ABBA - AGNETHA & FRIDA SOLO - Jim Colyer

AGNETHA FALTSKOG SOLO Agnetha had 3 careers: one before ABBA, her stint with the group and her solo efforts after ABBA. Each period reresents a steady expansion of her talents. In the beginning, she recorded exclusively in Swedish. She went to English with ABBA. On her own again, she stayed with English, ensuring a wider audience than when she began. Agnetha's songs are romantic, intimate. She turns lyrics and melodies into emotions and feelings. The naughtiness which comes across in Gulleplutt hits the spot. The teasing quality of Slutet Gott Allting Gott and Min Farbror Jonathan send shivers up my spine. We get the message even if we do not understand the language. Ljuva 60-Tal (Lovely 60s) is good. It was written by Stig. I like some slow stuff, Allting Har Forandrat Sig and En Sang Om Sorg Och Gladje. When Agnetha does her own compositions, they spring from her heart. There is a spontaneity, a marriage of lyrics and melody. She said her songs sound alike. Such is the case with any composer. Agnetha has two sides. She can belt out bedroom lyrics or do children's music. She has range. She can be demure or feisty and bold. She can be devilish. She reaches out to men. Agnetha lived in West Berlin for 6 months. She did 16 tapes with Dieter Zimmermann. They are not great songs but when played together they are easy to listen to. They have the same bubbly style which characterized her work in those days. The most outstanding of the German releases are Komm Doch Zu Mir and Geh Mit Gott. Go With God is an example of her capacity for adapting to a piece of material. She portrays the single-minded piousness of medievalism. Agnetha sang in church when she was young. Ein Kleiner Mann In Einer Flasche, Wer Schreibt Heute Noch Liebesbriefe and Das Fest Der Pompadour capture the German cabaret spirit. Agnetha told how her first hit, Jag Var Sa Kar, came to be. She sent a tape to a record producer in Stockholm. He called to set up a session. She was so incredulous she thought her band was playing a trick on her. Finally, she and her father made their way to Stockholm. Once in the studio, Agnetha heard her song. Her dreams were coming true. Nu Ska Vi Opp is an early video of Agnetha's. Pilots escort her to a plane. She dons a helment and flies off solo. Zigenarvan was controversial. It came at a time when gypsies were causing trouble in Sweden. Agnetha only wrote the melody. It is a good one. It conjures visions of dancing gypsies. I have a video tape of Agnetha rehearsing I Don't Know How To Love Him for Jesus Christ Superstar. What I notice is her bell bottoms and all that hair. She was a goddess. Golliwog (Darling) is the English lyric for Gulleplutt. It was her first solo record in English. The flip side is Here For Your Love. It is dipped in honey. Cupol released a compilation of the best Swedish songs. It is called Tio Ar Med Agnetha (10 Years With Agnetha). It has an attractive cover, front and back. Inside are photographs and text pertinent to each song. 16 photos trace Agnetha's evolution from a teenager to a mature woman. En Sang Om Sorg Och Gladje is on Tio Ar Med. It is beautiful. Agnetha did an album of children's music with her son, Christian. There is an innocent quality to her voice. It evened the score for the Christmas album she did with Linda. Agnetha composed and performed I'm Still Alive during ABBA's U.S. tour. It was appropriate in light of Bjorn bringing Lena. The 1982 duet with Tomas Ledin, Never Again, was a positive step away from the group. Never Again is a torchy ballad. The title is plucked from My Love, My Life. The video is down to earth. Ledin is at the piano. Agnetha stands beside. They make a handsome couple. Ledin married Stig's daughter and wrote Take Good Care of your children. Raskenstam This is feature length. It is a romantic comedy set during World II about an undertaker who becomes a womanizer and swindler and in due course lands in jail. Gunnar Hellstrom plays Gustav Raskenstam, the true-life central character. Agnetha is Lisa, his most naive and comely conquest and the one who wins his heart. Agnetha appears in 6 scenes. Scene 1: Her first appearance is 18 minutes into the film. Lisa gives Gustav a prolonged handshake as they are obviously taken with each other. Scene 2: Gustav finds his way to Lisa's bed that night. He promises to marry her. Scene 3: 7 months later, Lisa shows up