CAAC presents Agnetha Faltskog on Saturday Songsausion, part I
For those who do not know today’s artist by name, don’t feel bad. I didn’t either. In fact, I’m not sure if I knew Agnetha by name when she sang with the 70s pop band, ABBA. Back in the fall, in an edition of Saturday Songsuasion, I shared the news that the group reunited for the first time in decades promoting their new album release. Naturally this made me curious to know more what happened with the band members after the group broke up in the early 80s.
In no particular order, I decide to research Agnetha Fältskog first. I think it’s because she is the prettiest of the two girls. ABBA was made of four artists, two married couples. Agnetha was married to band member, Björn Ulvaeus. They had two children during their seven year union. The one thing I wanted to know was, did Agnetha’s music career go beyond ABBA’s fame? To answer that question, yes she did and in this two part series, I am going to share five studio albums in English that Agnetha released from 1983 – 2013.
Let’s kick things off with her first post-ABBA album Wrap Your Arms Around Me in May 1983.
The album became a moderate hit in North America and Australia, but reached the higher regions of the charts across Europe, including No. 1 in Sweden, Norway, Finland, Belgium, and Denmark (where it became the biggest-selling album of the year), top 5 in Germany, The Netherlands and France and No. 18 in the UK. The album achieved sales of 1.5 million copies in the first year. Two singles from the album became hits in continental Europe: “The Heat Is On” became a No. 1 hit in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, and Belgium and No. 2 in The Netherlands and Germany. The song peaked at number 35 in the UK (and was Fältskog’s highest charting and only UK Top 40 hit until 2004). The album’s title track reached No. 1 in Belgium and peaked at No. 4 in the Netherlands. In North America, the album track “Can’t Shake Loose” was released as the lead-off single, reaching No. 29 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and No. 23 on the RPM Top 50 singles chart in Canada.
Next up came Agnetha’s second album release in March 1985, Eyes of a Woman.
The album sold well in parts of Europe, peaking at No. 2 in Sweden and reaching the Top 20 in Norway and Belgium, but scraped into the UK Top 40 just for one week. The album sold up to 800,000 copies. The self-penned lead single “I Won’t Let You Go” achieved moderate success in Europe, reaching No. 6 in Sweden, No. 18 in the Netherlands and No. 24 in West Germany.
Agnetha’s fourth (3rd English) post-ABBA album I Stand Alone came out in November 1987. Normally I do not pay too much attention to the producer but Peter Cetera is a name I know.
I Stand Alone was a minor hit in Europe, except in Sweden where it spent eight weeks at No. 1 and became the best-selling album of 1988. More than 300,000 copies were sold throughout Scandinavia. According to Hans Englund, the Swedish head of WEA, more than 800,000 copies were sold globally. However, chart-wise outside of Scandinavia, the results were less impressive.
The single “I Wasn’t The One (Who Said Goodbye)”, on which Fältskog duetted with Peter Cetera, was released primarily in North America, and became her second solo single to chart on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at No. 93. It was also a Top 20 Billboard Adult Contemporary hit. The track (along with “The Last Time” as “La Última Vez”) was also recorded in Spanish for the Latin American market as “Yo No Fui Quién Dijo Adiós”.
*quoted source: Wikipedia
Agnetha took a career break in 1988. In part 2, I’ll share with you things that may have played into her music hiatus and will share two more album playlists.
I haven’t forgotten about my mid-month BOTB. The results will post shortly. Watch for it to appear as a sticky at the top of my Home page. This CAAC signing off, stay tune for Monday’s Music Moves Me on Sunday with songs that compliment in honor of National Compliment Day and you’re invited to hit the dance floor. 
Have a songsational Saturday!
7 Comments
Birgit
You know me and ABBA-I love them. I enjoyed listening to all of these but, maybe I am biased, but I find that her voice really was used the best with the ABBA songs even though I enjoyed listening to these. I always liked Anni-Frid or “Frida” despite her poodle hair during their ABBA reign. I watched a documentary on WW2 children of Norway. I guess there were quite a few Norwegian women who fell in love or went out with German men in the army. No, they were not Nazis but we in the German Wehmacht. When the war ended and the German men had to leave, there were many women with small children and many pregnant in fear for their lives. I can’t recall the man hell bent to destroy anything German but he was high up in Norwegian politics or something akin to that. He ordered all women and the children to camps and all women who were pregnant to have an abortion. One young, pregnant woman with her mom, escaped to Sweden where she gave birth to Anna Frid! Unfortunately, the poor girl, Anna’s mom, died at the age of 21 from Kidney failure. Anna grew up with her grandmom. I can’t recall what that man did to the women and children who had German dads but I believe it was quite bad. I am trying to find info on this on google but can’t. It was quite the documentary.
