Skip to main content

Frida - Something's Going On

Frida
Released in the fall of 1982, it was probably in the summer of '83 that I first heard the title track. Phil Collins mania hadn't gripped the world ... but he was just on the horizon. His distinctive drums were the reason the song grabbed me initially, but it was a killer toon, and Daryl Stuermer's guitar solo was the icing on the cake.

Yes, this was the same Frida who was in ABBA, and although at the time she seemed to be old as dirt she was probably only 36 or 37 years old. Of course considering I was still in my teens (okay, as late into my teens as you can get) that's a big gap.

I bought the album mainly for the title track, but I found there was a lot to like and as a bonus (at least to me) was Jim Rafferty's (brother to Gerry) "I See Red" a song I always really liked. Both Russ Ballard, and Rod Argent contributed a song each, with Russ Ballard's "I Know There's Something Going On" being the big song here. There were a lot of really good songs here, more than I remembered to be honest.

insert
The album has been a pleasant surprise revisiting. Aside from the duet with Phil Collin's, the insipid "Here We'll Stay" these are really strong songs. Although to be fair, the duet would have likely been a single except that Genesis was just taking off, and Phil apparently objected to having it released ... although I'm pretty sure that if this had come in '85 after the barrage of duets Phil seemed to be involved with this surely would have been huge ... even if I thought it sucked.

Timing is everything.

back cover
The album was just a smidge ahead of its time ... there's something really crisp and clean about the songs and the arrangements that just fitted perfectly with the '80s, or more specifically what would be remembered as the '80s. The album had all the ingredients to be a big deal, but somehow never caught on. Maybe it wasn't ABBA enough, and people weren't ready for a Phil Collin's produced collection of brooding pop songs. Too bad, "To Turn to Stone" written by Peter Belotte and Giorgio Moroder felt like a familiar friend, and should have given her old fans a big case of the feels. Perhaps it did for all that, as the album would hit number one is Sweden and chart as high as number two in Norway. 

Maybe the rest of the world missed out.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

6 Cylinder

As a kid we had one radio station, not counting CBC, and generally there was very little that was worth listening to, although there were times something would come on that would make you pay attention. It was 1979 and on a couple of occasions I heard "There Ain't Nobody Here But Us  Chickens" and it cracked me up, and I always wanted to get a copy for myself. A few years ago when my niece was dancing, they did a performance to this song, and now I can't separate my niece from a bunch of dancing chicks in chicken suits. Such is life. When I found this in the dollar bin I actually let out a little chirp, my goodness could it be? It was, and it was in great shape - including the inner sleeve.  Score. I had no idea what to expect, for all I knew there was only one song worth listening to, and if that was the case it was still a dollar well spent. If I could buy an album by Showdown and enjoy it, odds are I'll find something to enjoy here to. Before I put this on I...

Meat Loaf - Bat Out of Hell

File under: TLDR Note to the reader. First sorry, second not really, but I am sorry I don't have the ability to edit. Oh happy Valentine's day.  To celebrate let's take a gander at Meat Loaf's 1977 Bat Out of Hell. Over forty three million people disagree with me but for decades I thought this album was, and continues to be, one giant disappointment. I'll be the first to admit that despite decades of baggage the overwhelming power of nostalgia managed to erode even the hardest of convictions and I found that Bat Out of Hell was one of those albums I wanted to have in my collection, but I wasn't looking all that hard. It was an album I knew more about than I actually knew about. So at this moment in time I'm still holding firm on my long held opinion. But before I get into things, it's time for some meanderambling blurbage ... I remember seeing the cover when I was a kid and thinking it was the single greatest cover I had ever seen. What wonders were to b...

Garfield - Strange Streets

I'd seen this before in the bin, but kept flipping through the stacks. I'd see it a few more times, each time stopping to look at it a little more. There was something kind of cool about the cover where the stylized Celtic knot had the dotted yellow line - it was a strange street for sure.  I pulled the record out of the jacket and I was struck by the centre image. There was the familiar Mercury label, the same one I'd seen a thousand times on BTOs Head On album. Well, I'd bought things based on odd associations before - like when I had to buy anything that Solid Rock Records released (this was generally a good thing) who knows maybe this was a hidden gem. There weren't any real scratches or rash, just a lot of dirt and dust - it seemed to clean up okay, but we'll see how it goes. The album opens with the title track, and this wasn't straight ahead pop, or rock. It was leaning to the progressive, but with a pop bent. Oddly enough the vocals reminded me of Mi...