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Stikkan 50 - Hovas Vittne

Dick Cavett meets ABBA

ABBA photo sessions, June

Lay All Your Love On Me - 12"

A Wie ABBA - LP

When All Is Said and Done - video & photo sessions

ABBA in Bournemouth, September

The Visitors - press release & BRAVO sessions in Stockholm

One Of Us - the video

The Visitors - the LP release

Golden Reel Award /Agnetha & Frida on Dutch TV

Björn marries Lena

Björn married Lena Källesjö on 5 January 1981 in the church in Grythyttan. Only the priest Nils Gustav Sandback had known about the wedding since November 1980.

The bal at the Grand Hotel

The same day as Björn married Lena, Agnetha attended "The 13th day's bal" at the Grand Hotel in Stockholm. Swedish TV aired the whole event live. There were about 400 guests invited. Agnetha's daughter Linda was together with her father in Grythyttan that evening.

Hovas Vittne

The first musical event in 1981 that engaged ABBA was a recording session for... the birthday present for Stig turnning 50 on 25 January. ABBA recorded a song "Hovas Vittne" (Stig was born in a little town called Hova) with kind of funny text about Stig. Even a video in the Waterloo outfits was recorded at the Berns theatre in Stockholm. (go.to/ABBA-related places for more info)

Stikkan 50

The ABBA members were among the guests attending the birthday party at Stig's big house in Stockholm. ABBA arrived at 7 am. Björn and Benny went into Stikkan's villa Ekarnes through the window. The first present for Stikkan was a little cabaret with dance performed by among others Agnetha Fältskog, Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Görel Hanser, Lena Ulvaeus and Lillebil Ankarcrona. They sang songs especially written for Stikkan. The party continued a whole day.

Super Trouper - the single in Japan

The single "Super Trouper" was released in Japan in March 1981. Surprisingly the b-side featured "If It Wasn't for the Nights" from the 1979 album "Voulez-Vous". The single became a total flop on the Japanese hit chart where it stayed for 2 weeks reaching #93.

Super Trouper in Hungary and Romania

The Hungarian record company Pepita released the album "Super Trouper" at the beginning of 1981. The cover was almost the same as the international release with some slight changes. The album was released in a limited edition and was sold out within some hours.

ABBA fans in Romania did not have the same luck The album was not released there and only some copies from West Europa could be purchased on the black market for extremely high prices. It gave an idea to a female pop group "5T" to make a cover album with the songs from "Super Trouper". The album was entitled "Ploaia de lumina"  and it contained simply all 10 songs from "Super Trouper" in Romanian language. In this way Romanian fans received their own version of ABBA's latest album. Today the LP is very hard to find.

Eurovision Song Contest 1981

On 4 April 1981 the 27th edition of Eurovision Song Contest was held in Dublin (Ireland). The Polar Music boss Stig Anderson with his team was on spot and for the second time in the festival's history presented an artist who belonged to his record company - Finn Kalvik. Kalvik represented actually his home country Norway but his record contract was signed with Swedish Polar Music. Kalvik recorded his first Polar album "Kom ut kom fram" at the end of 1979. Benny Andersson was producer and Agnetha & Frida background singers on several songs on this album. The song chosen for Eurovision - "Aldri i livet" - was performed in English under the title "Here In My Heart". Kalvik's song received 0 points and took the last position... The winner was the British group Bucks Fizz. The single with the English version of the song was released in most European countries and the original Norwegian version was the first track on his second album produced by Benny Andersson and entitled "Natt og dag" (Night and day).

Stig Anderson in Dublin, April 4th

Super Trouper - the single in Brasil

At the beginning of 1981 the single "Super Trouper" b/w "On And On And On" was released by RCA in Brasil. The cover featured the same picture as on the album cover.

Dick Cavett meets ABBA - the TV show

The American journalist Dick Cavett arrived in Stockholm in April in order to do a TV-Special with the group. The show was divided into two parts. In the first part ABBA was a talking with the show host and answered Cavett's quite silly questions. In the second part ABBA performed several songs featuring two new tracks from the forthcoming album "Slipping Through My Fingers" and "Two for the Price of One". Even a new video "When All Is Said And Done" (recorded in August) was added when the show was broadcasted in September.

