Something's Going On
Encyclopedia
Something's Going On was the first solo-album in English for ABBA
ABBA
ABBA was a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1970 which consisted of Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Agnetha Fältskog...

 singer Anni-Frid Lyngstad
Anni-Frid Lyngstad
Anni-Frid Prinzessin Reuss von Plauen , is a Norwegian-born Swedish pop singer...

 (Frida). Her previous albums had all been recorded in Swedish. Something's Going On was first released in 1982 and has since then been re-released several times, mainly in 2005 in re-mastered form with bonus tracks.
The promotion videos from this album, are included in the 3 hour documentary Frida - The DVD
Frida - The DVD
See also: Frida 1967–1972, Frida ensam, Something's Going On, Shine and Djupa andetag.Frida – The DVD is a 3½ hour documentary DVD, that covers the singing career of Anni-Frid Lyngstad, also known as Frida, one of the four members of Swedish pop group ABBA...

.

History

In 1982, Frida felt it was time to record a solo-album again, this time in English and aimed at the international market. ABBA were spending less and less time together. Going through her divorce from Andersson, Frida had heard Phil Collins' "In The Air Tonight
In the Air Tonight
"In the Air Tonight" is a song by Phil Collins that first appeared on his 1981 album Face Value. It was recorded in 1979 and was the first single of Collins' solo career, and remains one of his best-known hits. The music video, directed by Stuart Orme, was released in 1981.-The song/recording:The...

," and then "listened to the album (Face Value) non-stop for eight months." As Collins himself put it in a TV interview: "Frida and I had something in common as far as our divorces were concerned. We were both the injured party." Polar Music
Polar Music
Polar Music is a Swedish record company founded in 1963 by Stig Anderson and his friend Bengt Bernhag. The first act that it signed was the Hootenanny Singers featuring Björn Ulvaeus. Polar eventually gained prosperity producing Ulvæus' next group, international superstars ABBA...

 approached Collins, asking if he would be interested in producing Frida's new solo album. He accepted the offer, thus making this his second album to be recorded in the Polar Studios, the first being Genesis
Genesis (band)
Genesis are an English rock band that formed in 1967. The band currently comprises the longest-tenured members Tony Banks , Mike Rutherford and Phil Collins . Past members Peter Gabriel , Steve Hackett and Anthony Phillips , also played major roles in the band in its early years...

' Duke
Duke (album)
Duke is the tenth studio album by British band Genesis, released in March 1980.-Overview:The release of Duke followed solo albums by Genesis members Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford ....

(1980).

Polar Music sent out invitations to publishing companies around the world, announcing Frida's plans and asking for songs suitable for the project. The response was overwhelming; more than 500 songs came in to the Polar Music offices in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...

. Among the composers who made it to the album's final tracklist were Bryan Ferry
Bryan Ferry
Bryan Ferry, CBE is an English singer, musician, and songwriter. Ferry came to public prominence in the early 1970s as lead vocalist and principal songwriter with the band Roxy Music, who enjoyed a highly successful career with three number one albums and ten singles entering the top ten charts in...

, Stephen Bishop
Stephen Bishop
Stephen Bishop may refer to:* Stephen Bishop * Stephen Bishop , African American cave explorer* Stephen Bishop , U.S. musician...

, Rod Argent
Rod Argent
Rod Argent is an English rock musician and a founding member of the 1960s English pop group The Zombies and the 1970s band Argent....

 and Russ Ballard
Russ Ballard
Russell Glyn Ballard is an English singer, songwriter and musician.-Career:Ballard was initially a guitarist with Buster Meikle & The Day Breakers in 1961, together with Roy Ballard, Russ's older brother on piano and Bob Henrit on drums...

. The Giorgio Moroder
Giorgio Moroder
Hansjörg "Giorgio" Moroder is an Italian record producer, songwriter and performer based in Los Angeles. When in Munich in the 1970s, he started his own record label called Oasis Records, which several years later became a subdivision of Casablanca Records...

/Pete Bellotte
Pete Bellotte
Peter J. Bellotte is a British songwriter and record producer, most famous for hismain body of work with Donna Summer alongside his partner Giorgio Moroder...

 composition "To Turn The Stone" was originally written for Donna Summer
Donna Summer
LaDonna Adrian Gaines , known by her stage name, Donna Summer, is an American singer/songwriter who gained prominence during the disco era of the 1970s. She has a mezzo-soprano vocal range. Summer is a five-time Grammy winner and was the first artist to have three consecutive double albums reach...

's 1981 album I'm a Rainbow - a double set for Geffen Records
Geffen Records
Geffen Records is an American record label, owned by Universal Music Group, and operated as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group.-Beginnings:...

 which for various reasons would remain in the archives until 1996. Frida also asked Per Gessle
Per Gessle
Per Håkan Gessle is a Swedish pop singer-songwriter, guitarist, and harmonicist. He is the lead singer of the Swedish pop group Gyllene Tider and formed Roxette with Marie Fredriksson...

