Frida is the debut studio album by Swedish singer Anni-Frid Lyngstad, released in March 1971 by EMI Columbia. Recorded between September 1970 and January 1971, Frida was produced by her then-fiancé, Benny Andersson. Frida was her only album recorded for EMI during her contract, not counting her eponymous compilation album from 1972, before being signed to Polar and forming the pop group ABBA, a year later.
| Frida | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | March 1971 | |||
| Recorded | 8 September 1970 – 15 January 1971 | |||
| Studio | EMI, Stockholm | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 35:46 | |||
| Label | ||||
| Producer | Benny Andersson | |||
| Anni-Frid Lyngstad chronology | ||||
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| Reissue cover | ||||
.jpg) 1974 re-release EMI:s Stjärnserie Vol. 7 | ||||
| Singles from Frida | ||||
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The album received positive receptions from critics, both retrospectively and at the time of the album's release, but did not chart, with the exception of her non-album single from the same year, "Min egen stad", until Frida charted in Sweden, in April 2017 with a limited edition reissue, reaching No. 28 on Sverigetopplistan's album charts.[4] Frida has since been reissued several times by EMI and Parlophone since the original issue of the album.
Background
editRecording session
editFrida commenced its recording session at EMI Studios, Stockholm, now known as X-Level Studios,[5] on 8 September 1970[6] and was completed on 15 January 1971.[6] Claes Rosendahl and Bengt Palmers both directed the conduction of the orchestra for the respective tracks for Frida.[6]
"Min egen stad" was recorded on 12 July 1971 with Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus and Agnetha Fältskog on uncredited backing vocals,[1] and was completed 11 days later.[7][6] Lyngstad's cover version of The Beatles' "The Long and Winding Road" from the recording session of Frida remained unreleased, but was shared on YouTube in 2013.[8]
Aftermath
editBy the time of the album's release, Lyngstad had been signed to EMI, for four years, since she won a song contest titled 'New Faces' and appeared on a Swedish television show, Hylands Hörna (Hyland's Corner), in September 1967.[1] Not long after the release of the album, in 1972, Lyngstad did not renew her contract with EMI,[9] and was signed to Polar Music to record her first single for the independent Swedish record label,[9] and eventually team up with Andersson, Ulvaeus, and Fältskog to form ABBA.[9] As a result, it is the only album Lyngstad has recorded, under her contract with EMI, as she has made non-album singles between 1967 and 1972.
Release and reception
edit| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   link |
| The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [10] |
Frida was released in March 1971 by EMI Columbia.[7] The album did not chart, but received welcoming praise from the critics, who noted the precision and versatility of Lyngstad as a singer. Dagens Nyheter described Frida as a "professional, sure and certain LP-debut ... low key but self-sure personality with sprinkles of both temperament, humor and tenderness. And she sings in this way that you understand she's got something between her ears - she sings with others words in a very intelligent way". After Lyngstad had her first No. 1 non-album single, "Min egen stad", in the Swedish weekly record chart, Svensktoppen on 24 October 1971,[11] Frida was reissued the following year, with the song as the opening track of side two of the album.[12]
The Svensktoppen version of Frida was given a second release in 1974 as a compilation under the name EMI:s Stjärnserie Vol. 7 (EMI's Star Series).[13] Frida was out of print until EMI released a compilation album, Frida 1967–1972 in 1997, which includes all tracks from this album. As the reissue was met with positive receptions again, Bruce Eder, writing for AllMusic, described Lyngstad's vocals as "a distinctly expressive and pure instrument" with "Andersson's lean yet creative accompaniments", while noting that "one can begin to hear the attributes that would emerge on the early ABBA recordings".[2]
Frida was reissued as a limited edition 180-gram vinyl, pressed between 1500 and 3000 copies on 22 April 2017, under the label Parlophone,[14][3] who currently holds the rights to Lyngstad's recordings with EMI, coinciding the tenth anniversary of Record Store Day. Frida reached No. 28 on Sverigetopplistan's album charts, a few days after the reissue of this album.[4]
Track listing
editStandard edition
edit| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Tre kvart från nu ("Three Quarters from Now")" (Melodi för Piano Op. 3:1 F-Dur) | Anton Rubinstein, Peter Himmelstrand | 3:14 |
| 2. | "Jag blir galen när jag tänker på dej ("I Get Crazy When I Think of You")" ("Goin' Out of My Head") | Teddy Randazzo, Robert Weinstein, Stig Anderson | 3:27 |
| 3. | "Lycka" ("Happiness" / "Luck") | Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus, Anderson | 2:59 |
| 4. | "Sen dess har jag inte sett'en" | Traditional; arranged by Claes Rosendahl and Lars Berghagen | 2:08 |
