CHESS På Svenska: Fan Review

 

Yes! 2 days from Sweden. Wow!

I scooped it into my bag to play on my PC at work and have done very little else apart from listen to it all day! I have been in bliss!

I love the box and the way the CD booklet is in portrait mode as opposed to landscape, ( I have never seen that before!)

The booklet with the text gets a bit confusing after the instrumental track "Chess" as the numbers of the tracks then get out of sequence but I did recover from that little discovery!

And does anyone know anything about Peter Fältskog on drums?

First impressions:

CD 1

I love the moody "Ouvertyr" and the dramatic "Ungern 56". Not too sure about "Jag vill se schack" - loved it in the theatre, yes even Rolf (!) but it seems a bit lifeless and flat on CD - it'll probably grow! Love the reprise though for all the notes flowing powerfully down after every line! Great!

"Inte Jag" is sensational and the best "Someone Elses Story" I have heard! So moving. And what about that sudden echo on the the line 'Morgondag'!? Lovely!

"I Mitt Hjärtas Land" sounds so instrumentally like the original "Anthem"! I wonder if Benny sampled himself (ooh-er!)

CD 2

"Vem ser ett barn" has got a great new poppy arrangement - not quite the power building up to the crescendo, but a lot less bombast!

"Om han var här" (Heaven Help My Heart) is much fuller than the original with some great new orchestration - just heavenly!

My two faves are the newies, Josefin's stunning "Han är en man, han är ett barn" - which I would personally release as a single, like yesterday! It really sounds much better than I thought it would on CD and she sounds great.

Then there is the gorgeous, delicate "Just Like That/When The Waves Roll Out To Sea" inspired "Glöm mig om du kan". Oh wow! It is just so effortlessly beautiful. I loved it in the show and I love it on CD. Who'd have guessed JLT would be a song in a musical when we first heard it?

I agree with Mattias that "Nobody's Side" 'Lämna inga dörrar på glänt' is an early favourite too!  It sounds so 'complete' (I can't explain what I mean by that) save to say - I love it!

Best I go listen to it one more time!

Dominic 'Ice' Wallis London, UK