, later of Roxette
Roxette
Roxette are a Swedish pop music duo, consisting of Marie Fredriksson and Per Gessle . Formed in 1986, the duo became an international act from the late 1980s, when they released their breakthrough album Look Sharp!...

, to set Dorothy Parker
Dorothy Parker
Dorothy Parker was an American poet, short story writer, critic and satirist, best known for her wit, wisecracks, and eye for 20th century urban foibles....

's bittersweet poem "Threnody" to music. A re-interpretation of the Face Value track "You Know What I Mean" - a song especially close to her heart, both musically and lyrically - was also included. The song "Here We'll Stay" had previously been recorded and performed by singer Sonia Jones for the UK pre-selection for Eurovision Song Contest
Eurovision Song Contest
The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual competition held among active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union .Each member country submits a song to be performed on live television and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition...

 1980 http://www.carlmagnuspalm.com/abba/ovrigt/updcrs.html. On the album, it was recorded as a duet with Phil Collins although he wasn't credited. When it was decided to release the song as a single in 1983, Collins declined to be associated with the track, and Frida re-recorded the song as a solo version.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOH1gtEVzzs

Recording

Recording began in the Polar Studios, Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...

, on February 15, 1982 and continued until March 31. Earth Wind & Fire's horn players (the Phenix Horns
Phenix Horns
are Earth, Wind & Fire, Phil Collins and Genesis's brass main section. The four members were Don Myrick on saxophones, Louis "Lui Lui" Satterfield on trombone, Rahmlee Michael Davis on trumpet and Michael Harris on trumpet.-The Pharaohs:...

) - also an important part of the Face Value album - came to Stockholm for a two day visit. Strings, orchestra, and harp were later recorded at Sir George Martin
George Martin
Sir George Henry Martin CBE is an English record producer, arranger, composer and musician. He is sometimes referred to as "the Fifth Beatle"— a title that he often describes as "nonsense," but the fact remains that he served as producer on all but one of The Beatles' original albums...

's Air Studios in London in the attendance of both Martin and Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...

. Produced at a time when most commercial recordings still used only analog technology, the album was one of the few to be both digitally recorded and mixed.

At the time of recording Something's Going On Frida wanted to distance herself from the "typical ABBA pop sound," (according to Lyngstad herself). She wanted to break away from being associated with the group and make a fresh start both as an artist and as an individual. The new songs, new musicians, and new producer gave Frida a new identity. Collins' production and especially his unique gated
Gated reverb
Gated reverb is an audio processing technique that is applied to recordings of drums to make the drums sound powerful and "punchy," while keeping the overall mix clean and transparent-sounding...

 drum sound heard throughout the album as well as the rough and raw guitar riffs of the lead single "I Know There's Something Going On" made it perfectly clear this was no lightweight ABBA record. All backing vocals were sung by Frida and Phil. The album closes with their duet "Here We'll Stay."

Swedish Television, SVT
Sveriges Television
Sveriges Television AB , Sweden's Television, is a national television broadcaster based in Sweden, funded by a compulsory fee to be paid by all television owners...

, documented this historical event, by filming the whole recording process. From day one in the studio to the releaseparty when the album was completed. The result became a one hour TV-special, including interviews with Frida and Phil, Björn & Benny from Abba, as well as all the musicians on the album. This documentary is included in Frida - The DVD
Frida - The DVD
See also: Frida 1967–1972, Frida ensam, Something's Going On, Shine and Djupa andetag.Frida – The DVD is a 3½ hour documentary DVD, that covers the singing career of Anni-Frid Lyngstad, also known as Frida, one of the four members of Swedish pop group ABBA...

.

Reception

In the autumn of 1982 Frida unveiled the results of these recording sessions by releasing the single and video "I Know There's Something Going On
I Know There's Something Going On
"I Know There's Something Going On" is a song recorded in 1982 by ABBA singer Anni-Frid Lyngstad . It was the lead single from her solo album Something's Going On. The song was a huge hit around the world during 1982 and 1983.-Song history:...

." An extensive promotion tour of Europe and the United States followed. In Europe, Frida went to all the major countries and performed both the single and other songs from the album on major TV-channels. The album received positive reviews by critics. Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

wrote: "ABBA's auburn-haired songstress makes a bold solo-project a stunning success" and Mark Coleman described the album in the third edition of Rolling Stone Album Guide
Rolling Stone Album Guide
The Rolling Stone Album Guide, previously known as The Rolling Stone Record Guide, is a book that, along with its sister publication Rolling Stone magazine, contains professional reviews of popular music...

 as a "sharp, rock-oriented, delightfully eclectic album. Audiences around the world also accepted the new, rockier sound and both the album and its lead single soon started climbing the charts; the single became a #1 hit in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 (where it spent five weeks at the top), Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

 and Costa Rica
Costa Rica
Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....

