Land & Sea - The First Day

Today marked the first day of the release for Land & Sea!

Throughout the entire day glowing feedback was being tweeted @sarahslean on twitter with reviews of the album.  Sarah responded back and RT a number of them.  I wasn't able to locate anything other then sharp praise for both Land & Sea on twitter, facebook and forums.  It's not clear which of the 2 discs is preferred the most at this time, but some have found this their favourite work of hers to date.

Although delays were expected with the iTunes release internationally, fans outside of Canada where able to download the album in their local iTunes or Amazon stores.  Sarah's tweets provided an updates that the digital distributor hit a snag that effected international pricing that was being resolved.  When it came to the deluxe edition, questions remained on its availability and the digital booklet.  What did come appearant as the day went on people where going out and buying in stores and Sarah was added to the international streaming services of Spotify and Rdio.

This morning Sarah did a live interview on breakfast television.  A stream of it was under the video section.  http://www.cp24.com/mshow/

Some highlights from the interview was Sarah confirming that the tour will mostly focus on Land and that in the end it should each the East coast of St. John's.  She described the musicians recording on Sea and playing at her Harbourfront concert as exquisite and in a change, the interviewed put his shoes aside and Sarah kept hers on.

Source: SarahSlean's Twitter Image

The hand made editions of Land & Sea also went into the mail but where first photographed by Sarah and tweeted.  50 album cases where made for both Land & Sea putting the total number at 100 unique covers.  They are similar to how the work was done for the Beauty Lives special edition with the exception of the sides not being labeled.

Lastly, Sarah's website was updated with VIP packages for Nelson, Edmonton and Vancouver.  Most tour dates that are not already on sale will go on sale this Friday.  Some of the shows have pre-sales.

Will keep my eyes and ears out for any media appearances over day 2.  I hope very much that the littleslean readers enjoy their albums of Land & Sea as much as I do.  Thanks for reading and sharing.

Land & Sea - Out Now with iTunes Deluxe Package

Land & Sea has officially been released today. The standard CD comes in a double digi pack with themes representing both "Land" and "Sea." The booklet contains lyrics to all 18 songs and full credits including each member of the 21 piece orchestra. Familiar names from Sarah's band supporting The Baroness that repeat here are Mark Mariash (drums), Chris Banks (bass), Dean Drouilard (guitar) and Royal Wood (guitar/organ/bass).

50 - hand painted editions by Sarah where also sold-out during the pre-order stage that we have yet to see.

No photos additional information is yet available on the vinyl edition, a first for Sarah.

According to Sarah's twitter and facebook the world wide iTunes release is set for early October and will include a digital booklet as did The Baroness when it was released. Other online music retailers like Amazon listed yesterday may have it available for the 27th.

iTunes (Canada) currently has deluxe edition available for sale right now selling instrumental versions of all 9 songs on Sea. It's not clear if those will be available anywhere else or made international at some point.

I will be staying on top of the press to promote the album and will be providing summaries and links.

The Sisters of Mercy - Film to String Quartet No. 2

CJ Wallis who directed Last Flowers and music video for The Rose now has a new project in the works featuring Sarah Slean.  Using Sarah's music for String Quartet No. 2 he is creating a film adaptation of Lucy Rupert's The Animals Are Planning An Intervention.  

A short synopsis can be found on the Forty FPS blog.  You can purchase the music on iTunes.

Lucy not only danced in the music video for The Rose but her and CJ worked worked on this music video too:

Beauty Lives is in iTunes

Sarah's official site announced today that Beauty Lives is now in iTunes among other digital stores.  Here is a link to it in the Canadian iTunes store but it looks like it should be available internationally.

http://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/beauty-lives-b-sides/id412635675

iTunes stores internationally this year added Sarah back catalog to their stores as well.

Beauty Lives has not been spotted in alternative online music stores as yet.  In the past, hmv.ca, puretracks.com, amazon.com and rhino.com have sold her digital releases.

Update 2011-01-02
Amazon.com has it available for download. Amazon.ca does not.

New Sarah Slean official site launched with BIG News

Sarah's new official site that we spotted being tested a few weeks ago has now welcomed visitors and offered some huge news in one short sentence:

Coming soon – digital scores for download, the digital release of indies and back catalogue world-wide, and more!

-gtavegan.com 

Sheet music has been desired by fans for many years.  A few years ago sheet music fans submitted their favourite songs to see included in a sheet music book to Sarah's site.  The book was never released but the demand shown and input of fans may be included in this release.  Most of Sarah's catalog is still available for sale through MapleMusic and online through the Canadian iTunes store.  It will be interesting to see what other releases they plan to put forward and exciting to see her digital catalog go on sale globally.

In another entry of news Sarah has an update on her new album and officially hints at the working album title, Land and Sea.  Land portion of the double album with Joel has been recorded.

Other news entries posted on the site confirm previous posts to littleslean like tonight's Song For Africa release party tonight and the Free Canada Day concert.

A widget has been added to littlelsean news side bar to show new posts to Sarah's new site.

Update 2010-06-18 :
 http://www.sarahslean.com/ has now been updated to with the format and content that was available on gtavegan.com

Beautiful featuring Sarah on iTunes

The Song for Africa track that Sarah recorded on in Africa is available currently on iTunes.

The song information is:
Beautiful (feat. Holy Jadoves) - Single by Timothy Edwards

iTunes link to the song can be found here:
http://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/id368242397

Sarah covers The Right Thing (audio preview)

At 2008's Canwest Cabaret Festival Sarah was involved in multiple work shops including Toronto Sings Breithaupt Brother Songbook. In the fall of 2009 that concert was put out as a live album with Sarah singing the lead track, The Right Thing.