pregnant. Agnetha is quite fetching in her hat and coat. Maternity clothes become her. She cries, and Gustav sets the engagement. Scene 4: Lisa comes to Raskenstam's apartment with engagement rings. Scene 5: The pair celebrate their engagement in the country with Lisa's father. Scene 6: Lisa, her baby and father are on hand for Raskenstam's trial. His other women and children are there. He meets briefly with Lisa and the baby before going to jail. Raskenstam is a cozy film. Not once does a vehicle explode, nor does anyone brandish a gun and yell, "Freeze!" Nor does it matter that Gustav's amorous escapades are hard to follow since Agnetha Faltskog is our sole interest. Agnetha was given a "golden egg award" for an out-take from Raskenstam. It was a gag. In the scene, she and Hellstrom laugh uncontrollably over a teddy bear which is supposed to be their baby. This hospital scene was left out of the film. The closest Agetha got to another film was in doing two songs for the Swedish flick, P&B. It's So Nice To Be Rich is the A side. It has the same toungue-in-cheek as The Heat Is On. Ooooh! That style! It's So Nice To Be Rich is clever with a lot of atmosphere. In the movie, a down and out woman leaps from a bridge. P&B is the title song. P&B are swindlers, Petterson and Bendel. The record was only released in Sweden. The spoken sequences are good, contrasting with the hoedown flavor. Swedish television taped Agnetha going the vocal. Agnetha's 4 solo albums in English are Wrap Your Arms Around Me (1983), Eyes Of A Woman (1984), I Stand Alone (1987) and My Coloring Book (2004). She recorded the first two in Stockholm, using the same musicians who worked with ABBA. The third was produced by Peter Cetera and recorded in Los Angeles. Agnetha did not compose for I Stand Alone but selected songs which reflected her emotions. She wrote Man and I Won't Let You Go for the first two albums. My Coloring Book stands apart because it was her first record in 17 years, a long time. The loyalty of the fans who held their breath for 17 years is to be commended. I confess, I moved on. I see Shania Twain as having the great solo career after ABBA. Shania did what Agnetha and Frida could only dream of. Like The Beatles before them, ABBA was a group, and the members did their best work inside the group. Agnetha covers 5 pop classics on My Coloring Book. I have not heard it, but it will track me down as her stuff always does. From Wrap Your Arms Around Me, clips were made of The Heat Is On and Can't Shake Loose. Agnetha's blouse is open in The Heat Is On. She fans and drinks tea. Mandalay is in Burma. She is driving her Porsche in Can't Shake Loose, haunted by the presence of a man. They have dinner, and he pursues her to her bedroom. Her most dramic video. In The Making Of Can't Shake Loose, we are taken on location for the taping of the clip. We learn what goes into turning out a 4 minute video. We visit 5 sites in 4 days. The cameraman is strapped to the rear of Agnetha's car. The Count's castle has to be created in the studio. The fun part is where Agnetha gets to inadvertently bump the waiter and knock the tray from his hand. Her comments show insight into the rising importance of the video side of music. As she is driven away, we sense the ease with which she leisurely strolls through life, insulated by lackeys and fawning admirers. There is a concert show entitled The Heat Is On. It simulates a club appearance. Backing is provided by Lasse, Mats and Rutger. The songs are The Heat Is On, Can't Shake Loose, Wrap Your Arms Around Me, I Wish Tonight Could Last Forever, Mr. Persuasion and Shame. Agnetha emerges from the warm and safe cocoon of ABBA, a radiant butterfly spreading her wings in the sun. I wated 7 years to see this show. It is rain in the desert. Wrap Your Arms Around Me is plaintive and sensuous. Agnetha is an angel in a blue dress. I Wish Tonight Could Last Forever is my favorite. There is eye contact in Mr. Persuasion. Her ups and downs are hypnotic. She shakes her hair! Sexy! She chastises us in Shame, shaking her finger. "Naughty boy!" She expresses herself so well in music and song. Her style is marked by distinctive phrasing, predictable trills and pauses. Every gesture is in harmony with the meaning of the lyrics. Agnetha soothes the savage beast. The Making Of Wrap Your Arms Around Me is a production film accompanying the album. Mike Chapman talks about his foreknowledge of Agnetha, and she discusses his abilities as a producer. She weighs the compromise of ABBA against the freedom of solo work, the opportunity of using her high and low voices. Rehearsals lay the songs bare. Shame causes problems. Rutger Gunnarsson does the string instruments, and we see his conducting form on To Love. Agnetha tells of her labors in writing Man and gives the cutest wink before plunging into it. She hit the road for Wrap Your Arms Around Me. Promotion included: 1 Breakfast Time for British TV - This guy is overwhelmed by Agnetha and Swedish women in general. He likes the fact she is wealthy. 