Agnetha's tough day in the studio

By Sofie Rolf

Music is being played loud. The phone is ringing. People walking in and out. A song lyric has disappeared and everybody is looking for it frantically. Aftonbladet was there one day with Agnetha Fältskog recording her new solo-LP "Eyes Of A Woman" in the Polar studio.

Agnetha Fältskog will release her new album in February. In fourteen days the final mix will be ready, but there's still a lot of work left to do for Agnetha, the producer Eric Stewart and the sound engineer Paris Edvinsson.

Eric Stewart is from the old pop group 10 cc, but he's also known as a composer and lyric writer.

AF : He was really a good choice. He had a lot of influence in 10 cc. I have listened to their albums a lot and I like their style.

ES : Agnetha is a fantastic singer. She's not afraid of experimenting and she's easy to work with.

AF : More, more....... (laughs as she leans back in her chair).

Next moment she's laying in the same position as you do at the dentist's.

AF : Ha ha ha... These chairs are unbelievable. We should get new chairs because they have new ones at the front desk.

Agnetha has been in the studio since September 3. Each week of recording at Polar costs  67 000 kronor (SEK), so when Agnetha is done in the beginning of November, the bill will approximately be about half a million kronor.
In the studio along with her are the bass player Rutger Gunnarsson - the only Swedish musician on the album - Jaime Laine, on drums, Rick Fenn, on guitar and Vic Emerson on keyboards, and they have been hand-picked by Eric Stewart. Fifteen songs will be recorded. Out of those, Agnetha has written two, Eric Stewart two, John Wetton from the successful group Asia has written one and Agnetha's sound engineer Paris Edvinsson one together with the singer Marianne Flynner. It's their song - "Eyes Of A Woman" - that has given the album it's name.

When Aftonbladet is visiting all the backgrounds are done, and two songs have been mixed already.

AF :  It sounds very good. I strive to become better so that both I and my audience will be satisfied.

"Wrap Your Arms Around Me" received such nice reviews. Are the expectations for "Eyes Of A Woman" high?

AF : That's possible, but I don't feel any pressure. I like to work in the studio, and the collaboration works very well with both Eric and Paris.

What do you think about Frida's album?

AF : I don't like all of the songs, but "Shine" sounds very fresh.

Agnetha is drinking a cup of coffee and is just about to sing when Eric discovers that a song lyric is missing. After a few moments of searching and a few discussions, they finally get a hold of someone who knows the lyrics.

AF : Ugh, it doesn't feel right today. I have no strength in my abdomen.

Agnetha gives it a try and after a while it's starting to sound right.

Agnetha will neither give any concerts nor tour. Instead she's inviting the world media and goes to the world's largest music convention MIDEM (Marché Internationale du Disque et de l'Edition Musical) in France where she has planned a TV-appearance.

AF : I don't have the time to do everything, instead I have to prioritize. TV1 (Swedish TV) and Tigerfilm will tape six songs on video. It has also already been decided, but only up to 99 percent, that we will begin to shoot a sequel to "Raskenstam" in February. So everything looks very bright for me.