Paal Flaata; Songs, The Trilogy Collection – also includes the new album; “Love and Rain: The Athletic Sessions”
Songs of
Wait by the fire – Songs of Chip Taylor
Paal Flaata met the American singer / songwriter / gambler Chip Taylor for the first time the weekend of 22-23rd of July 2011. The night of July 23, Chip Taylor wrote the song “This Darkest Day”, a poetic response to the tragedies that took place 12-15 miles from Taylor’s retreat in Halden. “This Darkest Day” also ends the album “Wait by the Fire: Songs of Chip Taylor” – the first album in Paal Flaata’s Songs of-Trilogy.
“It’s a rare voice can make earth shattering changes to the psyche of the human spirit. Paal’s voice does that – like no other I’ve heard. I’m so, so proud Paal, Gøran and friends got together to dig far into my catalog and find songs that moved them. I could not think of another artist that I’d rather have to do a retrospective of my work. How blessed I am!” – Chip Taylor.
Then it is worth nothing that hundreds of artists and great vocalists have interpreted the songs of the man from Yonkers, New York, including Willie Nelson, Linda Ronstadt, Janis Joplin and Emmylou Harris.
Wait by the Fire was nominated for a Spellemannpris (Norwegian Grammy) in 2012.
Bless us all: songs of Mickey Newbury
The sequel to the critically acclaimed and Spellemann-nominated “Wait by the Fire” was “Bless us all” – a result of two decades of Paal Flaata’s in-depth studies of Mickey Newbury’s songs. More than 1500 artists have recorded Newbury’s songs, which are often very unusal and complex compositions. The most well-known is Elvis Presley’s Wagnerian version of “An American Trilogy”.
On the cover of Bless Us All: Songs of Mickey Newbury, Mickey’s widow Susan Newbury writes, “Singing Newbury songs I difficult – even for Mickey. Paal’s album has captured the spirit of Mickey and I know Mickey would have been touched by these tracks.”
Come Tomorrow: Songs of Townes van Zandt
Townes van Zandt’s songs have always meant something extra for Paal, and he laid the necessary foundation before he decided to choose the ten songs that make up the last album in the trilogy – also nominated for Spellemann 2016 (Norwegian Grammy)
The selection of Townes van Zandt’s songs that can be heard on Come Tomorrow is drawn from the period from 1968 to 1978, and bears witness to a profound understanding of the artist and a great deal of research.The songs are presented in arrangements that preserve their poetic and melodic power with acute sensitivity. From the French horn in the opening of “Flying Shoes”, played by Rune Brodahl, to Lise Voldsdal’s strings on the closing track, “Snow Don’t Fall”, these interpretations assume their rightful place as an elegant and distinctive addition to the impressive canon of van Zandt’s compositions.The title cut, “Come Tomorrow”, Paal sings as a duet with his daughter Maia Flaata.
Love and Rain: The Athletic Sessions
You would need a mental drone to be able to get a real overview of Paal Flaata’s biggest project as a solo artist. The recording process stretched out over six years, and this boxed set comprises four albums with forty songs.
On the box’s fourth and new album, you’ll find songs from the catalogs of Kris Kristofferson, the legendary legend Donnie Fritts, country giant Conway Twitty, Charlie Rich and Don McLean. But since Flaata and Grini live by the motto: “For the sake of the song”, it’s also the case that two of the songs on Love and Rain: The Athletic Sessions were not even composed by Americans, but by two Englishmen; folksinger, poet and political activist Ewan MacColl and Elvis Costello. MacColl is represented here by “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face”, while the choice fell on Costello’s “The Comedians”. The choice of “The Comedians” gives a good indication of what Love and Rain is all about: songs that have all stood the test of time, classics in the true sense of the word.
Tom Skjeklesæther has written the box set’s liner notes and it ends with; “In my view, Love and Rain: The Athletic Sessions is the rightful successor to In Demand, 15 years later. It serves as proof that Paal Flaata is the Singer who can lift all kinds of songs, including the best of them , to an even higher level”
The album “Love and rain” will also be released on vinyl November 17, 2017.
