Super Trouper is the seventh studio album by the Swedish pop group ABBA, released on 3 November 1980 via Polar Music. A pop and pop rock record, it was the last album to be recorded while members Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Benny Andersson were married, as the two would divorce in 1981. The album's title is taken from the spotlight of the same name.
Super Trouper received a positive reception from music critics, and has even been named by some as their best studio album. It was a hugely successful album, becoming the United Kingdom's best-selling album of 1980 despite the late release into the year. Reportedly, the album received one million advance orders in the country. Elsewhere, the album topped charts in Belgium, the Netherlands, Finland, Germany, Norway, and the group's native Sweden. The album has reportedly sold over eight million copies worldwide.
Overview
Led by the international hit "The Winner Takes It All", Super Trouper was the group's sixth chart-topping album in the UK. It was also the best-selling album in Britain for 1980. Super Trouper was first released on CD in 1983 by Polar Music International, in the early 1980s by Polydor, and in the late 1980s by Atlantic Records for the US. The album has been reissued in digitally remastered form four times; first in 1997, then in 2001, again in 2005 as part of The Complete Studio Recordings box set and as a Deluxe Edition (containing a bonus DVD) in 2011.
The previous year's divorce between Björn and Agnetha was explored in "The Winner Takes It All", and the members' lives in Stockholm high society circles coloured the lyrics for "On and On and On". Other well-known songs on the album include the hit single title track "Super Trouper", as well as the electro-dance of "Lay All Your Love on Me".
Probably due to the disco backlash at that time, the album saw ABBA returning to a more straightforward pop sound, The song was later covered by The Alexander Brothers, The Kingston Trio, Philomena Begley and Faryl Smith. On some European vinyl issues, the cheering and applause at the end of "The Way Old Friends Do" is recorded up to the run-out groove, playing in an endless loop on manual turntables.
Writing and recording
In January 1980, Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson went to Barbados to write songs for a new album, which resulted in five compositions. The first songs recorded for the album were "Andante, Andante", "Happy New Year" (originally intended as part of a never realised musical), and the backing track of the rockier "On and On and On". The sessions for the album was then interrupted by a short tour in Japan in March. Returning to the Polar Studios in Stockholm, the group then recorded and mixed the five tracks written, also including "The Piper" and "Elaine" (which would be released as a single b-side). Returning to the studio again in June with three new songs written to work on, including "The Winner Takes It All", which was released as the first single from the album in July would become a worldwide hit single, "Our Last Summer" and the country-flavoured "Burning My Bridges", which remains unreleased. After a summer holiday the group started the recording sessions again in September with yet another three new songs written, including "Me and I" and the electro-disco track "Lay All Your Love on Me". The third song in the September session was "Put On Your White Sombrero", which eventually was not included on the album. Having already decided that the album was going to be entitled Super Trouper, the group realised that they needed another track for the album to replace the ditched "Put On Your White Sombrero". Written in the studio as the last track for the album in October, the song fitted to become the title track and also a single.
Lyrically, many of the songs feature personal themes, most notably "The Winner Takes It All" which partly is about the break-up of Björn Ulvaeus and Agnetha Fältskog's marriage. "Our Last Summer" was based on a teenage romance Björn Ulvaeus had experienced in Paris in his youth. "The Piper" features an unusual lyric inspired by Stephen King's novel The Stand about the rise of a fascist-type leader. "Me and I" has another unusual lyric about conflicting sides in one's personality.
Deluxe edition
On 9 May 2011, Super Trouper was reissued as a 2-disc deluxe edition package to celebrate as part of its 30th anniversary celebration. Disc one consisted of a remastered CD version of the original album, expanded with five bonus tracks. The mastering of the tracks was done by Erik Broheden, using the original master tapes, at Masters of audio in Stockholm.
The second disc contained a variety of television content, including: ABBA's appearance on ZDF's Show Express, that included performances of "The Winner Takes It All", "Super Trouper", and "On And On And On"; a performance of "Happy New Year" from SVT; Words And Music, a documentary produced by Polar Music International that features the group talking about the album after its completion; the new featurette, Somewhere In The Crowd There's You – On Location With ABBA, that compiles footage from the night of the photo shoot for the album's sleeve; remastered promo clips of "Super Trouper" and "Happy New Year"; two Super Trouper TV commercials; and the "International Sleeve Gallery".
Album cover and title
Super Trouper is a registered trademark owned by Strong Entertainment Lighting for their brand of followspots, i.e., directional spotlights used to follow a performer on stage.
Album cover designer, Rune Söderqvist, decided to use the spotlight theme and photograph the group, surrounded by circus performers, at Piccadilly Circus, London, but after failing to gain permission to base the shoot in central London, they instead invited the members of two local circuses to Europa Film Studios, Stockholm to take the photograph there.
Several of ABBA's friends were also invited to take part and the following also appear on the cover: Görel Hanser (vice-president of Polar Music who subsequently married the band's photographer Anders Hanser), Berka Bergkvist (another Polar Music employee), Tomas Ledin, and Anders Anderson (ABBA's manager's son).