Tomorrow, March 11, sees a new batch of Real Gone Music vinyl titles hitting store shelves.  Among the trio is a lost album by Irma Thomas and a pair of soundtracks to Nora Ephron rom-coms.  Two of the releases are making their vinyl debuts.

First up is Full Time Woman: The Lost Cotillion Album from Irma Thomas.  Thomas, known as "The Soul Queen of New Orleans," was born approximately 50 miles from that city in Ponchatoula, Louisiana in 1941.  As a child, she sang in church choir and began singing with band leader Tommy Ridgley while working as a waitress.  He helped her land her first record deal with the local Ron label.  Her first single, "Don't Mess with My Man," went to No. 22 on the R&B chart.  She moved to Minit Records and then to Imperial when they purchased the label.  It was there that she had her biggest successes.  She scored four Pop hits in the Hot 100, with the highest-charting being 1964's "Wish Someone Would Care."  She recorded songs by Jackie DeShannon and Randy Newman and also cut an early version of "Time Is on My Side," which would become a hit for The Rolling Stones.  In the late 1960s, she moved to Chess and then to Canyon in 1970.  1971 would bring her to Cotillion Records, an imprint of Atlantic, signed by Jerry Wexler.

Her first session yielded the single "Full Time Woman" b/w "She's Taking My Part," which failed to chart.  Cotillion continued to record her in sessions in Detroit, Miami, and Philadelphia.  But the material would remain unreleased and she would move to Fungus Records in 1973.  More labels followed including Rounder.  Her last original album was 2020's Love Is the Foundation and she still performs today.  Real Gone first collected all of Irma's Cotillion material on CD in 2014, produced by David Nathan.  This first-time issue on vinyl includes all 15 tracks from the CD and features an alternate cover.  It comes on light blue vinyl.

Next up is a vinyl reissue of the soundtrack to 1993's Sleepless in Seattle.  Written and directed by Nora Ephron and starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, the romantic comedy was a smash hit when it was released and is today recognized as a classic of the genre.  The score was written by Marc Shaiman (Hairspray) but the soundtrack album only featured one of his cues.  Instead, it was filled mainly with pop songs from the film from a variety of artists.  Most of the material consists of previously-released songs from the Great American Songbook era performed by artists from that time (Jimmy Durante, Louis Armstrong, Nat King Cole, Gene Autry) or of a more recent vintage (Dr. John, Carly Simon, Harry Connick Jr., Celine Dion, Clive Griffin).  The only songs featured to not be written in the early part of the 20th century are "Make Someone Happy" from 1960's Broadway musical Do Re Mi and 1968's "Stand by Your Man" by Tammy Wynette.  Celine Dion and Clive Griffin's "When I Fall in Love" and Connick Jr.'s "A Wink and a Smile" were both recorded exclusively for the album with the Dion and Griffin track being released as single, climbing to No. 6 on the U.S. AC chart and earning an instrumental arrangement Grammy. (It was also included on Dion's The Colour of My Love). The soundtrack itself did even better, topping the Billboard 200 and going 4x platinum.  Real Gone has reissued this album twice previously on vinyl, in 2017 and 2021.  This new version comes in "sunset-colored" vinyl.

Five year later, Ephron would reunite with Hanks and Ryan for You've Got Mail.  The movie is based on the 1937 Hungarian play Parfumerie, which had already been adapted into two films: 1940's Shop Around the Corner and 1949's musical version In the Good Old Summertime.  While not considered a genre classic like Sleepless in Seattle, You've Got Mail was greeted well by critics and is well-remembered today.  It would actually gross slightly more at the box office than Sleepless. For the soundtrack, a formula much like the album for Sleepless was used, but with songs of slightly newer vintage.  This time we move up to the 1950s-1970s and feature artists such as Bobby Darin, Roy Orbison, Bobby Day, Billy Williams, Randy Newman, and Stevie Wonder.  Louis Armstrong and Jimmy Durante make return appearances.  The album also dips into the 1990s with The Cranberries and their first hit "Dreams" from 1992.  The film's score is again represented by a single track with a suite of music from composer George Fenton.  Harry Nilsson gets four spots: three performed by him and a newly recorded cover of "I Guess the Lord Must Be In New York City" by Sinead O'Connor (Nilsson's original version was actually used in the film, but O'Connor's version is heard over the end credits).  The other original song on the soundtrack was "Anyone at All," written and performed by Carole King, co-written with Carole Bayer Sager.  It was released as a single at the time.  Real Gone's new reissue marks the first time the soundtrack has appeared on vinyl.  It includes an inner sleeve and comes on "highlighter yellow" vinyl.

If you would like to give any of these titles coming out tomorrow a try, we've got the full tracklistings and order links below.

Irma Thomas, Full Time Woman: The Lost Cotillion Album [Light Blue Vinyl Edition] (Originally released on Real Gone Music/SoulMusic Records CD RGM-0224, 2014 - reissued Real Gone Music, 2022) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Side 1

1. Full Time Woman
2. All I Wanna Do Is Save You
3. She's Taken My Part
4. Shadow of the Sun
5. Waiting for Someone
6. Fancy
7. Time After Time

Side 2

1. Our Love Don't Come That Easy
2. Turn Around and Love You
3. Tell Me Again
4. Try to Be Thankful
5. It's Eleven O'Clock
6. Could It Be Differently
7. No Name
8. Adam and Eve

Various Artists, Sleepless in Seattle: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack ["Sunset" Limited Vinyl Edition] (Originally issued on Epic Soundtrax CD EK 53764, 1993 - reissued Real Gone Music, 2022) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Side 1

1. As Time Goes By - Jimmy Durante
2. A Kiss to Build a Dream On - Louis Armstrong
3. Stardust - Nat King Cole
4. Makin' Whoopie - Dr. John featuring Rickie Lee Jones
5. In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning - Carly Simon
6. Back in the Saddle Again - Gene Autry

Side 2

1. Bye Bye Blackbird - Joe Cocker
2. A Wink and a Smile - Harry Connick Jr.
3. Stand by Your Man - Tammy Wynette
4. An Affair to Remember - Marc Shaiman
5. Make Someone Happy - Jimmy Durante
6. When I Fall in Love - Céline Dion and Clive Griffin

Various Artists, You've Got Mail: Music From The Motion Picture [Limited "Highlighter Yellow" Vinyl Edition] (Originally released on Warner Sunset/Atlantic Records CD 83153-4, 1998 - reissued Real Gone Music, 2022) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Side 1

1. The Puppy Song - Harry Nilsson
2. Dreams - The Cranberries
3. Splish Splash - Bobby Darin
4. Dummy Song - Louis Armstrong
5. Remember - Harry Nilsson
6. Dream - Roy Orbison
7. Rockin' Robin - Bobby Day
8. Lonely at the Top - Randy Newman

Side 2

1. Signed Sealed Delivered I'm Yours - Stevie Wonder
2. I Guess the Lord Must Be in New York City - Sinead O'Connor
3. Over the Rainbow - Harry Nilsson
4. Anyone at All - Carole King
5. I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter - Billy Williams
6. "The 'You've Got Mail' Suite" - George Fenton
7. You Made Me Love You - Jimmy Durante