Frida ensam

Frida ensam is the second studio album by Swedish singer Anni-Frid Lyngstad. It was first released by Polar Music in 1975 while Lyngstad was a member of the pop group ABBA and produced by her then-fiancé and fellow ABBA member, Benny Andersson. It has since been re-released several times, most significantly in remastered form in 2005 with bonus tracks. The lead song was the original version of "Fernando" sung in Swedish by Lyngstad. The album was a huge success in Sweden and Lyngstad was awarded a platinum disc. The album is included in the box set, Frida – 4xCD 1xDVD. Background Frida ensam was recorded in KMH Studio and mixed at Metronome Studio, Stockholm. Benny Andersson plays all the pianos and keyboards, while the rest of the musicians are very much the same team who played on ABBA's records. First recordings and preparations started in 1974 but, due to the rising popularity of ABBA, the album took over 18 months to complete and was recorded between sessions and promotion for the ABBA albums Waterloo and ABBA. Content Frida ensam opens with Lyngstad's Swedish solo version of "Fernando" which was not released as a single in Sweden, so that those who wanted it had to buy the album. (It was however released by Polar as a single in Norway but did not reach the charts there). The song was written so that the album would contain something unique and new. This was a song with a great hit potential (being practically a new ABBA song) and this clever decision led to the album selling 130,000 copies. The song became the most popular track on the album and it spent nine weeks at #1 on Svensktoppen (a chart of Swedish songs on Sveriges radio not based on sales). The English version recorded by ABBA became one of the group's biggest hits. The English version, with completely different lyrics by Björn Ulvaeus, presents a vision of nostalgia for two veterans reminiscing in old age about a lost battle in which they participated. "I wrote all the songs as little stories. "Fernando" was about two old freedom-fighters from the war between Texas and Mexico. I was lying outside one summer night, looking at the stars and it suddenly came to me". This quote indicates that an English version was always foreseen as the summer referred to must be the summer of 1975. With the exception of "Fernando", all the other songs are cover versions, showing Lyngstad's and Andersson's fairly eclectic taste in music.