Reba McEntire is looking back on her career with a three-disc, three-album retrospective - but with a twist. Revived Remixed Revisited, due on October 8 from MCA Nashville, consists entirely of new and previously unheard versions of her greatest hits for a total of 30 tracks.
The first disc, Revived, presents McEntire's songs (including "Can't Even Get the Blues" and "Is There Life Out There") performed with her touring band as they would be heard in concert today with arrangements and interpretations that have developed over time. The second disc, Remixed, finds the singer's original recordings (including "Little Rock" and the Reba theme song, recent TikTok sensation, and all-around anthem "I'm a Survivor") as remixed by a host of contemporary engineers.
Lastly, the third and final disc, Revisited, is a new collaboration with producer Dave Cobb (Chris Stapleton, Jason Isbell, Brandi Carlile, Oak Ridge Boys) and a small band. While the concept is similar to Revived in reimagining old songs, the Revisited disc features stripped-down, organic arrangements of titles such as "Somebody Should Leave" and "Consider Me Gone" with the focus on McEntire's warm and expressive voice. Dolly Parton joins Reba for a new version of the chart-topping 1993 single "Does He Love You" which originally featured Linda Davis. While McEntire and Parton have shared stages since 1977, this marks their first-ever studio duet. "I've always wanted to sing with her," Dolly told talk show host Andy Cohen earlier this year, "and don't know why we never did it until now, but we sounded really good together. I think the fans are going to like it."
Reba told Variety's Chris Willman in an exclusive interview that "Dave came in with a very small band of musicians -- almost acoustic, but he had a steel guitar added and a fiddle. We'd go through these songs and he'd say, 'Okay, that was good. Let's slow it down. And then when she sings, let's just all back up.' There's not a lot of fills. And it was a totally different approach than almost anything I've ever done -- except my Christmas album [2016's My Kind of Christmas], which was just Catherine Marx, my piano player, and myself, so that was different, too. But slowing it down and taking a more relaxed approach at songs like 'Consider Me Gone' and 'How Blue' was really cool."
McEntire continued, "Now, with the Revived part, Doug Sisemore, my musical director and bandleader, led that charge on those songs. They were songs that we have recorded before that we do in concert. When you do songs that you have recorded over the years, sometimes they change. Sometimes you add a little bit different parts; sometimes the harmony is different than what was on the original record."
One song from each of the three albums is currently streaming on YouTube, Spotify, and the other usual services: "Is There Life Out There" from Revived, "I'm a Survivor (Lafemmebear Remix)" from Remixed, and "Consider Me Gone" from Revisited. At 7pm ET/6 pm CT on August 23, McEntire will join television personality Nancy O'Dell for talkshoplive on which fans can order autographed copies of the new collection on CD and vinyl.
Revived Remixed Revisited will be housed in a glitter-coated hardbound slipcase also containing a 24-page booklet. It's due on October 8 from MCA Nashville on 3 CDs or 3 vinyl LPs. While the final track listing is still TBA, the collection can be pre-ordered now from Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada as well as talkshoplive for autographed items.
Brian from Canada says
Autographed copies are U.S. only. 🙁
Mark H. says
Alas, another CD package whose length is limited by vinyl timings.
Mark H. says
Amazon pricing is $29.98, or $10 / disc
brian hargett says
My preorder page says I should receive this from Amazon October 20th.
Joe Marchese says
Sorry to hear that, Brian. Amazon appears to be having stock issues again (not uncommon since the pandemic). I hope it arrives sooner.