Behind the scene

Rehearsals

The photo session

The show

In the studio - May 1981

ABBA in "Daily Mirror"

One of the first ABBA interviews after Frida's and Benny's divorce was published by the British newspaper "Daily Mirror". The interview was made by Alan Markfield. Björn, Agnetha, Benny and Frida were interviewed separately and they were talking about their divorces and the future of ABBA. Björn said that he did not see any reason for ABBA to continue. He was still thinking about the kidnapping threads that they received at the end of 1980 as well as the John Lennon murder in December 80. He wanted to live more ordinary life and maybe to start writing for theatre.

Agnetha was described by Alan Markfield as a quiet, alone, blue-eyed angel. Nobody seemed to know that Agnetha smoked lots of cigarettes at that time as well as that she had a lot of phobias which made her life very limited. The divorce was very difficult for her and Björn and she cried when Björn married Lena. Even she thought that ABBA time was over.

Benny seemed to be most nervous of them all at the time of the interview. He smoked a lot of cigarettes during the interview. He said that his divorce from Frida was a horrible thing. One day he came back home and informed Frida that he had met another woman. After the separation Benny and Frida discussed the future of ABBA but they decided to go on and try to continue as a group. He thought though that the ABBA story would be over very soon. "I cannot imagine myself on stage when I am 45."

Frida was talking about a new man in her life. She said that Benny and herself were good friends and it was much easier to work together now. It was not so complicated to separate. We talked and talked and finally we decided how we would do.

Frida's arrival...

On 11 June Frida arrived in her own helicopter in Lidköping to attend the wedding of her good friends Charlotte Klingspor and Egon Zimmerman.

The photo session

Official 1981 photo session - the pictures were taken on 17 June.

Frida - the photo gallery

Benny - Midsummer session

Björn, Agnetha and Frida participated in some more photo sessions during spring and summer 1981.

The recording sessions - Frida trying to come in...

Polar Music Studios were closed not only for fans but even for ABBA members sometimes... Here is Frida trying to get in. The recording sessions continued in June 1981.

Very Best of ABBA - Japan

The double LP compilation "Very Best of ABBA" was released in Japan on 5 July 1981. The album contained 24 tracks including the forthcoming single release from the Super Trouper album: "Lay All Your Love On Me".

Starsound

At the beginning of 1981 the Dutch producer Jaap Eggermont started a musical project called "Starsound" which with help of male and female session singers recorded several medleys of world pop hits. The Starsound productions became very successful and they topped hit lists in both England, West Germany and other European countries. The first single performed by Starsound entitled "Stars on 45" was released in the UK in April and it stayed on the single chart for 14 weeks reaching #2. The follow-up "Stars on 45 Vol. 2" featured a medley of 7 ABBA hits: Voulez-Vous, SOS, Bang-A-Boomerang, Money Money Money, Knowing Me Knowing You, Fernando and The Winner Takes It All. The single entered the UK chart on 4 July 1981 where it was successful for coming 10 weeks peaking at #2. The ABBA medley recording was extremely well arranged and performed and it belongs to the best ABBA covers ever done.

The second album performed by Starsound entitled simply "Stars on 45 Vol. 2" was released in September 1981. The album featured the long version of ABBA medley with totally 14 ABBA songs. The LP version of the medley was extended with: Dum Dum Diddle, Lay All Your Love On Me, On and On and On, Summer Night City, Gimme Gimme Gimme and long version of Super Trouper.

Lay All Your Love On Me - 12"

The third single choice from "Super Trouper" was "Lay All Your Love On Me". The single was issued as 12" only which was quite unusual. Surprisingly "Lay All Your Love On Me" became a big summer hit in 1981 in Great Britain where it entered the chart on July 18th. The single stayed on the British chart for 7 weeks reaching #7. In West Germany the single was on the chart for 14 weeks and it reached #26. "Lay All Your Love On Me" was #8 in Ireland, #14 in Belgium and #18 in France. "On and On and On" was flip-side of "Lay All Your Love On Me", but in a few countries - incl. USA - it was promoted as the A-side.

The photo session

Two different shots - these photos were taken in 1980 and used on the 1981 12" release "Lay All Your Love On Me".

