Eva Dahlgren "Petroleum och tång" (2007)

Petroleum och tång
release date: Nov. 14, 2007
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,35]
producer: Lars Halapi
label: Capitol / EMI Sweden - nationality: Sweden

Track highlights: 1. "Petroleum och tång" - 3. "Jag är inte fri" (3,5 / 5) - 6. "Skuggorna faller över dig" - 9. "Du och jag" (3,5 / 5) - 11. "Syre och eld"

12th studio album by Eva Dahlgren is like a nice combo op her two best albums En blekt blondins hjärta from '91 and her most recent album, Snö from 2005, making it a singer / songwriter folk and pop / rock release with fine ballads and more up-tempo pop songs with clear chamber pop elements.

Eva Dahlgren "Snö" (2005)

Snö
release date: 2005
format: digital
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,48]
producer: Lars Halapi
label: EMI Music Sweden - nationality: Sweden

Track highlights: 1. "Så härlig är jorden" - 2. "Väntar mig brunt" (3,5 / 5) - 3. "När jag längtar" (3,5 / 5) (live) - 4. "Människors kärlek" (3,5 / 5) - 7. "Bob Hund" (3,5 / 5) - 8. "Som ett äventyr" - 9. "Det som bär mig nu" - 10. "Det allra största ljuset"

11th studio album by Eva Dahlgren is a fine return to form. After her '95 collaboration album with Anders Hillborg, she released the self-produced album Lai Lai in 1999.
Snö signals a change of style away from her rock and pop / rock image. The album is much more laid-back and more singer / songwriter founded and it's the closest she has been so far in making a more traditional folk album. As a natural consequence, most of the songs are ballads, which I think is her strongest form. "Det som bär mig nu" and "När jag längtar" were single releases - the first the perhaps most up-tempo song from the album, but really not the best. The album is in my mind one of her absolute best.

Eva Dahlgren "Jag vill se min älskade komma från det vilda" (1995)

Jag vill se min älskade komma från det vilda
release date: 1995
format: cd (STAT 52)
[album rate: 3 / 5] [2,86]
producer: Eva Dahlgren, Anders Hillborg
label: The Record Station / BMG - nationality: Sweden

Track highlights: 2. "Stenmannen" - 3. "När en vild röd ros slår ut doftar hela skogen" - 8. "Innan kärleken kom" - 9. "Vild i min mun"

9th studio album by Eva Dahlgren is more of a collaboration work with classical composer and conductor (Per) Anders Hillborg. The album consists of 9 compositions all co-written by Dahlgren and Hillborg - with Dahlgren primarily contributing with lyrics and vocal for music composed by Hillborg. The music is performed by Sveriges Radios Symfoniorkester ['Symphony Orchestre of the Swedish National Radio'], thus making this a rather different album by Dahlgren. Stylistically, it's not entirely chamber pop, which one might expect. There's simply too little traditional pop / rock elements present. It's more in a the genre of classical crossover, resembling the music by Sarah Brightman, and with clear links to modern musical, I think. The album gave her the Grammis prize 'Årets artist' ['Best artist of the year'] in 1995 for the album. It's interesting, however; I don't find it among her better albums.
One year after this release, Dahlgren officially spoke about her homosexuality, and she registered in full partnership with the Swedish designer and former model, Efva Attling, and in 2009 the two married.

Eva Dahlgren "En blekt blondins hjärta" (1991)

En blekt blondins hjärta
release date: 1991
format: cd (STATCD29)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,65]
producer: Anders Glenmark
label: The Record Station / BMG - nationality: Sweden

Track highlights: 1. "Jag är gud"- 2. "Lev så" - 3. "Kanske för minnenas skull" - 4. "Guldlock" - 5. "Vem tänder stjärnorna" (4 / 5) - 6. "Allting om igen" - 7. "Kom och håll om mej" - 9. "Blå hjärtans blues" - 10. "Gunga mej"

