ABBA RELEASES YEAR BY YEAR 1985-1989
All original ABBA and ABBA solo releases, are listed here, by year of release, the order of release within each year is approximate. Albums are listed by country of orgin, unless they were released widely throughout the world. The most recent available format of release (LP or CD) is what is listed and is what has been reviewed. Singles are listed only if they include non album tracks. Multi-artist collections are usually not listed unless they include tracks not available elsewhere. Bootleg lp's or CD's are not included in this listing. Related artists are included when it is deemed relevant or convenient to do so..
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1985 1985 brought two major new releases as well as continued promotion and development for the CHESS project. I may be wrong,but as far as I know there were no ABBA compilation albums issued during 1985. Lasse Wellander-Full Hand 1985 Swedish LP Gemini-Gemini 1985 Released internationally on CD ,but
out of print Barbara Dickson -Gold Late 1985 Uk Lp and CD |
Lasse Wellander-Full Hand 1985 Swedish LP
Abba Lead Guitarist Lasse Wallander's solo album came out right after his work on CHESS, it was released on a label other than Polar...No ABBA members played on it
Agnetha Fältskog-Eyes of A Woman March 1985 Available worldwide on CD Remastered and reissued with bonus tracks in 2005
Agnetha's second English language solo album
was produced by former 10cc member,Eric Stewart. (who is a Abba
fan ). Although it sounds less like a Agnetha album than
Wrap Your Arms Around Me this album at least jettisons
Michael Chapman's dreary production values. This is Agnetha's
most upbeat solo album.
"I Wont Let You Go" was written by
Agnetha with Eric Stewart and was released as a single . This
album uses some top name songwriters . Justin Hayward of The Moody
Blues wrote "The Angels Cry" a truly haunting track.
ELO's Jeff Lynne wrote the powerpop opening tune- "One Way
Love" and Asia's John Wetton and Greg Downes wrote "We
Move As One' the anthemic closer. All these
songs work pretty well. I like a lot a lot of the other songs
as well.
"Click track" in particular, stands out well. The songs on this album seem to provoke different reactions from different listeners. I tend to think that this album works well since it seems to draw on the same strength that ABBA did-Give Agnetha a good pop song and she will deliver the goods.
Side One of this album may be Agnetha's best
lp side ever.
Yes, Agnetha could have done a lot worse.
This album was never released in America.
ABBA sidefolk Rutger Gunnarsson, Anders Glenmark
and Karin Glenmark appear on this album.
ABBA engineers Michael Tretow and Paris Edvinson engineered the
sessions which
were recorded at Polar Studios.
Two songs- Agnetha's composition "Your
There"
and Paris Edvinson's "Turn The World Around"
were released as non-album B-sides on
the singles that promoted this album.
With Chess and Shine having been released in late 1984 this was the third ABBA studio album of the last six months-the last time that all ABBA members had solo studio albums out at nearly the same time....
Track listing for EYES OF A WOMAN
Side 1
1.One Way Love (Jeff Lynne (3:36)
2.Eyes Of A Woman ( Edvinson-Flynner) (3:54)
3.Just One Heart Muggleton/Noble)(3:42)
4.I Won't Let You Go ( Fältskog/Stewart)(3:39)
5.The Angels Cry (Hayward)(4:22)
6.Click Track(Ince/Palmer) (2:51)
Side 2
1.We Should Be Together ( Gruska-Keane)(3:59)
2.I Won't Be Leaving You (Eric Stewart)(5:34)
3.Save Me (Why Don't Ya) ( Eric Stewart)(4:37)
4.I Keep Turning Off Lights (Burton)(3:37)
5. We Move As One ( Downes-Wetton)(4:04
Bonus Tracks on 2005 remaster
You're There (b-side)
Turn The World Around (b-side)
I Won't Let You Go (Extended Version)
The Way You Are (non-lp a side)
Fly Like The Eagle (b-side)
Barbara Dickson -Gold Late 1985 Uk Lp and CD
Includes her duet from CHESS and her cover of ABBA 1981 track -THE VISiTORS.This album reached #11 on the Brisiths charts....
1. I Know Him So Well - duet with Elaine Paige
2. Missing You
3. Another Good Day For Goodbye
4. Touch Touch
5. Anyone Who Had A Heart
6. A Day In The Life
7. You send Me
8. What Is Love
9. Rivals
10. Soldiers
11. Rising Water
12. Taking The Next Train Home
13. If You're Righ
Gemini-Gemini November 1985 Released internationally on CD ,but out of print- Cowritten and Produced by Andersson and Ulvaeus
Gemini were the sister/brother duo of Karin & Anders Glenmark. The Glenmarks were part of the same family that owned the Glen Studio in Stockholm where ABBA recorded on a few occasions in the 1970's
Anders & Karin (along with Liza Ohlman) were the main backing vocalists for the original CHESS album, but also have had solo careers in Sweden.
This album was the first new project B&B worked on following the completion of the Chess album.Benny and the ABBA band provide the musical backing and B&B coproduced with Anders Glenmark. Michael Tretow only engineered two of the songs here. Producing and writing song for a duo with one male and one female singer was probably not the best move for B&B at this point,in their careers. People really expected a lot more from B&B. Gemini was like making a record with just half of ABBA- and thus was bound to suffer from the comparision.
Gemini have a more soulful sound than ABBA due primarily
to Anders Glenmark's passionate singing. Karin Glenmark is a bit
more icy of a singer but she has the more unique voice of the
two.
On the first listen, some of the songs here sound like bad 80's
pop but after a few listens the trademark ABBA hooks start
to sink in. Even the songs that Anders Glenmark wrote the music
for start to sound
like B&B songs after awhile.
This album has the something of dark, serious tone that ABBA
had on the THE VISITORS except that some of the lyrics are not
as good, Björn has written relatively banal lyrics for some
of the songs. Ingela Forsman (who wrote the lyrics for two of
Anders' three songs) does no better .(Ingela has also written
lyrics for Agenetha Faltskog).
