Customer Reviews

Wrap Your Arms Around Me

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

It's less money than the original release, and has been remastered with 5 bonus tracks, including the 12" version of The Heat is On. The 5 bonus tracks not listed here on amazon are:

13. Never Again (3:54)
14. it's so nice to be rich (3:41)
15. P&B (4:01)
16. the heat is on(super dance music mix)(7:58)
17. ya nunca mas (3:55)

When ABBA split (v. quietly in 1982/3), the two amazing singers who gave the band its identity and vocal magic, took very different career paths. Frida bravely opted for a harder-edged rock sound while Agnetha kept to the Bright'n'Shiny Pop side of the fence. This, her first international solo album stands out as her best. Everything was working: the bright pop songs, the look and, of course, Mike Chapman's glossy production (previous credits include Blondie's biggest hits). Agnetha was in great voice - in fact, she would not shine as brightly on her subsequent solo albums. But I digress....

The stand-out tracks include the rock-lite 'Can't Shake Loose'. Penned by Russ Ballard, (who also wrote Frida's terrific hit 'I Know There's Something Going On') it became Agnetha's biggest US hit, reaching #29 on the Billboard chart. The title track, written by Mike Chapman & Holly Knight is another little gem. Agnetha wrote one song for the album, a gentle ballad called 'Man'. While it's not a masterpiece, it has real charm and the acoustic guitar & hammond arrangement compliment Agnetha's beautiful voice very well.

As with most solo outings by singers with famous bands, there is a fair amount of genre hopping, albeit the most lightweight in each category. There's rock ('Can't Shake Loose'); blues ('Take Good Care Of Your Children'); calypso (the rather tedious 'The Heat Is On'); 60s pop (the throwaway 'Mr.Persuasion'); and Manilow-esque balladry ('To Love' - a tad cloying, maybe).

But here's the surprising thing.... Agnetha always shunned overt sexuality in her image, preferring to cast a more romantic light on things. Yet this album almost casts her as a career strumpet. Take the the tousled Bananarama-in-a-brothel cover shot (where our Aggie seems to give us the 'come-hither') for example. And what about the sub-'Je T'aime' panting on the awful 'Stay'... Plus, the middle section of 'Wrap Your Arms Around Me', where Agnetha breathlessly exhorts her man as follows: 'circle your hips... that's the way... that's the way'. Given the importance she places on integrity, I'm just surprised that Agnetha indulged a style that is so much at odds with her persona.

Still, 'Wrap Your Arms Around Me' is, to my mind, Agnetha's best solo album. If you like your pop light, frothy and middle-of-the-road, give this one a whirl.

My ranking has nothing to do with the album itself. Of her four post abba releases, this one ranks as her BEST. Top vocal form, solid production. My beef with this cd is more technical than musical. Universal seems to have more issues "wrapped around" the release of this 2005 version:

1. Faulty remastering. listening to track 1 after the 11th second gives you the feeling that you're listening to tape that's been mishandled. I'm not the only one who observed this. in fact, universal music germany acknowledged this by replacing my product with a "version 03". as one of the tracks on the tracks on this cd would put it..."shame, shame, shame on you!"

2. while i'd give the folks in universal germany credit for replacing the cd quickly, the problem was never licked entirely - you would still hear the glitch, but its less audible this time. "can't shake loose" also suffered from the same problem. at one point in the song, you'd hear a slight "drop out" (like tape would sound when it is smudged) towards the end. the irony is, the cd was remastered by "masters of audio".

3. poor a&r - whose idea was it to include such inane tracks like "p&b" and "it's so nice to be rich"? not only are they mismatched as far as sonic quality is concerned, they don't fit in musically. and where is the u.s. remix of "can't shake loose" which peacked at the u.s. top 30? why wasn't THAT included?

This was Agnetha Fältskog's first solo album in English. I have the original Svenska (Swedish) LP on Polar. I made a backup on CD-R (that's legal). This was available in the US once (on Polydor), and "Can't Shake Loose" even went to #29 on Billboard here for a while, the same for "The Heat is On" in the UK and other territories until the heat was off. Australian producer Mike Chapman, best known for Blondie and half of the 1972-73 UK glam scene, produced and co-wrote some of this solo début.
When promoting the album in Deutschland, she said ABBA were taking a break. It was a hard act to follow. She had already been a star in her own right back in Sverige (Sweden), but it was different for the whole free world.
Bonus tracks include "Never Again" with former ABBA backing vocalist Tomas Ledin, "It's So Nice to Be Rich", never released in the Americas (probably because of its boastfulness), the B-side "P&B", from the film "Rakenstam", and a 12" version of "The Heat is On". Universal Chronicles ought to reissue this and other ABBA solo albums here so money doesn't have go to the EU or a third party. Also, some of the tracks are hard to find on mp3, legal or not. Recommended for die-hard fans.

