Madeleine Peyroux - Careless Love (Deluxe Edition)

TAS Rated 5/5 Music, 4/5 Sonics in the January 2022 Issue of The Absolute Sound!

Careless Love, first released in 2004, is a rich collection of cover versions with tunes from Bob Dylan to James P. Johnson, and includes a milestone rendition of Leonard Cohen's "Dance Me To The End Of Love". For the sole original on the album, producer Larry Klein and Jesse Harris co-wrote Madeleine's signature tune and many fans' favorite, "Don't Wait Too Long". With sales of half a million copies, the album shifted Peyroux from the exclusive jazz realm into the mainstream arena, and it remains her most popular release.

The Deluxe Edition includes the acclaimed, original album, plus a previously unreleased 2005 live set, captured in its entirety by Basque Public Radio at Spain's Festival de Jazz de Vitoria-Gasteiz.

a moody, haunting masterpiece

Along with a remastered version of the LP that was cut from the original master tapes, Craft Recordings' new deluxe edition of Careless Love adds a concert recorded during the world tour that followed the studio album. On July 15, 2005, at the Festival de Jazz de Vitoria-Gasteiz in Spain, Peyroux performed Careless Love in its entirety along with a drowsy rendition of an iconic Patsy Cline hit ('Walkin' After Midnight') and a peppy take of a Loesser and Lane standard ('I Hear Music'). The material from Careless Love doesn't stray far from the originals, but those performances have their own charms, including readings of 'No More' and 'I'll Look Around' that remind us just how powerful ballads can be when a great singer slows the songs way down and pours her heart and soul into every line.