There are at least three or four very good B&B songs here. The legendary partially released ABBA song ,"Just Like That' made it's official debut here on this album and was released as a (failed) single internationally .The version of JLT here is in a minor key and has some additional lyrics that are not on the unreleased ABBA version. JLT certainly seems better constructed here than in the ABBA version.
"Have Mercy" has a intriguing lyric about
a fallen leader and some subtle but catchy
hooks in it's chorus. This song really suits
Gemini well, ABBA couldn't have pulled the
pseudo -gospel aspects of this song off.
"Slowly" is done in a duet in a more interesting but less straight forward version than the version done by Frida a year earlier on her SHINE album. "Another You, Another Me" (which ABBA lyric does that remind you off?) has Karin Glenmark singing in very high voice. It's yet another Björn lyric about a broken relationship.The two remaining B&B songs "Slow Emotion" & "Two Much Love is Wasted "are quite listenable but have boring lyrics. "The Middle of Nowhere" is the most memorable of the three songs written by Anders Glenmark.
This album did not do well commercially and
is remarkably out of print, even in Sweden,
(the only major post ABBA B&B project to be totally
out of
print). It's failure to suceed commercially on a international
level meant that
most of the subsequent projects by B&B would not be released
outside of Sweden.
I found this album to be ridiculously hard to find, I found that the only way to obtain it was on bootleg. (Or if your very lucky you can find a used copy of the LP). Such scarcity is rather annoying considering that we keep seeing rereleased repackagings of ABBA material. This album is simply ABBA by another name. However as of 2005 you can get most of the track on this album on the best of Gemini CD...
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1986 1986 brought finally the release of ABBA live, but little else. This was first year in which no new ABBA or ABBA solo studio albums would be released in Sweden since 1978. ABBA 1986 Reunion (not released on recorded) ABBA- Greatest
Hits - July 1986 Japan LP Agnetha Fältskog-The Way You are'/ Fly Like The Eagle Fall 1986 Swedish non album single Agnetha Fältskog-Agnetha 1986 Out of print Finland Lp |
ABBA's 1986 Reunion
TIVIDSHAMBO (Swedish TV only January 1986)
Unreleased track
The only public reunion of ABBA in which they actually
sang was for the taping of Stig's song "TIVIDSHAMBO' for
a Swedish TV special on January 16, 1986 . The song is basically
Benny on accordion, Bjorn on guitar and everybody singing lead
together in a somewhat rough fashion. The roughness of the recording
probably explains why it was not released officially even though
this is ABBA's last public appearance together. The recording is available
only on bootleg. The Challenger Space Shuttle also blew up in
January 1986...
Abba actually had another little known private reunion during 1986 at the 40th birthday party for their friend Claes af Geijerstam.. Claes birthday is in February so I assume the party was around that time....
Agnetha Fältskog-Sjung Denna Sang -Early to Mid 1986 Swedish Lp
This compilation album complements TIO AR MED
as sort of a
Swedish Greatest Hits Part 2. All the songs are from her early
70's's Swedish career. Sadly, this album is no longer available.
The title means "Sing This Song". The cover features
a charming closeup photo of a smiling Agnetha circa 1968.
The woman on the cover seems so innocent. This album features nine songs from Agnetha's fourth & somewhat hard to get album called När en vacker tanke blir en sång.This album also features some of Aggie's non- album tracks.
"Nu Skall Du Bli Stilla " (Everything's All Right")from "JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR makes it's debut on a Agnetha album here.As does the 1974 English language single "Here For Your Love/Golliwog' . "Golliwog" may have a stupid lyric , but it's stlll a sexy song. My favorite song here is the charming "Litet Solkensbarn" (Little Sunshine Boy) ,a 1970 B-side.,that also made it's album debut here.
TRACK LISTING:
-Tågen kan gå igen
-Kanske var min kind lite het
Golliwog
-Han lämnar mig för att komma till dig
-Då finns du hos mig
-Mitt sommarland
Sjung denna sång
Vi har hunnit fram till refrängen
-Jag vill att du skall bli lycklig
Litet solskensbarn
Nu skall du bli stilla
-Kungens vaktparad
-Nya ord
Någonting händer med mig
-Sången föder dig tillbaka
ABBA- Greatest Hits - July 1986 Japan LP
Similiar to Greatest Hits 2 actually, but with "Fernando" and Waterloo to go along with most of the tracks found GH II.
ABBA-LIVE Rel. August 1986 (but rec. 1977-1981) Available worldwide on CD
Strangely, this live album would come out in 1986 during the mid -1980's lull in interest in ABBA. ABBA's live album would not be released in Great Britain at this time and would do poorly in most territories. The album met the fate it deserved.....
The release of a a live ABBA album had been considered before-but shelved till this point,, when not many people wanted to hear a second rate ABBA album...
This may be the one original ABBA album that an ABBA fan can
do without. LIVE is a very bland album and doesn't take very good
advantage of the numerous interesting and unreleased live tracks
available.
The resulting mediocre album should not be a surprise since a
live album never was something that Benny, Björn or their
engineer had much enthusiasm for.
ABBA might have a been a fairly good stage act,but they were flawless
as a studio act and it was hard for live recordings of ABBA songs
to compete with the studio versions. This was Björn's view
but it's the wrong attitude to take if your going to put out a
live album.
For the most part there few surprises to be found on the instrumentation
here, seldom is it as crisp as the studio versions..
One area where you willl notice some difference is in the keyboards-Benny
often strays significantly from studio arrangement partly he doesn't
always have all the original instruments at hand, partly because
he's too creative not to let some new ideas to slip out.
The live album draws from three different years 9 songs are drawn
from the 1979 world tour. 2 songs were used from 1977 and 3 tracks
came from 1981 Dick Cavett TV special. So thus most of ABBA's
career is covered.