2 ANWB-Gala in Holland - Our sultry songstress is ignited by the sincerety of her emcee. She mischievously feigns a double take in looking for her partners. There is a large audience, and she is visibly excited. 3 Mandagsborsen - In a long, one to one chat, Agnetha says she can read music but can not write it down. Her melodies come to her when she tries to sleep. She is more relaxed and talkative for interviews in Sweden than she is abroad. Jonkopingsyra '84 is a show Agnetha appeared on in Jonkoping to celebrate the 700th anniversary of the city. She had some misgivings about doing a show in her home town but afterwards was glad she did it. She chats on stage with Staffan Lindeborg, who played piano for her when they were in school. Her old band, Bernt Enghardts, takes part. When her singing teacher leads the school choir in a medley of her early Swedish hits, Agnetha is touched. King Gustav presented her a medal as an honorary citizen of Jonkoping. Agnetha promoted Eyes Of A Woman with a video show called A For Agnetha. It features 6 clips from the album, and between clips she talks candidly about her life. Each song is consistent with the monologue that precedes it. After some words about Stockholm in winter, Agnetha is recognized and chased by fans to ABBA flashbacks. She talks about those years. We see the Royal Palace, Stockholm Cathedral in Gamla Stan and a Viking Line cruise ship. 1 One Way Love - Strolling through Jeff Lynne's homage to car culture, she reminisces about her early career and coming to Stockholm. 2 Just One Heart - Agnetha ice skates with a mime. The clock is above NK, Stockholm's largest department store. She talkes of giving birth to her children and says she felt like a stranger in parts of the world. 3 We Should Be Together - Singing before a man's image on a screen, she frolics with her dog in the snow and talks of songwriting. 4 I Won't Let You Go - Agnetha sings in the studio and pursues a muscle man, hiding in the trunk of his car. At the piano, she blasts the superficial side of the music business. 5 Click Track - A secretary in a computer world, she deplores her boss' tactics. A click track is an electronic metronome. She talks of family and friends in Sweden and of world issues. She wishes security for all children. 6 We Move As One - Two young people dance to this ballad. The show ends with an aerial shot of Stockholm and City Hall with its brick tower. City Hall is where Nobel Prizes are given. I Won't Let You Go turned up on German TV, on Kanguru. Rabbits mingle in a snow scene. Agnetha performed One Way Love for Mike Zee in Belgium. Gast Hos Hagge is a Swedish show on which Agnetha appeared in 1985. Hagge is the interviewers's name. Festivities include some Swedish hits for which she is joined by her father. Her hair is cropped. The haystack of I Stand Alone is not far off. Agnetha is embarassed when the clip from Jesus Christ Superstar is shown. Notwithstanding, there is a calm which follows her through her changes. Flykting Gala '86 was a Swedish charity benefit for refugees. Agnetha and Ola Hakansson performed their duets, Fly Like The Eagle and They Way You Are. They were released in an attempt to lure the winter Olympics to Sweden. It was on this show that Agnetha met her next producer, Peter Cetera. He wormed his way next to her for Auld Lang Syne. 3 videos were made from I Stand Alone. 1 The Last Time - Ghostly images come and go, crashing into the screen. Broken dreams! The fireplace and fan flash hot and cold. Agnetha has lost weight but, at 38, is looking sophisticated. 