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1983-2003 | 2004-2008 | 2009-2015 | 2016-present | Ring Ring | Waterloo | Abba | Arrival | The Album | Voulez-Vous | Gracias Por La Musica | Super Trouper | The Visitors | Articles | Viggsö | ABBA at Christmas | Home
1981-01-18 Backing tracks of 'Hovas
Vittne', 'Salute to Stig' ,'Tivedshambo' (instrumental).
1981-01-19 Backing tracks for Finn
Kalvik 2nd album. Backing vocals by Agnetha and Frida.
1981-01-20 Work on 'Hovas Vittne' and
'Tivedshambo'.
1981-01-25 Stig turns 50 with a huge
party at his house in Djugarden and also the release of the single
'Hovas Vittne' - 'Tivedshambo' today.
Surprise party at Stig's house on the
morning of the 25th, 1981
ABBA at Stig's 50th birthday
Hovas Vittne cover
1981-01-29 Björn and Benny go to New
York visiting several musicals on Broadway.
February:
1981-02-02 Benny and Björn on
'Tonight's Show' on NBC. They also meet people from the Atlantic
label and Dick Cavett.
1981-02-03. Official Press Release from
Polar Music AB about promotional activities for the Super Trouper LP
1981-02-10 Start songwriting sessions
of what became later 'Slipping Through My Fingers', 'When All Is Said
And Done' and 'Two For The Price Of One'.
1981-02-12 Benny and Frida are
divorcing.
March:
1981-03-16 Backing tracks of 'When All
Is Said And Done', 'Slipping Through My Fingers', 'Nationalsang', a
working title of 'Anthem' 'Two For The Price Of One', and 'VM', a
working title of 'Fanfare'.
1981-03-19 Last day of recording
tracks of previous days.
April:
1981-04-03 Recording violin overdubs
for 'When All Is Said And Done'.
1981-04-08 Percussion and horn
overdubs for 'Two For The Price Of One'.
1981-04-09 Mixing 'When All Is Said
And Done'.
1981-04-10 Mixing 'Slipping Through My
Fingers'.
1981-04-11 Mixing 'Two For The Price
Of One'.
1981-04-12 Mixing 'When All Is Said
And Done'.
1981-04-25 Concert rehearsals of 'Dick
Cavett Meets ABBA' in the Europa Film Studio.
1981-04-26 Concert rehearsals of 'Dick
Cavett Meets ABBA' in Europa film studio & taping of songs.
1981-04-27 Press Release from Polar
Music AB Rehearsals and filming of interview part with 'Dick Cavett'
including 'Don't Fence Me In'.
1981-04-28 Recording backing tracks
for 'Dick Cavett Meets ABBA'.
1981-04-29 Recording backing tracks for 'Dick Cavett Meets ABBA'.
May:
1982-05-05 Mixing the live tracks of
'Dick Cavett Meets ABBA' show.
1982-05-18 Recording demos for new
album.
1982-05-21 Last day of recording demos for new album.
1981-05-25 Backing tracks of 'I Am A
Musician', a working title of 'I Am A Seeker', a working title of 'I
Am The Seeker' and 'Givin' A Little Bit More'.
1981-05-26 Backing track of 'Another
Morning Without You', a working title of 'An Angel Walked Through My
Room', a working title of 'An Angel's Passing Through My Room', a
working title of 'Like An Angel Passing Through My Room' (version 1).
1981-05late Interview for Expressen:
the 'Opus 10' album is mentioned for the first time:
Opus 10
This article was published in the
Swedish paper EXPRESSEN on the 8th of June 1981. This is the first
time the album ‘Opus 10’ was mentioned.
ABBA IS SINGING THEIR 10th LP
ABBA is unique. In nearly 11 years
have Agnetha, Björn, Benny and Annifrid been working together.
During that time they have married, divorced and had some children-
not all of them together, but as couples - done a world success and
become the owner of bicycle factories, art collections, Stockholm’s
badhus and a couple of other real estate companies. Everything has
happen, everything has changed only one thing remains - their songs.
It’s the number of years that makes this group unique.
