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Post by Deleted on Aug 15, 2024 15:30:06 GMT
In October, 5 of 1993 ABBA was awarded Platinum discs for “ABBA Gold”. Björn, Frida and Benny where there to receive the Awards, but at this time Agnetha didn’t show up. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Aftonbladet 1993-10-06  Three of ABBA reunited WHERE WAS AGNETHA Björn, Frida and Benny received an award for "ABBA Gold” yesterday. Björn and Benny and Frida were there. But Agnetha stayed away when ABBA received awards yesterday for five million compilation albums sold. There is no shyer star than Agnetha Fältskog. But three-quarters of the “old” supergroup in any case came to “Operakällaren (The Opera Café)” in Stockholm when ABBA's latest hit collection "ABBA Gold" was to be awarded. "ABBA Gold" is a success worldwide and has sold 5.6 million copies - an incredible figure for a greatest hits record. But we shouldn't hope for any new ABBA songs. ------------------------------------------------- PS: It is not mentioned in this article , but “More ABBA Gold” was also awarded, see Frida receiving the Award.  |
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Post by rickyrocknroller on Sept 12, 2024 18:40:56 GMT
Very interesting article posts @marco , thanks (also thanks Alan for the picture). I hadn't known of the 1985 get-together. It's as if Stikkan tried to get them together to start launching a new ABBA project, no matter how cold the relationship had become by that time. I think, if something should have happened between 1983-1992 (and some time beyond probably), it would have had to be then. B&B had archieved writing the musical they were keen to do since probably 1977. Agnetha and Frida both released two solo albums on the Polar label and tried out some directions of their own there. In this very interesting article from Dutch magazine Hitkrant from 1985, B&B are even quoted with (translated by ABBA The Articles):
I'm not sure how reliable this is (I've heard different stories about the origins of the well-known tape tracks), but if it's not a hoax, I find it baffling how concrete plans of a new ABBA album in 1985/86 apparently were. The momentum seems to have been there, and Stikkan has sensed it. However, it was lost. Frida quit music altogether, and Agnetha quit Polar for WEA. And B&B decided to record their Chess leftovers pop album by launching Gemini instead of going back to ABBA. This other Hitkrant article from 1986 (ABBA The Articles proving to be a very valuable source for direct insight into the 1983-93 period) shows some from today's point almost ridicolously high-flying expectations:
The discrepancy from how this project really turned out oozes from every line. It must have been a barsh arrival back in reality for both parts. No glamorous, champagne-fueled world career was ahead for the Glenmarks. They didn't have much success to get used to and Karin soon had a lot of time for her children again. Neither did they sell a large amount of records, nor had they to go on an extensive tour. But who could have blamed them? It was master songwriters and producers Benny and Björn who had conquered the pop world giving their first pop songs since Under Attack which they had partly even written for ABBA in 1982 - the original Just Like That and Another You Another Me which is said to have been demoed by Agnetha then. And they were willing to activate their record labels and TV producers network.
Then, for Benny and Björn, it must have been most unwelcome to experience - at least by the expectations - a flop: The songs didn't become hits anywhere, with the new Just Like That ending up merely attracting German musical diva Angelika Milster (no offense) for a cover, giving a very stiff, unyouthful vibe. The album had some very moderate success at #9 in Sweden and a #29 in the Netherlands, but it failed to chart altogether in key markets like Germany and, most importantly for B&B, the UK. When The Day Before You Came only got to #32 in the UK, despite it actually doing fairly well over the continent, it seems to have been enough to ultimately demoralize B&B with ABBA. When Chess' I Know Him So Well got to #1 in the UK two years later, with One Night In Bangkok being quite a considerable hit over Europe, they must have felt they had been right to leave ABBA behind. Then, 1987's Geminism (to my knowledge) wasn't even released outside Sweden, with the exception of the Soviet Union, where it benefitted from perestroika policies and could be imported and promoted comfortably by Soviet authorities as a de facto western pop act coming from a on paper neutral country. They accumulated further semi-successes (London) or flops (Broadway, brutally) with their theatrical Chess stagings and retreated to Sweden: Benny with his folk music and then the two writing their Swedish epos Kristina fran Duvemala. Even with the 1993 one-off (and excellent) English pop album by the poor Josefin Nilsson, Benny wanted it to be limited for the Swedish market (in Swedish) at first, just like the Ainbusk Singers recordings from the years before. It wasn't until 1999's Mamma Mia they ventured into doing some UK/internationally oriented pop project again, sailing on the ABBA revival and leading them back to the height of their success. Oddly, it was planned to include Just Like That, which got only scraped shortly before the previews.