2 I Wasn't The One (Who Said Goodbye) - She takes us on a bicycle tour of Stockholm's Old Town. She looks good with her hair down. Peter Cetera is not in the video even though this is their duet. Cetera expected Agnetha to stay in the States and promote the album. She got on a plane and flew back to Sweden. One wonders how bad the rift between them was. 4 Let It Shine - She gets close to "the nature" she so loves. She strolls through a field, a bird out of a cage. On Jacob's Stage in November, 1987, Agnetha performed songs from I Stand Alone. She is in black, and there is an economy of movement, catlike. During I Stand Alone, she points to her head to indicate mental activity as she did a decade earlier for Thank You For The Music. A Swedish interview follows. Agnetha and Jacob are joined by Bruce Gaitsch, the album's co-producer. Gaitsch congratulates her on her class, style and mystery. Agnetha finishes with If You Need Somebody Tonight as Bruce plays the guitar. The following month, Maybe It Was Magic aired on Jacob's Stage. Agnetha promoted her album on the Terry Wogan show in London. She does The Last Time and loses an earring. The audience is receptive. "Jag alsker dej!" Talking about her record, she says the challenge is sometimes more important than the money. Her look when mentioning Peter Cetera tells us she was not as taken with him as Frida was Phil Collins. Talk turn to Swedish, and Agnetha plugs her records with her children. She sings part of a Swedish folk song. Her voice is consoling. Ivo Niehe, a 1988 TV show in Holland, was to promote I Stand Alone. Agnetha recounts her early involvement with music and discusses the problems of combining her career with motherhood. She missed her kids while on the road. Listening to interviews, we realize how much Agnetha's children mean to her. She talks about them always. Frida hardly mentions hers. Of course, Frida's were older by the time ABBA hit. Agnetha's were babies in those years. We sense a reluctance in her from time to time as if the thought occurs to her that she should be home with her kids. It shows up on tape. She frowns. We sense desperation, a trace of panic as her kids cross her mind. We do not see this in Frida. Frida felt no guilt. Perhaps Frida was more relaxed about family since she grew up without her parents. It is revealing that Agnetha wrote an open letter to the Stockholm newspaper, Dagens Nyheter. Her war with what she calls "the gossip press" would drive her into seclusion. The chat has a serious tone. The interviewer casts his problematical mind-set. Reflecting on the ABBA period, Agnetha leans toward the positive only on second thought. She answers questions about divorce. It is easy to speculate on the ABBA divorces. As ABBA got famous, it was like blowing up a balloon. Every point on the balloon got further from every other point. The conditions which brought them together disappeared. They grew dissatisfied with show business marriages. It was always there. No escape. Agnetha repies that she is happy most of the time but not all of the time, like everybody else. She is open and sincere but shrewd. We notice she does not get familiar with interviewers, never calling them by name. After 1988, Agnetha made Greta Garbo look like a socialite. She installed an alarm system, and rumor had it she would run inside whenever a helecopter flew over. Shy or paranoid? She came out on her 40th birthday and let some fans kiss her. Pictures were taken. When they were sold to the tabloids, she freaked. Trying to shield her latest man? She surfaced for the Malmo opening of Kristina Fran Duvemala because her daughter had a part. 35 photographers surrounded her. "Leave me alone!" she admonished. Agnetha began compiling her memoirs with Brita Ahman in 1983. It would be 1995 before they were published. Som Jar Ar (As I Am) gave Agnetha a chance to speak on her own terms. That is what celebrities want. They want to sell CDs, books and movies while controlling public opinion. They want the public out of their sex lives. Agnetha can not deal with speculation about her romances. I read her book. Her preoccupation with death is what stayed with me, that and her sensitivity. Beauty fades. Through it all, Agnetha maintains she is not a recluse. She did the album in 2004 after a 17 year hiatus. She gave fresh interviews. Nevertheless, her war with the press continues. She did not like the way the papers handled her mother's apparent suicide. It is the Elvis Presley sydrome. Fame becomes a liability when you can not be in public without attracting attention. There are taped radio interviews with Agnetha in circulation. Each interview below is in conjunction with the promotion of an album. She comes out when there is something to sell. The first 5 interviews are to promote Wrap Your Arms Around Me. She put more effort into its promotion than into the others. 