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Super Trouper is the seventh studio album by the Swedish pop group ABBA, first released in 1980. It features the No.1 singles "The Winner Takes It All" and "Super Trouper". The album became the biggest-selling album of 1980 in the UK.
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 Atlantic Records, again in the 1980s by Polar International, and in the 1990s by Polydor in the US. The album has been reissued in digitally remastered form four times; first in 1996, then in 2001, again in 2005 as part of the The Complete Studio Recordingsbox 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 of the time, the album saw ABBA returning to a more straightforward pop sound, as opposed to the preceding (and noticeably more dance-oriented) Voulez-Vous album. The album closed with "The Way Old Friends Do", which was recorded live a year earlier during their 1979 concert tour. Although not released as a single with this album, the song was later released as a single in 1992 to promote the compilation More ABBA Gold: More ABBA Hits. The song was later covered by The Alexander Brothers, The Kingston Trio, Philomena Begley and Faryl Smith.
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. After discovering that there was a law preventing any entertainers or animals appearing 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).
At the same time, Lasse Hallström also filmed scenes that were eventually used in the videos for "Happy New Year", "Felicidad" and "Super Trouper" even though the latter had not even been composed at the time.
Super Trouper was remastered and reissued in 2001 with two bonus tracks: ("Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)" was shifted as a bonus track onto the Voulez-Vous album.)
"Elaine" – 3:44
"Put On Your White Sombrero" – 4:34
Super Trouper was remastered and reissued again in 2005 as part of the The Complete Studio Recordings box set with three bonus tracks:
"Felicidad" (Spanish version of "Happy New Year") (Anderson, Ulvaeus); (Spanish translation – B. McCluskey, M. McCluskey) – 4:24
Tracks 12–13 are from the Spanish and Latin American version of the album Super Trouper.
Super Trouper was reissued once again in 2008 as part of the The Albums box set, but without any bonus tracks.
The album was remastered and reissued again as part of the Deluxe Edition series on 9 May 2011 together with a bonus DVD. This version reached No. 146 on the UK album chart. The bonus tracks were as follows:
"Elaine" – 3:45
"On and On and On" (Full length version, stereomix) - 4:15
"Put On Your White Sombrero" - 4:34
"Andante, Andante (Spanish version)" – 4:40
"Felicidad" (Spanish version of "Happy New Year") – 4:24
The bonus DVD contains the following clips:
ABBA on German TV (Show Express, ZDF)
"The Winner Takes It All"
"Super Trouper"
"On and On and On"
"Happy New Year" (SVT)
Words and Music (Documentary)
Somewhere in the Crowd There's You – On Location with ABBA (Featurette: Making of the Super Trouper Album Sleeve)
"Super Trouper" (Remastered Promo Clip)
"Happy New Year" (Remastered Promo Clip)
Super Trouper TV Commercial I (UK)
Super Trouper TV Commercial II (UK)
International Sleeve Gallery
Singles
"The Winner Takes It All/Elaine" (July 1980)
"Super Trouper/The Piper" (November 1980)
"Happy New Year/Andante Andante" (November 1980)
"On and On and On/The Piper" (December 1980) (Japan only)
"Andante Andante/The Piper" (1981) (South America and South Africa only)
"Lay All Your Love on Me/On and On and On" (July 1981)
Non-album tracks
"Elaine"
A synthpop song recorded in 1980 and released as B-side "The Winner Takes It All" single.
"Burning My Bridges"
A country/rockabilly song recorded in 1980 with lead vocal by Ulvaeus. A brief excerpt of this track was released in the box set, Thank You for the Music.
"Put On Your White Sombrero"
A song based on waltz with a Latin American sound recorded in 1980 with lead vocal by Lyngstad. The track was originally intended to be released on this album. It was replaced by this album's title track, Super Trouper. The melody of the "Put On Your White Sombrero" was later remodelled into a new ABBA song, "Cassandra", which became the B-Side to "The Day Before You Came". The song remained unreleased until 1994, when it was included in the box set Thank You for the Music and the promo-CD-single "Dream World". It has since appeared as a bonus track on various versions of reissues of Super Trouper – and in the box set The Complete Studio Recordings.
