Agnetha and Frida Vocal Abilities

I should count Bjorn and Benny's praise I guess LOL!

I've never been a particular fan of live performances, of any music artists, they are so reliant on a lot of things, as you say - stage fright, as well as health etc etc. Agnetha herself has admitted the studio is her favourite place. It must be such a thrill being able to create such, what I consider anyway, masterpieces and hear a song for the first time once it has been completed.

I read somewhere about Agnetha adding the "sparkle/brightness" and Frida the "smoothness and depth" to the ABBA sound. I think that's quite true. Vocal chemistry like no other IMHO.

I concur that this a very interesting issue to raise discussions from. Agnetha and Frida's vocal abilities are in a league of their own. Neither one or the other over expressed their singing techniques in the way that Celine Dion, Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey did. A & F should be up there in the music echelons rubbing shoulders with the likes of Beyonce, Rihanna and Adele. Madonna is way over-rated and is not a great singer in my opinion. The way A & F interpreted their feelings into each song is uniquely mindblowing. Without them ABBA would not have existed. A television programme on this subject would indeed be fascinating. Thank you very much, Josef, for bringing this to attention.

Josef, I wholeheartedly agree with you even if Agnetha is my favourite. The pure alchemy of Frida and Agnetha's voices is heavenly. The clever way they enunciated every word so clearly with just a hint of Swedishness is uncanny. Is there such a word as Swedishness ? Probably not, I am getting carried away here !

This topic is just up my street, too! Couldn't agree more with many of the comments here.
In my first post on this forum, I quoted from a book because it expresses perfectly how I feel about the singing of Agnetha and Frida. Here's the quote again:

The girls' casual unison read-through of the incomplete Hamlet III was enough to send shivers up the spine. At their least rehearsed and most exposed, the blending of the two voices is magical. With no technical interference by Benny and Bjorn, this is true testament to a one-off vocal phenomenon
- Christopher Patrick, ABBA: Let the Music Speak

And one more thing. I seem to recall Agnetha didn't want to let her emotions take over while performing TWTIA? She knew she had to 'perform' it, like an acting job, to impart emotion but not to lose control. I'm not sure how true it is, but I may have read something along the lines of, "I didn't want to capsize the melody". Now, I have no idea what that even means or if I've made it up in my mind but it is indeed there in my mind. I wonder if anyone else recalls this or is it just something I've confused with something else.

On the subject of vocal abilities, Like An Angel Passing Through My Room almost brought me to tears earlier. I'm not sure why, perhaps I'm just rather sensitive right now. Anyway, I love the song and think Frida took the right approach. That long note she does...I can't see anything wrong with it but I recall at the time, all those years ago!- a friend, also an ABBA fan, said to me that he didn't feel she managed it correctly. I was gobsmacked. I didn't know how to answer him, tbh. To my ears, it was perfect.

What amazes me about their singing is how precise they were together. They hit the syllables perfectly, no stuttering consonants at the ends of words. They even seem breathe at the same time. Nowadays, there's a "plug in" you can use when recording vocals to create that, but these women did it on demand, repeatedly, when no such tools were available. 

The two voices really expanded what ABBA could present. The two different soloists made that Magical Third Voice, which really seems to be an enduring anchor in the trademark ABBA sound. The soprano/mezzo differences aside, there were important tonal and stylistic differences too. They seem to have a "library" of vocal approaches that affected how songs could be approached. Agnetha's plaintive tone was countered by the lovely zestiness in her harder vocals. I think I've Been Waiting For You and My Love, My Life  and One Of Us epitomise the former and the verses on As Good As New and Lay All Your Love On Me showcase the latter. 

Frida might be a tad more versatile - or maybe it has something to do with the diversity of the kinds of leads she was assigned. Line up Gonna Sing You My Lovesong and Money, Money, Money and The Visitors and Me And I... You could be forgiven for not realising that they're all by the same singer. On GSYMLS, she uses that elegantly soulful style that was front and centre on her first solo album. The vibrato is barely used, and there's a velvety softness to her tone. MMM harnesses her lower range without losing warmth. And then there's that rich throaty sound that she employs in the verses of Knowing Me, Knowing You. This one really gets me. In just a few words, she sets the tone for the entire song ahead. It's a tale of sadness, but there are NO histrionics. Actually, that's true of both women: while Agnetha is more likely to openly emote, she doesn't do any Mariah/Celine egotistical showboating. With both Agnetha and Frida, the needs of the song take precedence. 

I agree with the other observations about live performances. I can only think of one singer whose live vocals I enjoy as much as the recordings - and that's Eddi Reader. Agnetha's problems with pitch and Frida's tendency to lean on her vibrato make live ABBA recordings less attractive for me. Then again, Frida's live version of Barnen Sover is the definitive version for me, so there are always exceptions. I agree with Gary about En Ton Av Tystnad - the piano is horrible on it but the vocal is lovely. 

Totally agree with your comments regarding Agnetha's vocals on TWTIA Josef, spot on. And I love Frida on Knowing Me Knowing You. But singing together, WOW! vocal alchemy indeed. Christopher Patrick was spot on regarding his comments on Hamlet III Richard - just sublime. By the way, off subject here, did any radio stations play What About Livingstone during the moon landing commemorations?!! it briefly mentions flying to the moon!  I love that song!!

Benny and Bjorn were clever to ascertain which songs were suited for Agnetha and which for Frida. " As Good As New ", " My Love My Life ", " I've Been Waiting For You ", " The Winner Takes It All ", " One Of Us ", " Slipping Through My Fingers " and " SOS " really portrayed Agnetha as the queen of devastating heartbreak. Meanwhile, " Gonna Sing You My Lovesong ", " One Man One Woman ", " Knowing Me Knowing You ", " Our Last Summer ", " When All Is Said And Done " and " Andante Andante " epitomised Frida as the queen of sad yet more resolute power ballads. Only Agnetha and Frida truly deliverered these classic songs. Any cover version may just as well be thrown out the window ! Josef, I am with you all the way in respect of your views. I, too, could elaborate to my heart's content on A & F's vocal abilities.

Edmund, you make a subtle distinction between types of sad, and I'm not sure it works for me.
I happen to think Agnetha and Frida were both good enough singers to have sung each others' solo/lead sections convincingly, and we as listeners, after the fact, would probably still be saying 'Benny and Bjorn  got it right'!
So for me, despite their different tonal characteristics, Agnetha and Frida were equally versatile singers, not limited in the moods and emotions they could express - whatever the nature of the song.  That's my feeling, anyway.

I found this, too. I'm trying to find an equivalent for Frida but it's proving difficult.

I wholeheartedly agree with you Josef, these Frida vs Agnetha debates are ridiculous and really irritate me - both were crucial to ABBA in equal measure, without either one, the wonderful ABBA vocal sound would simply not exist. What is it about society that makes people create such arguments!? Thank you for all your posts on this topic everyone, only my second time posting a topic and I was a bit nervous LOL!!

Not at all, Edmund, yours is a perfectly valid view, and I bet it is shared by most ABBA fans! And the results speak for themseves.

Interesting information from Michal and Martin about the girls' highest notes. Now if only someone could give us their respective lowest notes, we'd know Agnetha and Frida's vocal ranges. Not that it adversely affects our appreciation of them as singers, of course, but it's intriguing to know just the same.