1 Gloria Hunniford Radio Show in England - This one is long. She mentions her work in Germany and her role as Mary Magdalene. She admits her fear of flying, the reason being the conventional one, having more control on the ground. Hunniford blames the group for the marriage breakups. 2 Capital Radio in U.K. with Mike Apsel - She insists on using her full name even though Faltskog is hard for people to pronounce. Frida took the opposite view, dispensing with Lyngstad. We get the impression Agnetha wants it her way or no way. 3 Agnetha in New York - Typically American. They nearly eat her alive. Can't Shake Loose is played between the male host's attempts to get his jokes in. 4 With Simon Bates in Britain - Bates phones Agnetha on her 33rd birthday. She is in the middle of some video work and concedes that even ABBA must have an end. Her caller tries to wrest her birthday plans from her. 5 For Austrian Radio - She talks about Raskenstam and how exciting it was. There is more behind-the-scenes talk than usual. She mentions a few composers and that Barry Gibb was her first choice as producer. 6 Toppopradio - Promotes Eyes Of A Woman. She does not like to compare albums. She curtails rumors regarding her and the album's producer, Eric Stewart. 7 With Walter Love - Promotes Eyes Of A Woman. Love talks with Agnetha by telephone in Stockholm. She is in retreat. One can sense her getting tired of interviews, the same questions. The big picture shows her backing out of it as the sensuousness of Wrap Your Arms Around Me dissipates across final commitments. Agnetha could not have known I Stand Alone would be her last album for 17 years. Oodles were pressed. Cetera expected more. When she packed and went home, he was not pleased. The album never made the U.S charts. Jesus Christ Superstar - Here is my impression of the 1973 film of the Tim Rice/Andrew Lloyd Webber musical. A bus load of actors and actresses roars out of the desert, throwing up dust. Yvonne Elliman in her red top and bluejeans gets off. She does her eyebrows in a mirror. Yvonne is part French, Hawaiian and Japanese. A cross is lowered from the top of the bus. Carl Anderson immediately puts distance between himself and the others. Ted Neeley as Jesus prepares, and the drama begins. The black Judas broods on his mountaintop. Jesus' followers want to know, "What's the buzz?" Yvonne as Mary Magdalene cools Jesus' face and washes his feet. Jesus defends her against Judas. Onionhead Caiaphas and conehead Annas are main characters. Yvonne sings "Everything's Alright," lighting a lamp. Judas gripes about ointment. Jesus says there will always be poor. Yvonne continues her pampering. Caiaphas exhorts, "This Jesus must die!" Jesus enters the city with Rosannas and palm fronds. Dancers materialize amid stone columns. We spot a sexy blonde. Pilate sings about his dream. An anachronistic temple scene follows, post cards and cash registers. The sick and crippled mob Jesus. Mary puts a cloak on him in the setting sun. He returns to his tent. Mary tucks him in and breaks into "I Don't Know How To Love Him." She strolls in the windy night, casting her shadow on a rock. The disconsolate Judas flees approaching tanks. He bargains with the council. Silver is dropped at his feet. Planes fly overhead. The Last Supper is a picnic. Jesus challenges Judas. Judas plants his kiss. Jesus is tried by Caiaphas and Annas. Mary reminds Peter that he would deny Him. Jesus is taken to Pilate, then to Herod. Herod is a disgusting hedonist. He is frizzy-headed and big-bellied with colored glasses and a medallion. His ragtime piano and dance number is the most inappropriate skit in this irreverant Gospel. Yvonne Elliman and Peter do "Could We Start Again Please?" Yvonne has moves similar to Agnetha's. Judas feels remorse. Discordant music spurs him. He runs blindly, yanks off his belt and hangs himself. Pilate has Jesus flogged. The theme begins, "Jesus Christ Superstar." Neeley turns and extends his arms. His garment is fresh. Judas descends singing. Dancers go wild. Soldiers raise the cross. Magdalene weeps. A deranged piano plays. Silence. The cast is in their street clothes. Yvonne boards the bus. She looks back