Hope - MP3 or FLAC Downloads (2020)

Twelve unreleased tracks from the Archives.

IMPORTANT: Please read this information regarding downloading audio files to your phone or tablet.

Choose between high quality MP3 files (320kbps) or CD quality FLAC files (16bit, 44.1kHz).

 High quality cover art, album credits, song lyrics and Janis' "Inside Story" are also included in your download. Lyrics are also available in the Listening Room on the Janis Ian website.

This album is also available via a variety of digital distributors such as iTunes, Amazon, Spotify and more.

Listen to a sample of the song "Shine On."

Listen to a sample of the song "This Long Night (Dancing With the Dark)."

Tracks (see below for "inside story" and more information):

1. Shine On (Janis Ian) 1976
2. The Love We Leave (Janis Ian/Jon Vezner) 1992
3. This Long Night (Dancing With the Dark) (Janis Ian) 1992
4. Don’t Rush the River (Janis Ian/Kye Fleming) 1985
5. A Thousand Years (Janis Ian/Russ Taff) 1992
6. We Endure (Janis Ian) 1990
7. This Old Town (Janis Ian/Jon Vezner) 1990
8. The Holly Tree (Janis Ian/Jess Leary) 1992
9. Forever Yours (Janis Ian/Russ Taff) 1992
10. We Should Be Dancing (Janis Ian/Thom Schuyler) 1989
11. Here Comes the Night (live in London) (Janis Ian) 1979
12. I Am the One (Janis Ian/Miriam Therese Winter) 2011
    

The basics:
All  tracks are unedited, ranging from cassettes to 1/4" reels later transferred to DAT for preservation. One was recorded live straight to a Mackie board  (“Here Comes the Night”); others were casually laid down by Janis as she sat on a couch at home and sang into a DAT player, or in a local studio where she sat down with a guitar to get a new song down on tape. No editing, no auto-tuning, no attempts to make them sound more “professional”. There’s some hiss, there are a few mistakes. That’s what happens when you make art! Any noise artifacts you may hear are part of the original. As little as possible has been done to render these recordings usable. 

The Inside Story:
December 14, 2020
It’s been a long, tough year. Like everyone else, I’ve had losses, and like everyone else, I’ve tried to struggle through. Those of us in the entertainment world are very aware that we are a service industry. We exist, in large part, to serve the public. To harbor your dreams, to remind you of those dreams when times get tough. To console you in pain, to celebrate your victories.

For those of us who performed and crewed through wars, bombings, and other horrors, there’s always been the stage to rely on – a way to gather people together and let them feel they’re still part of a community. Still united in some way. Still in it together for the long run.

Covid-19 changed all that. None of us have been able to do what we know how to do best, which is bring people together and give them hope. Instead, we’ve had to adapt, learn new skills, still trying to connect and let people know they’re not alone.

For myself, at the start of quarantines and lockdowns I began the Better Times Project, never dreaming it would grow to house its own website, featuring more than 200 artists, and giving many of those artists something creative to do when their own wells had run dry. The project lasted a full five months, and during that time myself, my colleague Jeff Evans, and webmaster Steve Wilkison were completely consumed. It didn’t only help the people who followed the project; it helped us.

Now, as the holiday season approaches, it seems a vaccine is near. Maybe by next December, things will be back to “normal”. Maybe we’ll even have learned a few things along the way. I hope so, because it’s been painful to see communities torn apart over the politicization of this disease and its consequences. For those of us whose lives center around community engagement, it’s been particularly rough.

All through this fall, I’ve been thinking “All I want is a little hope. Just enough to keep going.” The song “We Endure” came to mind, and “This Old Town.” I called Jeff, who knows more about my song catalogue than even I do, and asked if there were enough “hopeful” songs to fill out an album. Together, we assembled this group of work tapes and demos, from “Shine On” (which almost made it onto Miracle Row) to a bunch of songs no one’s heard before except myself and Jeff. I thought it would be appropriate to end with “I Am the One”, co-written with Medical Mission Sister Miriam Therese Winter, which speaks to the hope I hold in my heart for all of us.

Here’s to a better year, and a better world.

Janis Ian

Album Credits:
Produced by Jeff Evans and Janis Ian
Mastered by Eric Conn at Independent Mastering
Cover photograph: Pat Snyder
Cover design: Jeff Evans
Engineers: Philip Clark, Gordon Hammond, Robert Haynes, Janis Ian, Jon Vezner, unknown

Musician credits:
Janis Ian: Lead vocals, guitars, piano, unless otherwise indicated


“The Love We Leave”
Jon Vezner: Guitars, background vocals

“Don’t Rush the River”
Alex Brown: Background vocals
Marvin Kanarek: Drums, bass

“Here Comes the Night” (live in London, 1995):
Rick Blackwell: Bass, background vocals
Jim Brock: Drums, percussion
Randy Leago: Percussion, keyboard, background vocals

Album and tracks ℗ 2020 Rude Girl Records, Inc. All rights reserved.

Shine On, Here Comes the Night, words and music by Janis Ian; © Mine Music Ltd.
The Love We Leave, words and music by Janis Ian and Jon Vezner; © Rude Girl Pub. Inc./Minnesota Man Music (BMI)
This Long Night (Dancing With the Dark) words and music by Janis Ian; © Rude Girl Pub. Inc.
Don’t Rush the River, words and music by Janis Ian and Kye Fleming; © Taosongs (50%)/Irving Music/Eaglewood Music (BMI)
A Thousand Years, Forever Yours, words and music by Janis Ian and Russ Taff; © Rude Girl Pub. Inc./Tori Taff Music.
We Endure, words and music by Janis Ian; © Taosongs (BMI)
This Old Town, words and music by Janis Ian and Jon Vezner; © Rude Girl Pub. Inc. (50%)/Universal-Millhouse Music (BMI) 50% obo Jonathan Vezner

The Holly Tree, words and music by Janis Ian and Jess Leary; © Taosongs (BMI)/Leary’s Irish Stew Music (ASCAP)
We Should Be Dancing, words and music by Janis Ian and Thom Schuyler; © Taosongs (50%)/
Screen Gems-EMI Music Inc., Bethlehem Music, Writer’s Group Music Inc (50%)
I Am the One, words and music by Janis Ian and Miriam Therese Winter; © Rude Girl Pub. (BMI)/Medical Mission Sisters (ASCAP)
All songs all rights reserved; used by permission.