At the office

A Wie ABBA/A van ABBA - Germany, Holland

A new compilation album with ABBA's greatest hits including the latest ones from "Super Trouper" album was released in West Germany and Holland. This compilation topped the German and Dutch charts in the summer 1981. ABBA recorded a promotional video in front of the big A.

Slipping Through My Fingers - the single

"Slipping Through My Fingers" was released as a limited edition single sponsored by Coca-Cola in Japan.

Björn in Frankfurt

Björn represented ABBA on the formula 1 race at Hockenheimring near Frankfurt (Main). The race took place on Sunday 02 August 1981. ABBA sponsored the Swedish driver Slim Borgudd. He wasn`t successful and had to quit because of motor problems. (danke Birthe)

In the studio

A photo session was arranged in Polar Studios in Stockholm in August 1981. ABBA posed with a new music award from West Germany.

ABBA in German press - Summer 1981

When All Is Said And Done

On 29 August the video "When All Is Said And Done" was filmed. It was not difficult to understand that the song was about Frida's and Benny's divorce. The video was filmed in a studio and on the street outside the film studio in Solna and in Stockholm's archipelago. In the video Björn was seen for the first time with beard. But the beard disappeared two weeks later when ABBA went to UK (see below). Did it mean that Björn was quite unsure if the new image was good for him?

(go.to/ABBA related places for more info).

The famous ABBA purse - a hard-to-find item.

Bournemouth

On Saturday 12 September ABBA took a private jet from Arlanda in Stockholm and flew to Bournemouth on England's sunny South Coast. At 4.30 pm the plane landed at Herne airport. ABBA came to attend the CBS Sales Convention Dinner & Cocktail Evening at the "Carlton Hotel" in Bournemouth.

The group looked very well (see pictures below) and the boys wore ties (very untypical unless it's for a photo session). John Spalding (Bocu Music) and Judd Lander (Epic) were hosts for that evening and they tried to keep the presence of ABBA at the conference secret but it was impossible. The press monitored all the arrivals at Herne Airport and found out the arrival of a private plane from Sweden. A photographer was sent and we have today to thank the press for it.

The cocktail party and the dinner started after 7 pm at the Carlton Hotel. After the dinner and a couple of glass of wine everyone became more relaxed. Björn and Benny met the creator of the Dutch group Start on 45 Jaap Eggermont who recorded a medley of ABBA hits in the summer of 1981. Björn and Benny liked very much that interpretation of ABBA hits, which is probably still the best cover of ABBA hits ever done. Benny talked to Barbara Dickson who would play one of the roles in B & B's musical "Chess" three years later. Agnetha and Frida enjoyed the party drinking champagne and dancing in the disco. The party lasted whole night. Benny got asleep at 2 am but was shaken awake some minutes later but the others in ABBA. They fell asleep at 4.30 am.

Frida meets the press

In autumn 1981 Frida met the press and a new photo sessions were taken. The singer was interviewed about among others the show series "Lite grand i örat".

Olivia Newton-John in Stockholm

On 18 September the American pop star Olivia Newton-John came to Stockholm to promote her new album "Physical". The album would be released by Polar Music and a promotional meeting was arranged by Stikkan Anderson in his house Villa Ekarne in Stockholm. Anni-Frid represented ABBA at the dinner at the restaurant "Café Opera" on the same evening.

The Best of ABBA - the box

The 5 LP box entitled simply "The best of ABBA" was released in Great Britain in the autumn of 1981. More than 70 titles could be find on this edition - all from "Waterloo" to "Lay All Your Love On Me" which was the group's latest chart hit in UK. This release was even available on 3 cassettes.

Press Release, October 20, 1981

The original press release informing about the forthcoming album "The Visitors" and Polar Music headquarter moving from Baldersgatan to Hamngatan in Stockholm.

Bravo & Razzmatazz in Stockholm

The "Bravo" team from West Germany arrived in Stockholm on 2 November to do some photo sessions and award ABBA with silver Otto. Frida presented her new hair-do - a very modern in the beginning of 1980s "punk-look". Agnetha and Frida participated in the British TV programme "Razzamatazz" where they were talking about Swedish Christmas traditions.

