''Heart Strings'' (originally titled ''Heart & Soul - 13 Rock Classics'') is the thirteenth studio album by Welsh singer

Bonnie Tyler Gaynor Sullivan (née Hopkins; born 8 June 1951), known professionally as Bonnie Tyler, is a Welsh singer who is known for her distinctive husky voice. Tyler came to prominence with the release of her 1977 album '' The World Starts Tonight'' a ...

. It was first released in Scandinavia under the title ''Heart & Soul'' on 28 October 2002 by CMC, a Danish record label. The album received a wider European release on 18 March 2003. The album features thirteen cover songs recorded with the

City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra (Czech: ''Filharmonici města Prahy'') is a classical orchestra, predominantly composed of Czech classical, jazz and guest musicians. The history of the orchestra goes back to the Film Symphony Orchestr ...

and Tyler's band.

Background

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

proposed a one-off deal to record an album of cover songs with the

and Tyler's live band, which included

John Young John Young may refer to: Academics * John Young (professor of Greek) (died 1820), Scottish professor of Greek at the University of Glasgow * John C. Young (college president) (1803–1857), American educator, pastor, and president of Centre Coll ...

, Alan Darby, Matt Prior, Thomas Lang, John Tonks and Ed Poole. Tyler picked out thirteen tracks to record, most of which were originally performed by male artists. Tyler thought about recording songs by some of her favourite female artists, including

Janis Joplin Janis Lyn Joplin (January 19, 1943 – October 4, 1970) was an American singer and musician. One of the most successful and widely known Rock music, rock stars of her era, she was noted for her powerful mezzo-soprano vocals and "electric" stage ...

and

Tina Turner Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939) is an American-born Swiss retired singer and actress. Widely referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", she rose to prominence as the lead singer o ...

, but felt that she would not be able to improve on their interpretations. The album booklet includes a credit to Arthur Fufkin, a reference to the fictional character Artie Fufkin from the 1984

mockumentary A mockumentary (a blend of ''mock'' and ''documentary''), fake documentary or docu-comedy is a type of film or television show depicting fictional events but presented as a documentary. These productions are often used to analyze or comment on c ...

This Is Spinal Tap ''This Is Spinal Tap'' (also known as ''This Is Spınal Tap: A Rockumentary by Martin Di Bergi'') is a 1984 American mockumentary film co-written and directed by Rob Reiner (in his feature directorial debut). The film stars Christopher Guest, M ...

''.

Recording

The album was recorded between June and September 2002. Tyler began by recording guide vocals accompanied by an acoustic guitar. The orchestra was recorded over one week at the

Barrandov Studios Barrandov Studios is a set of film studios in Prague, Czech Republic. It is the largest film studio in the country and one of the largest in Europe. Several major Hollywood productions have been made here, including ''Mission Impossible'', '' ...

and Smecky Music Studios in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

. Tyler then returned to the UK to record additional vocals with her band at Ridge Farm, the Engine Room, Startrack Studios and Darby Studios. Part-way through the recording process, the original producer left the project and Tyler's manager David Aspden and guitarist Matt Prior then stepped in.

Music

''Heart Strings'' is an album of covers combining orchestral and rock instruments. The album also features gospel and blues influences on tracks like "Lean on Me" and "Need Your Love So Bad".

Release and promotion

A promotional photo and video shoot was taken at the Thingbæk Kalkminer, an old limestone mine turned museum near

Skørping Skørping is a railway town in Rebild Municipality in Region Nordjylland in the geographic region of the Jutland peninsula known as '' Himmerland'' in northern Denmark. The modern town has a population of 2,971 as of 1 January 2022;Donauinselfest The ''Donauinselfest'' (German for "Danube Island Festival") is a free open-air music festival which occurs annually at Donauinsel in Vienna, Austria. The festival is hosted by SPÖ Wien. It is the largest open-air music festival in the world, ...

Vienna, Austria en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. Tyler promoted the album on various European TV networks including ARD,

ZDF ZDF (, short for Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen; ; "Second German Television") is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. It is run as an independent nonprofit institution, which was founded by all fe ...

Sat.1 Sat.1 is a German free-to-air television channel that is a part of the ProSiebenSat.1 Media Group. It is considered the first privately owned television network in Germany, having been launched in January 1984 as ''PKS'' ''(Programmgesellschaf ...