.In retrospect,a live album drawn mainly from 1977 Australia shows
recorded for ABBA -The Movie would have been a far better choice
as the group is far more hungry and enthused and singing more
energetic material in 1977 then they are in 1979 or 1981.
ABBA LIVE was the last major ABBA album to be widely available
on vinyl. The CD version included three bonus tracks (MoneyX3,
OnX3, Name of the
Game/Eagle).
ABBA LIVE probably has the worst album cover of any of ABBA's
original albums. There is no picture of the group on the cover
-just a drawing of four incredibly large letters.Rune Soderqvist
(ABBA's steadfast bifocaled album cover designer) must have figured
that putting Spandex suits on the cover were in bad taste.
In addition to the ABBA LIVE album there have also been a few other official (if somewhat obscure) releases of live ABBA material,as well as some significant live versions that have been not released officially. There have been suggestions that one day a new live album will be put out, perhaps to replace this one...In the meantime, skip this one and get either ABBA-The Movie DVD or the ABBA -In Concert DVD's.
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TRACK LISTING FOR ABBA LIVE (with date recorded) 1.Dancing Queen November1979 2.Take A chance on me November1979 3. I have A Dream November1979 4.Does Your Mother Know November1979 5.Chiquitita November1979 6.Thank You For the Music November1979 7.Two For The Price Of One April1981 |
8.Fernando March 1977 9.Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! April1981 10 Super Trouper April1981 11. Waterloo November 1979 12. Money,Money, Money March 1977 13.Name of The Game/Eagle November1979 14.On and On and On April1981 The original Lp version included just tracks 1-11 |
ABBA- 21 GRANDES EXITOS -1986 Chile 2lp
21 hits on this one including 7 Spanish tracks and 14 in English. They were dancing on the grapes all over the place....
| Ring Ring Waterloo So Long I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do S.O.S. Mamma Mía (Spanish) Fernando (Spanish ) Reina Danzante (Spanish) Money, Money, Money Conociéndome, Conociéndote (Spanish) The Name Of The Game |
Chiquitita (Spanish version) Take A Chance On Me Summer Night City Does Your Mother Know Voulez-Vous Dame! Dame! Dame! (Spanish) Estoy Soñando (Spanish) The Winner Takes It All Super Trouper The Day Before You Came |
Agnetha Fältskog-Agnetha 1986 Out of print Finland Lp
This Finnish market only compilation album features songs from Agnetha's Swedish solo career 1967-1979.
Track listing is similiar to Tio AR MED
Dom har glömt Here For Your Love
Gulleplutt
Var det med dej? Framför svenska sommaren
Zigenarvän Om tårar vore guld
Många gånger
än
Dröm är dröm och saga saga
Vart ska min kärlek föra? Så glad
som dina ögon S.O.S. Doktorn
Tack för en underbar vanlig dag När
du tar mig i din famn
Andersson, Rice & Ulvaeus-CHESS PIECES Summer to Fall 1986 Released on CD
Released in Europe but not in the USA, this is a one album abridgement of the original studio concept album. It has about 13 of the songs.The versions of "You and I",and "Merano" used here are edits. I am not sure if the the extended version of "The Arbiter" was used here or the original version. The extended version of the "The Arbiter" included new lyrics referring to the mid-eighties Chess match in which World Champion Kasporov lost a match because of an arbiter's questionable decisions. This album has a white cover as opposed to the black of the original album.
Agnetha Fältskog-The Way You are'/ Fly Like The Eagle Fall 1986 Swedish non album single
A successful duet recorded by Aggie with Ola Hakansson, who had enjoyed international success as a member of Secret Service. The B-side, 'Fly Like The Eagle' was also not available on an Agnetha album at the time. It was released on a album Aux Deux Magots by Secret Serice and on Agnetha's THAT'S ME album.
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1987 1987 saw the release of two new albums by Agnetha and two new projects from Bjorn and Benny, thus it was one of the better post breakup years. Agnetha & Christian -Kom Folj Med I var Karusell- 1987 Released on Swedish CD Secret Service- Aux Deux Magots 1987 Swedish Lp Original Soundtrack album for
MIO MIN MIO" Swedish
release 1987 ABBA- The Best
of ABBA Poland 2lp set 1987.. ABBA-THE HITS 1987,1988,1991 British CD |
Agnetha & Christian -Kom Folj Med I var Karusell- Early 1987 Released on Swedish CD
Now it was nine year old Christian's turn to sing with mom., nearly seven years after Agnetha's daughter Linda had.. The title translates as "Come Along on My Roundabout".The whole album is in Swedish. There are some original songs here but nothing written by Agnetha. There is (for example) a Swedish version of one of the Smurf songs.This album is strictly for the pre A-teen crowd. The ever loyal Rutger Gunnarsson and Lasse Wallender play on this. Agnetha produced this with Michael Tretow. Interestingly,this album was not recorded at Polar Studios or released on the Polar label. Instead WEA handled the release of this album and AGgie's next album called - I STAND ALONE.
Secret Service- Aux Deux Magots 1987 n Swedish Lp
This album includes a extended version of Aggie's 1986 duet with Ola Hakkanson called "The Way Your Are", as well as nine other tracks. Of course, you can get"The Way Your Are" on the new version of EYES OF A WOMAN, or on That's Me or the My Love, My Life albums.
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra- ABBAPHONIC 1987 Released on CD
An album of orchestral covers of ABBA hits.
It is conducted by Louis Clark of ELO and
HOOKED ON CLASSIC Fame.
Also features the Royal Choral Society
humming along.
TRACK LISTING:
ABBAture/SOS / Mamma Mia/Eagle
I have A dream/DYMK / Money 3
KMKY Gimme../Summer Night City
Chiquitita /Finale
Gemini-Geminism April 1987 Available on Swedish CD. Cowritten & produced by ANDERSSON-ULVAEUS
The second duet album by Karin Glenmark and
her bearded brother -Anders. The formula was the same as on their
1985 album Anders and Karin sing, Benny and the ABBA band play,and
Björn and Benny write and produce most of the songs (leaving
the remainder for Anders) . The main differences between this
album and the first Gemini album is that the songs on this album
are a little lighter, less soulfful and and the lyrics have more
of that early ABBA
simplicity to them.(i.e. some of the songs dont appear to be about
anything!)