Other pop groups split up after a
while, with the exception of Rolling Stones, but not ABBA. Now they
are in the Studio again, this young people on their way to the middle
age(that’s 34 years now) and work on the new album. It will be the
10th since the start 1973. The Studio is placed in the old cinema
Riverside at Klara Sjö in the old Sport Palace. It’s ingeniously
planned. The entrance is full of gold records from all over the
world. Even some art are on the walls. On the second floor, on the
balcony, there seems to be a recording session going on. But in this
studio with blue and yellow walls the members of ABBA is sitting in a
chaos of microphones, flexes, grand pianos, organs and acoustic
guitars and making a new album. Benny has red trousers, Angetha’s
a flowered dress. Five songs are finished and recorded but we are
not allowed to hear any, since everything should explode at the same
time. Profile on the record. To early to say.
NOT FUNNY
We are allowed to take the pictures,
but everything is in a hurry. The boys are to continue with the
mixing, the girls are on their way to a möhippa (girl’s party
given for a bride-to-be shortly before her wedding). Outside a pop
magazine from Switzerland is waiting with golden hammers and golden
Christmas men and other strange pop mag stuff. The members of ABBA
do what they should but you could easily see that they don’t like
it, especially Benny and Frida. Publicity can be hard. Nine albums
so far, the tenth on its way. This is the cart of themselves:
1) Super Trouper
2) Greatest Hits I
3) Arrival
4) Greatest Hits II
The last record has been the most
successful so far. Could it be five millions. Görel at Polar can’t
confirm since no one knows, the record is still selling. Will ‘Opus
10’ beat them all? Björn Ulveaus says: - Hard to tell. Of course
we want to make a record as good as the last one. If not better.
LYRICS WITH MEANING
Ulveaus is happy for the ‘Super
Trouper’ and that some critics has discovered the lyrics. - We
wanted to prove that we could make good lyrics (even if it’s
difficult to understand why a pop song should be profound) Very
difficult to understand for this reporter. How would ‘Anna du kan
väl stanna’ (Anna can’t you stay with me) have sounded with a
meaningful lyric. We asked Ulveaus to describe the songs they are
recording this day. After some hesitation he says: - An angel is
passing through my room. Type? - Ballad. Where did you write it.
Home, in the studio. on the famous island in the Stockholm
archipelago? - I believe it’s made here in the studio. We started
to write songs in March and have made half of an album so far. We
have had some breaks and now it’s summertime so the rest has to
wait for the August - September. We have many songs unwritten. It’s
nice not to be in a hurry. We don’t have to release the album any
special season or holiday. - But we are working hard. Inspiration?
Yes, if we work hard first.
Inspiration comes out of hard work, not
the other way around. When is it best, when half of the work is
done? - When we have made the hook line, the hook that will make the
public sing along. The melody and the words that will make
everything fly.
NO SPLIT RIGHT NOW
‘ABBA splits’ was the say on the
newspaper placard on our way to the Studio. ABBA will split up some
day, anything else would be against nature and all art crafts laws,
but at the moment there will be no split up, not this summer or
autumn, ABBA is now working in the Studio with a record in the old
Sport Palace in Stockholm. Their private lives may be as they are,
but here in the Studio the magic comes alive when Benny starts to
play a song from the album before the last one and everyone starts to
sing along. When we are leaving we can see Björn and Benny in the
mixing room. Benny is hanging over the panel and Bjorn is lying in a
chair. Both are looking as if they weren’t there, both are
listening. An angel is passing through the room.
Translated by Håkan Borg - Sweden
June:
1981-06-03 Drum overdub for 'An
Angel's Passing Through My Room', a working title of 'Like An Angel
Passing Through My Room (version1).
1981-06-05 Recording 5 different
versions of 'Like An Angel Passing Through My Room' (version 1). In 2012 "From A Twinkling Star To A Passing Angel" was released, a collection of demo snippets: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWsXwFOFv9k
1981-06-20 ABBA on holiday in Sweden
from today until the beginning of August.
August:
1981-08-01 New song-writing sessions
this month by Björn & Benny.
1981-08-09 ABBA are interviewed on
American television live by satellite from the Polar Music Studios.
1981-08-18 Frida films 'Words of Love' for "Lite Gran I Orat"
1981-08-18 Frida films 'Words of Love' for "Lite Gran I Orat"
1981-08-29 Filming promotion clip'When All Is Said And Done' at the Filmbolaget studios in Solna and
outdoor scenes on and island of the Stockholm archipelago.
