Sunday 10 May 2009

Pop Rocky, 1982: With ABBA, the fat is in the fire!

An article about ABBA's 1982 activities from German magazine Pop Rocky. According to this article, at this stage there were still plans for a new album in 1983 and even a tour.
Since weeks, ABBA’s own Polar Studios seem like a beehive. Every day from eleven a.m. until late in the evening the highly modern recording studios at Hamngatan 11 in Stockholm are occupied by Agnetha, Anni-Frid, Björn and Benny. Already in May, ABBA recorded two tracks, ‘Just Like That’ and ‘I Am The City’, for their new album that will appear early 1983. A while after that, Anni-Frid and Genesis-boss Phil Collins ensconced themselves in the studios for weeks and tinkered arduously on Anni-Frid’s second solo album ‘Something Is Going On’ that will be released worldwide on September 9. One of these days, the single ‘I Know There’s Something Going On’ will be released as an appetizer.
How did the collaboration between Anni-Frid and Phil come about?
“Well, Phil’s solo album ‘Face Value’ had an enormous impact on me,” Anni-Frid states, “and there was no doubt about it for me: Phil is the one for me! Our collaboration has exceeded my expectations. Phil is just wonderful! He’s also playing the drums on all tracks.”
At the moment, ABBA is together in the studio again and they are recording three to four further songs for the new album. And, as a sidestep, in October the double album ‘The Singles 1973-82’ will be released, containing all A-sides of the ABBA singles that were released up till now as well as two brand new tracks.
Perhaps the biggest surprise in ABBA’s ‘storm and stress’ period comes from Agnetha with her movie plans. In a few weeks time she will start filming her first motion picture. Agnetha is playing the daughter of a poor fisherman who falls in love with the notorious Swedish marriage fraud Gustav Raskenstam. The male leading part in this engaging comedy is being played by Gunnar Hellström, producer of the American hit series ‘Dallas’. If everything goes according to plan, actress Agnetha will be seen in our cinemas on the third day of Christmas, on December 26!
It isn’t a wonder that ABBA hardly had the time for a summer vacation with this busy schedule. For example, Agnetha and her police officer Torbjörn Brander went to their summer residence in Taxholm for a few days, about 50 kilometres north from Stockholm. According to Swedish newspaper reports, Agnetha and Torbjörn want to get married before too long, because both of them passionately want to have a baby together.
Anni-Frid and her boyfriend Bertil Hjert spent their summer holiday in the vicinity of Trosa (about 60 kilometres south from Stockholm). In that area is also Benny’s new summerhouse that he had built a few months ago for about 2 million German marks and where he has taken residence with his wife Mona and their seven-month-old son Ludvig. Last but not least, Björn and Lena Ulvaeus spent their first holiday together at Viggsö, ABBA’s own private island on the Stockholm coast.
After so much action in the ABBA camp, obviously there’s no talk at all anymore about a separation or internal conflicts. On the contrary, behind ABBA’s scenes they’re even whispering about a new tour...!

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