Frida 1967–1972 is a compilation album by Swedish singer Anni-Frid Lyngstad, released in 1997 by EMI Sweden. The album features Lyngstad's anthology of her solo recordings prior to ABBA, 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.
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, 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".[1][2]
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 label and joining Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus, and Agnetha Fältskog to form ABBA in 1972.[1][2]
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 1969 with "Härlig är vår jord", where she finished fourth. Her first studio album Frida was also included in this compilation, which was produced by her then fiancé Benny Andersson, as well as her first No. 1 hit in Sweden with "Min egen stad", (My Own Town) in the Svensktoppen chart.[1][2]
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.[citation needed] 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 folkparks, originally released on the Polydor 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 Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson as a quartet, shortly before their 'Festfolket' tour.[1][2]
Frida 1967-1972 was released in 1997 by EMI Records. 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" 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.[3]
EMI Records (1997). Frida 1967-1972 (Track listing and liner notes; compact disc). Anni-Frid Lyngstad. Stockholm, Sweden: EMI Svenska AB. 7243 859360 2 9.
