Showing posts with label Chess. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chess. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Helen Sjöholm singing Inte jag (with Tommy Körberg) from 2002 Swedish production of "Chess" in Stockholm; Barbra Streisand - I Know Him So Well


Helen Sjöholm - Inte jag (CHESS på svenska)
Someone Else's Story

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOda9k1sbLs



You'll recall that back on July 20th, to commemorate a
posting that day by ABBA super-fan and expert Shay in Dublin of the video of the biggest-selling U.K. single in history by a Female Duo, Elaine Paige (as Florence) and Barbara Dickson (as Svetlana) of I Know Him So Well from 1985, written by ABBA's Björn Ulvaeus & Benny Andersson along with Tim Rice for the Musical "Chess" I included that video here.

Nothing is so good it lasts eternally

Perfect situations must go wrong

But this has never yet prevented me

Wanting far too much for far too long
.

My post was titled, sensibly: Biggest-selling U.K. single by Female (Duo) - Elaine Paige & Barbara Dickson: I Know Him So Well (1985); Marie Serneholt http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2010/07/biggest-selling-uk-single-
by-female-duo.html


Well, yesterday, Shay posted an excellent audio version -with English subtitles- of the rewritten 2002 LIVE version of Chess that was performed in Stockholm, with the always fantastic Helen Sjöholm interacting on "Inte jag" with Tommy Körberg.
Wow, I would like to have been there for that!

I've seen videos of her singing this song before, obviously, most notably, at the Berwald Concert Hall in Stockholm, a.k.a. Berwaldhallen http://sverigesradio.se/berwaldhallen/index_e.stm, which is the home of the Sveriges Radio Symphony Orchestra, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzyTM2zhpMc but I really think this may be my new favorite.

And because I neglected to think of it in July, I'm also posting here today the Barbra Streisand rendition of
I Know Him So Well
It packs a real wallop, too!


Barbra Streisand - I Know Him So Well

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsq36ndiEmQ

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Biggest-selling U.K. single by Female (Duo) - Elaine Paige & Barbara Dickson: I Know Him So Well (1985); Marie Serneholt

Completely coincidental to David Cameron's first visit to the U.S. as British Prime Minister is the posting today by ABBA super-expert Shay in Dublin of the video of the biggest-selling U.K. single in history by a Female Duo, Elaine Paige & Barbara Dickson performance of I Know Him So Well from 1985, written by ABBA's Björn Ulvaeus & Benny Andersson along with Tim Rice for the Musical "Chess."

Nothing is so good it lasts eternally
Perfect situations must go wrong

But this has never yet prevented me

Wanting far too much for far too long
...

Be sure to click the additional info below the video that Shay has written, which includes lyrics.
Shay's YouTube Channel of ABBA group, individual and ABBA-related songs and memories is among the most amazing you'll ever find. http://www.youtube.com/user/2Shaymcn
(But sorry, no A*Teens. See bottom.)

But then Shay lists his occupation as "Feeding The Fältskog Fever!!" so you know his heart is really in it.
And the audio quality of his videos is simply awesome.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hqnfbkxLlo






See also: Elaine Paige On Sunday which airs on BBC Radio 2.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006wqwz

-----The following post was updated with new blog info re Marie and a posting of her SVT appearance from YouTube on November 21, 2011-----

A*Teens performing "Mama Mia" LIVE on Top of the Pops, May 1999.



Speaking of A*Teens, is it true that I've always been a sucker for the smiling face of Marie Serneholt?
Guilty as charged!

Marie's new blog, chock full of photos and her latest adventures: http://marie.elle.se/

Here's Marie back on January 28th appearing on SVT's Gomorron Sverige (Good Morning Sweden) talking about the new production of Grease in Stockholm along with cast mate Sebastian Karlsson.


Love her!

Thursday, July 2, 2009

ABBA Geniuses At It Again: Story Of A Heart, featuring Helen Sjöholm, Words & Music by Benny Andersson & Björn Ulvaeus




They're back!
Story Of A Heart, The Benny Anderssons Band (Orkester)
featuring Helen Sjöholm,
Words & Music by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus

Well, as they used to say so often on
Monty Python, "And now for something
completely different..."

For those of you who know me pretty well,
esp. those of you back in the D.C. area,
as well as those scattered coast-to-coast
around Hoosier Nation, you know better
than most that among many other things,
I am and have always been one of the
biggest ABBA fans around, from the very
beginning.

Given that, if you've already heard on
your own via a European newspaper
or magazine or the internet what
Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus
have been up to lately, you've probably
been wondering why it's taken me so
long to finally get around to posting
this catchy new song of theirs called
Story of a Heart, or in Swedish,

Sommaren Du Fick


I guess I should say especially since
the words and music are by Benny
Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, only
the creative musical geniuses behind
not only ABBA, but the international
hits Chess -with Tim Rice- and the
perpetual money-making machine
that is Mamma Mia!