as if something has been forgotten. The cross is seen against a setting sun. The Greatest Story Ever Told showed the divine side of Jesus. Superstar shows the human side. John Lennon's comment about The Beatles being more popular than Jesus made Superstar possible, that and the Vietnam War. Cynical baby boomers turned Jesus into a rock star. FRIDA LYNGSTAD SOLO Frida sang in Swedish before ABBA. Her strongest Swedish album is Ensam (Alone) which was done in 1975, during the ABBA period. The Swedish version of Fernando is on Ensam. Fernando was so good, ABBA decided to record it. We find a similar thing with Agnetha and SOS. Frida covered more American and British hits than Agnetha. She did I Don't Know How To Love Him from Jesus Christ Superstar which Agnetha also did. That Frida did enough American and British covers to fill an album can be attributed to her international background. She is a mixture of nationalities. Agnetha is Swede to the bone. Frida's first solo album in English was Something's Going On. It was disappointing. I blame Phil Collins, the album's producer. His style goes against my grain. The one good song is To Turn The Stone. It deals with the fragility of things we take for granted and the inevitability of change. There is a forlornness here, a sense that down deep we have no control. Frida's mysticism is clad in a fluid melody and whining guitar solo. To Turn The Stone was written by Georgio Moroder, the German producer who discovered Donna Summer. The Shine album is better than the one with Phil Collins. Frida has mastered the choppy, lurching style she developed after ABBA. Frida fans talk of how she experiments with different rhythms while Agnetha stays with a linear approach. They note how I am partial to Agnetha. Beatle fans note my partiality to John Lennon. There is alienation in Shine. We can not ignore the helpless desperation of Slowly. We feel Frida's response to Benny Andersson's estrangement. Heart Of The Country is about how we wait for love to return even when we know it never will. Comfort Me corresponds to Like An Angel Passing Through My Room. A private, pensive Frida disassociates herself as her lover drifts into the past, unable to function. She fights back. There is sex in Chemistry Tonight. Frida regains her strength in Come To Me (I Am Woman). This is Frida the Wonder Woman, reassuring her man. Twist In The Dark is a terrible song. Lines like, "My priorites are paradise," and, "Concorde seems like a groundhog," baffle. Shine was like Eyes Of A Woman in that it was not released in America. By 1984, one had to make an effort to hold onto ABBA. Their music was no longer in the air as it had been for a decade. As ABBA was winding down, Agnetha an Frida discussed the possibility of doing an album together. It never happened but the CD, The Voice Of ABBA, gives the illusion. It features the most popular numbers from Something's Going On, Wrap Your Arms Around Me, Shine and Eyes Of A Woman. Frida is sometimes labelled as having been a jazz singer in her early years. There is certainly a spasmodic feel to her solo stuff. Her videos put the material across better than the tracks. Seeing her face makes these songs more memorable. I See Red does nothing for me on the album. The video pulls me in. Frida wears a smart outfit with a red bandanna. Dancers ply their trade on a pool table and a pinball machine. I hear a double meaning in the expression, "I see red." It means she gets angry. I also sense the relief a woman feels when her period begins. 1 To Turn The Stone - Frida did a video of her best song, a midieval fantasy with a grotto setting. 2 I Know There's Something Going On - The first single from the first album. There is a lot of photography. Is she having Benny followed? 3 Here We'll Stay - Dancing before an orchestra. 3 Shine - Frida come out like a boxer! A female Ingemar Johansson! That's Tough is the B-side of Shine. It is the antithesis of Come To Me (I Am Woman), a crisp inditement of an unworthy suitor. 4 Twist In The Dark - Sleepless nights, nightmare images. She is trying to twist her way out of this infernal piece of material. 5 Time - With B.A. Robertson - The eye in this clip recalls the "eyelid flash" in To Turn The Stone. Time is relentless but in the context of eternity, love conquers all. I hear a folkish quality, an awareness of nature. Frida is leaning into her environmental phase. 