Brian
We sure wouldn’t have known the name and we never really cared for Abba. She’s actually better solo.
Cathy Kennedy
Brian,
I agree, Agnetha is by far a better solo artist. I liked ABBA but she really does shine in these studio albums that I shared and I’m so happy that I decided to feature her first in this series.
messymimi's meanderings
They may not stay high on the charts after a career with a particular group, but singers gotta sing! Thanks for featuring the “what happened next” story.
Cathy Kennedy
Mimi,
I think it’s great when singers from popular groups go on to pursue their music career. Apparently, Aggie did quite well even if my radar wasn’t tuned to her success. I think I actually like her as a solo artist. This gave her a chance to really shine above ABBA’s fame. Thanks for joining me!
Thomas Anderson
Hi, Cathy!
Happy Songsuasion Saturday, dear friend!
I am very familiar with the name, the voice and the songs, because I have in my CD collection four of Agnetha Fältskog’s albums: Wrap Your Arms Around Me, Eyes of a Woman, I Stand Alone and My Colouring Book. Over the years I have posted several of these hits from Agnetha’s post-ABBA solo career. Many of her songs had slickly produced big budget mewsic videos to promote them.
On the first solo album, standout tracks include: “The Heat Is On,” “Can’t Shake Loose,” “Shame,” “Once Burned Twice Shy,” “Mr. Persuasion,” “Wrap Your Arms Around Me” and “Stand By My Side.” My favorite is “Stand By My Side” and I also very much like “Can’t Shake Loose” and “Once Burned.” This whole album could have been recorded by Olivia Newton-John because it suits her vocal style.
On the second album, the best songs, IMO, are: “One Way Love,” “Eyes of a Woman, “Just One Heart,” “I Won’t Let You Go,” “The Angels Cry,” “Click Track,” “Turn The World Around” “The Way You Are ” and “Fly Like The Eagle.” My favorites are “I Won’t Let You Go” which has that extended version plus a memorable mewsic video showing Agnetha at a gym surrounded by bodybuilders. The video for “Click Track” is edgy and also memorable.
The Peter Cetera produced third album boasts more excellent songs by Agnetha.. Best songs in this set are “The Last Time,” “Little White Secrets,” “Let It Shine,” “I Stand Alone’ and “If You Need Somebody Tonight.” My favorite is “I Stand Alone,” a very powerful song with a lush video. “If You Need Somebody Tonight” has always touched me deeply as well.
To me, these three albums are like “Greatest Hits’ compilations, because I know all the songs like the back of my hand. As you saw from my list, I have many favorites, and the videos were all great, too. “Aggie,” as fans call her, is my favorite member of ABBA. Along with a good number of ABBA CDs, I also have in my collection a few of their DVDs, including the one produced on their Australian tour. At a news conference during that tour, Aggie was asked by a reporter how she feels about her reputation as having the best butt of any female singer in the business. Aggie joked that she has never seen her butt, and therefore can’t answer the question. Aggie is only a few months younger than Shady D. It’s hard to believe, but she will be 72 years old in April.
You and I are in sync and in complete agreement about Aggie F, and I thank you for posting these three superb solo albums released during the 80s. Have a wonderful weekend, dear friend Cathy, and I’ll see you tamale for your Sunday 4M feature!
Cathy Kennedy
Tom,
I’m impressed that you already have these albums in your music library but I’m totally surprised. Your music knowledge is amazing. I learn much with each of your installments on SDPP. I appreciated you sharing that ABBA fans refer to Agnetha as “Aggie”. I don’t believe I read that Wiki but that tidbit might have been there. I had to laugh about her response to the question asked of her about her backside which I hadn’t heard before now. I’m a novice when it comes to songs, artists, …. Blogging allows me to learn and grow all the time. Aggie is 5-years and one day younger than my mother. 🙂 That’s neat that they almost share the same birth date. Thanks for checking out this weeks SS edition, my friend!