Silje Nergaard – Silje Nergaard (30th Anniversary) (2020) [FLAC 24bit/48kHz]

To mark the 30th anniversary of her career, award-winning Norwegian jazz singer Silje Nergaard has released a unique double album with new Songs and never-before-heard acoustic versions of her greatest Hits!

Album 1: Japanese Blue: presents Silje’s greatest Hits in a new, intimate environment: accompanied only by a piano, you can enjoy her unique voice like never before. This part of the double album, which also contains some new Songs and two exclusive cover songs, is called “Japanese Blue”.

Album 2: Hamar Railway Station: contains eight newly written Songs for Band (piano, guitar, Bass, drums) and vocals. This part is called “Hamar Railway Station” and is about the story of the young Silje who wanted to explore the world. The Album contains versions of the eight Songs in both English and Norwegian (a total of 16 Songs).

As a young girl, Silje Nergaard dreamed of exploring the world while watching the trains passing through the station of her hometown “Hamar” in Norway. Her musical career began rapidly when she came on stage at the age of 16 in a spontaneous Jam Session with the Jaco Pastorius Band at the Molde International Jazz Festival. Legendary jazz music critic Randi Hultin was in the audience-and the result was newspaper reports the next day announcing Norway’s new Great Jazz Discovery. Today, 30 years, 16 albums and even a Grammy nomination for Best Arrangement (For “Based on a Thousand True Stories” by Vince Mendoza) later, she has become one of the most famous European jazz singers-with the whole world as a “playground”.

The multilingual Norweigan singer-songwriter Silje Nergaard (who first established herself as a jazz singer at the age of 16 after joining an impromptu jam session with Jaco Pastorious) has assembled a “concept album” composed of two sessions with divergent production styles. Part one of this sprawling project — Japanese Blue — is Nergaard revisiting her greatest hits in spare, striking arrangements with just acoustic piano accompaniment from Espen Berg. Sonically, the high-resolution recording here captures a crisp, detailed, natural musicality. Older songs like “Be Still My Heart,” and the superb “Based on a Thousand True Stories” clearly benefit from her years of interpretation and live performance. She also adds a wonderful sad tinge to Freddie Mercury’s “Love of My Life,” and turns in a credible performance of the Louis Armstrong hit, “What a Wonderful World.”

Hamar Railway Station, the second set, is eight new songs recorded with an electric band where she sings in English (with an assist from longtime lyricist partner Mike McGurk) before repeating it in Norwegian. Recorded in a punchier, synth-led style, in which Andreas Ulvo’s minimoog and Fender Rhodes add welcome textures, the full band bounce and layered backing vocals in songs like “Train of Fragile Hearts” and “The Night Traveller” make for bright, 80’s soft rock that speak of love and hurt while eschewing much innovation or edginess. Which session represents Nergaard’s true calling? Or is she a multi-faceted artist covering bases? The contrasts on Silje Nergaard pose intriguing questions. – Robert Baird

Tracklist

Disc 1

1. Silje Nergaard – Be Still My Heart (Acoustic Version)
2. Silje Nergaard – Based on a Thousand True Stories (Acoustic Version)
3. Silje Nergaard – The Waltz (Acoustic Version)
4. Silje Nergaard – I Don’t Wanna See You Cry (Acoustic Version)
5. Silje Nergaard – Mercy Street (Acoustic Version)
6. Silje Nergaard – Lullaby to Erle (Acoustic Version)
7. Silje Nergaard – Love of My Life (Acoustic Version)
8. Silje Nergaard – Japanese Blue (Acoustic Version)
9. Silje Nergaard – En Og En (Acoustic Version)
10. Silje Nergaard – What a Wonderful World (Acoustic Version)
11. Silje Nergaard – Jeg Vil Takke Livet (Acoustic Version)

Disc 2

12. Silje Nergaard – Next Stop Hamar
13. Silje Nergaard – The Train Now Standing
14. Silje Nergaard – Never Happier Than This
15. Silje Nergaard – Departure Times
16. Silje Nergaard – The Railway Girl
17. Silje Nergaard – Waiting Room
18. Silje Nergaard – Train of Fragile Hearts
19. Silje Nergaard – The Night Traveller
20. Silje Nergaard – Neste stopp Hamar
21. Silje Nergaard – Perrong
22. Silje Nergaard – Ennå underveis
23. Silje Nergaard – Avgang
24. Silje Nergaard – Togjenta
25. Silje Nergaard – Tiden det tar
26. Silje Nergaard – Et lite Rykk
27. Silje Nergaard – Nattoget

Download:

mqs.link_SiljeNergaardSiljeNergaard30thAnniversary20202448.part1.rar
mqs.link_SiljeNergaardSiljeNergaard30thAnniversary20202448.part2.rar

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