You can find the song on Amazon.com and iTune's Canadian store.

Thanks to reader Sean for giving me this tip sometime ago.

If you're able to visit the Canadian iTunes Store, they do have an 8 minute long video interview with Sarah likely recorded on 2006-12-11 where Sarah played live on MTV Overdrive. The interview discuses why she did Orphan Music as a live album/bside album, how she ended up cover Pink Floyd and what she thinks of blogging. You can download it free from iTunes here.

PS- Sarah's official site has been lively with news the last few days.

The Baroness Redecorates, The Aftermath

A quick update on Sarah's new EP. The good news is that it's out, the bad news is that some people are having a hard time getting their hands on it.

The official site went 'out of stock' on the limited EP on the first day of it's release.
Copies will still be available at her concerts in Toronto to presumably supplies last and there is a chance any remainders will go back to the store.

Digital copies of the EP are only available to those in Canada for those using the official site or iTunes.

The official site did post the following message under their myspace news page:

"*The digital version of this EP is only available in Canada. Very sorry to all non-Canadians/Canadian residents! If we could sell to everyone, we would*

That being said, the 3rd official store to offer the digital version of the EP, Rhino records, can do international orders. Encoded at 256kbs, it should give everyone a chance to enjoy the EP the way it was intended to be heard.

For those who were lucky enough to get orders through on the physical version of the EP, reports are that some of them have already arrived. The EP has received very positive reviews from what I have seen.

Update 2008-12-18
The digital version is available to everyone now through SarahSlean.com according to the official mailing list posting earlier today. A confirmation that more CD's will be hitting the online store was also mentioned.

Sarah Slean Bside EP, Track list and Info.

Sarah has presented an early holiday surprise with announcing the release of her Bside EP "The Baroness Redecorates" on December 9th. The announcement was first made via her official site's mailing list on November 13th and facebook group account.

Since January of 2008 we have had a short list of the songs that did not make onto The Baroness and Sarah's wishes to put them out on a Bside. It appears she has managed to get them all onto the Bside with the exception of the yet to be heard song, "The Right Words".

The track list for the EP is as follows.

1. Parasol
2. Lonely Side of the Moon
3. Modern Man I & II
4. Compatriots
5. The Rose
6. Hear Me Out
7. The “Disarm” Suite

The EP title "The Baroness Redcorates" is also the title of one of Sarah poems contatined in her book for poetry, The Baroness.

Parasol was released as a bonus track online while Lonely Side of the Moon and The Rose were released in an offer through iTunes. This is the first time those who live outside of Canada or missed Parasol bonus offer have the chance to purchase these songs.

Sarah has played Modern Man and Compatriots live before. I suspect the first section of Modern Man is instrumental with Sarah conducting before the second movement where she takes the piano. Hear Me Out appears to be a brand new song, although she has an unrelased bside with a similar title of Count Me Out.

The "Disarm" Suite appears to be a new song and a title I have never seen published before. In Sarah's recent's Q&A session, she did have the following to say about disarming:

"When you disarm, everything changes.

Permit me this little instructive exercise for disarmament. Go to a nearby park. Sit down in a spot free from noise or distraction and have a good look at a tree. A good long look. Imagine it smiling at you. Seriously!... You'll know what I mean. Try it.

Disarming means knowing love and trusting it as truth. Love then gets behind every one of your senses. You see food as the sun and the rain's conspiracy to strengthen and sustain you. You see difficult people and situations as opportunities to deepen your compassion. You hear the plea for love that is hiding behind all complaints, attacks and criticisms. You feel the life in your body, in another's body, and you're amazed."

- Sarah Slean, Q&A Part 2, Answer 20

The EP will be available through iTunes, SarahSlean.com, and rhinorecords.ca. The mail list posting did not indicate if there is a physical release of this EP that coincides with the digital release.

Sarah's iTunes Playlist

Sarah is one of the many celebrities to have added their playlist to iTunes. Sarah goes through each track and being on iTunes you can sample and purchase them too. View Sarah's July 7th playlist by launching the celebrity playlist in iTunes.

1. Dress Rehearsal Rag - Leonard Cohen
2. Lover, You Should've Come Over - Jeff Buckley
3. God's Song - Randy Newman
4. Backdrifts - Radiohead
5. The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face - Roberta Flack
6. A case of You - Jone Mitchell
7. God Knows - El Perro del Mar
8. Man-Sized Sexet - PJ Harvey
9. Mr Brightside - The Killers
10. Glory Box - Portishead
11. Desire - Talk Talk
12. The Tourist - Radiohead
13. Leather - Tori Amos
14. Strange Fruit - Billi Joliday
15. Joga - Bjork
    
16. Shine - David Gray
17. Powder Blue - Elbow

Thanks to Kyall for the heads up on this and the image is from the current iTunes Canada homepage.

Update 2008-07-22:
As people outside of the Canadian iTunes store can not view the playlist, by request I have included a screen print of Sarah's comments.

Get Home Video - Available on iTunes

You can now purchase the video for Get Home on iTunes. The video size is 46.7mb which is over 3 times larger then the video that was previously made available to stream. The video retails at $2.29 in the Canadian iTunes store.

iTunes Essentials & Get Home (Album version)

On the heals of the new album preorder, the iTune's Canadian store has made a compilation of songs from Sarah's albums, singles and other works to a single album.

All songs are prior to the release of The Baroness.

As stated in the official release from ss.com, Get Home is become the track of the week this week on iTunes. The track is free for those who have an iTunes store account. The song is the album version unlike the free demo version that was previously available through her mailing list.