| Did Frida’s “Shine” Album Fail Because Of Its Art Direction? In light of Universal’s recent reissuing of remastered versions of Frida’s three solo albums for Polar, 1975’s “Ensam”, 1982’s “Something’s Going On”, and 1984’s “Shine” I wanted to take a few moments to ponder if the “failure” of “Shine” could be blamed on Heinz Angermayr, responsible for the cover photo and Göran Dessen, responsible for the original album cover. While am certainly not giving Steve Lillywhite nor Frida a blame free ticket through this analysis, after all, ultimately both Steve and Frida would have had to approve the work done by Heinz and Göran. I intent to argue that a bulk of the failure of the album can be attributed to the abomination they tried to pass off as art direction that is often referred to on ABBAMAIL as Frida’s “Lesbian Truck Driver” phase. The stage in an album’s creation at which point photos are taken and an image are created for an album usually follows the recording of the songs. On that basis, we’re going to assume that the song choices were set in stone by the time that Heinz and Göran were brought into the process of creating the “Shine” album. Ultimately it was Heinz and Göran who completely missed the boat on what the “Shine” album was about and doomed it to fail because of the mixed messages the audience got between the songs Frida recorded and the “tough bitch” image that Heinz and Göran created for them. Taking a look at the songs that make up the “Shine” album give a clue to the kind of album Frida recorded and gives some idea as to what Heinz and Göran should have picked up as the basis for creating the visual imagery of the album. The album opens with “Shine” which does have some elements of a “rock” beat but ultimately the lyrics are about a protagonist who’s ability to shine is totally dependent upon the love interest of the song. There is a completely submissive song about the inability to derive any self-worth without the aid of someone else. While technically this song is a last minute addition to the album because it wasn’t recorded until after the album was thought to be complete, it does fit in with the rest of the material on the album thematically. “One Little Lie” is the only song that made the album that even makes an attempt at showing some strength and lining up with the “tough bitch” image but even it falls short of it because Frida’s character in the song is singing about shutting out rumours to deny the truth they tell. She ultimately “couldn’t bear to lose” the person the song is about and spends the bulk of the song pussy-footing around the rumours fearing that should the rumours be true, there would be “nothing worth hanging on to.” In “The Face” Frida’s role is completely outside of the situation of the song. She acts as a third party as if a therapist providing commentary to her patient. The person the song is about is apparently in a relationship that has apparently gone sour, perhaps due to conflict or growing apart over the years, the reason is unknown. In any case, the situation is that the partner who lives in the same physical space no longer occupies the same emotional space and has become distant as if he’d become a complete stranger without anything in common besides sharing common living space. There is an apparent unwillingness to let go of the relationship, another sign of submissiveness. There is little character strength in “Twist In The Dark” as the persona of the song is tortured by her own thoughts of her partner’s betrayal. Instead of fueling fire, the thoughts are just prolonging the pain and suffering. If nothing else, you expect the persona to be crying. In probably the only true wonderful choice of song order on the album, the pain and suffering from “Twist In The Dark” is brilliantly followed up thematically by the accepting of the loss in “Slowly”. In terms of strength of character brought about by the lyrics of the song, it’s ironic that it’s a Björn and Benny penned song that shows any form of character strength that is truly a trademark of Frida’s style as a performer. It’s a shame that Steve Lillywhite’s production of the song fails to bring forth Frida’s innate ability to shine in songs requiring the character strength in the face of adversity. Frida really could have given this song much more life with her vocal ability to convey the acceptance of the loss of love without showing any submissiveness. “Heart Of The County” opens the second side of the album and Frida does well here showcasing strength and vulnerability at the same time. Perhaps because the song does lean a little more to the vulnerable side, which is usually more of the type of song associated with Frida’s ABBA counterpart, Agnetha Fältskog. Everything from the candle that needs constant attention to the land that’s taken everything but left only emptiness creates a sense of a vast wasteland. Yet Frida is still able to inject the dire situation with a sense of hope through the protagonist’s praying for her only one, as well as staying despite being alone