| 5. | "En ton av tystnad" ("The Sound of Silence") | Paul Simon, Owe Junsjö | 4:00 |
| 6. | "Suzanne" | Leonard Cohen, Junsjö | 3:07 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Allting skall bli bra" ("Everything Will Be Good"/"Everything's Alright")
| Tim Rice, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Junsjö | 6:14 |
| 2. | "Jag är beredd ("I'm Ready")" ("And I'll Be There") | Paul Leka, Denise Gross, Anderson | 2:38 |
| 3. | "En liten sång om kärlek ("A Little Song About Love")" ("Five Pennies Saints") | Sylvia Fine, Berghagen | 2:25 |
| 4. | "Telegram för fullmånen" ("Telegraph for Full Moon") | Cornelis Vreeswijk | 1:59 |
| 5. | "Barnen sover" ("The Children Sleeping") | Himmelstrand | 3:35 |
Svensktoppen reissue edition
edit| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Tre kvart från nu" (Melodi för Piano Op. 3:1 F-Dur) | Anton Rubinstein, Peter Himmelstrand | 3:14 |
| 2. | "Jag blir galen när jag tänker på dej" ("Going Out of My Head") | Teddy Randazzo, Robert Weinstein, Stig Anderson | 3:27 |
| 3. | "Lycka" | Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus, Anderson | 2:59 |
| 4. | "Sen dess har jag inte sett 'en" | Traditional; arranged by Claes Rosendahl and Lars Berghagen | 2:08 |
| 5. | "En ton av tystnad" ("The Sound of Silence") | Paul Simon, Owe Junsjö | 4:00 |
| 6. | "Suzanne" | Leonard Cohen, Junsjö | 3:07 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Min egen stad" ("My Own Town") | Andersson, Himmelstrand | 3:00 |
| 2. | "Allting skall bli bra" ("Everything's Alright")
| Tim Rice, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Junsjö | 6:14 |
| 3. | "Jag är beredd" ("And I'll Be There") | Paul Leka, Denise Gross, Anderson | 2:38 |
| 4. | "En liten sång om kärlek" ("Five Pennies Saints") | Sylvia Fine, Berghagen | 2:25 |
| 5. | "Telegram för fullmånen" | Cornelis Vreeswijk | 1:59 |
| 6. | "Barnen sover" | Himmelstrand | 3:35 |
Personnel
editPersonnel per Carl Magnus Palm and EMI Records.[6][15][1]
- Anni-Frid Lyngstad – lead and backing vocals
- Benny Andersson – piano, producer on all tracks, and backing vocals on Min Egen Stad (uncredited)[a]
- Björn Ulvaeus – backing vocals on "Min egen stad" (uncredited)
- Agnetha Fältskog – backing vocals on "Min egen stad" (uncredited)
- Bengt Palmers (sv)– conductor and arranger on "Min egen stad", "En ton av tystnad", and "Jag är beredd"
- Claes Rosendahl (sv)– conductor and arranger on all tracks
- Björn Norén – engineer
Charts
edit| Chart (2017) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[4] | 28 |
Notes
edit- ^ While Carl Magnus Palm's source indicates that all ABBA members contributed to vocals, the original EMI Columbia issue of the album, Frida, does not indicate the credits of the ABBA members (except Benny Andersson, who, according to the credits, contributed only in playing the piano, and producing the album.) on vocals.
References
editCitations
edit- ^ a b c d Palm 2010.
- ^ a b c Eder, Bruce. "FRIDA Review". AllMusic. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
- ^ a b "RHINO ANNOUNCES EXCLUSIVE VINYL OFFERINGS FOR RECORD STORE DAY 2017". Rhino Entertainment. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
- ^ a b c "Sverigetopplistan – Sveriges Officiella Topplista". Sverigetopplistan. Retrieved 28 April 2017. Search 'ANNI-FRID LYNGSTAD', find the album, and click 'visa'.
- ^ "X-Level Studios: History". X-Level Studios. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
- ^ a b c d e EMI Records 1997.
- ^ a b "Frida: The Early Years". Rafael and Stefans'. Retrieved 24 November 2016.
- ^ "ABBA Frida The Long And Winding Road unreleased Beatles cover #rare". YouTube. 21 December 2013. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021. Retrieved 22 November 2016.
- ^ a b c "The Frida Solo Albums". Polar Music International AB. Archived from the original on 14 December 2017. Retrieved 21 March 2017.
- ^ Larkin 2006, p. 610.
- ^ "Svensktoppen: 1971". Sveriges Radio. Retrieved 24 November 2016.
- ^ Columbia EMI 1972.
- ^ Columbia EMI 1974.
- ^ "Anni-Frid Lyngstad - Frida". Record Store Day. Retrieved 21 March 2017.
- ^ Columbia EMI 1971.
Sources
edit- Palm, Carl Magnus (26 August 2010). "English translation of liner notes: Frida 1967-1972". Translated by Peterson, Sven Åke; Whittingham, Grant. Archived from the original on 27 March 2019. Retrieved 6 January 2025.
- EMI Records (1997). Frida 1967-1972 (Track listing and liner notes; compact disc). Anni-Frid Lyngstad. Stockholm, Sweden: EMI Svenska AB. 7243 859360 2 9.
- Columbia EMI (1971). Frida (Track listing and liner notes; first edition LP). Anni-Frid Lyngstad. Stockholm, Sweden: EMI / The Gramophone Co. Ltd (Sweden). 4E 062-34360.
- Columbia EMI (1972). Frida: Svensktoppssuccen "MIN EGEN STAD" finns även på denna LP (Track listing and liner notes; second edition). Anni-Frid Lyngstad. Stockholm, Sweden: EMI / The Gramophone Co. Ltd (Sweden). 4E 054-34549.
- Columbia EMI (1974). Frida: EMI:s Stjärnserie Vol. 7 (Track listing and liner notes; EMI:s Stjärnserie edition). Anni-Frid Lyngstad. Stockholm, Sweden: Electric & Musical Industries LTD Svenska AB. 4E 054-34549.
- Larkin, Colin, ed. (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 3 (4th ed.). Muze and Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-531373-9.