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Super Trouper (album)

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This article is about the ABBA album. For other uses, see Super Trouper.
Untitled

Super Trouper is the seventh studio album by Swedish pop group ABBA, first released in 1980 (see 1980 in music). Led by the international hit "The Winner Takes It All", Super Trouper was the group's sixth chart-topping album in the UK. It was also the best-selling album in Britain for 1980. Super Trouper was first released on CD in 1983 by Polydor, again in the 1980's by Atlantic Records, and in the 1990s by Polydor in the USA. The album has been reissued in digitally remastered form three times; first in 1997, then in 2001 and again in 2005 as part of the The Complete Studio Recordings box set.

Probably due to the disco backlash of the time, the album saw ABBA returning to a more straight-forward pop sound,[1] as opposed to the preceding (and noticeably more dance-orientated) Voulez-Vous album.

The album cover and title

Super Trouper is a registered trademark owned by Strong Entertainment Lighting, for their brand of followspots, i.e., directional spotlights used to follow a performer on stage. Album cover designer, Rune Söderqvist, decided to use the spotlight theme and photograph the group, surrounded by circus performers, at Piccadilly Circus, London. After discovering that there was a law preventing any entertainers or animals appearing in central London, they instead invited the members of two local circuses to Europa Film Studios, Stockholm to take the photograph there. Several of ABBA's friends were also invited to take part and the following also appear on the cover: Görel Hanser (vice-president of Polar Music who subsequently married the band's photographer Anders Hanser), Berka Bergkvist (another Polar Music employee), Tomas Ledin and Anders Anderson (ABBA's manager's son).[2]

At the same time, Lasse Hallström also filmed scenes that eventually ended up in the video for "Super Trouper" even though the song had not even been composed at the time.

Track listing

All songs written by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus.

Side A:

  1. "Super Trouper" – 4:11
  2. "The Winner Takes It All" – 4:55
  3. "On and On and On" – 3:40
  4. "Andante, Andante" – 4:39
  5. "Me and I" – 4:54

Side B:

  1. "Happy New Year" – 4:23
  2. "Our Last Summer" – 4:19
  3. "The Piper" – 3:26
  4. "Lay All Your Love on Me" – 4:33
  5. "The Way Old Friends Do" (Live) – 2:53

CD re-issues, bonus tracks

Super Trouper was remastered and reissued in 1997 and 2001 with two bonus tracks:

  2. "Elaine" (B. Andersson, B. Ulvaeus) – 3:44
  3. "Put On Your White Sombrero" (B. Andersson, B. Ulvaeus) – 4:34

The 1997 remaster of the album also included "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)", but the 2001 remaster did not, the song being shifted as a bonus track onto the Voulez-Vous album.

Super Trouper was remastered and reissued again in 2005 as part of the The Complete Studio Recordings box set with three bonus tracks:

  2. "Elaine" – 3:45
  3. "Andante, Andante (Spanish version)" (B. Andersson, B. Ulvaeus); (Spanish translation - Buddy McCluskey, Mary McCluskey) – 4:40
  4. "Felicidad" (B. Andersson, B. Ulvaeus); (Spanish translation - B. McCluskey, M. McCluskey) – 4:24

Tracks 12–13 are from the Spanish and Latin American version of the album Super Trouper.

Super Trouper was reissued once again in 2008 as part of the The Albums box set but without any bonus tracks.

Singles

  1. "The Winner Takes It All"/"Elaine" (July 1980)
  2. "Super Trouper"/"The Piper" (November 1980)
  3. "Happy New Year"/"Andante Andante" (November 1980)
  4. "On and On and On"/"The Piper" (December 1980) (Japan only)
  5. "Andante Andante"/"The Piper" (1981) (South America and South Africa only)
  6. "Lay All Your Love on Me"/"On and On and On" (July 1981)

Personnel

ABBA

Additional personnel

  • Producers: Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus
  • Engineer: Michael B. Tretow
  • Arranger: Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus
  • Design: Rune Söderqvist
  • Remastered for the 1997 Remasters by Jon Astley and Tim Young with Michael B. Tretow
  • Remastered for the 2001 Remasters by Jon Astley with Michael B. Tretow
  • Remastered for the 2005 Complete Studio Recordings Box Set by Henrik Jonsson

Chart positions

Album

Year Chart Position
1980 Argentina Album Chart 2
Australia Album Chart 5
Austria Album Chart 3
Belgium Album Chart 1
Canada Album Chart 4
Dutch Album Chart 1
Finland Album Chart 2
France Album Chart 8
Italy Album Chart 13
Japan Album Chart 8
Mexico Album Chart 1
New Zealand Album Chart 5
Norway Album Chart 1
Spain Album Chart 4
Sweden Album Chart 1
Switzerland Album Chart 1
UK Album Chart 1
The Billboard 200 17
West Germany Album Chart 1

Singles

United Kingdom

Year Single Chart Position
1980 "The Winner Takes It All" UK Singles Chart 1
"Super Trouper" 1
1981 "Lay All Your Love on Me" 7

Norway

Year Single Chart Position
1980 "The Winner Takes It All" Norwegian Singles Chart 3
"Super Trouper" 2
1981 "Happy New Year" 11

United States

Year Single Chart Position
1980 "The Winner Takes It All" Billboard Hot 100 8
Adult Contemporary 1
"Lay All Your Love on Me"/"Super Trouper"/"On and On and On" Club Play Singles 1
1981 "Super Trouper" Billboard Hot 100 45
Adult Contemporary 14
"On and On and On" Billboard Hot 100 90
Preceded by UK Albums Chart number one album
22 November 1980 – 23 January 1981 		Succeeded by
Preceded by UK Albums Chart biggest selling album of the year
1980 		Succeeded by

Notes

  1. ^ http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:kz6qoaqabijm~T1
  2. ^ Magnus Palm, C: "Bright Lights, Dark shadows", page 432-433. Omnibus Press, 2001
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