8th studio album by Eva Dahlgren is truly something else than her previous album Fria världen 1.989 (1989). Although, Glenmark also produced the '89 album, this is much better produced. Luckily, the bold use of electric guitars and drums up front have been replaced by a more sophisticated spatial sound, and Dahlgren has accentuated her focus on more singer / songwriter material, which really suits her voice better than her (1980s Tina Turner) rocking anthems.
In Sweden, the album put Dahlgren on the top of pop in 1991 and she experienced the height of her musical career when she was awarded 5 prizes at the national Grammis awards for: 'Årets artist' ['Best Artist'], 'Årets kvinnliga pop / rockartist' ['Best Female Pop / Rock Artist'], and 'Årets album' ['Best Album of the Year'] for En blekt blondins hjärta. She also won the prize for 'Årets låt' ['Best Song of the Year'] for "Vem tänder stjärnorna?", and the prize for 'Årets kompositör' ['Best Composer']. In 1992, the album was released in an English version simply titled Eva Dahlgren - not to be confused with her second studio album from 1980 with the same title.

Eva Dahlgren "Fria världen 1.989" (1989)

Fria världen 1.989
release date: 1989
format: digital
[album rate: 2,5 / 5] [2,65]
producer: Anders Glenmark
label: The Record Station - nationality: Sweden

Track highlights: 3. "Ängeln i rummet" (3,5 / 5) - 4. "Hjärta av guld" (3,5 / 5) - 9. "Glad och lycklig"

7th studio album by Eva Dahlgren is not an easy accessible album, imho. I find it without any great compositions and a bit over- or: miss-produced. The songs are overshadowed by too strong emphasis on funky guitar riffs and hard-hitting-80s-drums. The ballads come out the strongest.
Dahlgren won her second and third Grammis prizes when as was awarded 'Årets kvinnliga rockartist' ['Best Female Rock Artist of the Year'] for the album, and the track "Ängeln i rummet" gave her the prize for 'Årets låt' ['Best Song of the Year']. That song was later released in en English version as "Angel in My Room".

Eva Dahlgren "För väntan" (1981)

För väntan
release date: 1981
format: cd
[album rate: 3 / 5] [2,96]
producer: Anders Glenmark
label: Columbia / Sony Music - nationality: Sweden

Track highlights: 2. "Titta på mig" - 3. "Violence" - 4. "Jag vill ha dej"

3rd studio album by Eva Dahlgren, and her first rock-founded album after two initial more pop-styled releases. The album was well-received in Sweden, and it gave her, her first Swedish award 'Best Female Artist', Rockbjörnen in '81 for this album.

Eva Dahlgren "Ung och stolt" (1987)

Ung och stolt
release date: Jan. 1987
format: vinyl (STAT 1) / cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,54]
producer: Anders Glenmark
label: The Record Station - nationality: Sweden

Track highlights: 1. "Jag klär av mej naken" - 2. "Ung och stolt" - 3. "Skeppet" - 5. "Little Darling" - 8. "Fromme mannen" - 9. "Allt för dej" - 10. "Mitt liv"

6th studio album by Eva Dahlgren released 2½ years after Ett fönster mot gatan (Aug. 1984) establishing her as one of the most critically-acclaimed Swedish singer / songwriters within a predominantly rock sphere in the late 1980's. The album was the first album that I listened to and also aquired with Dahlgren somewhere around 1988. She was handed the Swedish Grammis for the first time for this album in the category Best Female Pop / Rock Artist in 1987. Danish artist Sanne Salomonsen features as backing vocalist on several tracks.
The album now feels somewhat dated - the bold use of flanger and waow-guitar effect pedals, and the heavy 80's drums doesn't add to the qualities - but it nevertheless shows Dahlgren as a prominent Swedish energetic rock artist with an ear for both quiet ballads, epic and theatrical elements with hints of glam rock, and electrifying and more traditional rock compositions. This still remains one of her best albums.