Which is your favourite Agnetha/Frida solo album?

My favourite Agnetha solo album is Wrap Your Arms Around Me. I love that it was bright and poppy, that it wasn't tear-sodden. Everything was in alignment: the songs, her looks, her energy. It also contains my favourite Agnetha song, Man. 

My favourite Frida album is harder to pick, because they are all so very different to each other. There really isn't an album that I don't like. If pushed, it's a toss-up between Shine and Djupa Andetag. Again, it seemed to be that she was in very happy periods in her life. OK, I'll stick my neck out and plump for Shine. I loved her sound and image at this time and it was exciting to have a couple of Frida compositions at last. It also contains my favourite Frida song, Twist In The Dark. 

For Frida it would be Ensam. I adore that album. It must have been around 1980 that I first heard it, and at the time I’d only heard the original versions of The Most Beautiful Girl and Wouldn’t It Be Nice. To me they’re the “definitive” versions of those songs, and I’ll still compare Bowie’s Life On Mars unfavourably with Frida’s version. I also quite like Djupa Andetag. In terms of English albums it would be Something’s Going On.

For Agnetha, I like Elva Kvinnor I Ett Hus a lot. Out of the English albums, My Colouring Book as it’s quite personal to her - songs she grew up with. The three 80s albums and also A seem quite far removed from the real Agnetha. Aside from I Keep Them On The Floor Beside My Bed, even the songs she wrote or co-wrote herself are a bit frivolous. After the more personal nature of ABBA’s later songs, Agnetha’s solo offerings are mostly just too impersonal for me. I don’t dislike them though, I just prefer something with a bit more depth.

I have fond memories of when 'Wrap Your Arms Around Me' and 'Something's Going On' were released. The latter is my favourite Frida solo album. I like every song on it apart from 'The Way You Do'. 'Threnody' is close to my heart. 'Shine' has grown on me over the years. 'Twist in the Dark' is a highlight. For the longest time I wasn't keen on what I considered was the overblown 80's look and production. HOWEVER...I genuinely think the album itself was ahead of its time. People weren't ready for it. I remember buying the 12" single of 'Shine' and a friend at the time said she disliked it (she'd been a big fan of SGO and 'Here We'll Stay' was even 'our' song). Now, I can appreciate it much more and the video to the title track is wonderfully of its time and makes me nostalgic. As for 'Ensam', great album, love the cover. I'm probably in the minority but I'm not mad about 'Liv Pa Mars'. I'm not sure why; perhaps because I'm a big David Bowie fan? It isn't that it's a cover; after all, Agnetha's no stranger to a cover and 'My Colouring Book' is choc full of them. No, I think it may be the accent. It's just a tad too strong for my taste on that track. I know that sounds weird as I absolutely love the Swedish language and accent. I think it's just this particular song. I'm SO familiar with the original. I'm not 100% mad about 'Djupa Andetag', either. I mean, I like it and all that but I found it all rather samey and all that sort of earth and nature and stuff wore a bit thin. Not a fair comment really because of course we all know Frida's environmental concerns so it's very her. Frida looked fantastic, though! At her most beautiful, I loved everything about the cover and the photos of her from that time. Gone was the frizzy perms and dodgy outfits and we were presented with Frida as a classy style icon for the 90's. She looked bloody great. And more to the point, was in fine voice. I love the remix of Aven en Blomma.

Agnetha's solo albums were rather patchy. I like songs here and there but I rarely play the albums through. My bad. I liked 'A' and 'Bubble' in particular (it's her favourite and I believe in my heart the lyrics reflect a lot of who Agnetha is as a person, despite not being penned by her). I was horrified when she hooked up with Gary Barlow, though. I can't stand him. She sounds great on the track but I'm allergic to him, big time. Kudos to him for getting Agnetha back on stage but I'd rather it had been with someone else.

My all time favourite album is 'My Colouring Book'. It means so much to me, even if I rarely play it these days. It was released in 2004 and is the last time I felt happy. Yes, it's covers but Agnetha sang her heart out and it's a very personal album. It's melancholic but I'm an introvert anyway so it's right up my street. And I have no words to describe what 'If I Thought You'd Ever Change Your Mind' means to me. I loathe the Cilla Black version (but then I'm not what you'd call a fan of her dreadful foghorn voice). Agnetha made it her own somehow. Maybe the day will come when someone will cover 'The Winner Takes It All' and "make it their own" and I'll have to eat my words! 😆

My favourite Agnetha or Frida solo album is undoubtedly Agnetha's "Elva kvinnor i ett hus" (it was also the first solo album that I owned). It is melodically strong, as well as having beautiful vocals and arrangements. The music for all the songs except "SOS" was composed by Agnetha and she also co-produced the album. I also like that the album has a theme. I recommend any ABBA fan who doesn't have this album to buy it - it was recently re-issued on CD as well as vinyl.

From the English-language albums, my favourite is between Agnetha's "Wrap Your Arms Around Me" and "I Stand Alone", probably the latter.

I confess that I tend to favour Agnetha's solo material over Frida's.

I suppose my favourite Frida album is "Frida ensam", even though it comprises mainly covers. The new vinyl edition is excellent quality, much improved over the original. Before that Frida only really had one album, called "Frida", although there is another one which is counted as a compilation. You can get all of Frida's early work on the album "Frida 1967-1972", which is available as a download.

Hello!
Agnetha's - "Elva kvinnor i ett hus".

Adam, I agree Agnetha's solo album " Eyes Of A Woman " is hugely underrated. There are so many good tracks featured. I'm very fond of EOAW, TAC and WSBT.

The Angels Cry on Eyes of a Woman is sublime.