September:
1981-09-01 Backing tracks of unknown
track(s).
1981-09-02 Backing track of 'Head Over
Heels'.
1981-09-03 Backing track of 'I Let The
Music Speak'.
1981-09-04 Backing track of
'Underbar', a working title of 'Should I Laugh Or Cry'.
1981-09-08 Recording overdubs.
1981-09-09 Recording overdubs.
1981-09-12 ABBA in Bournemouth,
England for the CBS sales conference. Among the several people ABBA
met was Jaap Eggermont, the maker of the popular 'Stars On 45'
singles.
B & B with maker of the 'Stars on
45' ABBA medley
1981-09-13 New songwriting sessions by
Björn & Benny start today.
1981-09 'ABBA - The Movie'
premieres in Moscow. 'I've Been Waiting For You' and the 'ABBA's
kinky velvet bed' scene at the hotelroom is cut from the film. ABBA -
The Movie screens in Sovjet cinemas until February 1982.
ABBA - 'The Movie' premieres in
Moscou U.S.S.R.
October:
1981-10/11 Recording 'Opus 10' and
'Anthem' (Instrumental song)
1981-10-01 Mixing 'I Let The Music
Speak'.
1981-10-02 Mixing 'Should I Laugh Or
Cry' and 'Head Over Heels'.
1981-10-15 Backing track of '15:e
Oktober-Laten, a working title of 'Peasants', a working title of
'Soldiers'.
1981-10-21 Backing track of 'Nummer
1', a working title of 'Mi Amore', a working title of 'One Of Us'.
1981-10-22 Backing track of 'Den
Första', a working title of 'The Visitors (Cracking Up)'.
1981-10-23 Backing track 'Twinkle,
Twinkle', a working title of 'Like An Angel Passing Through My Room',
No. 2.
1981-10-29 Tape copying 'When All Is
Said And Done' to 32 track tape for more overdubs.
November:
1981-11-02 Mixing 'I Let The Music
Speak' and 'When All Is Said And Done'. ABBA are handed silver
Bravo-Otto 80 awards by this Germany magazine. Frida shows up with
her punky hairdo and Björn and Benny have a beard. Frida and Agnetha
appear on British daytime programme 'Razzmatazz' (ITV). They talk
about how they spend Christmas in Sweden.
1981-11-03 Mixing 'One Of Us'.
1981-11-04 Mixing 'The Visitors'.
1981-11-07 Mixing 'Soldiers'.
1981-11-08 Recording 'Like An Angel
Passing Through My Room' No. 3, a working title of 'Like An Angel
Passing Through My Room.
1981-11-10 Mixing 'Like An Angel
Passing Through My Room'.
1981-11-11 Mixing 'Like An Angel
Passing Through My Room'. The girls receive an award for 'Super
Trouper' being best produced and recorded Swedish album. The boys
are too busy working on The Visitors.
1981-11-12 Mixing 'Head Over Heels'
and 'One of Us'.
1981-11-13 Mixing 'One Of Us', 'Like
An Angel Passing through My Room', 'When all is said an done' and
'Two For The Price Of One'.
1981-11-14 Mixing 'Soldiers'.
1981-11 Fotoshoot LP cover 'The
Visitors' and single cover of 'One Of Us' in a museum in Stockholm. Alternative version before Benny
arrived at the set Alternative pose before Benny arrived at the set
1981-11-23 Fiming promotion clip of
'One Of Us' at Lasse Hallström's flat.
1981-11-24 Spanish vocals for 'No Hay
A Quien Culpar' and 'Se Me Esta Escapando'.
1981-11-25 ABBA give a press
conference in Stockholm to annouce the release of 'The Visitors'.
1981-11late. Mies Bouwman (Dutch female
tv-host) has interview with Frida and Agnetha in Stockholm about
'The Visitors' and the near future.
Agnetha and Frida on Dutch tvThe girls
interviewed for Dutch television
1981-11-27 Filming videos of 'No Hay A
Quien Culpar' and 'Se Me Esta Escapando', including scenes for the
One Of Us video with the foursome together.
1981-11-30 Release LP 'The Visitors'
in Sweden.
December:
1981-12 ABBA receive the Ampex
Golden Reel award for the 'Super Trouper' album at the Polar Music
Studios.
