Super Trouper

Super Trouper
Studio album by ABBA
Released	3 November 1980
Recorded	Polar Studio February-October 1980
Genre	Pop
Length	41:57
Label	Polar (original release) PolyGram (1992 - 1997) Universal Music (1998 - )
Producer	Benny Andersson & Björn Ulvaeus
Professional reviews
Q September 2001, p.126 Allmusic link Rolling Stone link
ABBA chronology
Gracias Por La Música (1980) Super Trouper (1980) The Visitors (1981)

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. 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 - see Super Trouper (spotlight). 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 writen 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:

11. "Elaine" (B. Andersson, B. Ulvaeus) – 3:44
12. "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:

11. "Elaine" – 3:45
    • B-side of "The Winner Takes It All".
12. "Andante, Andante (Spanish version)" (B. Andersson, B. Ulvaeus); (Spanish translation - Buddy McCluskey, Mary McCluskey) – 4:40
13. "Felicidad" (B. Andersson, B. Ulvaeus); (Spanish translation - B. McCluskey, M. McCluskey) – 4:24
    • Spanish version of "Happy New Year".

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

• Benny Andersson – synthesizer, keyboards, Vocals
• Agnetha Fältskog – vocals
• Anni-Frid Lyngstad – vocals
• Björn Ulvaeus – acoustic guitar, vocals

Additional personnel

• Ola Brunkert – drums
• Lars Carlsson – horn
• Rutger Gunnarsson – bass, guitar
• Janne Kling – flute, saxophone
• Per Lindvall – drums
• Janne Schaffer – guitar
• Åke Sundqvist – percussion
• Mike Watson – bass
• Lasse Wellander – guitar
• Kajtek Wojciechowski – saxophone

• 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

Singles

United Kingdom

Norway

United States

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