Lycka (album)

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Lycka
Studio album by Björn Ulvaeus & Benny Andersson

Publication
(s)

November 1970

Label (s) Polar Music

Format (s)

LP , CD

Genre (s)

Swedish folk music

Title (number)

11

running time

32:58

occupation
  • Vocals / E-Bass: Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus / Gus Horn (Bass)
  • Guitar: Björn Ulvaeus
  • Drums: John Cúonz
  • Keyboard: Benny Andersson

production

Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, Bengt Bernhag

Studio (s)

Metronome Studio, Stockholm

Lycka ( Eng. "Glück, Fröhlichkeit") is an album by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus , who later became members of the pop group ABBA . It was released in November 1970 and to this day remains the only joint album by the two musicians, who gave up their careers for two in 1972 in favor of the later pop group.

History of origin

Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus began their musical collaboration in 1966, when they both belonged to a different group. Andersson was a member of the Hep Stars , while Ulvaeus appeared as a singer and guitarist with the Hootenanny Singers . The latter group has been making their recordings at Polar Music since it was founded in 1963 . As a result, Andersson got to know the later ABBA manager Stig Anderson , who thought of the two as songwriters and welcomed their collaboration. He saw in the composer duo a hope to make Swedish pop music popular outside the country as well. Although Lycka was a sole album by the musicians Andersson and Ulvaeus, it formed one of the origins in the prehistory of ABBA.

One of her first major projects was the production of the soundtrack for the sequel to the 1967 film Inga with Marie Liljedahl in the lead role, which was released in 1969 and had a surprising success on the international market. For this, they contributed the songs She's My Kind Of Girl and Inga Theme , both of which were first released on a single in Sweden in March 1970. In 1969 Andersson left the band The Hep Stars , which he had been a member of since 1964, while Ulvaeus remained a member of the Hootenanny Singers , but his activities within the group ceased for an indefinite period. Both wanted to focus more on common projects. Around the same time, both Andersson and Ulvaeus made the acquaintance of their future partners Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad , both of whom were also in the music business. During the first rehearsal singing together, Andersson and Ulvaeus noticed a welcome harmony, so that they soon included their partners in their music productions. The song Hej Gamle Man, recorded in June 1970, is considered to be the first song in which all four future ABBA members can be heard. Fältskog and Lyngstad can only be heard in the background as background singers .

As the first single of the recording sessions, which took place between June and September 1970, the song Lycka with Hej Gamle Man was released in the early autumn of 1970 and reached number 5 on the Swedish sales charts. Many of those involved later attributed this success to Hej Gamle Man and the involvement of Fältskog and Lyngstad. Lyngstad later commented, “In a way, it was the birth of ABBA. I don't think it would have been such a hit if Agnetha and I hadn't been on it. ”(Original text:“ It was the birth of ABBA in a way. I don't think it would have become such a hit if Agnetha and I hadn't been on it. ”) Stig Anderson also tried to market some of the songs on the album elsewhere by offering them to various music artists for cover . For example, singer Lena Andersson, who is also under contract with Polar Music, produced an English version of Livet Går Sin Gång under the title “Language of Love” . Lyngstad interpreted the title track Lycka on their debut album Frida in 1971, while an English version of Kära Gamla Sol was released in 1975 under the title “Roly-Poly Girl” by the duo Svenne & Lotta .

In addition, Andersson and Ulvaeus wrote German lyrics for some of their songs, which were released as single in Germany. With the song Det kan ingen doktor hjälpa they were rejected by the Melodifestivalen in 1971 . Andersson and Ulvaeus experienced the next success in February 1972 when She's My Kind of Girl was released as a single in Japan and stormed the charts there. This success spurred the artists on to compose more pop songs in English. In March 1972 they recorded their first song as a group People Need Love as a duo, on the one hand Santa Rosa and Merry-Go-Round , and on the other hand with their partners in life , which was released as a single in June of that year and ranked 3rd in the Swedish Tio-i- Top charts and number 17 in the combined single and album charts. The B-side used for this was Merry-Go-Round , which was also recorded in a Swedish language version and was released in April 1972 as the "Björn & Benny" single.

Track list

page A

  1. Lycka ("luck") - 3:05
  2. Nånting Är På Väg (“Something is on the way”) - 2:17
  3. Kära Gamla Sol ("Dear Old Sun") - 2:24
  4. Det Där Med Kärlek (“That's the way it is with love”) - 2:59
  5. Välkommen In I Gänget (“Welcome to the gang”) - 3:08
  6. Lilla Du, Lilla Vän ("") - 2:48

Side B

  1. Hey Gamle Man! ("Hello old man") - 3:20
  2. Liselott ("Liselotte") - 2:55
  3. Kalles Visa ("Kalles Lied") - 2:34
  4. Ge Oss En Chans ("Give us a chance") - 3:38
  5. Livet Går Sin Gång (“Life takes time”) - 3:50

Bonus tracks on the 2006 CD release

  1. 12. She's My Kind Of Girl (published in March 1970 as a single polar POS 1096)
  2. 13. Inga Theme (B-side of the previous single Polar POS 1096)
  3. 14. Det Kan Ingen Doktor Hjälpa ("There is no cure for that") (published in June 1971 as single Polar POS 1130)
  4. 15. På Bröllop ("At a wedding") (B-side of the previous single Polar POS 1130)
  5. 16. Tånk Om Jorden Vore Ung ("Imagine the world was young") (released in Sept / Oct 1971 as single Polar POS 1140)
  6. 17. Träskfolket (" Holzpantoffel -Menschen") (B-side of the previous single Polar POS 1140)
  7. 18. En Karusell ("Ein Karusell ") (released in April 1972 as single Polar POS 1154)
  8. 19. Att Finnas Till ("Life") (B-side of the previous single Polar POS 1154)
  9. 20. Hey, musician (published 1971 as single BASF / CORNET CQA 444)
  10. 21. What Love Says (B-side of the previous single BASF / CORNET CQA 444)
  11. 22. Love Has Its Ways (released November 1972 as single EPIC ECPA 49 in Japan)
  12. 23. Rock'n Roll Band (B-side of previous single EPIC ECPA 49)
  13. 24. Merry-Go-Round (released June 1972 as single EPIC ECPA 16 in Japan)
  14. 25. To Live With You (English version by Lycka , demo tape 1975)

Publications and chart successes

The album "Lycka" was released towards the end of 1970 and was released under the name "Björn & Benny". For the two artists, however, it was not very satisfactory, as it could not place in the Swedish album charts. Only a few of the singles made it into various Swedish charts such as Svensktoppen .

Web links

  • History and background information of the album Lycka on the official ABBA site (English).

Individual evidence

  1. ^ "Lycka" / Björn Ulvaeus & Benny Andersson. Text accompanying the CD, 2006 Polar Music International AB
  2. ↑ ABBA - The Worldwide Chart Lists ( Memento of the original from April 5, 2012 on WebCite ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Sweden @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / home.zipworld.com.au
  3. ↑ Carl Magnus Palm: Light and Shadow. ABBA - The real story. P. 187
  4. ↑ ABBAsite.com Lycka - the only Björn & Benny album