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The words I have to say may well be simple, but they’re true/Until you give your love, there’s nothing more that we can do…

Those lyrics from Lesley Duncan’s “Love Song” opened Peggy Lee’s 40th original album and her final one for Capitol Records, the label with whom she had been associated since 1944.  (She left Capitol for Decca in 1952 and re-signed with the label five years later.)  With Norma Deloris Egstrom from Jamestown, North Dakota, both the title (Lee’s birth name) and the stark cover portrait indicated the song stylist’s desire to strip away any artifice, revealing the woman behind the music.  On November 18, Capitol/UMe will reissue, remaster, and expand this landmark set on CD, returning it to print in a physical format for the first time in almost two decades.  This 50th anniversary expanded edition will also be available digitally.

Peggy Lee was long comfortable in the realms of both pop and jazz, effortlessly making a song her own while never failing to honor the intentions of the composer and lyricist.  (She was, of course, a remarkable songwriter in her own right.)  A Lee version of a song was reliably authentic, honest, and bold.  On Norma Deloris Egstrom, she melded past and present with style and substance alike.  Lee was joined in the studio by producer Tom Catalano (Neil Diamond, Anne Murray), veteran arranger Artie Butler (Neil Sedaka, Barry Manilow), engineer Armin Steiner, and a top-tier rhythm section including Earl Palmer on drums, Butler and Michael Omartian on keys, Louie Shelton on guitar, Larry Carlton on guitar, Gary Coleman and Victor Feldman on percussion, and Reinie Press on bass.

Lee proved that her interpretive skills were as sharp as ever on the album’s familiar, contemporary material.  Her famous coolness brought a new, commanding dimension to Duncan’s haunting and delicate “Love Song,” which was adorned by Butler with a majestic, borderline-psychedelic mid-section redolent of “MacArthur Park.”  (Elton John, Dionne Warwick, and Neil Diamond are among the other artists to have tackled the beautiful “Love Song.”)  Two Leon Russell songs also took their place on the LP.  Lee’s languid vocal on “A Song for You,” an AC and minor Pop hit for Andy Williams in 1971, both contrasts and complements the apprehensive tick-tock of Butler’s chart, conjuring a powerful meditation on time and love.  “Superstar,” co-written by Russell and Bonnie Bramlett and introduced by Delaney & Bonnie, was arguably even better known than “A Song for You” thanks to Carpenters’ melancholy, Grammy-nominated take which rose to No. 2 Pop in 1971.  Lee subtly modulated her vocal between resignation and urgency, tinged with sheer desperation.  She found poignancy and a bit of seductive smolder in “Delta Dawn” writer Alex Harvey’s ballad “Someone Who Cares,” also recorded by Kenny Rogers and The First Edition, Andy Williams, and Dusty Springfield.

Of the less well-known material, Motown songwriter Mike Randall contributed the rhythmic “When I Found You.”  It was written during his time with Berry Gordy’s company but premiered in Peggy’s rendition which later inspired a cover from Mel Tormé.  Leon Carr and Robert Allen’s dramatic slice of life “It Takes Too Long to Learn to Live Alone” never achieved standard status despite fine recordings by Eydie Gorme, Alice Clark, Toni Mathis, and Tormé.  Jack Schectman’s “Razor (Love Me As I Am)” recalled the smoky “Fever,” and Peggy delivered the anthemic tune with similar confidence.  A trio of beautifully-rendered standards with late-night ballad ambiance – “Just for a Thrill,” The More I See You,” and “I’ll Be Seeing You,” the latter two seamlessly connected – added to Norma Deloris Egstrom‘s eclectic, portrait-of-the-artist atmosphere.

Capitol U.K.’s 2004 CD premiere of Norma Deloris Egstrom (as one-half of a two-fer with the 1963 I’m a Woman album) programmed the studio outtake “It Changes” in the main album sequence, remixed some tracks, and included alternate versions of others.  This release restores the original LP master and offers the bonus material in context.  In addition to “It Changes,” a tender and surprisingly pensive Sherman Brothers tune from their score to Snoopy, Come Home, six more bonus cuts have been appended here.  These include Peggy’s 1970 non-LP single of Michel Legrand and the Bergmans’ “Pieces of Dreams” and five alternate takes. The reissue also offers a 24-page booklet with track-by-track liner notes by Lee discographer Ivan Santiago-Mercado as well as rare photographs of the original sessions.  Robert Vosgien has remastered the audio.

Look for Peggy Lee’s Norma Deloris Egstrom from Jamestown, North Dakota on CD and digital formats November 18 from Capitol/UMe.  You’ll find the track listing and pre-order links below.

Peggy Lee, Norma Deloris Egstrom from Jamestown, North Dakota (Capitol ST-11077, 1972 – reissued Capitol/UMe, 2022) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

1. Love Song
2. Razor (Love Me As I Am)
3. When I Found You
4. A Song for You
5. It Takes Too Long to Learn to Live Alone
6. Superstar
7. Just for a Thrill
8. Someone Who Cares
9. The More I See You
10. I’ll Be Seeing You
11. It Changes (Outtake) (first released on EMI/Capitol (U.K.) 7243 8 74179 2-2, 2004)
12. Pieces of Dreams (Capitol single 2910, 1970)
13. When I Found You (Alternate Take)
14. A Song for You (Alternate Take)
15. Someone Who Cares (Alternate Take)
16. The More I See You (Alternate Take)
17. I’ll Be Seeing You (Alternate Take)