Yes, especially considering I'm the
very same guy who not only knew
all the lyrics, backwards and forwards,
to every ABBA song ever officially
released in America or the U.K.
-and even some of the Swedish
ones- but who in high school,
even had in a corner of my bedroom
in North Miami Beach, the record
company's lifesize cardboard stand-up
POS promotion of the group for their
upbeat Voulez-Vous album.

That was thanks to my great job over
at Record Shack in North Miami Beach,
just east of the 163rd Street Shopping
Center on N.E. 15th Avenue, a block
south of the Zayre's, to go old-time
NMB geography on you.

The promotional item was literally too
large for the store to handle, so I asked
the promotional guy at Atlantic Records
if I could have it.

Since he knew my whole music story
and knew what was what from our prior
conversations, he gave me the okay.
I was so eager to get it out of the store,
lest some calamity befall it if I waited
a day, that when I got off that night
I pulled the standup cardboard peg
at the bottom which helped keep it up,
and walked the ten minutes to mi casa,
balancing it on my head, so that I didn't
have to fold it to get it into a car.

When my two younger sisters woke-up
the next morning and I showed them
what was standing there in the corner
of my bedroom, they were speechless.
I was so pleased with myself!

(You don't want to know what fate
befell the less-popular record promo
stuff we received there that the record
companies didn't want back, and that
nobody-but-nobody cared for.
It got abused in the worst and funniest
ways!)

By way of explanation, I should also
mention that my music teacher in
high school was one of the top studio
musicians in the country, and regularly
performed at Criteria Studios in nearby
North Miami for all the top groups of the
time when they came into town to lay
down some tracks, or, record an entire
album, and that even included ABBA.

In fact, he was part of this song recorded
at Criteria the month of my 18th birthday.


(I'll talk about that and some other
Miami musical moments in future
posts, including Jon Marlowe of
the late Miami News.)

Now, getting back to this new song
by Benny and Björn, I first meant
to post on it a few weeks ago, when
I first heard it on the BBC, but I got
sidetracked and decided that I'd wait
'til I started seeing some better,
cleaner audio versions of it uploaded
to YouTube.

Over the past weekend, I listened to
the various versions there, noting
what was good and what was bad,
until I selected two that I think best
represent the 'sound' you're expecting
to hear when you know who's behind it.

The song is sung by the wonderfully
talented Helen Sjöholm, who was
the original Kristina in their hugely
successful musical version of
Kristina från Duvemåla, which was
the series of books written by Vihelm
Moberg chronicling the travails of
poor Swedish emigrants journeying
to pre-Civil War America, and their
attempts to fit-in with both their new
surroundings and their new country.

(The early '70's film versions of some
of the Moberg books, especially
The Emigrants,
and The New Land
starring two film heavyweights,
film/stage legend Liv Ullman, and
the pro's pro, Max von Sydow
-who's actually Swedish- both of
whom are terrific, and well worth
watching if you can ever rent them,
or check them out of your local
library.)

The show will be playing in New York
in September at Carnegie Hall under
the title, Kristina the Musical

Sjöholm also played the key role of
Gabriella in the hugely popular film,
Så som i himmelen"
(As It Is in Heaven), and sang the
now-beloved eponymous song that
every Swedish girl and woman knows
the lyrics to by heart, Gabriella's
Song


Some of you might recall that until
I removed it 2-3 weeks ago, for most
of this year, I had among the handful
of videos of hers here on my blog,
Molly Sandén singing Gabriellas
Sång


What a tremendous voice and talent! From April 11, 2008 on Swedish TV's (SVT's) popular program,
"Så ska det låta," the Swedish sensation who marries Pop Music with a powerful Soprano voice,
Molly Sandén singing "Gabriellas Sång" (Gabriella's Song) from the 2004 motion picture,
"Så som i himmelen" (As It Is in Heaven)


Sadly, Molly didn't fare quite so well
at the Melodifestivalen finals, to get
into the Eurovision Song Contest
representing Sweden, as Malena
Ernman earned that right, but no
serious music lover who knows of
her, or who has ever heard her truly
amazing voice, has any doubt that
Molly is the Real Deal, a star in
the making.

Just as is equally clear with both
Jóhanna Guðrún Jónsdóttir,
a.k.a. Yohanna, from Iceland,









or Esmée Denters of The Netherlands,
who Oprah loved so much she invited her
to Chicago..



Esmée Denters

All three singers clearly have talent to
spare and unlimited futures.
Time to jump on the bandwagon
while you can!

Below I have the two versions of
Story Of A Heart for you, in both
Engelska and Svenka, though for
me, personally, the Swedish version
rocks just a little bit stronger, as the
production sounds slightly clearer
than the version in English.
But maybe that's just me -be your
own judge.

First, in English:
------------
Here's the Swedish version:



And a reminder, the older videos, photos
and materials that I've used here in the
are now at my mirror storage blog site: