ECR Music Group is releasing the acclaimed final album of legend Lesley Gore as a deluxe edition today, fully restored, remixed, and remastered by the album’s original producer and ECR founder, Blake Morgan. This new deluxe edition of Ever Since features a never-before-released bonus track––Gore’s final studio recording––recorded during the album’s original 2005 sessions.
“In the years since Lesley’s death in 2015, I’d found it emotionally challenging to listen to the album we made together,” says Morgan. “She was my godmother after all, and I have such rich and beautiful memories of us making Ever Since. I still miss her.”
But earlier this year, Morgan explains that he found himself drawn back to the album––and to more than just listening to it once again. “This past spring, I was suddenly overcome with a need to return to it, and once I did, I rediscovered not only the beauty of the original material, but that we had one more recording we never released––her final studio recording––and, that it was stunning.”
In addition to the ten original tracks on Ever Since, this final studio recording of Gore’s (Morgan and Gore’s reimagining of her previously Quincy Jones–produced song “Love Me By Name”) prompted Morgan to embark on a full restoration, remix, and remaster of the entire album. “We’d tracked ‘Love Me By Name’ in full, but never mixed it back in 2005. Mixing it this past spring provided me the impetus to breathe new life into the entire record and restore it in full, in all its glory.”
The most commercially successful solo artist of the “Girl Group” era of the ‘60s, singer-songwriter Lesley Gore quickly set herself apart. With a string of Quincy Jones-produced chart-topping hits, including “It’s My Party,” “Judy’s Turn To Cry,” and “You Don’t Own Me,” she introduced the world to a brilliant artist with pop instincts and an independent spirit that stood out against the formulaic offerings on the radio. A full-fledged star by age 16, her smash hits rang like anthems for young American women, pointing the way for future generations of rabble-rousing pop singers from Debbie Harry to Lady Gaga.
Produced by Blake Morgan, Ever Since is a timeless collection of classic songs placed in a transparent, pin-lit setting that allows Gore to shine. Included are reimagined versions of two Lesley Gore standards, “You Don’t Own Me” and the Academy Award–nominated “Out Here On My Own” (from Fame), seamlessly interwoven with new songs, including those by Morgan, and Gore herself.
The band—Miles East (drums), John Turner (bass), Mike Errico (guitars) and Blake Morgan (piano)—provides a lush setting for Lesley’s astonishing vocals.
“This remix and remaster of Ever Since isn’t one that attempts to change the nature of this record that so many have loved,” explains Morgan. “On the contrary, it’s a ‘restoration,’ akin to the kind of 4K restoration a movie studio would do for a great movie in their catalog, to preserve it for generations to come. The addition of ‘Love Me By Name’ for this deluxe edition provides the world with a powerful final chapter to this album, and to Lesley’s recording career––an unforgettable one which showcases her artistry at its pinnacle.”
Lesley Gore’s Ever Since [Deluxe Edition] is out now on ECR Music Group.
