ABBA
Super Trouper

THE REVIEW

"The winner takes it all
the loser standing small
beside the victory
that's her destiny"

"The Winner Takes It All"

"Super Trouper" was released at the end of 1980 and finds its place in the group's discography between the two flames of "Voulez-Vous" and "The Visitors", brilliant and warm flames, full of interesting points but polar opposites in terms of themes and music. This album might seem like a transitional work, and partly it is as it loses many of the previous sounds and begins to venture into synth-pop paths; but "Super Trouper" has a distinct identity of its own, it is an album that advances the group's artistic maturity, it is a 360-degree exploration of popular music from various origins which allows ABBA to reaffirm themselves at the top of world charts and craft an almost perfect collection of songs.

It starts with the chorus sung by Frida and Agnetha, beginning with crystalline and pure notes "Super Trouper", a meticulously crafted synthetic ballad with a regular bass and drum rhythm as the backbone on which the melody guided by synthesizers develops. It talks about shows, life on stage, circus activities where the singing is entrusted to the purity of Frida's voice, with Agnetha and Bjorn refining it, the latter filtering his voice with the vocoder. A very famous, complex, and altogether melancholic song follows "The Winner Takes It All", sung only by Agnetha with lyrics by ex-husband Bjorn, the theme deals with the end of a marriage; the singing is intense and is practically a solo by the singer on a fast rhythm, at times almost disco with a fascinating soundscape with Frida's backing vocals and the piano weaving the melody in more reflective moments, culminating in the final high note. The soft tones are abandoned, "On And On And On" is an intricate track sung by Agnetha and Frida as a duo, hypnotic in rhythm opened by hand-clapping, the sounds are those of an enticing pop-rock-disco motif with a fixed verse-chorus scheme with a nod to the Beach Boys and foreshadowing some vocal solutions that would be adopted by the "Tom Tom Club" for their debut album. "Andante Andante" is a beautiful ballad in which Frida evokes the deep passionate singing of Roy Orbison, in this song you can appreciate Benny's splendid keyboard craftsmanship and a smooth electric guitar part along with a very beautiful suspended ending. With "Me And I" the subject is multiple personalities "Sometimes when I'm mad there's a part of me that seems to be a little sad sometimes when I scream", the track begins with a synth part that flows into a powerful progressive melody, Frida sings this very strange crazy song, where the singing is almost neurotic at first and suddenly changes becoming light and airy for the incredible refrain, Agnetha refines with backing vocals joining in the chorus with Bjorn. "Me And I" is one of the lesser-known tracks of the group but potentially could have an instant effect on the masses, it has an upbeat rhythm in the reprise and a very lively free-disco sound, a little gem. "Happy New Year" is a very simple song and does not have particular merits, "Our Last Summer" is instead a pleasant song with lyrics full of references to Paris, a sunny melody for Frida's voice and an electric guitar solo in the well-integrated final digression. With the subsequent "The Piper" ABBA craft a pleasant folk track with a successful recorder part and a Latin interlude between the verses for a boy choir-like suspension. It closes with the disco-rock track sung by Frida of "Lay All Your Love On Me" and the live farewell of "The Way Old Friends Do".

"Super Trouper" ultimately maintains very high compositional levels, some tracks may not be as well integrated like "Lay All Your Love On Me", which is too dance, but overall it does not disappoint and paves the way for the group's very prolific final period.