Lisa Ekdahl "More of the Good" (2018)

More of the Good
release date: Nov. 9, 2018
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,38]
producer: Mathias Blomdahl
label: Sony Music - nationality: Sweden

10th studio album by Lisa Ekdahl released a 1½ years following När alla vägar leder hem. All songs are written and composed entirely by Ekdahl herself and all songs are with English lyrics. Perhaps the has released this new album also to satisfy her relatively broad international fans coming from English-speaking countries and also more traditional latin jazz-associated countries (Portugal, Spain, France, Italy).
You may prefer her native Swedish songs, but you can't reject that she's a fine vocalist and interpreter of contemporary easy listening and latin jazz, which is what this album contains most of all. I'm not a huge fan of her English lyrics but it really is one of her better attempts with English songs. It does, however, sound much like a huge conglomerate of previously released material and there are no new surprises under the hood. But if you like what works, this is a solid release of well-established themes.

Cornershop "Hold on It's Easy" (2015)

Hold on It's Easy
release date: Feb. 2, 2015
format: digital
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,33]
producer: Tjinder Singh
label: Ample Play Records - nationality: England, UK

8th studio album by Cornershop follows nearly three years after Urban Turban - The Singhles Club.

This is something entirely different by being an easy-listening remake [thus the title] of the band's debut album Hold on It Hurts from 1993 and seems to be made exclusively by Tjinder Singh with the assistance of additional musicians and completely without steady band member Ben Ayres.

The album has only been issued in vinyl and digital download formats.

Hold on It's Easy is interesting with its alternate versions of familiar songs but it's nevertheless a somewhat strange and less powerful collection of songs, and the album may serve more in a collection for completionists.

Lisa Ekdahl "Give Me That Slow Knowing Smile" (2008)

Give Me That Slow Knowing Smile
release date: Mar. 23, 2008
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,28]
producer: Mathias Blomdahl; Tobias Froberg (4, 6)
label: RCA Victor / Sony Music - nationality: Sweden

Track highlights: 1. "Give Me That Slow Knowing Smile" (live) - 2. "I Don't Mind" - 6. "Don't Stop" - 7. "When"

7th studio album by Lisa Ekdahl is a more laid back album with hints of easy listening without being boring 'cause it's like her debut filled with interesting songs and fine melodies only this time all songs are in English. It's not the continued journey into a bolder folk pop and uptempo style as her most recent album Pärlor av glas (2006). Instead she returns to a subtler style of jazz pop and folk pop. It's not the first time she has recorded music with English lyrics, as her two albums with Peter Nordahl Trio were cover versions of old classic, but this is the first time she releases a full album of her own songs entirely in English. Her accent may be charming but it's also annoying (not unlike Björk), and frankly she's just so much better in Swedish.

Astrud Gilberto "Astrud Gilberto's Finest Hour" (2001)

Astrud Gilberto's Finest Hour (compilation)
release date: May 15, 2001
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5]

A best of compilation album by Astrud Gilberto. The album consists of 20 tracks, and it comprises her best bossa nova and vocal jazz performances including her works with Walter Wanderley Trio, Stan Getz, (husband) Joaõ Gilberto, Antonio Carlos Jobim, as well as her better tracks into standards and easy listening.
This is a fine collection.
[ allmusic.com 5 / 5 stars ]

Astrud Gilberto "Beach Samba" (1967)

Beach Samba
release date: 1967
format: cd
[album rate: 3 / 5]

Tracklist: 1. "Stay" (4 / 5) - 2. "Misty Roses" - 3. "The Face I Love" - 4. "A Banda (Parade)" - 5. "Oba, oba" - 6. "Canoeiro" - 7. "I Had the Craziest Dream" - 8. "Bossa na praia (Beach Samba)" - 9. "My Foolish Heart" - 10. "Dia das Rosas (I Think of You)" - 11. "You Didn't Have Be So Nice" - 12. "Não bate o coroção"

5th studio album by Astrud Gilberto is a more of a pop and standards-styled album. This is better than her first attempt with the standards, her second album, The Shadow of Your Smile (1965). Primarily, she succeeds better because on this album the pop songs are more easy listening tracks that do not demand a voluminous voice like her best albums with bossa nova vocal jazz. An enhanced re-issue was released in 1993 with 17 tracks. The album is included in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die".
[ allmusic.com 3 / 5 stars ]

Lisa Ekdahl "Med kroppen mot jorden" (1996)

Med kroppen mot jorden
release date: Mar. 1996
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,68]
producer: Janne Hansson, Lennart Karlsmyr [recorded by]
label: RCA Victor / BMG Sweden - nationality: Sweden

