ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

‘Frida Ensam’: How The ABBA Star Made Bowie And The Beach Boys Hers

Featuring a solo version of ABBA’s ‘Fernando,’ along with covers of David Bowie, The Beach Boys and 10cc, ‘Frida Ensam’ is a pop album touched with ABBA magic.

Published on

Frida Ensam album cover web optimised 820
Cover: Courtesy of Polar Music

The canny marketing hook of launching Frida’s second solo album – and the first to be recorded while a member of ABBA – with a new song that would later give her band a worldwide No. 1 was a stroke of genius. Her solo version of “Fernando” was never issued commercially as a standalone single in her home country, forcing anyone wanting to own a copy of the substantial radio hit to go out and buy the 11-track album, Frida Ensam, which, released on November 10, 1975, would eventually sell around 130,000 copies. Only in the neighboring Norway did “Fernando” make a single release, but there it surprisingly failed to chart, making it today one of the rarest ABBA-related 7” singles prized by collectors.

Listen to Frida Ensam on Apple Music and Spotify.

Frida Ensam (Frida Alone) was recorded in stops and starts across 18 months as the juggernaut that was ABBA interrupted sessions 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 collection of covers reflecting the couple’s eclectic musical tastes. The high drama of Italian power ballads such as “Anima Mia,” which had been released a couple of years earlier by Cugini Di Campagna, was balanced by more familiar, lighter fare such as a version of 10cc’s “The Wall Street Shuffle.”

Like all covers projects, fresh interpretation can be a mixed blessing and, for songs as familiar as Gary Puckett And The Union Gap’s “Young Girl” (as “Jag är mej själv nu”) – a worldwide hit in 1968 – its remodeling as a mournful ballad drifting across a light calypso orchestration is surprising. On David Bowie’s “Life On Mars?” (“Liv på mars?”) there’s less attempt to mix things around, and it’s as strong a cover as any of this much-cherished classic. The Beach Boys’ “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” (“Skulle de’ va’ skönt”) is another fairly straight treatment that lifts all of its lighter pop sensibilities to the surface and, on this interpretation, might so easily have come from the Benny and Björn songbook.

Click to load video

The Swedish lyrics – the entire album is recorded in Frida’s first language – make for an interesting contrast. “The Wall Street Shuffle” is reimagined as “Guld och gröna ängar” (“Gold And Green Fields”), but other translations are more literal and, in truth, Frida’s powerful vocals carry this collection confidently, whether you speak the language or not.

Frida’s early success with schlager – the continental folk-pop that underpins much of ABBA’s music and maintains consistent popularity to this day – is evident here, but her haunting interpretation of “Send In The Clowns” (“Var är min clown”), from the Stephen Sondheim musical A Little Night Music, soars into a league of its own and showcases her sharp-as-crystal vocals to fantastic effect. The respected writer Theodor Kallifatides wrote of Frida, “Her voice captures notes as precisely as it does the listener’s hearts,” and this recording encapsulates that statement so succinctly.

Click to load video

For the unfamiliar, the central question concerning all solo ABBA projects is how closely they echo the supergroup’s spellbinding blueprint. Frida Ensam is a through and through pop album, and that once-in-a-generation voice let loose on a range of the familiar and less well known certainly makes for comfortable acclimatization. It was the chemistry of the four musicians that blended so spectacularly together, but there’s evidence aplenty that more than enough magic could be found in each quarter.

Frida Ensam can be bought here.

2 Comments

2 Comments

  1. William Overly

    August 22, 2018 at 2:47 pm

    This is a truly underrated performer. Always in the shadow of blonde bombshell
    Agnetha Faltskog, Frida was every bit as beautiful and talented. Her voice was a unique combination of sultriness and child-like sweetness which greatly enhanced ABBA and was obvious in her personal recordings. Now titled and wealthy, she is very private and philanthropic having endured some difficult and tragic events in her life.
    This is an exceptional woman.

    • Jen

      November 11, 2020 at 5:31 pm

      I agree with you.Princess Anni-Frid Lyngstad Reuss(Frida) is a beauty who has beautiful outside and inside.And she is a strong woman who inspires me and other lady(I’m a 22-year-old girl).Frida is beautiful,cool,humorous,lovely,lively,graceful,sunny,energitic,nifty,typical,honest,real,strong,grateful,kind and talented.I love Anni-Frid.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Billy Idol - Rebel Yell LP
Rebel Yell (40th Expanded Edition) (Marbled Limited Edition) 2LP
ORDER NOW
Def Leppard - Pyromania 2LP
Def Leppard
Pyromania 2LP
ORDER NOW
The Who - Live At Shea Stadium 1982 3LP
The Who
Live At Shea Stadium 1982 3LP
ORDER NOW
Keane - Hopes And Fears 20th Limited Edition 2LP
Keane
Hopes And Fears 20th Limited Edition 2LP
ORDER NOW
Abba - Waterloo 50th Anniversary
Abba - Waterloo 50th Anniversary (Limited Edition 3 x 7" Box Set)
ORDER NOW
Bob Marley - Songs Of Freedom Limited Edition 6LP Box Set
Bob Marley - Songs Of Freedom Limited Edition 6LP Box Set
ORDER NOW
uDiscover Music - Back To Top
uDiscover Music - Back To Top