Outside

Some rare pictures were taken in Hamngatan-street - just outside the Polar Music office. Two alternative shots have been found by raffem so far...

The Award

On 11 November Frida and Agnetha received the award from the Academy of Swedish Music for the best LP recorded in Sweden - "Super Trouper". Björn and Benny did not attend the reception as they were busy in the recording studio.

One of Us - the video

On 23 November the video "One of Us was filmed in Lasse Hallström's apartment in Stockholm. Agnetha was playing a woman who started a new life after divorce and who was moving in a new flat. Only Agnetha was filmed this day.

Agnetha even owned the album "Super Trouper" which can be seen on some photos taken during the filming of the video.

The "silver" session with Agnetha

One of Us - the photo session

Filming for "One of Us" video was continued in the film studios in Solna outside Stockholm on 27 November. Even a new photo session was taken on the spot. One of the shots would be used for the cover of the forthcoming single "Head Over Heels" in most of the countries except Great Britain.

No hay a quien culpar

On the same day an additional filming for the Spanish version of "When All Is Said And Done" was made.

go.to/Gracias Por La Musica

The album "The Visitors" was released on 30 November in Scandinavia and on 11 December in the UK. The cover picture was taken at the Julius Kronbergs atelje in Skansen, Stockholm (go.to/ABBA related places). 

The album "The Visitors" was released in two versions: the international one and the one for Spanish language territories where "When All Is Said And Done" and "Slipping Through My Fingers" were sung in Spanish. The album contained 9 songs.

The opening track "The Visitors" sung by Frida sounded very different to the previous ABBA productions. Frida sang about a fear and mystical visitors that she was waiting for. "Head Over Heels" was a much lighter piece of music which featured "happy" Agnetha singing about her friend living a jet-set life. It was rather obvious that Frida played the girl in the video to the song. "When All Is Said And Done" became "The Winner Takes It All Part 2" as it dealt with Frida and Benny's divorce with dramatic lead vocal delivered by Frida. The closing track on the side 1 "Soldiers" was performed by Agnetha and once again the lyrics were focusing on the cold war and the politics. The sound was heavy but the melody was quite catchy anyway. Probably one of the least known ABBA tracks outside the ABBA community, hidden behind the other songs on "The Visitors".

The opening track on the side 2 of the LP was one more surprise. "I Let The Music Speak" was a typical musical piece. It was probably the first real trial by Björn and Benny to create a musical sound before writing a real musical. Frida was singing lead vocal. This a little bit odd track was followed by the "typical ABBA song" with Agnetha's lead vocals - "One Of Us" - which was even the first hit single from the album. Quite strange selection for the release on the album was "Two For The Price Of One" sung by Björn. Probably "Should I Laugh Or Cry" would be much better choice instead of "Two For The Price of One" even if the song had quite funny lyrics. Next song "Slipping Through My Fingers" was a story about Linda, daughter to Agnetha and Björn and one more pop pearl on "The Visitors". The last song "Like An Angel Passing Through My Room" was very special and featured only Frida on vocals accompanied by Benny with his synthesizer sounding like a ticking clock. This track closed the album which was the last ABBA studio album.

Cassettes

"The Visitors" was released on cassette and on a limited edition CD.

Promo stuff

The photo session

The photo session for the album cover was taken in Julius Kronbergs Atelje in Skansen in Stockholm. Several alternative takes came out during the years. The basic 2 shots were released in 1981 on the album cover and on the single "One of Us" cover. The album version features Benny sitting and Björn standing whilst on the single shot B & B change places. More alternative shots from this session appeared in the books: "ABBA The Book" and "Ihre ganze Geschichte"/"On Speaking Terms".

Agnetha Fältskog about "The Visitors"

Most favorite track: "It is always hard to pick one. I like The Visitors very much because it is a bit original and different for us. I also like One of Us and When All Is Said and Done."

Which track did you enjoy making the most? "I think that was Slipping Through My Fingers. It felt very... "true" to do. The situation is like that with our daughter, when she goes to school. Although they are more or less Björn's thoughts, they are mine too I suppose. I think he has captured them very well."