Track highlights: 1. "Inte kan ödet vara så hårt" - 2. "Himlen och jag" - 3. "Små onda djävlar" - 6. "Skäl att vara motvalls" - 9. "Hösten"

2nd solo album by Lisa Ekdahl is like her '94 debut album a collection of stripped-down compositions featuring Ekdahl's vocal and acoustic guitar together with a small handful of primary musicians: Kenny Håkansson on guitar, Patrik Boman on double bass, Bill Öhrström on congas, percussion & harmonica, and with Jörgen Ringkvist on drums. All songs are written and composed by Ekdahl and the album appears as the debut like mere studio recordings - the album has no producer credits, which also suggest that the album is recorded live in studio.
Stylistically, it follows closely on the path laid out on her fine debut and by that doesn't share common ground with her most recent collaboration with Peter Nordahl Trio When Did You Leave Heaven from 1995 and its vocal jazz standards. This is Swedish folk pop/ easy listening in a singer / songwriter universe with bonds to folk music and world music. It's like the second half of two solo albums that are closely related - her debut and this could nicely be fitted on a double album without pointing in various directions.
Nice and solid.

Lisa Ekdahl / Peter Nordahl Trio "When Did You Leave Heaven" (1995)

When Did You Leave Heaven
release date: Oct. 13, 1995
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,32]
producer: Patrik Boman and Peter Nordahl
label: Arietta Discs - nationality: Sweden

1st collaboration album released as Lisa Ekdahl / Peter Nordahl Trio. The album comes in various editions - and it's also issued as a Lisa Ekdahl solo album without mentioning that it's actually a collaboration album.
The extremely popular Swede shows her love for the big vocal jazz standards. The album is fine but not really great. Too many better vocal jazz singers have made their golden versions. Although the music in essence is jazz it becomes easy listening or lounge with Lisa's fresh and innocent voice (lest we forget her Swedish English), which almost makes the tracks less interesting. Fine for a night in company when you just need background music that doesn't stir up anything.

Frank Sinatra "September of My Years" (1965)

September of My Years
release date: May 27, 1965
format: cd
[album rate: 4 / 5]

Tracklist: A) 1. "The September of My Years" - 2. "How Old Am I?" - 3. "Don't Wait Too Long" - 4. "It Gets Lonely Early" - 5. "This Is All I Ask" - 6. "Last Night When We Were Young" - 7. "The Man in the Looking Glass" - - B) 1. "It Was a Very Good Year" - 2. "When the Wind Was Green" - 3. "Hello, Young Lovers" - 4. "I See It Now" - 5. "Once Upon a Time" - 6. "September Song"

The king of croon with just one of his majestic albums. It's one of those essential albums in an artist's repertoire that you shouldn't skip. Also, I think it's kinda nice to own something released in the year I was born. At this point of his long career, Sinatra was a shining star and he had already made great covers of pop ballads but here he goes off the mainstream popular track and proves his talent as an emotional vocal jazz crooner. It's not Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald or Nina Simone vocal jazz but it's a more genuine Sinatra who seeks an expressiveness you hardly find on his blue-eyed jazz pop ballads, suited for coffee table arrangements and chit-chats about the husband's new well-paid job, or the kids' good grades. The type of swing and popular standards made him... popular at the time but looking at his long and shinning career, it is his jazz repertoire that shines the brightest. And he made lots of albums of this type of albums that also became known as easy listening. In a way it's almost like a natural progression from Where Are You? (1957), Only the Lonely (1958), No One Cares (1959), Point of No Return (1962), and Softly, as I Leave You (1964). The titles already signals the lost love theme. Instead of his blue-eyed pop ballads albums, this is like the aforementioned songs of: "ah, there's a real life, it ain't all blue sky, roses and happy-ever-after" tone and quality, which suits him and his splendid voice so well.
I most certainly didn't listen to this album until the mid-1980s but I certainly knew of Sinatra from quite a young age. I was familiar with at leat half of these songs before even going into my teens 'cause Sinatra was one of those familiar voices that I associate with my pre-teen years lisening to whatever came out of the national radio - and this was definitely something I enjoyed.

1965 Favourite releases: 1. Otis Redding Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul - 2. The Beatles Help! - 3. Frank Sinatra September of My Years

Not this particular album as such, but Sinatra plays a big part of my earliest music memories that wasn't purely children's songs.

👉 Another one from that earliest stage.

~ ~ ~

This post is part of MyMusicJourney, which enlists key releases that have shaped my musical taste when growing up and until age 14. Most of these releases come from my parents' and / or my older brother's collection.