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  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    2021 Mini-LP CD initially released only to Japan.

    Features:

    • Otherwise unreleased track "You'd Be Surprised" unavailable on the "Top Shelf" digital release
    • Warm, vinyl-like mastering courtesy Grammy®-nominated engineer Jessica Thompson (Erroll Garner)
    • Slip sleeve paper jacket that looks and feels like a miniature version of the original LP
    • Reworked and expanded track list
    • 16-page full color booklet featuring bio, song list, and rare photos of Laura
    • Lyric sheet
    • Full color picture CD
    • Collectible Japanese obi strip
    • Resealable transparent outer sleeve

    Laura's very first release to Japan, "Top Shelf" received excellent reviews in "CD Journal," "Jazz Critique," "Jazz Japan," and "The Walker's" magazines. "Jazz Critique" reviewed the album twice in the same issue, declaring the album "irresistible for 1920s–1950s retro standard lovers." "CD Journal" (one of the top selling music magazines in Japan) described the album as a "modern day nostalgic story based on the jazz standards of the good old days."

    In America, a review of the import CD on the "Geoff Wilbur Music Blog" by Eric Harabadian (Down Beat) exploded in popularity and became the blog's most read review of all time. This review can be read at: geoffwilburmusic.com/2021/11/04/laura-ainsworth-top-shelf/

    _____

    ABOUT MINI-LP CD'S: Mini-LP CD's are a long running format in the Japanese market that also have an international following. They are a true "best of both worlds" option for collectors because they offer authentic LP packaging along with high quality digital sound. They are also an excellent space-saving option, taking up less than half the space of a regular jewel case or Digipak CD.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Top Shelf (compilation) via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ... more
    ships out within 5 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $24.98 USD or more 

     

  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    LIMITIED QUANTITY! The original 10-song, 180g heavyweight vinyl LP, released in 2017 one week before the release of Laura's third album, "New Vintage."

    "Top Shelf" was originally an LP-only release intended to present Laura's music to the emerging vinyl market. The album made its way to Japan in 2019 and was reviewed positively in "Jazz Life" magazine, which led to Japanese record store chain Disk Union picking up the album for distribution. Ratspack Records took over Japanese distribution of "Top Shelf" in 2020, and released an expanded edition on mini-LP CD in September 2021.

    LP track list is below:

    Side 1:
    1. Love For Sale
    2. An Occasional Man
    3. Necessary Evil
    4. Just Give Me A Man
    5. Hooray For Love

    Side 2:
    1. That's How I Got My Start
    2. Out Of This World
    3. That's The Kind Of Guy I Dream Of
    4. Wasting My Love On You
    5. Skylark

    Tracks S1 1, S2 3, 5 from "Keep It To Yourself" (2011)
    Tracks S1 3, 4, 5, S2 2 from "Necessary Evil" (2013)
    Tracks S1 2, S2 1, 4 from "New Vintage" (2017)

    Includes unlimited streaming of Top Shelf (compilation) via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ... more
    ships out within 5 days
    edition of 300 
    Purchasable with gift card

      $29.98 USD or more 

     

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $1.10 USD  or more

     

about

A 1941 song whose tune, written by Hoagy Carmichael, was initially intended for an unrealized Broadway adaptation of the 1938 novel Young Man With A Horn. Johnny Mercer later wrote lyrics for the song. The lyrics are believed to be about Judy Garland, a former paramour of Mercer’s.

lyrics

Skylark
Have you anything to say to me?
Can you tell me where my love can be?
Is there a meadow in the mist
Where someone’s waiting to be kissed?

Oh, Skylark
Have you seen a valley green with spring
Where my heart can go a-journeying
Over the shadows and the rain
To a blossom-covered lane?

And in your lonely flight
Haven’t you heard the music in the night?
Wonderful music
Faint as a will o’ the wisp
Crazy as a loon
Sad as a gypsy serenading the moon

Skylark
I don’t know if you can find these things
But my heart is riding on your wings
So if you see them anywhere
Won’t you lead me there?

credits

from Top Shelf (compilation), released November 18, 2022

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Laura Ainsworth Dallas, Texas

American retro jazz singer Laura Ainsworth breathes new life into songs from the Great American Songbook era.

Laura has released four studio albums and one compilation album to date.

She has been featured in Down Beat (USA), Broadway World (USA), Jazz Critique (Japan) and other important international jazz publications.
... more

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