Track Listing

1. Glasgow Boogie
2. Trolska
3. Story Of A Heart
4. Bed Of Roses
5. You Are My Man
6. Cirkus Finemang
7. Fait Accompli
8. Sång från andra våningen
9. Födelsedagsvals till Mona
10. (If This Is) Our Last Dance
11. Jehu
12. Schottis i Tyrolen
13. The Stars
14. P.S.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2755 in Music
• Released on: 2009-07-06
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .21 pounds
• Running time: 48 minutes

CD Description
Story of A Heart is an album which returns to the musical roots of ABBA legend Benny Andersson. The history of the world’s greatest pop band has hardly taken a pause in the past 35 years, from the 380 million albums sold to the record-breaking musical and blockbuster film Mamma Mia! But behind the scenes there’s another musical side to Benny Andersson. For the past 20 years he has been leading The Benny Andersson Band, a group of 16 exceptional musicians and singers who share his passion for the Swedish folk tradition, not to mention big band, Bach, polka, waltzes, Celtic folk, Fifties standards--and straight-ahead pop music. The latter is showcased on the title track, the first new pop composition written by Benny with his ABBA song writing partner Björn Ulvaeus in 15 years. Vocal duties on this, and three of the four other tracks translated into English for the first time, are taken by the Swedish star Helen Sjöholm. Two of the tracks feature another Swedish vocal star, Tommy Körberg, who played the role of Anatoly in Chess in London for nearly three years. All the lyrics on the album are written by Björn. The  fourteen track album captures highlights from the three albums released in Sweden by The Benny Andersson Band - or Benny Anderssons Orkester as they are known there--along with some brand new tracks. "I wanted to make music based on the Swedish folk tradition, but with new songs written by me", says Benny Andersson, who also plays accordion on the record, something he has done since he was a six-year-old boy playing with his father and grandfather in Stockholm.

Customer Reviews

A bit of a random mix
If you buy this CD on the basis of the title track (which is receiving a fair amount of radio play) and expect the rest of the album to be similar, you may be disappointed. "Story Of A Heart" is the most Abba-like track on the CD by some way.

That's not to say the rest of the CD is bad, it is actually an interesting mix of a variety of styles, but it may not be what you expect or were hoping for.

Listen to the samples here before buying and make your decision based on that.

What an eclectic album!
Heard the title track on radio last week and ordered the album. It's not what I expected and if you only like the Abba sound and don't like folk music this album probably won't be to your taste. It is Swedish folk - meets Abba - meets Chess - meets pop - meets big band. Each track is unique - there is no one sound. I think Helen Sjoholm must sing the title track (the CD has no information with it other than the names of the band) and her voice is awesome. Both tuba and accordion feature on more than one track and some other less usual instruments are also played - bouzouki, mandolin, crumhorn. A very eclectic album and I love it.

Benny's musical journey
Benny Andersson has had an amazing life in music and this album features some of the best of his work over the past two decades or so. It is a collection of songs perfectly blending folk, big band jazz, musical theatre & pop! I would happily have this on for a party or a bbq. It's very uplifting and injects a great joyful atmosphere, each song is a little different so it would keep things going at a steady pace. There's instrumental songs as well as some vocal tracks. They conjure up all sorts of images and thoughts and your mind it taken on a musical tour de force!
You've probably heard the new song, Story Of A Heart. It's always amazing how Benny and Bjorn can write jolly melodies and then add a melancholy lyric to really tug at the heart strings and this happens here many times. You hear a tune once and it's in your head forever.
I totally love the whole album and would highly recommend it. It has an exceptionaly high quality to it & variety of styles. I am very happy to see it available in the UK and hope it's a success for Benny - it deserves to be. What a truly wonderful man and musician, he is unique to not follow any trends and go with what's in his big musical heart.