except for a failing whisper. Even despite knowing she should be moving on too, an exasperated laugh at the conclusion of the song conveys a sense of acceptance and defiance in show of character strength that Agnetha never could display in her vocal ability to showcase vulnerability. With “Come To Me (I Am Woman)” Frida conveys a motherly aspect. The song certainly plays up the nurturing aspect of being a woman. If there could be a song equivalent of a great big hug, this one is it. While it would certainly require a sense of strength to be in a position of offering the comforting role Frida’s protagonist plays, it’s a far from that “tough bitch” in the combative pose on the album cover. “Chemistry Tonight” is a playful song that seems to play more from the excitement of the initial excitement of a new relationship, barely past the lust stage, if at all beyond it. But here too, the all the electricity is dependent upon reciprocal attention from the love interest of this song. She is giving in to the sensations of her body and even if the submissiveness is just allowing herself to enjoy her feelings, and not yet submitting herself to her partner. It’s almost as if Frida might have been trying to capture the essence of Olivia Newton-John’s “Please Mr. Please” where Olivia is pleading with a bar guest to not play a certain song on the jukebox because it would evoke feeling she couldn’t control. Here Frida is pleading for the object of her affection to not get too close or she’ll fall uncontrollably in love with him. It’s like she’s setting herself up for failure in her attempt to resist in much the same way that it’s inevitable in Olivia’s case that someone will play that song eventually unless she can some how rip that record out of the jukebox and smash it. In either case, neither Frida nor Olivia are playing their roles in the song from a sense of empowerment. With the album closing with “Comfort Me” we have concluded our musical journey through Frida’s “Shine” album and we aren’t left with an impression of Frida as “tough bitch” but a final song of vulnerability. Frida soft coos her way through the role of a woman in need of comforting, as if any self-image of strength has been shattered in need of time to help repair the wounds. It’s clear there is a lot of pain and heartbreak, perhaps even bordering on tears. If there was any opportunity to hear what it would be like if Frida had an opportunity to sing a song that Agnetha would likely have been asked to do if the song had been written by Björn and Benny for ABBA, this is the closest Frida has come. And in a true sense of irony, the strongest song Frida recorded for the album and arguably the one most in support of the “tough bitch” image that Heinz and Göran created is the one that was not even on the “Shine” album. “That’s Tough” was relegated to being a b-side and it’s the only song from the “Shine” sessions where Frida sings it from the position of power. Now even if this song was originally intended to be on the album and ultimately replaced by “Shine” this is the one and only song on the album that would support what ultimately became the cover image. It’s obvious that if “That’s Tough” got cut from the album, it was never destined to be an a-side on a single and it’s unlikely that it should have been the thematic basis for the album’s image. Ultimately Heinz Angermayr and Göran Dessen failed to capture the essence of Frida’s “Shine” album. While it may have been appropriate an image to Frida in a strong pose and position of strength to represent Frida as a person, but clearly, Heinz and Göran were not in touch with or not given an opportunity to find a visual way to connect the songs on the album with an appropriate image of Frida that reinforces each other. It’s as if the concept for the album vocally was created completely separate from the concept of the album visually and through some freak of nature they were mashed together to create a badly connected vision of an album, a Frankenstein’s monster, if you will. The concept was certainly made worse by the selection of singles. “Shine” served as the lead single and ultimately, “Come To Me (I Am Woman)” and “Heart Of The Country” were released as singles. None of these songs benefited from being tied to Frida’s “Tough Bitch” with green and pink fluorescent gloves. Each of these songs present a woman needing another person to feel complete and what does the prospective record buyer see when they go in the store to find her album, a scary looking bitch ready to kick their ass or at the very least arrest them and take them to the bad fashion police. She even scores a knockout if you turn the album over to see her victory pose. I feel Frida’s “Shine” album, ultimately failed because the average record buyer couldn’t connect the woman on the radio with the woman on the album cover, and as a result lost out on additional sales that could have driven more airplay if the audience saw an image of Frida that thematically suited what ultimately became the “Shine” album. Ryan | 