, and reached the Top 10 elsewhere throughout Europe. It also became a huge success in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 and South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

 - it peaked at number 5 on both charts. In the United States, the single reached a respectable #13 on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

 chart and #9 on Radio & Records
Radio & Records
Radio & Records was a trade publication providing news and airplay information for the radio and music industries. It originally started out as an independent trade from 1973 to 2006 until VNU Media took over in 2006, up until its final issue in 2009.-History:The company was founded in 1973 and...

airplay. The single was heavily promoted on MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....

. The single sold some 3.5 million copies and Frida as a solo artist did in fact far better on the charts than any of the ABBA-singles of 1982. The album sold 1.5 million copies worldwide, making this the best-selling solo project of any of the former ABBA members to date. A notable exception to its success was in the UK, traditionally a hugely popular market for ABBA, but the single never got in to top 40. The album, however, was a top 20 hit (peaking at #18). "I See Red" was released as a single in South Africa but did not fare as well as its predecessor, and did not reach the official Top 20 national charts.

Track listing

Side A:
  1. "Tell Me It's Over" (Stephen Bishop
    Stephen Bishop (musician)
    Stephen Bishop is an American singer-songwriter, actor, and guitarist.-History:Bishop was born in San Diego, California, and attended Will C. Crawford High School...

    ) – 2:52
  2. "I See Red" (Jim Rafferty) – 4:33
  3. "I Got Something" (Tomas Ledin
    Tomas Ledin
    Tomas Folke Jonas Ledin is a Swedish singer, songwriter, guitarist, and producer. He grew up in the town of Sandviken.Tomas Ledin started his career in 1972 when his first single, Då ska jag spela, was a big hit...

    ) – 4:04
  4. "Strangers" (Jayne Bradbury, Dave Morris) – 4:06
  5. "To Turn The Stone" (Pete Belotte, Giorgio Moroder
    Giorgio Moroder
    Hansjörg "Giorgio" Moroder is an Italian record producer, songwriter and performer based in Los Angeles. When in Munich in the 1970s, he started his own record label called Oasis Records, which several years later became a subdivision of Casablanca Records...

    ) – 5:26


Side B:
  1. "I Know There's Something Going On
    I Know There's Something Going On
    "I Know There's Something Going On" is a song recorded in 1982 by ABBA singer Anni-Frid Lyngstad . It was the lead single from her solo album Something's Going On. The song was a huge hit around the world during 1982 and 1983.-Song history:...

    " (Russ Ballard
    Russ Ballard
    Russell Glyn Ballard is an English singer, songwriter and musician.-Career:Ballard was initially a guitarist with Buster Meikle & The Day Breakers in 1961, together with Roy Ballard, Russ's older brother on piano and Bob Henrit on drums...

    ) – 5:29
  2. "Threnody" (Per Gessle
    Per Gessle
    Per Håkan Gessle is a Swedish pop singer-songwriter, guitarist, and harmonicist. He is the lead singer of the Swedish pop group Gyllene Tider and formed Roxette with Marie Fredriksson...

    , Dorothy Parker
    Dorothy Parker
    Dorothy Parker was an American poet, short story writer, critic and satirist, best known for her wit, wisecracks, and eye for 20th century urban foibles....

    ) – 4:17
  3. "Baby Don't You Cry No More" (Rod Argent
    Rod Argent
    Rod Argent is an English rock musician and a founding member of the 1960s English pop group The Zombies and the 1970s band Argent....

    ) – 3:02
  4. "The Way You Do" (Bryan Ferry
    Bryan Ferry
    Bryan Ferry, CBE is an English singer, musician, and songwriter. Ferry came to public prominence in the early 1970s as lead vocalist and principal songwriter with the band Roxy Music, who enjoyed a highly successful career with three number one albums and ten singles entering the top ten charts in...

    ) – 3:38
  5. "You Know What I Mean" (Phil Collins
    Phil Collins
    Philip David Charles "Phil" Collins, LVO is an English singer-songwriter, drummer, pianist and actor best known as a drummer and vocalist for British progressive rock group Genesis and as a solo artist....

    ) – 2:37
  6. "Here We'll Stay" (duet with Phil Collins) (Tony Colton, Jean Roussel) – 4:10

2005 remaster bonus tracks


  1. "I Know There's Something Going On (Single Edit)" (Ballard) – 4:07
  2. "Here We'll Stay" (Solo Version) (Colton, Roussel) – 4:11

Personnel

  • Anni-Frid Lyngstad
    Anni-Frid Lyngstad
    Anni-Frid Prinzessin Reuss von Plauen , is a Norwegian-born Swedish pop singer...