, RTL,

TF1 TF1 (; standing for ''Télévision Française 1'') is a French commercial television network owned by TF1 Group, controlled by the Bouygues conglomerate. TF1's average market share of 24% makes it the most popular domestic network. TF1 is par ...

and

TV4 TV4 or TV 4 may refer to: *TV4 (Poland), a private Polish television station *TV4 (Sweden), a Swedish television network **TV4 Group, owners of the Swedish television station *South African Broadcasting Corporation TV4, a channel operated by the st ...

. "

Amazed "Amazed" is a song by American country music group Lonestar, released on March 22, 1999, for country radio as the second single from their third studio album ''Lonely Grill'' (1999). The power ballad is the band's longest-lasting number one sing ...

" was released as the album's only single in 2002. "

Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now) "Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)" (also titled "Against All Odds") is a song by English drummer, singer and songwriter Phil Collins. It was recorded for the soundtrack to the 1984 film of the same name. It is a power ballad in which i ...

" and " Learning to Fly" were released as

promotional singles A promotional recording, or promo, or plug copy, is an audio or video recording distributed free, usually in order to promote a recording that is or soon will be commercially available. Promos are normally sent directly to broadcasters, such as ...

in 2002 and 2003 respectively. The album was first released in

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion#Europe, subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, ...

under the title ''Heart and Soul - 13 Rock Classics'' on 28 October 2002 by the Danish label CMC. The album received a wider release under the title ''Heart Strings'' on 18 March 2003.

Track listing

Charts

Personnel

* Bonnie Tyler – vocals, violin * David Aspden – keyboards * Matt Prior – keyboards, guitars, acoustic guitar * Alan Darby – guitars, rhythm guitar, acoustic guitar,

slide guitar Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music. It involves playing a guitar while holding a hard object (a slide) against the strings, creating the opportunity for glissando effects and deep vibratos tha ...

dobro Dobro is an American brand of resonator guitars, currently owned by Gibson and manufactured by its subsidiary Epiphone. The term "dobro" is also used as a generic term for any wood-bodied, single-cone resonator guitar. The Dobro was originally ...

, arrangements (4) * Ed Poole – electric bass,

fretless bass A fretless bass is a bass guitar whose neck does not have any frets. While the instrument is played in all styles of music, it is most common in pop, rock, and jazz. It first saw widespread use during the 1970s, although some players used them befo ...

* Paul Turner – electric bass * Thomas Lang – drums * John Tonks – drums * Thomas Dyani – percussion * James McNally –

bodhrán The bodhrán (, ; plural ''bodhráin'' or ''bodhráns'') is a frame drum used in Irish music ranging from in diameter, with most drums measuring . The sides of the drum are deep. A goatskin head is tacked to one side (synthetic heads or othe ...

low whistle The low whistle, or concert whistle, is a variation of the traditional tin whistle/pennywhistle, distinguished by its lower pitch and larger size. It is most closely associated with the performances of British and Irish artists such as Tommy Make ...

– orchestra *

Nick Ingman Nicholas Ingman (born 29 April 1948) is an English arranger, composer and conductor in the commercial music field. His collaborators include Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, Björk, and the British X-factor. Born and educated in London, Ingman moved ...

– arrangements (1, 3, 7, 8, 9) *

Karl Jenkins Sir Karl William Pamp Jenkins (born 17 February 1944) is a Welsh multi-instrumentalist and composer. His best known works include the song " Adiemus" and the ''Adiemus'' album series; '' Palladio''; ''The Armed Man''; and his ''Requiem''. J ...

– arrangements (2, 5, 6, 12, 13), conductor, score (11) *

– arrangements (4, 11) * Gerald McBurney – arrangements (10) * Sam Brown – backing vocals * Margot Buchanan – backing vocals * Rita Campbell – backing vocals *

Claudia Fontaine Claudia Fontaine (26 August 1960 – 13 March 2018) was an backing vocalist from Peckham, London. Career During the 1980s, Fontaine and fellow backing vocalist Caron Wheeler (and later, third member Naomi Thompson) were known as Afrodiziak. S ...

– backing vocals * Aitch McRobbie – backing vocals

Production

* David Aspden – producer, engineer * Matt Prior – producer, engineer, editing * Helen Atkinson – engineer * Alan Darby – engineer * Jan Holzner – engineer * Richard "Dread" Mann – engineer * Morten Munch – engineer, editing * Michael Wolff – engineer * Philip Allen – assistant engineer * Nick Davis – mixing * Søren Bundgaard – editing * Dave Meegan – editing * Tim Young – mastering * Nils Krogh – photography * Stefan Klein – artwork

References

{{Authority control 2003 albums Bonnie Tyler albums Covers albums City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra albums