''Frida 1967–1972'' is a compilation album by Swedish singer

Anni-Frid Lyngstad Anni-Frid Synni Lyngstad (born 15 November 1945), also known simply as Frida, is a Swedish singer who is best known as one of the founding members and lead singers of the pop band ABBA. Courtesy titles ''Principality of Reuss-Gera, Princess Re ...

, released in 1997 by EMI Sweden. The album features Lyngstad's anthology of her solo recordings prior to

ABBA ABBA ( ) were a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. They are one of the most popular and successful musical groups of all time, and are one of the List ...

, which includes the A and B sides of ten 7" singles, and rare television and radio performances from this period, as well as her debut album, ''

Frida Frida, Frieda, or Freida may refer to: People and fictional characters *Frida (given name), any of several people or characters ** *Frieda (surname), any of several people or characters *Afroditi Frida (born 1964), Greek singer *Frida (singer) ...

''.

Background

On 3 September 1967, Anni-Frid "Frida" Lyngstad won the national Swedish song contest "New Faces", arranged by record company EMI and held at

Skansen Skansen (; "the Sconce") is the oldest open-air museum and zoo in Sweden located on the island Djurgården in Stockholm, Sweden. It was opened on 11 October 1891 by Artur Hazelius (1833–1901) to show the way of life in the different parts ...

, Stockholm. The first prize was a recording contract with EMI Sweden. A secret for the winner, not known to Frida, was to perform the song live in a major TV show the same evening. This happened on the same day Sweden went from driving on the left hand to the right hand. That Sunday evening in September 1967, Frida sang her winning song " En ledig dag" in the TV show. Her first TV appearance caused a big sensation that many record companies and composers got in touch with Frida. EMI started to fear they might lose their new singer; on the next morning, EMI drove all the way from Stockholm to the town Eskilstuna and ended up in Frida's home with the recording contract for her to sign. EMI producer Olle Bergman said that "''We got so interested and fond of her, and I thought she had everything a person needs to become something''". During these early years, Lyngstad did many other radio and TV recordings in Sweden. Various performances can be found in '' Frida – The DVD'', but they are not included in ''Frida 1967-1972''. She spent five years at EMI Sweden before switching to the

Polar Music Polar Music is a Swedish record company founded in 1963 by Stig Anderson and his friend Bengt Bernhag. Background The first act that Polar Music signed was the Hootenanny Singers featuring Björn Ulvaeus. Polar eventually gained prosperity pr ...

label and joining

Benny Andersson Göran Bror Benny Andersson (; born 16 December 1946) is a Swedish musician, composer and producer best known as a member of the pop group ABBA and co-composer of the musicals ''Chess (musical), Chess'', ''Kristina från Duvemåla'', and ''Mamm ...

Björn Ulvaeus Björn Kristian Ulvaeus (; born 25 April 1945) is a Swedish musician, singer, songwriter, and producer best known as a member of the musical group ABBA. He is also the co-composer of the musicals ''Chess (musical), Chess'', ''Kristina från Duve ...

, and

Agnetha Fältskog Agneta Åse "Agnetha" Fältskog (; born 5 April 1950) is a Swedish singer, songwriter, and a former member of the pop group ABBA. She first achieved success in Sweden with the release of her 1968 Agnetha Fältskog (album), self-titled debut alb ...

to form

in 1972. On 11 September 1967, Frida went to Europa Film Studio in Stockholm and recorded "En ledig dag", which was done in one take. The same day, she also recorded the B-side, "Peter kom tillbaka", (Peter Come Back). Among all the songs here is her 1969 entry for

Melodifestivalen Melodifestivalen (; ) is an annual song competition organised by Swedish public broadcasters Sveriges Television (SVT) and Sveriges Radio (SR). It determines the country's representative for the Eurovision Song Contest, and has been staged almo ...

1969 with " Härlig är vår jord", where she finished fourth. Her first studio album ''

'' was also included in this compilation, which was produced by her then fiancé

, as well as her first No. 1 hit in Sweden with "Min egen stad", (My Own Town) in the

Svensktoppen ''Svensktoppen'' () is a weekly record chart airing on Sveriges Radio. Until January 2003, the songs had to be in the Swedish language. Svensktoppen has aired since 1962, except for the years 1982–1985. In the years leading up to the January 20 ...

chart. This release also includes clips from the press and critics from the time the songs and album were first released. Frida received welcoming praise from the critics, who especially noted the precision and versatility of Frida as a singer. The box set contains pictures of all the singles releases, and alternative photo shots which were never seen before. The bonus tracks on this compilation were recorded for TV. The ''Frida 1967-1972'' compilation saw the CD debut of the rare duet single "En kväll om sommar'n"/"Vi vet allt men nästan inget", (One Summer Evening/We Know Everything But Almost Nothing) with Lars Berghagen, recorded in the spring of 1971 to promote a Swedish summer tour in the

folkpark In Sweden, a folkpark (also called Folkets park; approximately "people's park" in English) is a public recreation space, usually featuring large grassed areas, trees, children's play facilities, etc. Most towns and cities have a folkpark. These pa ...

s, originally released on the

Polydor Polydor Limited, also known as Polydor Records, is a British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in ...

label. The live version of "Barnen sover", (The Children Are Sleeping) was recorded on 29 September 1970 for the radio show, ''Våra favoriter'' (Our Favourites). This was the very first public appearance of

and

as a quartet, shortly before their 'Festfolket' tour.

Reception

''Frida 1967-1972'' was released in 1997 by

EMI Records EMI Records (formerly EMI Records Ltd.) is a British multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was originally founded as a British flagship label by the music company EMI in 1972, and launched in January 1973 as the succes ...

. Writing for AllMusic, Bruce Eder lauded the compilation album and observed that Anni-Frid Lyngstad was set up to be "Sweden's answer to

Petula Clark Sally "Petula" Clark (born 15 November 1932) is a British singer, actress, and songwriter. She started her professional career as a child actor, child performer and has had the longest career of any British entertainer, spanning more than 85 y ...

" by her management, and deemed the earlier, "thicker" music production a poor fit; however, Eder was more favourable to Benny Andersson's "airy and open, light-textured yet distinctive" production works with Lyngstad.

Track listing

Production

Personnel * Olle Bergman – producer (disc one: tracks 1–12) * Benny Andersson – producer (disc one: tracks 13–16, disc two: tracks 1–7, 10–13) * Lars Berghagen – producer (disc two: tracks 8, 9) Production notes * Disc two, tracks 14–17 from Sveriges Radio's TV-show ''När stenkakan slog'', broadcast in 1970 * Disc two, track 18 from Sveriges Radio's radio show ''Våra favoriter'', broadcast in 1970

References

Sources

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Frida 1967-1972 1997 compilation albums Anni-Frid Lyngstad compilation albums