A fabulous review of Agnetha's new album by Gunnar Moe:
This is ”A”
The essence of the album – if you ask me; Why is love so hard to understand!
Things suddenly came flying my surprised way and I’ve had the wonderful privilege to listen to Agnetha Fältskogs totally faaaaabulous album “A”. I can tell that for all of us this will be the very pop-album of 2013 (and Agnethas best since ABBA if you ask me!)! Musically “A” has no surprises but presents our dear star back where she belongs; in pure pop-heaven for real songs – produced as we loved them in the seventies! And yes – it’s 2013 and this sounds so fresh and 2013 even if it sounds yesterday so to say!
“The One Who Loves You Now” – We do know this single! It’s absolutely brilliant!
“When You Really Loved Someone” – The first worldwide single – totally wonderfull!
Then… the rest of “A”….
“Perfume In The Breeze”: A mid-tempo pop-song theme love (of course) with a light breeze all over. Agnethas vocal is light and easy. When she starts singing you feel a split second that she is revisiting “I won’t be leaving you”. A song for sunny summerdays with cute whistling, harmonies and very recognisable Agnetha.
“I Was A Flower”: The first of the albums two fabulous drama-ballads! This one really grows on you. The mature Agnetha does this one just beautifully. “I was a flower – now look what you have done….” This will be a favourite to many fans I guess!
“I Should’ve Followed You Home” : There is a lot of expectations to this duet with Gary Barlow. Years ago the Agnetha-duet “Fly Like The Eagle” did maybe not create pop-history! There is – sorry to say – nothing outstanding with this Barlow-duet (if you ask me) - going from ballad to nicely radiofriendly midtempo in a way one has heard endlessly. It has a strong chorus and is produced very well. There are some nice echoing backing vocals here as well (by Agnetha I guess). Even if they were not recording together, their vocals blend very well together.
“Past forever” : Back to a wonderful and strong Agnetha ballad….
“Dance Your Pain Away” : The intro makes me think on german ESC; “Djengis Khan” or violins for Earth, Wind & Fire, Boney M or Baccara… hehe! Get ready for the disco!! Very seventies but I don’t get the ABBA-references mentioned to this one. Vocally the young Agnetha was maybe more powerfull for “As Good As New” or “Lay All Your Love On Me”. At the first listen through I felt this one lacked a bit more motivated vocals… that she should have given a bit more! Now I just adore it! In the chorus she sings lines such as; “Let there be rumours / Pay no attention…” With her vocal, Agnetha is the disco-queen of coolness! I imagine a dull coctailparty from 1977 that suddenly explodes into this track. At fifth time on repeat you just beg for another gin tonic before it all starts again. It’s for sure a real fun discoparty-thingy that grows on you for every listen and a perfect choice to be played at G-A-Y on May 4th.
“Bubble” : Another wonderful ballad in recognisable Agnetha-land! :)
“Back On Your Radio” : An irresistible suggarcute chorus in almost ABBA-sound (well it lacks Frida of course). It could have been even more up-tempo, but it is something very tempting about this one. I guess fans will either find it a bit sort of childish or love it. I LOVE it…hehe! Agnetha as a flirty teaser on the radio…couldn’t be better!
“I Keep Them On The Floor Beside My Bed” – with the line; “Why is love so hard to understand”. Agnetha's composition – a big ballad….. and what a fabulous composer she once again proves to be! I cried… at second listen! The torch song of the album… enough said… and yeah well – my favourite! The song sums up everything that is Agnetha Fältskog (as we know her)! Respect and thank you so much for this one Lady A!
I simply totally LOVE these songs!
Gunnar
I have to disagree with you. I Should Have Followed You Home is a really good song, better than The One Who Loves You Now. It has a lot of potential, because of the mixture of classic lyrics with modern musical arrangement. It could be slowed down and turned into a beautiful ballad or it could easily be used in clubs, as an up-tempo. I wish they did just once an acoustic version. A live performance would be phenomenal, as usually Gary sounds much better live than on the studio recorded versions. I enjoy it quite a lot, even if it's not very original. The voices can be heard clearly and are not over-powered by music, the dialogue keeps it dynamic and layered and the song just keeps growing. I also like it because, despite being an almost 4 min. track, it seems more like a 2min one, which means it's not boring and it keeps us wanting for more. Overall, I believe it could be a hit. It's modern, with a touch of vintage. Of course the beat is something we hear over radio all the time, but the lyrics keep it from being ordinary.
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