AGNETHA FÄLTSKOG: WRAP YOUR ARMS AROUND ME (1983)
1) The Heat Is On; 2) Can't
Shake Loose; 3) Shame; 4) Stay; 5) Once Burned, Twice Shy; 6) Mr. Persuasion;
7) Wrap Your Arms Around Me; 8) To Love; 9) I Wish Tonight Could Last Forever;
9) Man; 10) Take Good Care Of Your Children; 11) Stand By My Side.
To be perfectly precise, the solo career of
Agnetha Fältskog began as early as 1968 (yes, let us not forget that ABBA were
ultimately another product of the late Sixties), and she had released a
whoppin' four solo LPs before
submerging her personality in ABBA's collective identity. From what I have
heard, those records had their hits and misses, but since I am really not interested in carrying out a
highly detailed survey of everything that the ABBA people did on their own, and
also since most of these records were really only targeted at the local Swedish
market, we will concentrate on the post-ABBA, internationally oriented products
only.
People who are not major fans of the band, and
are only willing to tolerate them for their melodic skills, but cringe at the
production values, general aura, and visual image, will probably fall back in
horror at the very idea of looking
into the post-ABBA solo careers of any of its members, let alone the girls, who
never did anything but sing and dance. To some extent, they may be right — but
in reality, the worst thing about the international solo careers of both
Agnetha and Frida is that they had the bad luck to sprout in the Eighties, a
pretty rotten decade for commercial pop in general. On the other hand, both
ladies had solid musical tastes, and knew well enough what it is that separates
a well-written and creatively performed song from a hackjob.
Consider this: Agnetha's first post-ABBA LP was
produced by Mike Chapman, the driving force behind such cheeseball artists as
Sweet, Smokie, and Suzi Quatro, but also responsible for such late-1970s pop
classics as Blondie's Parallel Lines
and The Knack's debut — just the sort of guy you'd want by your side in order
to put the magic touch on a bunch of catchy, harmless pop songs. And
songwriting is all over the place: Agnetha herself takes credit for one song
only (ʽManʼ), collecting «tributes» from all sorts of collaborators, the best
known of whom is probably Russ Ballard (of Argent fame), and making sure that
it does not all sound like ABBA. In
fact, very few songs here sound like ABBA.
The big hit was ʽThe Heat Is Onʼ, which is a
little surprising, considering that it was not all that differently arranged
and sung from the original 1979 version by Noosha Fox — talk about the
importance of public image and proper promotion, although Chapman's production
does shed some of the disco-era gloss and goes instead for a slightly
Latin-influenced carnivalesque atmosphere, which is kind of appropriate for a
hedonistic tune about proper summer relaxation. Still catchy after all these
years, I guess, though admittedly way
too shallow even for the ABBA level; but if you have any feeling for «party
music» at all, this one's for you.
Diversity is the key, though, as the party
spirit of ʽHeatʼ is immediately followed by the slightly paranoid spirit of the
Ballard-penned ʽCan't Shake Looseʼ, which even managed to chart in the
generally ABBA-unfriendly United States. Its electronic production dates it
fairly accurately, but the vocal melody is undeniably catchy, and the subject
matter (unbeatable sexual attraction) has always been right up Agnetha's alley
anyway. Melodic slide guitar serves as a solid heartstring-tugger on the dark
pop of ʽOnce Burned, Twice Shyʼ; ʽMr. Persuasionʼ is a spot-on retro Motown
imitation, with Agnetha doing a convincingly sexy imitation of young Diana Ross;
and the pop reggae rhythms of ʽTake Good Care Of Your Childrenʼ also lay the
foundation for a much better song than could be thought of based on the title —
most such songs are just sappy crap, but here the bluesy harmonica, the occasional
odd police whistle, and the deep background vocals add a pinch of suspense and even
impending danger.
The straightforward ballads are a different kind
of story: lacking the genius hooks of ABBA composers, they always run the risk
of being little other than generic mush. The title track, written by Chapman
himself, is way too deep in «Disney princess» territory; its vocal melody,
journeying across a tricky, challenging path, has some merit, but should have
been supported by something other than the old predictable «strings of
paradise». Agnetha's own ʽManʼ is a sincere attempt to write something in the
old ABBA style, and some of the vocal moves show that it may have been unfair
for Benny and Björn not to ever let the girls partage of the songwriting credits;
but the accompanying music, again, is completely non-descript.
Still, on the whole this is a pleasant
surprise. Stereotypical male chauvinist thinking tends to regard Agnetha as the
«dumb blonde» and Frida as the «risky redhead», and it is true that, artistically,
Frida's solo debut was a little bit more intriguing, but the question here is
not whether these albums show you the meaning of life — the question is whether
you are guaranteed to fall asleep on the third song, as it happens with so much
generic pop muzak, and Wrap Your Arms
Around Me, despite its generally uneven quality, is still very far from
what I'd call a typically boring album. Besides, if you get the deluxe edition,
one of the bonus tracks is ʽIt's So Nice To Be Richʼ, a tune recorded for a
1983 Swedish movie that has to count as one of the most hilariously campy
things to ever come out of the whole ABBA camp (sort of a spiritual successor
to ʽMoney Money Moneyʼ, only adapted to the Eighties' style). Thumbs up,
definitely.
"the best known of whom is probably Russ Ballard"
ReplyDeleteWhich puts this guy in a unique category: penning hitsingles both for Ritchie Blackmore and Agneta Faltskög - hits in the USA moreover, a market they previously found very difficult to crack. And that within a time frame of three years.
Well. I've always maintained that cheesy pop and asskicking metal are closer to each other than say Schönberg and Mozart.
Cheesy pop and asskicking metal certainly often have more in common than a cursory inspection might suggest; but then, so do Schoenberg and Mozart.
DeleteOther thoughts:
1. "People who are not major fans of the band... probably fall back in horror at the very idea of looking into the post-ABBA solo careers of any of its members..." Probably so, but that's their mistake. Anybody who has any receptivity to pop opera in the line of Jesus Christ Superstar needs to hear Chess and Kristina från Duvemåla.
2. I am somewhat embarrassed that Martin Chapman produced an album for Agnetha Fältskog and I never knew anything about it. On the other hand, I see the producer for the next album was Eric Stewart (maybe a good thing at some times, less likely to be so in 1985), and Pete Cetera after that, which fact terrifies me, as does the cover art.
MIKE Chapman, that is. Dear lord.
DeleteAhem, how about Peter Sinfield? Contributor to King Crimson and Celine Dion.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteAfaIk Sinfield didn't write music for King Crimson, only lyrics. Plus King Crimson did not have hitsingles.
DeleteActually, in the early 80's, King Crimson almost had a hit single with "Heartbeat". They even made a video, which got on to very light rotation on MTV and was even used as daytime filler on cable channels (before HBO and the like had 24 hour movie service).
Delete"the generally ABBA-unfriendly United States"
ReplyDeleteGod bless America!
"Well. I've always maintained that cheesy pop and asskicking metal are closer to each other than say Schönberg and Mozart."
look no further than Iron Maiden.
I just find it funny that Manfred Mann's Earth Band turned that bubbly pop song "The Heat is On" into the dark, paranoid track "On the Run" without actually changing that much.
ReplyDelete