The Gemini project, especially the 1985 album (Geminism sits a little more comfortably in its time, albeit with lower ambitions) then goes to show how rapidly B&B apparently had lost contact with the pop world by the mid-80s. The vibe is just totally off. When you watch their performances (with B&B being prominently there), you can almost sense the TV producers asking themselves what the f... is going as they all drag their way through the dull and gloomy Just Like That when they were promised "the new ABBA". The whole aesthetics of the album is some of the most uninviting and unpleasant I've ever come across. This is quite sad giving the songs are actually really strong, and were in the end given up for ABBA in favour of Gemini. Slowly had been given to Frida in Shine at least. For the rest, I'm glad we have the ABBA Just Like That to salvage some of it for what they were ultimately intended for. I would really hope more to come across in the future, like the 1982 Another You Another Me demo by Agnetha that's rumoured to exist. This song I find a particularly lost opportunity for a potential ABBA classic.
I'm not sure if it was ever really realistic for ABBA to get back together again in 1985. And even if, I think, much of the problems would have been the same. My gut feeling tells me it might have been down to B&B's new women who didn't like them working closely with their exes again and talked them out of it or made them sense to quit it - if it would have still needed their intervention anyway. Then, of course, ABBA's (except Frida's) relationship with Stig never recovered and got even worse. ABBA were forcing themselves through the Har är ditt liv Tivedshambo.
Polar in 1986 released ABBA Live that's basically a Michael B. Tretow remix album in disguise. I lately wondered if he gave the album its harsh mid-80s sound as a sort of compensation for the lost opportunity to do a new ABBA record in 1985/86, indicating what it could have been like. The lack of a picture on the cover, but it looking very 80s adds to this impression. He seems to have looked extensively into the archives and dug up two then-unreleased songs to broadcast on the radio (Dream World, and, this recording and in full being unreleased until today, Another Morning Without You, gilded as a Ola Brunkert demonstration track). It's as if he was realizing the momentum has gone and ABBA wouldn't be recording probably ever again (though they ultimately did!) and he was saying goodbye to ABBA.
Despite its general downhill impression, I find this 1985/86 era quite fascinating. It's still been close enough to the first ABBA run to still have everyone and everything around, while there was general very low level interest. It's a fascinating vision imagining Michael B. Tretow going through unreleased ABBA tapes and handcrafting a live album with nobody really caring - neither the public, nor B&B who didn't involve themselves at all and only listened to the finished album once to indifferently okay it. There seems to be a sense of things still being at least potentially in move and not being hardened out yet. Then soon came the retreat of all four ABBA members from international pop music and the end of Stikkan's Polar label, and soon afterwards, Gold re-inventing ABBA as a legacy act.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 12, 2024 19:22:24 GMT
Very interesting article posts @marco , thanks (also @alan for the picture). I hadn't known of the 1985 get-together. It's as if Stikkan tried to get them together to start launching a new ABBA project, no matter how cold the relationship had become by that time. I think, if something should have happened between 1983-1992 ..... There is one article from this period (1983-1992) the really shows that ABBA members were living different lives, specially Frida, and none of them wanted to get together again, the article is talking about the first interview with Frida since 1984, it was in october of 1989 in a radio program " Ulf Elfving's After Three", the article about the interview is from Aftonbladet (pitty that the picture of Frida is not current one, is from the Shine period, and I think that the pants she is wearing is the same that she wore in the video "twist and the dark"). Aftonbladet 1989-10-19  I Feel Better Than Ever. Annifrid Lyngstad breaks the silence after several years ... Annifrid Lyngstad broke her silence yesterday after several years On the radio's After Three, the former ABBA member said, among other things, that she had not met Agnetha Fältskog for several years. That she is happy with her new husband and his twin daughters, and that TV turned down her idea of an environmental program - I actually thought that I would be able to slip into this with ABBA but it didn't work out. A few years ago she disappeared completely from everyone stages and recording studio. One wondered where she went. Yesterday she showed up at Ulf Elfving's After Three. In an almost hour-long interview, she told me about her new life, a life