Story Of A Heart – The tracklist and song sample link PLUS radio news
Thanks to The Official ABBA Fan Club for the tracklist:
Story Of A Heart – Album
- Glasgow Boogie
- Trolska
- Story Of A Heart
- Bed of Roses (En dans på rosor)
- You Are My Man (Du är min man)
- Circus finemang
- Fait Accompli
- Song From The Second Floor
- Birthday Waltz For Mona
- Our Last Dance (Vår sista dans)
- Jehu
- Tirolan Schottis
- The Stars (För dig)
- P.S.
Story Of A Heart – Track sample and radio airing
Thanks to Marco and Ian Cole for pointing out the sample (42 secs) of Story Of A Heart at the popjustice site. Lee tells me that popjustice are saying that Radio 2 will get the first UK play of the track on Monday 25 May. Their world exclusive first play will be during the Ken Bruce show from 09.30.
Swedish Album Bonus Track
A Swedish version of Story of a Heart, called Sommaren du fick, is released as a single in Sweden in early June and will also be included as a bonus track on the Swedish release of the album in mid/late June.
BAO Sheet music
Sheet music of 14 BAO songs is also published early in the summer. Included are: Cirkus finemang / Det är vi andå / Du frälste mig i sista stund / Du är min man / En dans på rosor / Fait Accomplit / För dig / Födelsedagsvals till Mona / Midnattsdans / Nu mår jag mycket bättre / Sommaren du fick / Sång från andra våningen / Upp till dig / Vår sista dans.
This is one of the most exciting things to happen for a long time!!! 🙂 This is fantastic, and great to hear at least a little sample!
Just listened to the song sample.
WOW !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
W O W !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Monday? Radio 2? I’ll be there! (Thank goodness it’s a Bank Holiday).
And from what I’ve heard, it’s a cracker of a song! If it’s 5 mins and 08 seconds long, there’s still plenty to devour! And yes, won’t we all buy it in Swedish too (possibly as a single)?!
Listen to those backing vox! :-))) They make me remember those good ol’days.
Charles
Oh B&B how I love you guys.
Thank you so much for this wonderful new era please just give us more more more XX
Ice, thank you too for all the hours you dedicate, Icethesite really is "2nd Best To None"! X
I´m sooo excited,
This is fantastic – the best thing happend since the last abba recordings.
What a song – what a voice (fantastic helen) .
I got goosebumps.
Thank you B&B – hope you continue to write more popsongs in the future.
Franz
Just made it into a small clip for creating a buzz on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFMAmUOpGUs
Thank you Icethesite for all news!
It´s really a dream come true.
What a beautifull song, a great voice, and so much talent of B&B.
What a great year!!!
35 years from Waterloo; Mamma Mia a big sucess – Musical and film. People from all ages singing ABBA songs!
And the fantastic chance to see Benny on stage with his band in Sweden and London!
:))
I’ve added a link to the main article for the Ken Bruce show on BBC Radio 2. The station is promoting their World Exclusive First Play of ‘Story Of A Heart’.
No Crush On You? That’s a surprise. And The Stars isn’t Skenbart as widely assumed. A Swedish release? That’s a surprise too.
What a fantastic song from this clip, the most exciting thing to come from B & B for years and sounds like a new ABBA song. While Helen’s voice is great I can’t help but think that this is meant for Agnetha & Frida, and I am trying to imagine how it would sound with them. I just wonder if we could hear those voices together one more time, it grieves me that we probably never will…
It is certainly a wonderful time to be Benny & Björn fans!
It’s just registered: there are two tracks that date back to Klinga mina klockor!
(I’m the Paul prepared to attend the NYC Kristina Concert in an iron lung 🙂 )
I’ve heard the snippet and like it, but I don’t love it. It sounds too "busy" for my taste, with too much going on in the arrangement, I think it’s overly elaborate production-wise.
However, I reserve my judgement until I’ve heard it in full. I’m pretty sure I’ll like it.
I wish they’d released the magnificent, majestically sparse, but divine "Light as a Summer Butterfly" sung by Helen Sjoholm (but this time in English), from BAO’s 2002 (?) album, "BAO!". That’s a gem that cries out to be released in an English version.
I’m as excited as anyone else about hearing "Story of a Heart" in full, but so far I’m not as impressed with the 40 second edit as everyone else seems to be.
Paul (the other Paul)
Well, Paul, if you want to have a beautifully crafted English version of "Lätt som en sommarfjäril" get a copy of Anne Sofie von Otter’s "I let the music speak" – but I guess you already know…
What is Song from the Second Floor?
"Song from the second floor" was part of the movie soundtrack from the swedish film "Songs from the second floor" from filmmaker Roy Andersson. It was also on the tracklist of the first eponymous "Benny Anderssons Orkester" cd, with a swedish title: "Sång från andra våningen". I don’t know if the arrangement has been altered, but on that first BAO cd it was a moody, slow piano instrumental.
Charles
@ Alexander: Thanks. I already have the Anne Sofie album you mentioned, but I do think Helen’s voice and interpretation of "Latt som…" is better, and would have so loved to hear Helen covering it the very same way, but in English.
This is a sample of Benny’s music for the film, a surrealistic masterpiece that made a big impression on many movie critics worldwide:
http://www.youtube.com/comment_servlet?all_comments&v=EW8J5LvzeZI&fromurl=/watch%3Fv%3DEW8J5LvzeZI
From me too…. wow !!!!