1981-12 For the promotion of the
'Visitors' album in Latin-America, an Argentinian fllmcrew comes over
to Stockholm to do a special on ABBA 'La Casa Indiscreta': Low quality video Part 1, part 2, part 3 and part 4.
ABBA on 'La Casa
Indiscreta'
1981-12-07 Release single 'One Of Us',
'Should I Laugh Or Cry'.
1981-12-08. Official press release from
Polar Music AB about the promotion of 'The Visitors' LP
1981-12-11 Release LP 'The Visitors'
ABBA have now left their studios in
Stockholm and are happy to present their tenth album (if you include
"Greatest Hits Vol. 1 + 2") called "The Visitors"
with nine new tracks on it. This LP has been recorded and mixed
digitally in Polar Music Studios, and is already released in many
countries. The release date for most countries in Europe was November
30th, in the US and Canada December 7th and in Australia and in Japan
it will also be released before Christmas. The single -
which is being released simultaneously
with the LP - is "One Of Us" c/w "Should I Laugh Or
Cry" in all territories except for the US and Canada, where the
single reelase will be "When All Is Said And Done" c/w
"Should I Laugh Or Cry". The b-side is not included in the
LP.
Two of the songs from the LP - "When
All Is Said and Done" and "Slipping Through My Fingers"
have already been recorded in Spanish and will be included in the LP
when released in all Spanish speaking territories. The Spanish lyrics
("No Hay A Quien Culpar" and "Se Me Esta Escapando")
are as usual written by Buddy Mary McCluskey. The LP is scheduled for
release in Mexico, Latin- and South America before Christmas.
There are three promo films available
from this LP on 2 video: "When All Is Said And Done", "One
Of Us" and "No Hay A Quien Culpar" / Spanish version
of "When All Is Said And Done". These are available at
copying cost (Skr 1000:- plus freight) from our office.
The reaction for this new LP has been
fantastic. Here are some of the headlines: "New ABBA LP - The
Best So Far" / "ABBA's new - A Genuine Pop-LP" / "The
Visitors - A Real Adventure" / "A Sure Hit-LP" / "The
Visitors - A Very Strong LP" /"A New And More Personal
Profile" / "ABBA's LP - The Hit Of The Year" etc etc.
The advance orders and the sales so far
show the same reaction. Advance orders in Scandinavia 300.000 units,
in England 700.000 units, in Holland 110.000 units, in Germany
600.000 units, in France 250.000 units, in the US 500.000 units and
so on. The LP has entereed the Dutch charts at No. 6, and the single
"One Of Us" at No. 18. And there will be more "results"
like these!!
ABBA have done some press and TV after
the release of the LP. They had a very successful meeting with the
Foreign Press Association in Stockholm, where they met with
journalists from all over the world - Russia, Korea, Italy, the US,
Egypt, Spain, England etc etc. They have also done some TV interviews
for England and Holland and will do the same for Argentina - just to
mention a few things. Apart from this, they are getting ready for the
Christmas Holiday., which they will spend with their families and
children.
Björn and Benny have not abandon the
idea of writing a musical, and maybe there will be time to start
working on this project next year. Frida will record a solo-LP in
English. This will be produced by Phil Collins and the recording will
take place in Polar Music Studios in Stockholm in March 82. The
Christmas LP with Agnetha and her daughter Linda (in Swedish) is a
great success and is now climbing the charts in Sweden. However,
these different activities will not effect ABBA as a group. They will
stay together and continue their successful work.
We take this opportunity to thank all
our friends for a very successful year, and we hope the co-operation
will be just as good also in 1982. And we wish you of course
A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW
YEAR.'
Stockholm December 8th 1981/Görel
Hanser
PS: Re: Piracy We understand that
somebody called Gary Salter is pressing ABBA records in the
Philippines on the WEA label and is exporting these records, marked
"Made In Canada", all over the world. (Our licensee in
Canada is WEA). We are of course watching this carefully, and we
understand from WEA there is a warrant out for the arrest of Gary
Salter for counterfeiting records in Canada. We would very much
appreciate you keeping an eye on this situation, also since there are
several other record labels and artists involved in this export.
1981-12-15 First meeting with Tim Rice
and other people from the musical business in a restaurant somewhere
in Stockholm.