that, according to herself, is much better than the one she had. Lives in Switzerland I simply wanted to get away from the music business, she said. Now Annifrid lives with a partner and his two 12-year-old twin daughters in Switzerland. She fills her days taking care of the home, writing a little, drawing and painting. She authors poems - If there will be any music " We'll see," said Annifrid, smiling. Ulf Elfving did not know much more about her new family and her own life. The daughter lives in the United States, the son is a sound engineer in Stockholm - The fame has sometimes been a disadvantage for him. But he has always managed. Much more Ulf Elfving did not find out about her private life. But Annifrid said that today she feels much better than during her time with ABBA. Harmonious - I have found a completely different harmony and satisfaction. I have met people who have been able to bring out what is good inside of me. Part of the time she spends in her house in Mallorca. She has worked a bit in land speculation. Contact with the former ABBA members is rare. She does not meet Agnetha at all. • You are quite different, aren't you? - Yes, we were, but you reevaluate your life. Today maybe we have more in common. • But during the ABBA era it was you who wanted to tour and not her. - Being on stage I think even Agnetha thought it was lovely. But it was all around all the press and giving interviews, always cute, always caring and fancy. New Garbo - But I wrote her a letter about an environmental project I have and then I actually got a very friendly letter back. But that was really the only contact we had in many years. However, she bumps into Björn and Benny occasionally when she is in Stockholm. • Why has it been so quiet about you, are you a new Garbo asked Ulf Elfving - No, but I think I am so totally uninteresting as a person to interview, answered Annifrid. But she willingly answered questions about food, girlfriends and money and it was noticeable that she thrived in the environment. Annifrid can even consider releasing a new record If it is for the benefit of environmental protection. - Yes, if it concerns something that makes people more aware of our environment. But we will never see her on stage again – No, I would be terribly nervous. It has been too long. Instead, Annifrid has wanted to work on some kind of TV game where ordinary people would meet and question environmental experts. So far, TV has not been particularly interested, which surprised Annifrid - I thought that I would be able to slide into this with ABBA and that I was a member there: Garbo. |
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Post by rickyrocknroller on Sept 12, 2024 19:34:43 GMT
Very interesting as well, thanks @marco. Frida has really made the most radical cut. I didn't know many of this information as well. The 1988-1991 period is even far more clouded than 1983-1987. There are practically no activities by any of the ABBA members (except Benny doing a little solo and film work) and ABBA seems to have moved away as far as it could have for the members. Public interest also went near zero. It's years completely under the radar for ABBA fans that stayed around during these years, which makes it again fascinating in a way. This article is like a window into a different world that was given a completely new direction in 1992 with Gold.
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Post by jj on Sept 14, 2024 6:01:19 GMT
Recently, I finally realised I'm really glad ABBA didn't try to come back around 1985-86. If we take those two murky, lumbering and dull Gemini albums as a guide for what B&B wanted to produce back then, a new ABBA album would have been a huge flop. They'd completely lost their talent as music producers and were embarrassingly outdated and out of touch with what the public expected from new pop records at the time. Even Gemini's occasional upbeat poppy songs sounded unconvincing, like a completely faked smile.
I suspect that, had they worked on an ABBA album at this time, Benny and Bjorn would have wanted to make ABBA sound as un-ABBA as possible in a misguided attempt to try to make them sound more modern and up-to-date. A darker, more somber, muted and moody ABBA à la Gemini's "Just Like That" would have been truly awful.
I can't believe I'm saying this, but I now realise I'm grateful that ABBA stopped being around. ABBA's disappearance liberated me to explore, experiment and delve into so much great new music and sounds. I have to agree with HOMETIME ,: the 1980s were indeed the golden age of popular music. So many, many amazing artists were coming out with exceptionally great recordings. It was just astonishing how much wonderful stuff was produced between 1982 and 1990. It just kept coming out, nonstop.
Peter Gabriel's productions are just one example of what made Gemini's albums, by comparison, sound like they were produced by people who were now completely out of touch with what was going on in the world of modern popular music.