Nevertheless, a few of songs are depressing
or at least less than peppy.This album has the English version
of Gemini's
big Swedish hit "Mio Min Mio". In English it's called
" Mio My Mio" It was featured in a Swedish movie. A
soundtrack album (not easily obtainable) was made for the film
featuring instrumental music by Anders Eljas as well the Swedish
version of "Mio Min Mio." Karin Glenmark reprised "Mio
Min Mio" on
"Fran Waterloo till Duvemala".
The other songs are listenable, though
I didn't care for "I am a Bitch When I
See Red" which has Karin using her
tough voice which is wretched compared
to her more elegant "ballad voice".
While it might be enjoyable to have another Gemini record-it probably would have been more interesting if Bjorn and Benny had devoted their spare time at this point to writing another musical-but it would be 1990 before they got around to their next musical.
Whitney Houston-Whitney -American CD June 1987
Whitney covered Tim Rice & B&B's "I Know Him So Well" from CHESS on this her second studio album ."I Know Him So Well"- is done as duet with her mother Cissy Houston. The duet is not overly memorable. This album included four huge American hits- I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)" ""Didn't We Almost Have It All" "So Emotional "and "Where Do Broken Hearts Go ". This is possibly the largest selling album (with exception of ABBA Gold) with a song written by Bjorn and Benny on it.
Track listing:
1. I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves
Me)
2. Just the Lonely Talking Again
4. Didn't We Almost Have It All
5. So Emotional
6. Where You Are
7. Love Is a Contact Sport
8. You're Still My Man
9. For the Love of You
10. Where Do Broken Hearts Go
11. I Know Him So Well
- with Cissy Houston
Original Soundtrack album
for MIO MIN MIO"
Swedish release late 1987
Performed by THE SOVIET FILM SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Composed and arranged by Anders Eljas except a few of the tracks which were written by Benny.
". Most of the tracks
are written by Benny''s orchester/conductor Anders Eljas This
is yet another very hard to find ABBA related record release,this
album features Bjorn and Benny's compostion -'Mio Min Mio"..
It was big hit in Sweden...You can also get the song in it's English
version on the hard to find Gemini CD.
Benny Andersson -Klinga Mina Klockor November 1987 Swedish CD
"Sweden is an accordion country"- Björn Ulvaeus
After 23 years in the music business Benny finally put out a album with just his name on it. Surprisingly or not this album was very successful in Sweden. Swedes were open to the traditional folk music that dominates this album.
About two thirds of this album is accordion/violin based music written by Benny (or B&B) in a Swedish folk music style. Benny's friends, Orsa Spelman play the violins on the album.The other third of the album sounds like a cross between CHESS anbd the later KRISTINA album. The Stockholm's Radiosymfonikerna also receives credit as co-players on the CD cover. The other
Although, accordion music is certainly an acquired taste, hearing a master like Benny play the accordion might make you want to acquire a taste for it. In any case, Benny does play the piano here as well. The other joy in hearing this album is that it it so freshingly non-commercial sounding.
Björn had moved to England by the time this album was being made, so for the first time in many years, Benny began writing songs with out Björn and even worked with an alternative lyricist (Benny's brother -in-law , Mats Norlkit ) on one song, the lovely , "Efter Regnet". Björn didn't play at all on this album or coproduce any of the tracks. Even so, Björn cowrote 4 songs on the album. ( Björn lived in England from 1984-90).
Benny dragged up an unsued B&B song rejected by ABBA called "Hamlet III" (which would appear in a partial version on the ABBA box set -THANK YOU FOR THE MUSIC). Here it is called " Lottis schottis".
Two songs were written for members of
Benny's family. Firstly, there is the whimsical "Ludvig's
Leksakspolka" written for his son,, while a more homey theme
called "Födelsedagsvals till Mona" was written
for Benny's wife Mona.
Two of songs are similar to the music in CHESS
or KRISTINA. "Efter Regnet" (After the Rain) is a elegant
duet sung by Tommy Korberg & Karin Glenmark. The title track
is an ambitious four part choral orchestral piece that features
a chorus and the Stockholm Radio Symphony. Frida sings on the
chorus -the only time one of the ABBA girls has appeared on the
same record
as one of the ABBA boys in the post ABBA period. Part of the melody
of the title track
was used in places on Kristina.
This album ranks just after Kristina and Chess, amongst Benny's best post- ABBA work..
Every true ABBA fan should have at least one of Benny's solo albums..They should also buy an accordion and grow a beard.....
Ra ta ta -Mellan Dröm Och Verklighet Swedish CD 1987
Frida early 1987 hit single duet with Ratata (" Sa lange Vi Har Haran") is available on this album by Ratata's album called Mellan Dröm Och Verklighet A English version was also recorded called "As long As I have You".
ABBA- The Best of ABBA Poland 2lp set 1987..
The natives were restless in
Poland so the commies were releasing ABBA again , this time a
compilation...with a different track listing than previous international
releases with this title...Indeed
this 2LP set has exact the track listing found on ABBA-The Singles
-The First Ten Years..Only five years late...Hey did you know
that Abba means father, and so occasionally the pope is referred
to as Abba. Hey did you know that a Swedish fish canning company
goes by the name of Abba?
Agnetha Fältskog-I Stand Alone November 1987 Available worldwide on CD
It seemed like this was the last time. Agnetha's last studio album for 17 years.
I STAND ALONE is Produced by Peter Cetera and Bruce Gaitsh. Peter Cetera ( formerly of the American band -Chicago) who like any sensible person is a big fan of ABBA.. At the time of this album, Peter was at the peak of his solo career.His solo career was and is a very bland, and laidback.