I don’t think BAO have become The Benny Andersson Band for this release, I think they’ve become Gemini! (Not that I don’t love what I’ve heard, of course!)
i also think it sounds very Gemini i have it on order from HMV £1 cheaper than play.com
I think this sounds like it probably comes from near the end of the song as it rises to a grand climax.
Clips are never great because they don’t give you a full feel for the song building up, which I think this will (from the description we have been given).
If I was basing on this clip alone, I agree that it is too busy and lacks something, but it is taken completely out of context with the rest of the song. Just over a day to go before we can hear it in full on the radio and then, no doubt, on Youtube when someone nice puts it on there.
Can’t wait for the album, or Chess in Concert or Kristina in Concert or Voulez Vouz 30th aniversary edition (I’m guessing a Xmas release for these last 2!!) What a great year!
Actually I thought Helen sounds a bit like Josefin Nilsson!
Anyway, we just have to see. It’s very cruel, though, previewing it SIX weeks before release!
Thanks to Charles and Paul for the Songs from the Second Floor info. Sad that I am, I now have a playlist on my ipod which matches the tracklist (minus Story of a Heart of course), only with the original versions. It’s an interesting choice. There are a few vocal tracks I wish they’d included but I guess they wanted it to sound like BAO, not Abba! We are so lukcy to have the original Swedish Benny and BAO cds to treasure, Helen’s Swedish voice is such purity and a joy to listen to.
Monday will be like ‘the old days’ (dot, dot, dot!) listening to the radio waiting for the first preview of the next Abba song. I still remember the moment they did that with Winner Takes it All.
What strikes me most – apart from the fact that the song so far is exciting – is that BAO suddenly sounds so pop-like, as many refer to Gemini (which I don’t agree on). We all assume that B&B are really clever boys, and one might think that the purpose of this only ABBA-sounding track is to bring BAO to sort of wider fame. Don’t you think? And do you really consider it a coincidence that "2nd best to none" was the second new "popsong" out of the sudden? And I still think, what I mentioned before, that the whole world’s hype saying B&B had produced new songs since 15 years is sort of planned. Which is not bad, this is just very clever!
I think they are bringing Helen to a wider audience in preparation for Kristina …
Sunday Express have short piece today and mention it on their Opinion column. Benny quoted as saying thier first pop since Josefin.
The Sunday Express leader column opinion piece was:
"Mamma Mia, come back!
What with the recession and the scandal of MPs’ expenses we could all do with a lift, so what better time for ABBA’s Benny and Bjorn to release a song eerily reminiscent of the band’s golden era? Story Of A Heart, from Benny’s new album, will air on Radio 2 tomorrow.
The Swedish superstars broke up in 1983 vowing never to get back together. Now the guys have written some new, ABBA-style music that would suit Agnetha and Frida perfectly. Come on, girls, join the fun, don’t let this be our Waterloo."
The link to the news item is:
http://www.sundayexpress.co.uk/posts/view/103004/Abba-pop-back-on-Radio-2
Personally I love it, it has a lot more about it than the Shapes album, and I’m sure it will do well commercially, as it should. How fantastic that Helen will be known in the UK at last! And that B&B can still knock out a belter of a pop song – more please!!
While I like what I hear …I can’t really make out all the words.!!..Seems bit overproduced…BUT !! without having heard it in it’s total context…that’s about the worst I could say…nice melody..It’s funny I like Helens voice…but not all the time..Sometimes on "Kristina" she reminded me of Julie Andrews…"sweety "voice…so it’s nice that this seems to have also an "edge "to it…All in all never thought I’d hear a proper pop song from B&B – AGAIN! So hats off to you guys.!!!…and more of it weelll… wouldn’t have any complaints..ha!ha!
You can pre-order the CD right now from several websites. I note that HMV.com and play.com both list the release date as Monday 29th June (a week earlier than the 6th July date reported in the Sunday Express article and several other sites. Can anyone confirm the actual release date?
I was desperately hoping for an English version of Det är vi ändå, but now those hopes are DASHED! Sigh, still I will be happy to hear what IS included.
Good craftsmanship from Björn lyrically; he ceratinly still can write catchy verses combined with poetic verses (I can picture that boat on the lake). Helen is great as always; even in the chorus, which drowns her a little. Benny has written and produced as he always does -and it sounds like Josefin Nilsson and Gemini at their best. An ABBA record also has one more hook: arrangements with unforgettable piano intros or bridges like on ‘Money…’,’SOS’,’Mamma Mia’ -or other arrangements that stand out like on ‘Fernando’, Chiquitita’, etc -and even Geminis ‘Mio’ -unforgettable even without the vocals. The only Benny song I can recall having something remotely similar would be "Det Är Vi Endå" and the whistling by the band members there. I like this, and look forward to the album. I believe ‘Stars’ will be more appreciated in an english version than the swedish one -and I was hoping they’d include ‘Du Frälste Mig…’ which is to my opinion Benny and Björns masterpiece so far. Seems I have to go to London after all..? take care, everyone!
Still a song of B&B , but without Frida & Agnetha . The charm is not here although ……….
hi, I was wondering, will this album be released in Australia? I really hope it will be!