-Anni-Frid Lyngstad -Frida 1967-1972 2cd set Released October 1997 Available on Swedish CD.
This 38 song, 2cd collection was issued by EMI-Sweden in October 1997. It was released by EMI to celebrate Frida's 30th anniversary in the recording business.
This is easily the most intelligent ABBA related retrospective of any kind ever released. This features nearly all of Frida's pre-ABBA recordings. The entire contents of her two EMI albums (one of which was a compilation album) are here as well as all the non-album tracks from her pre Polar label singles. (Keep in mind that Frida only made a limited number of recordings between 1967-1972 due to her lack of commerical success).
The early Frida recordings were all in Swedish. Much of the material was in a light jazz/sophisticated pop vein, but Frida also strayed into covers of American pop hits and Swedish covers of songs from other European markets. Her early solo career was not overly successful.
FIVE RADIO "HITS"
In all, Frida would have only five (mostly minor ) radio hits prior to ABBA. "Härlig är vår jord", "Min egen stad , "En kväll om sommarn" ,Där du går lämnar kärleken spår" and "Man vill ju leva lite dessemellan".
Her early (1967-1969) singles produced by Ollie Bergman were unsuccessful.Of the songs ,produced by Ollie Bergman only "Härlig är vår jord" received any airplay. " Härlig är vår jord" was Frida 1969 entry into the Swedish heat of the Eurovision song contest . Benny Andersson took over as producer in 1969 with an recording of the Anderson-Ulvaeus song "Peter Pan" but it was not a hit...Frida finally had a real hit in the summer of 1971 with version of the old Hep Stars song "It's Nice to Be Back Again" called "Min egen stad " Björn, Benny and Agnetha sing backing vocals and the record, has a bright ABBAesque feel to it.
"Där du går lämnar kärleken spår" is a Spring 1970 Swedish version of "Love Goes Where Rosemary Goes"..."En kväll om sommarn" is a mid 1971 folksy duet with Lars Berghagen. Frida had a hit in the summer of 1971 with version of the old Hep Stars song "It's Nice to Be Back Again" called "Min egen stad " Björn, Benny and Agnetha sing backing vocals and the record, has a bright ABBAesque feel to it. The 1972 track "Man vill ju leva lite dessemellan". was not included on the record since it was recorded on the Polar label after she switched from EMI...
TWO CD'S
The two CD's are largely chronological .The first CD covers
her early singles and ends with tracks from her 1971 self titled
studio album. The second CD starts with the rest of the songs
from her first studio album,
continues with tracks from her early 1970's singles and ends with
five previously unreleased tracks.
Frida's 1971 album titled FRIDA was produced by Benny and was her first album of any kind.. is remarkably laidback, and not really encumbered with a lot of production tricks..
Three previously released tracks from Frida's singles were
new to CD for this album. Among the the three tracks were "En
Kvall Om somarn" (a Swedish version of the Phil Ochs' song
"Changes") and "Vi Vet All, Men Nastan Inget"
- two good songs recorded as duets with Lars Berghagen in 1971.(Lars
Berghagen also produced the single) .
Finally, there was The 1972 b-side "Kom Och Sjung En Sang"
, which is a Swedish version (lyrics written by Stig Anderson
) of an obscure Carole King song called "No Sad Song"
.The track sounds almost like a B&B composition but it's not.
Benny did produce the record and it features Björn and Agnetha
singing backing vocals and an accordion which sounds like Benny
but it's somebody else playing. It's my favorite song on this
collection...
"Kom .."was the B-side of "Vi Ar Alla Bara Barn I borjan" a song written by B&B. "Vi Ar.Alla Bara Barn I borjan".." was definitely a violation of Björn's normal rule of not having lyrics sound like a mouthful of misguided sounds. "Vi Har..." was the last of Frida's EMI singles prior to signing to Polar Records.
Five special bonus tracks are featured at the end of the
second CD.
These include four songs from a 1970 Swedish TV special that featured
old Swedish standards such as "Att Alska I Varen Tid ".
A clip of "Att Alska..." was actually included in in
an abbreviated version on the THANK YOU ABBA video. The album's
closer is a Swedish radio version of "Barnen Sover"
recorded on September 29, 1970. "Barnen Sover" features
Benny on piano and Björn on guitar and is essentially a recording
by Festfolk, the earliest version of ABBA (the studio version
of "Barnen Sover" can also be found on this collection.)
It is very rare to hear Bjorn play the guitar without another
guitarist..
The only Pre- ABBA Frida tracks not to be found here are Frida's Disney recordings,her two Christmas recordings, the two songs from her 1972 Polar single "Man Vill Ju Leva Lite Desmellan" and unreleased material such as her Swedish version of "The Long and Winding Road.". Frida had started recording for Polar in 1972 but- Her solo career was largely put on hold between 1973 and 1981 with exception of the release of the FRIDA ENSAM album in 1975.
The liner notes here by Carl Magnus Palm are extensive. Although the liner notes are in Swedish ,a English version of his notes can be fouind on ABBA -Another Site or accessed from Carl's web site. The booklet also features illustrations of the covers of her singles and dates for when each of the songs were recorded.
This album is highly recommended for Frida fans.
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Track listing
-tracks from early singles--
---Tracks from Frida's first studio album
|
--more tracks from first studio album
--more singles -Swedish TV performance- --Swedish radio peformance |
En Ledig Dag / Peter Kom Tillbaka Late
1967 Din / Du Är Så Underbart Rar Late 1967 |
Simsalabim / Vi Möts Igen Mid
1968 Mycket Kär / När Du Blir Min Late 1968 |
Härlig Är Vår Jord / Räkna De
Lyckliga Stunderna Blott Early 1969 Så Synd Du Måste Gå / Försök
Och Sov På Saken Spring 1969 Peter Pan / Du Betonar Kärlek Lite Fel Late 1969 |
To leave here go there...* HOME -ABBA-THE ALBUMS * Frida -Solo (1967-1999)
Montief's handy guide to ABBA the Albums
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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... |