Evan & Jaron Reissue Self-Titled Album

NEW YORK (AP) - Evan & Jaron return to record stores yesterday (November 20) with a reworked version of their self-titled Columbia Records debut from last year. The revamped album features a live take of the hit "Crazy For This Girl" and a re-recorded version of "The Distance," which is now the duo's latest single.

Jaron Lowenstein tells that the unusual marketing move came straight from the top of Columbia Records. "We sat down about three months ago with Don Ienner, who is the CEO of the company, and in his opinion this record was a lot better than it was selling. He thought that there were a lot of great songs on this record and thought that public needed to hear more of it. It was critically acclaimed - everyone who reviewed it seemed to have loved it - yet it hadn't sold the amount of records that he thought it should have."

More than 208,000 copies of the original version of Evan & Jaron's Columbia album have been sold since its arrival in September, 2000. Meanwhile, "Crazy For This Girl" peaked at Number 15 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in March.

The new version of "The Distance" was produced by Matt Serletic, best known for his work with Matchbox Twenty. The song also appears on the soundtrack to the film Serendipity