Somehow, Peter Cetera managed to convince
Agnetha to come to Malibu, California to record this album and
for the first time she is the only Swede on a record. She truly
stood alone. One theory is that Agnetha had developed a crush
on co-producer Bruce Gaitsh , and this is why she was willing
to to fly on a plane to California to record the album, despite
her known fear of flying...
However, the album disappeared with out a trace in the American
market (and did poorly everywhere but Scandinavia). Interestingly
, this was the first ABBA related album to be issued on CD in
America at time of initial release.
Thus album largely favors a very bland ,laidback
but sweet sound. Some of the songs here seem to be written by
obscure songwriters with the notable exception of David Foster
and the last two songs, which were co-written by Diane Warren,
who was one of the most successful songwriters of the '80s &
the "90's.
However, since the songs are unremarkable
they do not outshine poor
Agnetha who's the one with her name on her album.Agnetha's actually
able to bring the best out of songs like "Maybe It was Magic'
or "Let It shine". The sameness of the songs makes this
also a more cohesive album . I mean if you like one song- you'll
probably like them all. I lot of people like the straight forward
emotionality
of the songs on this album. So this album has aged surprisingly
well, but so has my TV born the same year....
Two of the songs have more interesting arrangements. "The Last Time" is a dramatic opener and the title track sounds proud, defiant. There is actually some pretty effective horns,synthesizer, and percussion on the title track. Somehow, nobody was able to locate Rutger Gunnarsson and thus for the first time since her German recordings Agnetha she is the only Swede on a record. She truly stood alone! But then she sat down.....
For variety of reasons (primarily the desire for privacy) Agnetha withdrew from the record making business at this juncture. Since her retirement she has lived a private life at her compound at Ekero near Stockholm, Sweden...
Track listing for I STAND ALONE
Side 1
1.The Last Time (Randall-Randall-Law) 4.12)
2. Little White secrets (Schwartz/Bruno/Pomerantz) 4.04
3. I Wasn't The One (Who said Goodbye)-duet with Peter Cetera-
(Mueller-Zigman) 4.10
4. Love In A World Gone Mad (Livsey-Sinfield)4.08
5. Maybe It was Magic (Brown-Hurley) 4.07
Side 2
1. Let It Shine (Roberts-LaBounty-Foster)3.58
2. We Got a Way (Robinson-Glde-Walsh)3.50
3. I Stand Alone (Cetera-Gaitsch) 4.52
4. Are You Gonna Throw It All Away (Warren/Hammond)4.52
5. If You Need Somebody Tonight (Warren-Hammond) 3.32
Agnetha Fältskog-Estoy Sola Late 1987 Argentinean Lp
The Argentines released an alternative version
of I STAND ALONE
that included the Spanish language versions
of "The Last Time -"La Ultima Vez" and
"I Wasn't The One" -"Yo No Fui".
I havent seen this or heard this , but
I would assume the rest of the tracks
from I STAND ALONE are presented
in their normal English versions.
Agnetha also recorded and released
a Spanish version of her duet with
Tomas Ledin -"Never Again"- which
was released in Spain under the title
"Ya Nunca Mas" in 1983. "Ya Nunca Mas" doesn't
seem to have been compiled here or elsewhere.
ABBA-THE HITS September 1987
Released on the British Budget label,
Pickwick this was a three part CD compilation series of ABBA hits
and other famous ABBA tune thingies. Each of three CD's were released
intially separately at separate times.
In 1991,the 3 CD's were cleverly put together into something resembling a box (I think it was paper actually ) and viola !, one of the first (indeed probably the first) ABBA CD box set on CD was brought into the world.The contents of these albums are mostly hits with a few album tracks thrown in, but no rarities.
THE HITS (September 1987)
1. Waterloo
2. S.O.S.
3. Dancing Queen
4. Knowing Me, Knowing You
5. Lay All Your Love On Me
6. Super Trouper
7. Take A Chance On Me
8. I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do
9. Honey, Honey
10. Hasta Mañana
11. The Visitors
12. Mamma Mia
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1988 1988 was the year Chess arrived and failed on Broadway.
Orsa Spelmän-Orsa Spelmän 1988 Swedish CD ABBA-Special Best MAy 1988 Japanese Album Information Society - Information Society -International CD 1988? ABBA-THE HITS 2 British CD ABBA- The Best of ABBA Canada LP 1988... ABBA-OS GRANDES 1988-Brazil Lp ABBA-THE HITS 3 British CD VARIOUS ARTISTS-Polarator 1988 Promotional Lp |
ABBA-THE HITS 2 February 1988 British
CD
Released on the British Budget label,
Pickwick this was the second of a three part series. .
THE HITS 2 (february 1988 )
1. The Name Of The Game edit
2. Arrival
3. Ring Ring
4. Eagle
5. Summer Night City
6. Happy New Year
7. Angeleyes
8. Money, Money, Money
9. Andante, Andante
10. Voulez-Vous
11. Kisses Of Fire
12. The Day Before You Came
13. When I Kissed The Teacher
14. Fernando
Orsa Spelmän-Orsa Spelmän May 1988 Swedish CD
This was the second album released on Benny's Mono label in May 1988. The album recorded at Polar and was produced by Benny Andersson and features him playing on accordion and synthesizer. Most of the songs are written by the band. This album recorded at Polar by engineer Bernard Lohr.
ABBA-Special Best May 1988 Japanese Album
Another Japanese ABBA compilation...
Original Broadway Cast-CHESS by Andersson,Rice & Ulvaeus Fall 1988 Available on American CD.
This is the cast album from the heavily revamped
Broadway version of CHESS which ran on Broadway from April to
June 1988. Their were problems with using the
London cast so none of those actors could be used in the Broadway
version and because The original London production was thought
to have been too expensive to stage
on Broadway, so changes were made.... Trevor Nunn who had directed
the London
version(after Michael Bennett had to drop out) also directed the
Broadway version.
The orchestra was conducted by Paul Bogaev.
