As requested, as part of the ‘Norske Albumklassikere 80-tallet’ series from the excellent Norwegian reissue label Norske Albumklassikere – which seems to have access to almost every Norwegian release from the 70s and 80s – comes this remastered reissue of the long time out of print album ”The Beauty And The Beat”, by Norwegian female singer KATE.
Kate Gulbrandsen born in Slemmestad, Røyken, and debuted on stage at only seven-years old. In 1985 won a local pop-rock competition and was allowed to take part in the Pop Festival in Egypt, where Norwegian promoter Arne Bendiksen was one of the organizers. She also participated in the World Popular Song Festival in Japan 1986, and won the Golden Award with the song “Carnival”, written by expert Scandinavian pop songwriter Rolf Løvland.
The two went to Los Angeles and began work on KATE’s debut album. She became nationally known after the Norwegian Grand Prix final in 1987, performing the winning song “Mitt liv” (9th place in the international final) also included into this reissue.
Løvland was he man behind KATE 1987’s “The Beauty And The Beat” debut CD, a synth-pop / rock & pop affair that worked pretty well all over Europe. With guitar solos provided by Svein Dag Hauge (Lava, Tindrum, Jim Jidhed) the album also include songs of interest for all Hi-Tech AOR fans out there, numbers like ‘Trick Of The Heart’, ‘Touch My Fantasy’, etc.
Very Cool ’80s!
01 – Danger Men Working
02 – Carnival
03 – The Woman And The Girl In Me
04 – Esprit De Corps
05 – Fire Of Love
06 – Mitt Liv
07 – Trick Of The Heart
08 – What Any Girl Would Do
09 – All Over The World
10 – When The Magic Dies
11 – Touch My Fantasy
Vocals – Kate Gulbrandsen
Guitar – Henrik Janson
Guitar Soloist – Svein Dag Hauge
Bass – Henrik Janson, Roger Gunnarson
Drums – Per Lindvall
Keyboards, Synths – Joe Curiale, Peter Ljung
Saxophone – Arild Stav (track: 2), Knut Riisnaes (track: 7)
Synths, Programming – Kjetil Bjerkestrand, Rolf Løvland
Backing Vocals – Alfie Silas, Howard Smith, Phyllis St. James
Remastered By Giert Clausen
KATE Gulbrandsen – The Beauty And The Beat ’87 [Norske Albumklassikere 80-tallet] (2022), MP3+FLAC
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