Every Grain of Sand will challenge everything you thought you knew about Bob Dylan...
Barb Jungr took her favourite Bob Dylan songs and put them through her blender. What came out was a beautiful concoction that tasted better than you could have dreamed!
Jungr treats Dylan's songs as chansons, and her style reveals that he's up there with the best - Brel, Prévert, Ferré - a songwriter of extraordinary poetry and passion. Each song created its own world, had its own drama; Barb unfolded each with devastating technique.
Opening with a caressingly sexy interpretation of I'll Be Your Baby Tonight, Barb took us from 1960's classics like I Want You to Dylan's most recent album release Love and Theft with the soulful ballad Sugar Baby. She focused on Dylan's lyrics and melodies, drawing attention to the deepest core of the songs. And what treasures are there... As Barb says, "I sing only the best, Brel, Dylan - it spoils you."
Barb's collaborators on Every Grain of Sand were some of London's finest; James Tomalin, Simon Wallace and Russell Churney who have worked closely with Barb to create a chamber jazz sound that is elegant but edgy, passionate but never obtrusive.
Every Grain of Sand was Barb's highly personal selection of songs from Dylan's 44 albums. Choosing 15 songs from this vast repertoire was no easy task. Barb said "but these are the songs that just wouldn't let go" - songs of love and spiritual longing, beautifully crafted and profoundly moving.
see also: www.barbjungr.com & www.linnrecords.com
Reviews:
"Jungr's sensual performance casts these songs in a new light" (The Times)
"Shockingly expressive, with an astonishing palette of colours... Jungr repeatedly reawakens detailed emotions lying dormant in lyrics... hope that Dylan has a listen and starts writing for her direct." (The Observer)
"immaculate " (The Times)
"glamorous and crazed... an outstanding cabarettist" (The Daily Telegraph)
"A singer of immense range, power and emotional rapport... she is quite unlike any other singer I can recall... vocally she is unique" (What's On In London)
"gives the sexiest and most emotionally- charged musical performance in Edinburgh this year" (Institute of Ideas)
"an artistic tour de force" (Boz Magazine)
Programme Notes:
In every wonderful place I go to, I am filled with an amazing urge to sing Every Grain of Sand, and like the other terrific songs on this album, I doubt I will ever tire of singing it.
One night about eighteen months ago, I was watching the television after having done a gig when a voice came to me as clear as a bell and said "You must sing the songs of Bob Dylan". I laughed out loud as I only knew a relatively small amount of Dylan's work, and I had come to appreciate his repertoire quite late on in my listening life (although I always knew Blind Willie McTell was a work of genius). When a voice comes out of the blue like that, I do as I am told and diligently researched and absorbed masses of wonderful recordings that long-time fans of the great American singer-songwriter gave me. I started to realise what a mammoth task I had undertaken. How was I going to search through so much utterly brilliant material?
Eventually certain songs emerged which spoke directly to me, and my list whittled down to what is largely here on this collection. It is not meant to be any kind of statement about the quality or relevance of the particular songs, but these were the ones that wouldn't let me go.
Biographies:
 Barb Jungr
Britain's foremost chansonnier and cabarettist Barb Jungr enthrals audiences with her powerful performances fusing extraordinary singing, humour and passion. Born to Czech and German parents in the Northwest of England, her performance background was the alternative cabaret circuit, and she has been at the cutting edge of European cabaret in Britain for the last decade. With Perrier award winning duo Jungr and Parker she performed internationally for 13 years, appearing regularly on television and radio. She has worked extensively with Julian Clary, created the sellout show Girl Talk with Claire Martin and Mari Wilson and Hell Bent Heaven Bound with Ian Shaw and Christine Collister, which was a Perrier Pick of The Fringe and subsequently toured Canada. Since 1991 she has been creating and touring original cabaret theatre to growing acclaim. She created and hosts the hugely successful European cabaret club Cafe Prague at Komedia in Brighton and her acclaimed CD of classic and contemporary chansons Chanson The Space In Between is internationally released on Linn records and was one of the Ten Best Jazz CDs of last year in The Sunday Times. Currently, as well as touring her show of Chanson The Space In Between (sellout shows at South Bank's Purcell Rooms, Pizza On The Park, and nationally) and appearing in cabaret (solo and with Mari Wilson and Girl Talk) she is working with Noel Greig on The Weight Of The Bag for 2001/2, with composer Jonathan Cooper on his new work and on her new show for autumn 2000 as part of London's Jewish Festival.
"Possessing nothing as dull as orthodox talent... an English Piaf is just what the world needs"
(Alan Clayson, Record Buyer And Music Collector)
"The Queen of cabaret"
(Time Out)
"A superbly gifted musical performer"
(Glasgow Herald)
"move over Ute Lemper?"
(The Times)
"Cabaret's best kept secret"
(The Evening Standard)
A fuller biography can be found on Barb's website: www.jungr.com
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Every Grain of Sand