6 Belle - With Daniel Balavoine. Belle and Time have the same melody as Arrival. They were part of ABBACADABRA, the French musical produced by Alain Boublil, for which Frida performed. The use of animals as props extended into the ladies' solo videos, especially Frida's. There are an eagle and two cats in To Turn The Stone and a dog, cat and horse in Twist In The Dark. Agnetha used a dog and a bear skin rug in Can't Shake Loose. When Frida got into the environment, she wanted someone to write an environmental song for her. I wrote Save The Planet. SAVE THE PLANET We're floating on a grain of sand in the vastness of space If future generations are going to inherit this place We've got to Save The Planet Do something while there's still time Save The Planet This earth is yours and mine The tropical rainforest is disappearing more everyday We'll never replace it.. We'd better not burn it away Save The Planet The wonders of nature are free Save The Planet Have you ever planet a tree? If the skies are blue And the oceans too Isn't this a better home for me and you? If the air is clean And the land is green Wouldn't you like to be part of this lovely scene? I'm thinking of the animals that once roamed the African plain Their numbers have dwindled, and pretty soon none will remain Save The Planet Do something while there's still time Save The Planet This earth is yours and mine Save The Planet The wonders of nature are free Save The Planet Have you ever planted a tree? Save The Planet Save The Planet Save The Planet Save The Planet c2005 Jim Colyer ASCAP I showed Save The Planet to Gorel Hanser in Stockholm. Gorel handles ABBA's affairs. She liked it. Frida was in Switzerland at the time. Frida recorded Saltwater by John Lennon's son Julian. My song is better. In 1981, Frida joined other Swedish stars to do a special called Lite Grand I Orat. Frida kicks it off with Let's Get This Show On The Road. The gang is all here: Lasse, Rutger, Anders and Lena Andersson. Bjorn Skifs, who became The Arbiter in Chess, is surprisingly raucous on Bob Seger's Ain't Got No Money. Frida's jazzy rendition of The Beatles' Can't Buy Me Love is part of a general tribute to rock and roll. I keep coming back to the idea of ABBA as The Beatles with women. Instead of 4 men, we have 2 men and 2 women, a perfect combination. ABBA continued the internationalization of rock and roll: Elvis in the States, The Beatles in England, ABBA on the European continent where they dressed it in 5 languages. Shania Twain brought it full circle. Frida's 1983 appearance on Gast Hos Hagge predated Agnetha's. Hagge shows an Hawaiian clip of Frida amid palm trees and hula dancers. It is comedic. Frida is a ham. She loves to laugh and enjoy herself. She flirtatiously adjusts her short skirt as she takes her seat. Her outfit is brown, blue, black and white. While Benny and Bjorn were writing and recording Chess, black and white flowed into the ladies' costumes. For a show in Denmark, Frida did One Little Lie in a black and white jacket. Agnetha performed Can't Shake Loose after accepting a Golden Egg Award for Raskenstam. She wore a black skirt, a black belt and a white blouse. One of Frida's best songs went unreleased. Fire And Ice is on the cutting edge, spanning the range of human emotion. It matches The Last Time. Funny how Agnetha and Frida continued along similar lines as soloists, like twins pursuing separate paths! Frida's music is more abstract than Agnetha's in both form and content. It is a thing of their personalities unfolding. Agnetha is pure Swede. So are her children. Frida is half-Norwegian, half-German. Her kids are half-Swedish. Her lines are not so clearly drawn. Frida did Shine, and Agnetha did Let It Shine. The lovelight theme was omnipresent. But Shine seems active, and Let It Shine seems passive. That sums up the women. Frida takes her men. Agnetha yields to hers. Honestly, the solo efforts were anti-climactic. The suspension by Frida of her career was well-timed. She realized what she was doing was not consistent enough with what had gone before. She was slipping into the next generation and did not fit. The Ratata video is proof. Frida is like the defecting Russian in Chess. Her homeland is in her heart. When ABBA crumbled, she was set adrift. We admire Frida's strength. On the shine cover, her fists are doubled, throwing punches. On the reverse, her hands are raised in victory.
Contact: jim@jimcolyer.com