About Head Over Heels: "It's different lyric, I think it is a very happy song. I can see this crazy girl in front of me. It felt very good to sing this song because it felt very cool I think you can hear that, it is a different way to sing. Who is she? It can be any girl, it's no-one special. Maybe Björn knows!"

About Soldiers: "Well I see the lyrics very seriously and I think every human being is a bit afraid of what can happen in the world. The situation does not feel too good. It's about the fear of what can happen."

About One Of Us video: "It was Lasse Hallström's idea to do the flat moving thing. It is his flat! We worked in there for one day and then we went to a studio and did the chorus. It's about a girl who has broken up from her man and she has to move into a new flat. Well that is also a serious song in a way. We had a lot of fun, like when I had to hang the pictures on the wall."

About Like An Angel Passing Through My Room: "I am not there at all. There is just a watch in the background which is really a keyboard. I think it is a strange number because you wait for something that never comes. You know we did two or three different backing tracks for that number and none of them came out that good. So we tried a lot of different sounds and things and nothing worked. Then they tried this very naked approach and I think it sounds a bit exciting, but I have a feeling that it doesn't happen, although I still like it. It is strong enough as a melody but I am not sure it has been given the right treatment.

(Source: International ABBA Magazine no. 5 April 82)

The lyrics

Polar Music Ad

Polar Music had ads in the Swedish press promoting the company's Christmas releases. The artists featured in the ads were among others: Agnetha and Linda with their Christmas album, ABBA with The Visitors and Olivia Newton-John.

"One of Us" - the single release

The first single promoting "The Visitors" was "One of Us" backed by a non-album track "Should I Laugh Or Cry". "One of Us" entered the German chart on December 14 and became no 1 on January 4th, 1982. Totally the single was present on the German chart for 22 weeks. In other countries in  Europe "One of Us" was present on the charts as follows: in Austria and Switzerland #3, Norway #6, Spain #7, France #8, Sweden #13 (only!) and Finland #17.

Epic in Great Britain released the "One Of Us" single with totally different cover in two versions: as an usual single and as a picture disc. The latter one contained a very special version of "Should I Laugh Or Cry" with Benny's voice saying "Ett, två, tre" (One, two, three) before the song starts! This rare version is only available on the picture disc (until autumn 2005 when it was released on CD in the ABBA Box The Complete Recordings). The single entered the chart on 12 December 1981 where it stayed for 10 weeks reaching #3.

One of Us in USA - see ABBA 1983 section.

When All Is Said and Done - the single in USA

The first single release from "The Visitors" in USA was "When All Is Said and Done" which was initially planned even for Europe. This dramatic song about Frida's and Benny's divorce became quite successful in USA when it entered the chart in January 1982. The single reached #27 as a top position. "When All Is Said and Done" reached #29 in Mexico and #81 in Australia.

No hay a quien culpar - the single

The Spanish language version of "When All Is Said and Done" - "No hay a quien culpar" was released at the beginning of 1982 in Spanish language territories in South America. Both arrangements and Frida's performance were quite different to the English version. On the B-side there was the English version of "One of Us" entitled in Spanish "Uno de nosotros".

La carta indiscreta - Argentinian TV special - December 1981

go.to/Gracias Por La Musica

Ampex Golden Reel

At the end of 1981 ABBA was awarded with the "Ampex Golden Reel" by the makers of Ampex Grand Master Studio Tape, the sort "Super Trouper" was recorded on. With the award came a monetary gift of one thousand dollars which ABBA forwarded to "Svenska Handikappsförbundet" (The Swedish Association for Disabled People). At a reception at Polar Studios ABBA together with their technicians and studio managers received their awards from Ampex's European Manger, Mr Gerhard Wick.

Agnetha and Frida on Dutch TV

Agnetha and Frida were interviewed by Dutch TV in December 1981. They were talking about the sales of their previous album "Super Trouper" and of course the latest one "The Visitors". Agnetha said of course a funny thing which was immediately corrected by Frida. The Dutch journalist asked when they started working on the latest album and Agnetha answered that "the boys started writing new songs at the END of THIS year...". Frida said "You mean at the BEGINNING of this year"... 

The girls received flowers and the video "One of Us" was shown at the end of the programme.