Super Trouper

by ABBA

Overview

Commercially, Super Trouper, ABBA's seventh album, was another worldwide blockbuster. "The Winner Takes It All," its lead-off single, released several months in advance of the album in most territories, was a smash; for example, it was the group's 14th consecutive Top Five hit in the U.K. and their eighth number one there. The title track was also a British chart-topper (their last), as was the album, their sixth. "Lay All Your Love on Me" made the U.K. Top Ten, and "On and on and On" was released as a single in some countries, hitting the Top Ten in Australia. (Typically, American success was more modest, though the album went gold, and "The Winner Takes It All" was a number one adult contemporary and Top Ten pop hit.) Musically, Super Trouper found ABBA, always trend-conscious, taking account of the passing of disco and returning to the pop/rock sound typical of their early albums. Only "Lay All Your Love on Me" employed a dance approach. The title song had the kind of martial beat and pop sound more in keeping with the group that had broken through with "Mamma Mia" and "S.O.S.," and "On and on and On" paid homage to one of their chief influences, the Beach Boys, with an arrangement reminiscent of "Do It Again." Lyrically, there was a distinct sense of world weariness and melancholy, from the divorce lamentations of "The Winner Takes It All" to the dissatisfaction with touring expressed in "Super Trouper" and even the nostalgia for a simpler time in "Our Last Summer." For performers on top of the world, the members of ABBA were putting an unusual amount of what sounded like real unhappiness into their pop music. [The 2001 reissue added "Elaine," a non-LP B-side, and "Put on Your White Sombrero," an outtake. Both were excellent songs.] ~ William Ruhlmann

Product Details

Release Date:	10/27/1998
Label:	Polar Records / Polystar
UPC:	0731454995627

Tracks

1. Super Trouper
2. The Winner Takes It All
3. On and on and On
4. Andante, Andante
5. Me and I
6. Happy New Year
7. Our Last Summer
8. The Piper
9. Lay All Your Love on Me
10. The Way Old Friends Do
11. Elaine
12. Put on Your White Sombrero

Album Credits

Performance Credits

ABBA   Primary Artist
Agnetha Faeltskog   Vocals
Lars O. Carlsson   Saxophone
Kajtek Wojciechowski   Saxophone
Ola Brunkert   Drums
Ake Sundqvist   Percussion
Lars Carlsson   Horn
Lasse Wellander   Guitar,Guitar (Acoustic)
Per Lindvall   Drums
Benny Andersson   Vocals,Keyboards,Synthesizer
Janne Schaffer   Guitar
Janne Kling   Wind,Flute,Saxophone
Bjoern Ulvaeus   Guitar,Vocals,Guitar (Acoustic)
Frida   Vocals
Anders Glenmark   Guitar
Rutger Gunnarsson   Bass,Guitar
Mike Watson   Bass

Technical Credits

Rutger Gunnarsson   String Arrangements,Arranger
Rune Soderqvist   Design
Lasse Hallstrom   Producer
Benny Andersson   Arranger,Composer,Producer
Bjoern Ulvaeus   Arranger,Composer,Producer
Michael B. Tretow   Engineer
Agnetha Faeltskog   Composer
Anni-Frid Lyngstad   Composer