Benny and Björn went to NYC to produce
the Broadway cast album whilst the play was running.A whole new
group of actors is featured here.. Judy Kuhn ,best known for her
work
in the Disney cartoon, POCAHANTUS, puts in a emotionally genuine
performance in as Florence Vassey. David Caroll brings dignity
to his portrayal of the Russian chess player, Anatoly Sergievsky.
Phillip Casnoff plays Freddie Trumper,the American. (his last
name appears to be
reference to Donald Trump).Casnoff had appeared in the the TV
miniseries
NORTH AND SOUTH and SINATRA. Their acting was of a high quality
for
a musical. CHESS' book (it's script) though was more problematic,it
lacked believability. Ultimately, it was hard to care about the
characters.
The singing performances are fairly good,but
not usually not as good as the 1984 studio album. This version
has a very different lineup of songs and
many of the lyrics are different from the 1984 studio album. In
this version,for example, The American wins the Chess match instead
ofb eing a spectator in the second act as he was in the London
version.
Many of the lyrics to the song had been rewritten to help tell
the new story.
Four totally new songs are featured "Someone
Else's Story " sounds more like an old fashioned great Broadway
song than anything else written for Chess. Strangley it was actually
cut from the play towards the end of it''s short Broadway run.
The other new songs were Prologue, Hungarian Folk Song , and Lullaby
(apukad eros Kezen) . Yes,Tim or Björn or somebody spent
a year in Budapest learning Hungarian to write these two songs.
. The album doesn't include all the songs
that were performed on the Broadway stage but it has most of them
.(one interesting omission is a Press Conference sequence similiar
to the one Tim Rice had included in Jesus Christ Superstar.)
CHESS, on Broadway was not well received
by most critics, notably Frank Rich of the New York Times. This
was not a universal opinion- TIME referred to it as the greatest
Rock N roll musical
ever written. That Chess was partly a rock musical was part of
the problem,
there havent been that many rock musicals staged on Broadway
and it was hard for middle aged theatre criitics or audiences
of the 1980's to relate to something
like Chess. However, the musical itself, was not perfect or it
would have been
more successful on London's West End, where far more ideal circumstances,
prevailed. As it was, CHESS only lasted a few years in London,
barely making back
the huge money invested.
There was such hostility to Chess that the
play's music was not nominated for any Tony awards, only the two
American lead actors received nominations.
David Carroll and Judy Kuhn did not win!
The music is performed by the actual Broadway stage orchestra , Benny manages to sneak in a bit of work on keyboards. The album has stayed in print for a long while in America despite the plays limited Broadway Run.
The original cast performed the songs live
for benefit concert a short time after the closing. (the actor.
David Carroll who played the Russian assembled the cast).
Tim Rice brought CHESS to Off-Broadway in yet another version in the 1990's . This was a simpler production but not as good as some of the simpler college productions that have put on.
This album was released on a vinyl Lp in a
abbreviated version. The album was
engineered by Chuck Cavanaugh and recorded at the Record Plant.
It's the only album with B&B's involvement
to have been recorded in the USA.
People wandering why Bjorn Ulvaeus was so willing to sell his soul for Mamma Mia to be successful would do well to study the CHESS experience.
ABBA-THE COLLECTION VOL.1 1987 or 1988 British/Australian CD
Starting to move from lp's to CD's by now... This album was issued on a budget label- The CD versions of these have fewer tracks than the lp versions.. The Australian version were not released at the same time as the Briitish versionss
Collection Volume 1 is mostly the usual suspects-all the hits that are fit to print...
Waterloo/The Name Of The Game /The Winner Takes
It All /Dancing Queen /Super Trouper
/FernandoGimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)
/S.O.S./I Have A Dream /Does Your Mother Know/Voulez-Vous Angeleyes
Ring Ring /The Day Before You Came
/Head Over Heels /Thank You For The Music
/I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do 1/Under Attack /Arrival/Honey, Honey/The
Visitors/Rock Me
/Eagle /Dance (While The Music Still Goes On)
ABBA-THE HITS 3 -September 1988 British
CD
Released on the British Budget label,
Pickwick this was the third of a three part series.
THE HITS 3 (Septmeber 1988)
1. The Winner Takes It All
2. The King Has Lost His Crown
3. Dance (While The Music Still Goes On)
4. Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!
5. Head Over Heels
6. Rock Me
7. I Have A Dream
8. Chiquitita
9. The Piper
10. On And On And On
11. One Of Us
12. Our Last Summer
13. Does Your Mother Know
14. Thank You For The Music
ABBA- THE COLLECTION VOL.2 October 1988 British/Australian 2lp /CD
ABBA The Collection 2 features most of ABBA LIVE as well the Ring Ring album.. This was the first time that many of the RING RING album tracks had seen release in Great Britain, which was one of the many territories not to release the Ring Ring album during the 1970's...
ABBA- The Best of ABBA Canada LP 1988...
The Canadians were releasing ABBA too, in this compilation...with a different track listing than previous releases with this title...
1. Dancing Queen
2. Take A Chance On Me
3. The Name Of The Game
4. Waterloo
5. Knowing Me, Knowing You
6. S.O.S.
8. Fernando
9. Does Your Mother Know
10. Voulez-Vous edit
11. Chiquitita edit
12. I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do
13. Honey, Honey
14. The Winner Takes It All
15. Money, Money, Money
16. Angeleyes
ABBA-OS GRANDES 1988-Brazil Lp
Another hits compilation .A repackaging of the 1982 album OS GRANDES SUCESSOS DE ABBA , on this version there are four more songs, but some of songs have been edited... They were dancing in Sao Paulo! Then they heard the butchered edits and started throwing stuff at the DJ.
The Winner Takes It All edit / Dancing Queen edit
/Chiquitita edit
/Knowing Me, Knowing You edit /I Have A Dream edit
/ Honey, Honey /Super Trouper edit
/Fernando edit/Summer Night City /S.O.S./Mamma Mia
/I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do edit/Waterloo edit /The Name
Of The Game edit
Information Society - Information Society International CD 1988?
This CD by a Minnesota geek band features the hit "What's on Your Mind -Pure Energy) "as well as a cover of ABBA's Lay All Your Love on Me . The hit is that annoying song that kept having a sample from Star Trek of Mr.Spock (Leonard Nimoy) saying -"pure energy!...
| 1. What's on Your Mind -(Pure Energy) 2. Tomorrow 3. Lay All Your Love on Me 4. Repetition 5. Walking Away |
6. Over the Sea 7. Attitude 8. Something in the Air 9. Running 10. Make It Funky |
ABBA-THE WINNER TAKES IT ALL/ABBA- GULD HITS 1988 SWedish/Danish
Cassette issue only
In Sweden this collection was called GULD HITS, in Denmark-The Winner Takes It All
This cassette only release may have been called by two different names, but each has the same 14 tracks. Unusually The tracks are all from the 1980's . Supposedly, The version of "Under Attack" featured here is the special edits used for aT V show. I sometimes envision that there could have been a ABBA Greatest Hits Volume 3, with songs from Super Trouper, The Visitors and some or all of the 1982 tracks-but it probably woudn't have sold well...anyway this as close as we come to that idea.... There are also cassettes called Guld Hits Vol.2, Vol.3, and Vol.4.
1. The Winner Takes It All
2. Slipping Through My Fingers
3. Lay All Your Love On Me
4. Under Attack (special edit)
5. One Of Us
6. Andante, Andante
7. Happy New Year
8. Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!
9. The Piper
10. When All Is Said And Done
11. The Day Before You Came
12. Our Last Summer
13. The Visitors
14. Super Trouper
ABBA-ABSOLUTE ABBA November 1988-UK 2CD /2 Lp set
More hits , repackaged in some new and fabulous way, Totally hits on this one-covering most of ABBA's career. Issued in the UK on the Telstar label. There were dancing outbreaks reported in Leeds. Actually it might have been fighting at a football match...
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Fernando Knowing Me, Knowing You |
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VARIOUS ARTISTS-Polarator Late 1988 Promotional Lp
This is a very hard to find red Lp issued by Stig's . Polar label , which had previously released Christmas tracks on it. it is is a rarity..It was issued by a Swedish furniture? company called ironcially enough Polarator. It has ABBA's "Happy New Year' and a couple of the ABBA girls solo x-mas tracks..
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1989 By 1989 ,of the four former ABBA members only Benny was working regularly as a musician. ABBA's international profile by this time had decreased substantially. Benny had started up his own record label by this time, called Mono Records. ABBA-THE LOVE SONGS- 1989 CD UK Hootenanny Singers Reunion 1989... ABBA-The
Very Best of ABBA 1989 British Lp or CD |
ABBA-LOVE SONGS Dutch Lp /CD Fall 1989
Similiar title & theme but different track listing, . the CD version had bonus tracks.
1. One Of Us 8. Fernando
2. Chiquitita 9. Andante, Andante
3. Tropical Loveland 10. Wrap Your Arms Around Me - Agnetha edited
version
4. Dancing Queen 11. Our Last Summer
5. I've Been Waiting For You 12. Take A Chance On Me
6. I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do 13. S.O.S.
7. My Love, My Life 14. The Way Old Friends Do
Hootenanny Singers Reunion 1989...No singing involved...
For some reason ,All four of The original Hootenanny Singers appeared together on Swedish TV togther for a interview at some point during 1989....? Yes ,even the high and mighty Bjorn Ulvaeus showed up for this one with Johan Karlberg, Tony Roth, and Hansi Schwarz The "fifth Hootenanny" roadie Hans Bergkvist was also there....I believe this is the last time all four guys were seen in public together.. Johan Karlberg would die three years later on August 16, 1992..He was only 49 when he died....
Souree : ABBA On Tv website...
ABBA-The Very Best of ABBA 1989 British Lp or CD
Readers Digest put out this one disc 14 song compilation of ABBA hits.
Waterloo /S.O.S. /Mamma Mia /Fernando
/Dancing Queen/Knowing Me, Knowing You
/Money, Money, Money /. Summer Night City/Take A Chance On Me/
The Name Of The Game edit/Chiquitita/Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! / Super
Trouper
/ The Winner Takes It All
ABBA-ABBA International 1989
?1982? 1984? *German CD
Not every ABBA compilation album
was stupid, redundant and pointless, there
have a been few that actually used good ideas. The idea behind
this compilation was to throw in some of ABBA's non-English recordings
with some b-sides and hits.
This CD was originated in Germany by Polygram.This CD is no longer available but at the time of it's release it provided the CD debuts for a number of ABBA's rare tracks. About half of the tracks were the usual hits like "Dancing Queen" "Eagle" was featured in the edit version (which in 1989 in time was more interesting than aggravating.)
This CD has the German versions of "Ring Ring" and Another Town Another Train", The Spanish version of "Chiquitiita", the French Version of "Waterloo" and three non- album B-sides -"Happy Hawaii"."Take A Chance On Me "(live),and "I Wonder (live)'. All of these tracks were not widely available on CD at the time.
The original cassette version of this included five additional tracks, one of which was the then hard-to find b-side-""Crazy World".So the record company tries hard, but they lose points for leaving out some of the other foreign language tracks such as the Swedish versions of" Waterloo",Ring Ring and "Honey Honey".
Track listing -Ring ring (German vers.) *Honey Honey, Intermezzo No1/Waterloo(French) *The Visitors/Take A Chance On Me (Live) /Gimme X3/I've Been Waiting for You/Happy Hawaii/SOS/Rock N Roll Band/ *Crazy World/People Need Love/*Mamma Mia/ Wer Im Wartesaal er Liebe Steht(German vers. of Another Town, Another Train/Rock Me/ The Winner Takes it All/ I Wonder (Live ver.) Eagle (edit) *Voulez-Vous/ Dancing Queen/I Have A Dream -*CASSETTE Only tracks
*Editors note-the CD doesn't have a copyright date-so I havent been able to confirm the release date. More than one source says this album was released in 1982, one source says 1984....one sourece said 1989 and one said 1988. It may be that the cassette version was released first....
Benny Andersson-November 1989 Available on Swedish CD Released as you might well guess in November 1989
Benny's second solo album features a lot more piano & synthesizers and a bit less accordion/violin than his first solo album. The folk group Orsa Spelman is on here but they play a less than they do on KLINGA.
As result it's a easier listen, but also a less interesting album. It's doesn't jump out at you the way KLINGA does. What this album does offer is lots of unadultearated Benny Andersson keyboards and synthesizers. This sounds more like film instrumental music, albeit with the usual Benny Andersson flair for melody and hooks. This album also includes some vaguely humourous sounding music such as "Machopolska ".
Björn cowrote only one song here, "The Conducator'. It was written for a special concert. The song features Tommy Korberg singing. The lyric sounds like a Chess lyric, it's full of cynicism! It seemingly describes some horrible bureaucrat. Apparently though, the song was inspired by ,a Romanian, Doina Cornea's letters to her daughter during the Communist dictatorship of Nikolai Ceaucescu. "The Conducator" is the only vocal track on the album.
Once again, one of Benny's family members is mentioned in a song title this time it's his Grandfather -Efraim Andersson. Efraim taught Benny to play the accordion starting when Benny was six. Benny most treasured possesion is the accordion his Grandfather gave him...
The CD opens with the beautiful Northern sounding "Skallgång".This album's most haunting song is the closer "Stockholm at Night". The melody for "Stockholm at Night "was recycled for use in KRISTINA FRAN DUVEMALA. The CD cover features a drawing on the cover-drawn by Marie -Louise Ekman..
It is strange that the
CD's title is written in English,since this CD was only released
in Scandinavia..
Track listing for November 1989
Skallgång, Machopolska, Vals efter Efraim Andersson. Sekelskiftesidyll, Dans på vindbryggan, Stjuls, Tröstevisa, Målarskolan, Novell #1, The conducator (featuring Tommy Korberg) ,Stockholm by night
ABBA-THE LOVE SONGS- December 1989 CD UK
A British and
also Australian CD/cassette release brought to you by the fine
budget folks at Pickwick. This has The b-sides "Should I Laugh Or Cry "and
"Lovelight " The cover uses a famous "nude above the
chest" photo of the ABBETTES on the cover. To further confuse
matters, there is also a German music club release with the same
title and a differant track listing...
THE LOVE SONGS track listing
Unusually this album features no major hits
on it and jumps wildly around between later and earlier ABBA
1. Under Attack 8. My Love, My Life
2. Slipping Through My Fingers 9. One Man, One Woman
3. Should I Laugh Or Cry 10. Tropical Loveland
4. Gonna Sing You My Lovesong 11. Another Town, Another Train
5. Lovers (Live A Little Longer) 12. When All Is Said And Done
6. Lovelight13. If It Wasn't For The Nights
7. I've Been Waiting For You 14. So Long
Frida's rare and unreleased recordings....1974-2005
Many of Frida's rare 1980's and 1990's songs have not been compiled
on CD. Most of these are duets she has recorded with other acts
.As such many of them can be found on albums by those acts. Some
of the rare 1982-1994 singles tracks can only be found on those
singles many of which were only released in Sweden.
Frida's unreleased recordings
are mainly
drawn from TV appearances. Frida also made a series of TV specials
from the Grand Hotel in Stockholm in 1982 which included many
songs not available elsewhere. Many of these songs can found on
a CD issued by ABBAMAIL called TELEVISION. Frida also sang
some duets in concert with
Marie Frederickson that haven't been released. There was at least
one unfinshed that track was left off the SOMETHING's GOING
ON album -a unfinished recording called "Shot Down In
Action". There were two unreleased tracks left off the 1971
FRIDA album.
Frida duet with Ratata ("
Sa lange Vi Har Haran")
is available on Ratata's album called Mellan Dröm Och
Verklighet (1987) -as well as on the Swedish compilation album
called Duetter.
Frida's acapella duet version of "Dancing Queen " done
with THE REAL GROUP is available on Varför Får Man
Inte Bara Vara Som Man Är? (1994) as well the recent
American ABBA tribute album called ABBA-A tribute THE 25th
Anniversary Celebration.
In 2005, Frida's box set was released . Although, only a couple of rarities were included on the CD's , some of rarities can be seen on the DVD section of the box...
Frida's rare released tracks 1974-2005 None of the duets listed here ever appeared on a Frida album...
| YEAR | SONG TITLE |
| 1974 | Med Varann (duet with Björn Skifs)Moviestar(with Harpo) |
| 1982 | Here We'll stay (solo version) Belle (duet with Daniel Balavoine) |
| 1983 | Time (duet with B.A. Robertson) Adam Ant-Strip |
| 1984 | That's Tough ( B-side) LATER MADE AVAILABLE on THE VOICE OF ABBA |
| 1987 | Sa lange Vi Har Haran (with Ra Ta Ta ) As long As I have You-(with Ra Ta Ta) |
| 1992 | Anglamark (with Artister for Miljo:Frida Lyngstad / Marie Fredriksson / Håkan Hagegård and Tomas Ledin) Saltwater-(B side to Anglamark) |
| 1994 | Dancing Queen (with The Real Group) |
| 2002 | La Bacarolle duet with Fillippa Giodano |
| 2003 | Lieber Gott , I have a Dream (duets with Dan Daniell) |
| 2005 | The Sun Will Shine Again (vocal solo on Jon Lord album ) |
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ABBA THE ALBUMS - GROUP & SOLO ALBUM REVIEWS LISTED IN ODER OF YEAR OF RELEASE Chart revised July 2006 by Montief OR SOMEONE WHO LOOKS LIKE HIM... |