Obviously the titles of this review sais it all. This is her best album. Better than ABBA,is some ways. This is more relaxed. Easy going and conceptual than some of the earlier ABBA albums. Agnetha lives up to her good voice and musical experience here. Good for her!

I recenetly purchased the remastered version of the album and I say that its worth waiting for. The Duet Never Again with Agnetha and Tomas Ledin is EXCELLENT. The other bonus tracks were a surprise and they were excellent too. I say that this album remaster is worth the wait.

Agnetha sure know hows to sing, doesn't she? Personally, I like Frida's voice better, but I think her vocals for ABBA were fantastic, and also on this album, she sings very well. However, the songs selected for her first after-ABBA solo album do not interest me at all. Maybe it's because they sound so old-fashioned to me. I often play ABBA and Frida, but Agnetha's solo work remains unplayed. Too bad, as she's a great singer. I recommend Voulez-Vous by ABBA for Agnetha's best songs.

Wrap Your Arms Around Me was recorded and produced after her breakup with Abba around 82/83 and is her first post ABBA solo album. The best tracks on this release are "The Heat is On" and "Can't Shake Loose". The sound is very similair to what early 80's popmusic sounded like. The photographs also breath an air of the early 80's with big hair and fashion that was typical for that era. Allmusic gave this album 4/5 and I do the same. 4/5.

Not to say Agnetha doesn't have her own style, but coming so soon after the breakup, the album has its ABBA influence in the complex arrangements. Missing is the gloom that pervaded ABBA from "The Visitors" onward. The level of variety, as shown below, proves that Agnetha isn't just a ballad singer.

MR PERSUASION This happy little number has an infectious, roller coaster beat right out of the Supremes, even the sax. Unfortunately, Agnetha processes her way through the short two and a half minutes, giving too much away to the strong backing singers. With a little more bounce and flirtation, a remake of this would be a quite danceable concert song.

CAN'T SHAKE LOOSE One of those rare rockers from Agnetha, Frida would be perfectly at home here, though her alto contralto might be a little strident up in this range. It has the strong instrumentals ABBA used to be criticized for. Still, Agnetha holds her own in the soaring chorus.

STAY In her ABBA days, Agnetha would have been all about pain and regret in this ballad. Freed of all that, this song is all about dreamy yearning.

THE HEAT IS ON If Mr Persuasion lacked flirtation, this caribbean-inspired tune has it aplenty. On the line "temperature is rising to fever pitch", Agnetha does a seemingly octave-jumping leap to the word "pitch". Talk about a playful come on.

Having such a confident launch out of tha ABBA legacy, this may be Agnetha's best effort.

This was Agnetha's first solo album to be sung in English. It was released right after the last ABBA records. Released worldwide(even in the USA)this was produced by British pop producer Michael Chapman. Many of the songs are good vehicles for Agnetha's voice. For that reason, this album appeals to some fans.

This album does not compare well to Agnetha's ABBA's records which was the standard some record buyers were using. Nor does it seem as personal as Agnetha's Swedish solo work ,perhaps, because only one of the songs here was written by Agnetha,the so-so song "Man". Agnetha found writing songs to be hard work by the 1980's and thus did not write many songs by this time. Yes,afolks she actually wrote most of the music for the songs on her 1970's Swedish solo albums.

The best songs here are probably "Can't Shake Loose", "The Heat
Is On" and the title track. But, I don't think any of the songs really impress me on this album.

Strangely a few of the songs ("Take Good Care of Your Children", "Once Burned Twice Shy", and "Stand By Your Side") have a sort of light soul sound.

If "Can't Shake Loose" sounds very similiar to Frida's "Something Going On" it's because both songs were written by Russ Ballard. Oddly, both these songs got played by American Album orientated rock stations (the stations that would play Van Halen or Led Zeppelin that would never play ABBA)..

The most amusing song here is "Mr. Persuasion" which sounds like it would make a good song for a exercise video with it's "You take me UP, DOWN chorus. It also has a great line-"Well have a mind but I put it on vacation"...

This album was recorded at Polar in January to March 1983 by ABBA Engineer Michael Tretow. Some ABBA band people like the ever-faithful Bass player Rutger Gunnarsson played on it.

There was some debate as to whether or not to use Agnetha's last name on the cover. Record Companies wondered whether DJ's would be able to say Aggie's last name. In the end she decided that her last name would stay. After all, people probably couldn't her say her first name correctly either and "ANNA" wasn't an option at this point in the game.

I am amazed that somebody can be the most prominent member of a group that sells 300 million records and still Professional DJ's dont know to say her name!

The 2005 remaster features two songs recorded for a movie called P&B those songs are "It's So Nice To Be Rich" (A-side, P&B (b-side),as well as two versions of her duet with Tomas Ledin called "Never Again" and a dance mix of "The Heat Is On".