy singles by historical footnotes. He released one solo album, There's An Innocent Face (1972, Elektra), but a follow-up, Chicken Little Was Right, was never completed. In 1987 while living in Burbank, Boettcher fell ill, was hospitalized, developed pneumonia, and died at age 43. During his prime, Boettcher was a cult figure. At his death, he was a forgotten cult figure. But Curt created some unforgettable music.

Beth Sorrentino, who was born the year Begin and Present Tense were released, fell under the Boettcher spell in 2010 when she first heard the magical Millennium album. She proposed recording a collection of songs associated with Curt, with most written or co-written by him. She enlisted her old friend, producer Sean Slade, who had worked with Beth's first band, Suddenly, Tammy!, in the 1990s. (Slade's production credits include Radiohead, Pixies, Warren Zevon, Hole, Lou Reed, Weezer, and others). Sorrentino and Slade crafted an approach that does not attempt to replicate the Boettcher sound, but instead represents a brilliantly idiosyncratic take on the artist's legacy. The arrangements pay homage to Curt's genius for vocal harmony, with Sorrentino's sweet soprano providing all lead and backing voices. Tandyn Almer, who wrote "Along Comes Mary," called Beth's version "one of the best I've heard. Love her phrasing." The album uses very little guitar, and showcases Sorrentino's deft keyboard work on a Mason & Hamlin 1904 upright piano, Mellotron, Wurlitzer piano, Hammond B3, Korg electric piano, and Fender Rhodes. Inspiration is best expressed not thru imitation, but thru reinterpretation. Sorrentino didn't copy the original; she built on it.

European release: April 22, 2013
Album Produced by Sean Slade
Solicitor and Overseer: Irwin Chusid
Engineered by Benny Grotto

Musicians: Beth Sorrentino, Jeremy Moses Curtis, Sean Slade, Irwin Chusid, Benny Grotto

Tracks:
01  Would You Like To Go (Boettcher/Alexander)
02  I Just Want To Be Your Friend (Boettcher)
03  The Island (Boettcher)
04  I'm Not Living Here (Boettcher)
05  You Know I've Found A Way (Boettcher/Mallory)
06  Baby, Please Don't Go (trad. arr. Boettcher)
07  Another Time (Boettcher)
08  Along Comes Mary (Almer; arr. Boettcher)
09  Prelude (Rhodes/Edgar)
10  The Know-It-All (Boettcher)
11  There Is Nothing More To Say (Boettcher/Fennelly/Mallory)
12  Wearing Levis (Boettcher)

www.BethSorrentino.com

BETH SORRENTINO - BIO

Beth Sorrentino sings, composes, plays keyboards, and teaches music to children. She hails from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and now lives in Manhattan.

In the early 1990s, Beth, brother Jay (drums), and friend Kenny (bass) formed the trio Suddenly, Tammy!, who released two EPs and a self-titled album on SpinART. A cover story in CMJ caught the attention of Warner Bros. Records exec Lenny Waronker, who signed the band. We Get There When We Do, their major label debut, was released in 1995. A follow-up was recorded, titled Comet, but the band was unsigned by WB in 1996, after which the trio disbanded. (Comet was self-released digitally in 2010.)

Beth moved to New York and became a music instructor. She has taught at Upper West Side schools, teaches piano and voice privately, and has composed music for children's theatrical productions at Manhattan's Kaufmann Center. In 2003, Beth recorded a series of solo works, released digitally in 2006 under the title Nine Songs, One Story. Two live solo sessions, Wave and Beautiful Day, performed and recorded in 2001 at WFMU radio, were released digitally in 2008. In 2011, she released a digital collection, Hiding Out, featuring original compositions and covers. Would You Like To Go is her first full-length album on Basta.

If you meet Beth, ask her about the time she was singled out of the audience at a Bobby McFerrin concert and invited onstage to duet on "Here Comes the Sun," during which an impressed McFerrin leaned over and whispered into her ear, "Who ARE you?"

info@BethSorrentino.com
www.BethSorrentino.com


I Just Want To Be Your Friend - Beth Sorrentino

Basta Music is Holland's smallest record company with a refined interest in early electronic music, contemporary music and nowadays singer/songwriters. Our mission statement / slogan / payoff / line-of-awesomeness we had to come up with about ourselves - 'A Veritable Treasure Trove of Extraordinary Music' - is what we try to keep as a guideline when deciding which music to release, and what not.

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I Just Want To Be Your Friend - Beth Sorrentino

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