Customer Reviews

1967-1972

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4 star:		(3)
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This brilliantly produced retrospective should be sent to record companies everywhere as a lesson in how to remaster and repackage old material. The digital remastering has produced clear and crisp results and the album design is stylish, informative and fun at the same time. It chronicles Frida's surprisingly unsuccessful pre-ABBA career with great pizzazz and documents the develpoment of a gifted vocalist. The singles and B-sides are programmed chronologically and are augmented by some really great tracks from Frida's first LP. The opening track, a zingy piece of 60s lounge music, features a shockingly mature voice and an excellent scat interlude. Hard to believe that this assured and accomplished result it is the first single by a 21-year-old. Like her British contemporary, Sandie Shaw, Frida covered a range of pop standards and international hits with an eye on the local charts and (just like Sandie) some choices work better than others. But what shines above everything is the voice: Frida's is one of the very few voices whose warmth is not diminished by her technical perfection. Standout tracks include her versions of Leonard Coen's "Suzanne", Benny & Bjorn's "Lycka" and the live version of "Barnen Sover". ABBA fans really should have this album in their collections. Wannabe pop star divas should listen and weep: voices this great only come along very rarely. Well done to EMI for this collection (even if, as I suspect, they issued it to cash in on the runaway success of the gorgeous "Djupa Andetag"). Viva Frida!

I have never written a review for Amazon before, but after listening to this album several times, I felt compelled to write one. I am a long-time ABBA fan, but being an ABBA fan is not necessary at all to enjoy this album. In fact, this doesn't sound like ABBA at all. Frida covers pop, jazz, and beautiful ballads. "Dreamy" is probably the best description for Frida's voice all throughout this album; I have never heard a more beautiful voice in my life than that on these recordings. Perhaps because on this album she's singing in her native language, or because of the material itself, or because she's not trying to harmonize with or work around Agnetha, there is no way that you can listen to any ABBA material and even get a sense of how beautiful Frida's voice is on this album. I read in another review that modern vocal divas would weep at their own incompetence in comparison to Frida's work on these songs. How absolutely true. Just lovely vocals that sound so completely natural and never forced with no yelling (Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, et al., take note). I have actually found it hard to listen to other vocalists after the standard set by this album. Very highly recommended. Knowledge of Swedish is absolutely unnecessary.

Norwegian born Anni-Frid Lyngstad was a wife and a mother of two when she won a national singing contest in September 1967. She had been singing jazz with various bands for ten years when she got that award which enabled her to sign her first recording contract with EMI. This double CD includes her complete work for EMI between 67 and 72 - before she changed to Polar Records as she was becoming one quarter of ABBA - the Swedish group that turned out to be the best seller of the Seventies - with 9 chart-topping singles in the UK between 1974 and 1980. Anni-Frid's early work (recorded in Swedish) reflects her evolution from her original jazzy feel to her meeting with her 2nd husband Benny Andersson who took up as her producer in 1970. The first single they did together was "Peter Pan", it was written by Benny & Bjšrn Ulvaeus : thus, one can consider it as an early incarnation of ABBA, with only Agnetha missing. Many Swedish covers of pop classics are included in "1967-1972" as well as some previously unreleased songs. This is a must for ABBA fans, but Anni-Frid is also a fine singer in her own rights. Her solo carreer was not over after that, but she took the more simple name of Frida for her later recordings. She recorded a Swedish LP for Polar in 1975 ("Eisam", a chart-topper in Sweden) and, when ABBA was over, two international LP's : "Something's Going On", produced by Phil Collins in 1982 and "Shine" produced by Steve Lillywhite in 1984. She made a Swedish come-back in 1996 with "Djupa Andetag" (Anderson Records).

It's a wonderful compilation! It's really very interesting to listen to Frida's early songs to see her evolution, the development of her career. The compilation includes 38 songs which are very different from one another. Well, not all of them are really good but some of them are masterpieces! I particularly love Tre kvart fran nu, En ton av tystnad, Barnen sover, Lycka, Min egen stad, Du var framling har igar, Mycket kar. Frida's early work presents all kinds of songs - pop music, jazz, ballads. Maybe some songs are too simple and naive but all of them are so charming and emotional! The voice of young Anni-Frid sounds so natural. That's what Carl Magnus Palm said in the liner notes from Frida 1967-72: «She had a very natural and relaxed quality in her voice, and a rare and underrated ability to hit every tone just right, and at the same time sound as she believes in what she is singing». Some songs were written by Benny and Bjorn (Lycka, Peter Pan, Vi ar alla bara barn i borjan) and the lyrics for Mycket kar, Sa synd du maste ga, Kom och sjung en sang were written by Stig Anderson. Benny, Bjorn and Agnetha did the back vocals on Vi ar alla bara barn i borjan/Kom och sjung en sang, which was Frida's last single for EMI. And these two songs sound very much like early ABBA works. This compilation is a must for every Frida's fan!

this retrospective of her years with the EMI Sweden gives the listener a peek at how she sounded before she became the 4th block on the abba monolith.

and while volumes have been written about her abba mate agnetha's soaring soprano range(but can only service pop material), anni frid shows how she can make the most of her mezzo soprano range with material ranging from covers of italian standards to jazz to schlagers to pure pop songs.

After hearing this compilation of Frida's early work (prior to ABBA), I have a much greater appreciation for this woman's vocal talent. The style here is much different than her work with ABBA or her two 80s solo pop albums. It largely features a combination of jazz and schlager music, which were very popular at the time. As others have said, don't be discouraged from purchasing this collection if you can't speak Swedish. It is quite easy to appreciate this music without understanding the lyrics. The songs are fun, dreamy, and backed by an excellent group of musicians. This album should be a part of any ABBA or Frida music collection, or for anyone who appreciates great female vocals.

This is an excellent history of Frida's earlier years. I don't understand Swedish but Frida's lovely voice makes up for that! Her version of the 1970 US hit "Love Grows (Where Rosemary Goes)" is great fun. A collector's item for anyone who used to dig ABBA in the Seventies.

This album sounds like teh muppets from space. Great fun, but not to be taken seriously. One starts to wonder why she got involved in ABBA. When they have a brilliant singer in the band why add a bad backing vocalist like Frida?