By the mid eighties, even older acts like Elton John were releasing much better, more stimulating, more melodic and more modern-sounding songs than Gemini did with Bjorn's and Benny's songs and production values.
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Post by baab on Sept 14, 2024 7:55:55 GMT
^
But they were aware of the fading connection to the Pop Music business, right? Björn himself said that it was clear to him that a producer of Pop Songs would only have the ears and eyes on the actual pulse of Pop Music for a Limited time. And Benny stopped listening to Pop Music altogether.
However, it seems that producer like Max Martin were better able to prolongue this time span.
Actually, I liked some of the Gemini stuff and I liked the album "Shapes" from Josefin Nilsson.
On the other hand, much of the solo stuff from Benny and Kristina Från Duvemåla are now more important to me than some of the ABBA stuff.
And yes, we might need to face the fact that neither Björn nor Benny have a talent to "reimagine" their own work for modern productions like Elton John does (but it should be acknowledged that he also heavily depends on help from the young and fresh producers, he's not doing it on his own!)
Sometimes, I found it a little disappointing that Benny focussed on very "local" music production. I think he could have made soundtracks for huge movie productions as a kind of second Hans Zimmer or John Williams...
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Post by rickyrocknroller on Sept 14, 2024 10:34:07 GMT
^ But they were aware of the fading connection to the Pop Music business, right? Björn himself said that it was clear to him that a producer of Pop Songs would only have the ears and eyes on the actual pulse of Pop Music for a Limited time. And Benny stopped listening to Pop Music altogether. However, it seems that producer like Max Martin were better able to prolongue this time span. I think it's easier and more common these days to be youthful for longer, Björn itself giving the best example (at one age rank higher). With B&B during the early/mid 80s, I think you rightly indicate they simply stopped being young-ish and turned very middle-age: wearing suit and tie for fun, turning away from sex and pop towards politics, chess, musical theatre, folk and classical music. I can't help thinking their new wifes liked them that way and encouraged them to move into this direction. Benny took the more drastic turn than Björn even, from the wild rockstar from the 60s to the seasoned and calmed late father in the 80s. |
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Post by HOMETIME on Sept 14, 2024 11:44:53 GMT
I'm with you, jj. I was always glad that ABBA never released either of the Gemini albums, nor Josefin Nilsson's one. The production was too sedate and mumsy. In fact, I'd venture to say that Shapes was a Cliff Richard album tied to a much ballsier singer. It might have helped to raise Josefin's profile to be supported by such a star producer and legendary songwriting team, but she was 15-20 years too young for that material and sound. IMO, of course. All that said, Chess was an utterly beautiful project. I think an ABBA album in that style might have been really special. True, their youngest fans might have moved wholesale to the Bucks Fizz fanclub, but the legacy could have included some real gems. Rather than obsessing over the charts and youth magazines, a heavily orchestrated set that included some expansive instrumentals alongside some great pop moments could have done wonders for the group (even if the singles charts might have been a more hostile environment). I have often wondered how songs like Nobody's Side, Pity The Child, Anthem, Where I Want To Be and, of course, I Know Him So Well might have sounded as ABBA recordings. The balance of synths and strings was lovely. |
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Post by rickyrocknroller on Sept 14, 2024 12:53:44 GMT
HOMETIME, What you say about Shapes is probably true. Yet I think the album fares better than the two Gemini's. It's a rounded and good if slightly dated production, the dreariness of Gemini 1985 and the put-on happiness of Geminism 1987 are gone. Then, Josefin makes for some real charisma and appeal, while the Glenmarks, let's face it, always remained two backing singers (and very good ones at that!) put in the front row. I would say the Shapes persona evolving from Björn's lyrics is an attractive and reflected woman that gets excellently voiced by Josefin also, albeit indeed more in her late 30s/early 40s rather than Josefin's actual early/mid 20s at the time. For Chess, I also agree a lot of the material is top notch songwriting that probably would have made for great ABBA songs. Agnetha's Every Good Man demo gives a hint in that direction. Now imagine a Where I Want To Be with Frida lead vocals or as an ABBA instrumental. As for the album, it's intriguing that it's basically the whole ABBA team minus Agnetha and Frida running the production. It becomes apparent when one reads through the credits.
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