ABBA: Bjorn Ulvaeus (vocals, acoustic guitar); Benny Anderson (vocals, keyboards, synthesizer); Agnetha Faltskog, Anni Frid Lyngstad (vocals).Additional personnel: Janne Schaffer, Lasse Wellander (guitar); Janne Kling (flute, saxophone); Lars O. Carlsson, Kajtek Wojciechowski (saxophone); Mike Watson, Rutger Gunnarson (bass); Per Lindvall, Ola Brunkert (drums); Ake Sundqvist (percussion).Principally recorded at Polar Music Studios, Stokholm, Sweden in 1980. Includes reissue liner notes by Carl Magnus Palm.Digitally remastered using 24-bit technology by Jon Astley.SUPER TROUPER is ABBA's seventh--and next to last--studio album, and one of their most artistically satisfying. The album's chart-topping singles include the propulsive title track, "Lay All Your Love On Me" and the bittersweet anthem "The Winner Takes It All," which many rank with "Dancing Queen" and "S.O.S." as one of the Swedish foursome's masterpieces. The rest of the album continues the more reflective, adult themes explored by its predecessors, VOULEZ-VOUZ and THE ALBUM. It's difficult to separate the downcast melancholy of songs like "Our Last Summer" and "The Way Old Friends Do"--recorded live at the same performance heard on ABBA LIVE in 1986--from the time period's gossip reports of the breakup of the band's two marriages. Even with such considerations aside, SUPER TROUPER is one of ABBA's finest releases.