     - lead vocals, backing vocals
    Backing vocalist
    A backing vocalist or backing singer is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists...

  • Phil Collins
    Phil Collins
    Philip David Charles "Phil" Collins, LVO is an English singer-songwriter, drummer, pianist and actor best known as a drummer and vocalist for British progressive rock group Genesis and as a solo artist....

     - drums
    Drum kit
    A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....

    , backing vocals, percussion
    Percussion instrument
    A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...

     Prophet 5
  • Mo Foster
    Mo Foster
    Mo Foster is a British session musician, playing primarily jazz, jazz-fusion and rock bass guitar. He is also a music producer and songwriter/composer. In over 40 years as a musician Foster has played on and produced countless albums, singles, and film soundtracks...

     - bass guitar
    Bass guitar
    The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

  • Daryl Stuermer
    Daryl Stuermer
    Daryl Mark Stuermer is an American musician who plays guitar and bass for Genesis during live shows, and lead guitar for Phil Collins during most of his solo tours and albums.-Biography:...

     - guitar
    Guitar
    The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

  • Peter Manning Robinson - keyboards
    Keyboard instrument
    A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...

    , horn arrangements, string arrangements
  • Don Myrick (The Phenix Horns
    Phenix Horns
    are Earth, Wind & Fire, Phil Collins and Genesis's brass main section. The four members were Don Myrick on saxophones, Louis "Lui Lui" Satterfield on trombone, Rahmlee Michael Davis on trumpet and Michael Harris on trumpet.-The Pharaohs:...

    /Earth, Wind & Fire
    Earth, Wind & Fire
    Earth, Wind & Fire is an American soul and R&B band formed in Chicago, Illinois, in 1969 by Verdine and Maurice White. Also known as EWF, the band has won six Grammy Awards and four American Music Awards. They have been inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Vocal Group Hall of...

    ) - saxophone
    Saxophone
    The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...

  • Michael Harris (The Phenix Horns) - trumpet
    Trumpet
    The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...

  • Rahmlee Michael Davis (The Phenix Horns) - trumpet
  • Louis Satterfield (The Phenix Horns) - trombone
    Trombone
    The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...

  • Skaila Kanga - harp
    Harp
    The harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...

  • The Martyn Ford Orchestra - strings
    String section
    The string section is the largest body of the standard orchestra and consists of bowed string instruments of the violin family.It normally comprises five sections: the first violins, the second violins, the violas, the cellos, and the double basses...

  • Martyn Ford - conductor, strings
  • Gavyn Wright
    Gavyn Wright
    Gavyn Wright is a British violinist and orchestra leader with the London Session Orchestra and Penguin Cafe Orchestra, best known for his orchestral arrangements on pop productions as well as numerous TV and movie soundtracks Gavyn Wright is a British violinist and orchestra leader with the London...

     - leader, strings

Production

  • Phil Collins - producer
    Record producer
    A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...

  • Hugh Padgham
    Hugh Padgham
    Hugh Padgham is a British record producer. He has won many awards, including four Grammys, with Producer of the Year and Engineer of the Year. A 1992 poll in Mix magazine voted him one of the world's Top Ten Most Influential Producers....

     - sound engineer
  • Hans Gunnar "Paris" Edvinsson - assistant engineer
  • Digitally recorded and mixed at Polar Music Studios, Stockholm Sweden
  • Strings and harp recorded at AIR Studios, London England
  • Henrik Jonsson - mastering
  • Leif Mases - mastering
  • Yves Poyet - cover illustration
  • Anders Hanser - photography
  • Dick Nilson - album design
  • Thomas Johansson - album coordinator
  • Stig Anderson
    Stig Anderson
    Stig 'Stikkan' Erik Leopold Anderson was born in Hova, Sweden, and is best known as the manager of the pop group ABBA.- Polar Music:Anderson was the founder of the Polar Music record label in 1963...

    - executive producer

Sources

  • Carl Magnus Palm: Bright Lights - Dark Shadows, Omnibus Press UK 2001, ISBN 0.7119.8389.5
  • Carl Magnus Palm: ABBA - The Complete Recording Sessions, Century 22 Limited UK, 1994. ISBN 0-907938-10-8
  • TV documentary: Frida - Something's Going On, SVT 1982. Included on Frida - The DVD, Universal Music 2005.


Charts

Country Position
Sweden 1
Belgium 2
Norway 2
Finland 3
Switzerland 3
Netherlands 4
Austria 10
Germany 12
UK 18
Australia 40
U.S. 41
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK