CONTEMPLATION Benny and Helen listening to the result.
Aftonbladet 110410
By: JENS PETERSON
Photo: BJÖRN LINDAHL
“Nöjesbladet” is there when Benny Andersson Band is recording a new summery hit CD: We’re like a family.
Music can be built out of joy. The pleasure should be patient. When Benny Andersson Band is recording their new album the pieces are built bit by bit. “Nöjesbladet” spent a day in the studio.
Benny Andersson sings. He sings all the time. No, not at the microphone. Benny Andersson sings to show how it should sound. He hums through arrangements that Göran Arnberg has written for the three blowers. Wopp-a-dajdi-dej. He goes into the stall of the violins and sings through the parts of the fiddles with Orsa Spelmän. Pa-du-do-diii. He hums the rhythm zacka-dack-a-chack to highlight when it’s time for the guitar. Benny Andersson sings out. Those who tend to give face to the voices of Benny Andersson Band are sitting in a corner studying the music they received. Tommy Körberg and Helen Sjöholm are not quite happy with the song they just added.
– You can´t hear us so much because we haven´t learned our parts, Tommy Körberg says and frowns.
Six songs have been done
In the morning, two songs were recorded with the whole orchestra. For three days, they recorded six songs in Benny Andersson’s new studio Riksmixningsverket. All together. It’s better that way. The entire band at once, as BAO sounds on stage.
– We are like a family, Helen Sjöholm says. Fun to be involved and record all together. Usually we can use a part of the song which was made at the first shot. But some lines she has to do again. Many small pieces are made once again refined. It´s not decided yet which songs will be included on the CD.
– I´m afraid there are too many ballads, Benny Andersson says. The older you get, the slower the songs.
“O Klang och jubeltid” is the name of the album, which will be released in early June. A month earlier a single will be released.
– Everything is shown when you are naked, Helen Sjöholm sings. The melody sounds very much like BAB, and is operated by Calle Jacobsson’s tuba. The tuba chugs up the rhythm and reminds of one of the archipelago boats that you can see through the studio windows. Out there it´s like spring. The music sounds like summer. They add more wind. Hello! Stop. Something sounds wrong.
– There! You should not do that, Benny Andersson says.
Many sensitive ears are listening intensely. Listening sharp like a microscope. They discuss the arrangements, changing a phrase, removing a tone.
– We try this and listen to how it sounds. Don´t change the music in ink, Benny says.
– I write with blood! Pälle Grebacken cries.
They play it again.
– No, it doesn´t work, Benny says.
Still not right. New arrangements are tested, Benny and arranger Göran Arnberg are humming together.
Simmers of sound
The make music. Taste every sound as a spice, feel how it fits into the wholeness. It simmers of sound everywhere. Someone is blowing into an empty soda bottle. Someone pressed the tone with two empty hands and a little air. Kalle Moraeus shows Tommy Körberg some funny things on his iPhone. Information about links to wacky clips from his Facebook page. They look like a couple of school boys who make mischief while the others struggle with their homework. They laugh themselves red in their faces of the iPhone finds and have so much fun that you become worried about their health.
Perra Moraeus doesn’t have as much fun. He adds alto saxophone on the song “Kära syster” and it doesn´t work. “Kära syster” is a song for those women who can get a lot of men in love. A sister song to “Jolene” by Dolly Parton, in which the singer appeals to another woman not to take her husband. “Kära syster” is brand new, but sounds like it has been there for a long time. It smells like dancing, and will attract dancing couples under the colored lights on this summer’s tour.
It´s been ten years since the first BAB CD. Ten years since they first played for dance at Skansen. This year Galejan’s dancefloor will be the final of the summer tour. Helen Sjöholm sings “Kära syster”. The new album also has some duets, and the song “O Klang och jubeltid”, where most of BAB raise their voices.
“The text is fine as hell”
Tommy Körberg is also using his vocal cords.
– I’ve got an old Jussi tune to sing, “Tantis serenade,” he says. And “Jag hör a song”. The text is fine as hell.
Not just the text. The song with the working title “I hear a song” sounds like a new classic from Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson. It has a sober and dignified solo on the tuba in the middle. It was recorded in one shot as Tommy Körberg was singing along with the others. He wants to fix his own vocals a bit, but … no. It sounds too good.
– That shot may take you a long time to change, Benny Andersson says and gives Tommy Körberg a hug.
“Kära syster” gets a little bit more polishing. Perra Moraeus finishes his piece of the puzzle.
– Yes sir. That´s OK, Benny Andersson says.
But the song is not quite finished yet. Brass and strings should be improved.
– It went to hell right away, heard a heavy sigh from within the studio.
The tone is rough, but … well, crude. That kind of tart jokes you tell people you like and have respect for.
– Calle Jakobsson – you can leave the studio now,” said Benny Andersson. ”We should not have any trombone. And if we are using a trombone, it should not be yours.”
Calle Jacobson comes into the control room and pretend to be depressed.
– It’s like “Robinson”. One by one, we are out, he says. Pure farewell symphony.
The hunt for the wrong tone continues.
– There is something strange somewhere, Benny Andersson says. I wonder if it’s me?
He decides to record his grand piano again.
“Kära syster” has three key increases. Moraeus tries to add guitar, mandolin and ukulele, and the chords on the ukulele takes a while for him to find.
– It sounds like someone who can do it better, Benny Andersson says.
– I probably played in a wrong way, Moraeus says.
Finally, the multi-instrumentalist realizes there is a chord, that is not included anywhere else in the song.
– Then I realize why I didn´t understand a thing, Moraeus says.
His pieces are also OK. Everything is ready.
Mixing the sound
Benny is sitting at the mixer desk moving the sliders while the song is played. He highlights instrument by instrument, mixing, builds a sound and it sounds amazing from the large speakers. He looks into the empty and dark studio. Listening concentrated. Another working day is finished. Another song is finished. The music flows. Benny Andersson smiles.
THIS IS BAO:
Benny Andersson – piano, accordion, ukulele
Goran Arnberg – kyboards
Janne Bengtson – flute
Jogga Ernlund – bass
Par Grebäck – saxophone and clarinet
Calle Jakobsson – tuba
Neil Young – vocals
Jump the Gun – vocals
Leif Lindvall – trumpet
Kalle Moraeus – everything
Olle Moraeus – violin
Perra Moraeus – violin, alto saxophone
Lars Rudolfsson – accordion
Jorgen Stenberg – drums
BAO ON TOUR
21/7 Örnsköldsvik
22/7 Järvsö
23/7 Leksand
24/7 Karlstad
27/7 Helsingborg
28/7 Gothenburg
29/7 Gripsholm
30/7 Galejan, Skansen, Stockholm