The canny advertising and marketing hook of launching Frida’s second solo album – and the primary to be recorded whereas a member of ABBA – with a brand new track that might later give her band a worldwide No. 1 was a stroke of genius. Her solo model of “Fernando” was by no means issued commercially as a standalone single in her residence nation, forcing anybody desirous to personal a duplicate of the substantial radio hit to exit and purchase the 11-track album, Frida Ensam, which, launched on November 10, 1975, would ultimately promote round 130,000 copies. Solely within the neighboring Norway did “Fernando” make a single launch, however there it surprisingly didn’t chart, making it at present one of many rarest ABBA-related 7” singles prized by collectors.
Frida Ensam (Frida Alone) was recorded in stops and begins throughout 18 months because the juggernaut that was ABBA interrupted periods for recording and promotional work that prioritized the Waterloo and ABBA albums. Frida’s then-fiancé and bandmate Benny Andersson produced the album that, excluding “Fernando,” was a set of covers reflecting the couple’s eclectic musical tastes. The excessive drama of Italian energy ballads resembling “Anima Mia,” which had been launched a few years earlier by Cugini Di Campagna, was balanced by extra acquainted, lighter fare resembling a model of 10cc’s “The Wall Street Shuffle.”
Like all covers initiatives, recent interpretation is usually a blended blessing and, for songs as acquainted as Gary Puckett And The Union Hole’s “Young Girl” (as “Jag är mej själv nu”) – a worldwide hit in 1968 – its transforming as a mournful ballad drifting throughout a light-weight calypso orchestration is shocking. On David Bowie’s “Life On Mars?” (“Liv på mars?”) there’s much less try to combine issues round, and it’s as sturdy a canopy as any of this much-cherished traditional. The Seaside Boys’ “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” (“Skulle de’ va’ skönt”) is one other pretty straight remedy that lifts all of its lighter pop sensibilities to the floor and, on this interpretation, would possibly so simply have come from the Benny and Björn songbook.
The Swedish lyrics – the complete album is recorded in Frida’s first language – make for an fascinating distinction. “The Wall Street Shuffle” is reimagined as “Guld och gröna ängar” (“Gold And Green Fields”), however different translations are extra literal and, in fact, Frida’s highly effective vocals carry this assortment confidently, whether or not you communicate the language or not.
Frida’s early success with schlager – the continental folk-pop that underpins a lot of ABBA’s music and maintains constant reputation to today – is clear right here, however her haunting interpretation of “Send In The Clowns” (“Var är min clown”), from the Stephen Sondheim musical A Little Evening Music, soars right into a league of its personal and showcases her sharp-as-crystal vocals to incredible impact. The revered author Theodor Kallifatides wrote of Frida, “Her voice captures notes as precisely as it does the listener’s hearts,” and this recording encapsulates that assertion so succinctly.
For the unfamiliar, the central query regarding all solo ABBA initiatives is how carefully they echo the supergroup’s spellbinding blueprint. Frida Ensam is a by means of and thru pop album, and that once-in-a-generation voice let unfastened on a spread of the acquainted and fewer well-known actually makes for snug acclimatization. It was the chemistry of the 4 musicians that blended so spectacularly collectively, however there’s proof aplenty that greater than sufficient magic may very well be present in every quarter.
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