0. Head Over Heels - the single

1. Let Poland Be Poland

2. Applauso in Stockholm (February)

3. Something's going on - Frida solo (February)

4. Photo sessions - Spring

5. Agnetha goes solo - Summer

6. The Day Before You Came (September)

7. ABBA in London (November)

8. The Singles - The First Ten Years (November)

9. ABBA in Saarbrücken (November)

10. The Story of ABBA in their owns words on Dutch TV

11. Under Attack

12. Nöjesmaskinen - ABBA on Swedish TV

13. The Polar Music Awards (November)

14. The last photo session (December)

15. ABBA in Late Late Breakfast show (December)

Björn's daughter

On January 10th, 1982 Björn became father for the third time. Lena gave birth to their daughter Emma. Björn and Linda paid visit at the Danderyd hospital the same day.

Head Over Heels - the single

The second single selection from the album "The Visitors" was "Head Over Heels" b/w "The Visitors" which was released in Sweden on March 19, 1982. The single did not appear on the Swedish chart though. In West Germany "Head Over Heels" entered the chart in February 1982 and stayed there for several weeks reaching #19. In Great Britain "Head Over Heels" was released already on February 5th, 1982 but it became relative flop topping on #25.

The single was much more successful in France where it entered the chart in February 82 and reached #10. "Head over Heels" in other European countries: Ireland #14, Belgium #2, Holland #4 and Austria #8. "The Visitors" entered the Polish chart on April 24th, 1982 at #6 which was the single's highest position and it stayed on the chart for 5 weeks. It was the very first edition of Polish pop chart after martial law in Poland.

Head Over Heels - the video and the photo sessions

The video to this song was filmed on January 21, 1982 in the Stockholm center and in the studio (go.to/ABBA related places). The photos were taken in the studio during the filming of the video.

Pop agenda 82/83

ABBA were featured on the cover of the Dutch pop calendar for 1982-83 issued by the music paper "Pop foto".

The Must of ABBA

A new compilation album was released in France at the end of February 1982. The LP contained 16 greatest hits from the period before "The Visitors".

LET POLAND BE POLAND

A tragic political occurance at the end of the year 1981 was the martial law which was introduced in Poland on December 13, 1981 because of a big threat of a possible military invasion from Soviet Union. A big gala for Poland "Let Poland Be Poland" would be shown by leading TV stations in USA in March and ABBA were asked about a possible participation. The group could not not participate but Björn and Benny recorded a message for the show which together with the video "When All Is Said And Done" was sent to USA. The message was never shown though.

THE MESSAGE THAT WAS NEVER SHOWN IN USA

What did Benny & Björn say? Here is it word for word:

Benny: Our thoughts are in Poland. There are many galas all over the world this weekend in support of the Polish people. But I think that we should remind of that there are many countries around the world for example: Chile, El Salvador, Afghanistan and Iran where people cannot express themselves openly and freely like we are doing now.

Björn: Human rights are things that we take for granted. And yet we are surrounded by so many examples how easily they can be crashed. I hope that this show will be something to keep us watchful and let us understand how delicate and vulnerable democracy is.

When All Is Said and Done (video)

ABBA's political views    

Swedish news programme "Aktuellt" made an interview with Björn in March after have received the message from USA that the film sent by ABBA had not been aired during the gala. Of course everybody wanted to know what the problem was. Björn assured that they stood for every word they said. The message was shown on Swedish TV.

Applauso in Stockholm

A TV team from Spain came in February to Stockholm to do a TV special with ABBA talking about their latest album and the plans for the future.

go.to/Gracias por la musica

The Applauso photo session

One of the rare photo sessions in 1982 taken at the same time as the Spanish TV interviewed the group.

Agnetha's new image

Agnetha cut her hair short and changed its colour as well. It was probably the most radical hair-do change for Agnetha during all ABBA time. She went back to more usual blonde style a couple of months later.

Frida goes solo

In February and March Frida was recording her first solo album in English with Phil Collins as a producer.

go.to/Frida

Photo sessions - winter & spring 1982

The Day Before You Came session

Winter & spring Agnetha

The "ABBA 1982" session

The Visitors - the SP in USA

The second single selection (after "When All Is Said and Done") from the LP "The Visitors" for USA was the title song b/w "Head Over Heels". The single was released in April 1982 and it entered the US single chart when it stayed for 8 weeks reaching #63.

Björn & Emma - July 1982

Björn & Lena's daughter Emma was born on January 10, 1982 but first in July 82 the Swedish press obtained this rare photo of Björn and Emma taken on Hornsgatan-street in Stockholm.

Recording sessions

Björn and Benny started new recording sessions. This time it was extremely hard to create something new. The first songs recorded were mostly weak compositions: "You Owe Me One", "Just Like That" (unreleased) and "I Am The City" (released for the first time in 1993 on "More ABBA Gold"). Generally the songs were not good at all according to Björn and Benny.

The last ABBA recording sessions took place in August when the group recorded "Under Attack", "Cassandra" and finally the brilliant song "The Day Before You Came".

Cassette single in the UK

On August 13th, 1982 the British record company Epic released a cassette single with four songs: Super Trouper, The Winner Takes It All, One of Us and Lay All Your Love On Me. This strange release had to do with launching a new format - cassette single but it never became successful in Great Britain and this attempt was soon forgoten.

Agnetha goes solo as well

It was time for Agnetha to do some solo projects as well. The first one was a duet with Tomas Ledin "Never Again" and the second one was a big role in a Swedish film "Raskenstam" directed by Gunnar Hellström.

go.to/Agnetha Never Again  or Raskenstam for more info.

Freeze Frame - US TV in Stockholm

In the summer the US TV team came to Stockholm and recorded interviews with Agnetha, Frida, Benny and Stikkan for the forthcoming special "Freeze frame". Both Agnetha and Frida were talking about their solo projects, Stikkan about ABBA and Benny about music. Björn did not appear in the show. Agnetha was interviewed in Stockholm on the island Skeppsbron, Frida in the city center in Kungsträdgården, Stikkan at the office in Hamngatan 11 and Benny in the Polar Studios. The show was aired in 1983.

The Day Before You Came video, September 21, 1982

One of the most famous ABBA videos was filmed on three locations: China Theatre, Tumba railway station and Arlanda airport outside Stockholm. This video was directed by Kjell Sundvall and Kjell-Åke Andersson. More info: go.to/ABBA related places

Making of the video

THE CHINA THEATRE SESSIONS

The Day Before You Came - the single

"The Day Before You Came" backed with "Cassandra" was released on single on October 8, 1982. It entered the British chart on October 23 where it stayed for 6 weeks reaching no... 32. The single was more successful in Germany where it reached #5, in Finland #2, Norway #5, in Ireland #12, in Belgium & Holland #3, in Switzerland #4, in Austria#16, in France #38 and in Poland #4. The maxi edition of the single was released by Polydor in West Germany. It contained though the same versions of the songs as on the 7". The song from the B-side - "Cassandra" entered the Polish pop chart on January 8th, 1983. It stayed there for 2 weeks reaching #29.

The single was not successful in Spain where it even did not enter the chart. The Spanish edition was deleted and it is quite hard to find fan item nowadays.

Maxi singles

"The Day Before You Came" was released as a limited edition maxi single in France, West Germany & Holland. The 12" featured full-length version of "The Day Before You Came" b/w "Cassandra".

Golden Gramophone for ABBA

In 1982 ABBA were honoured with the prestigious "Golden Gramophone Award" for their success as Polydor's top selling act in 1981. The Golden Gramophone went mainly to classical artists in Germany. This was the first time five of the gramophone replicas went to an act outside Germany.

"The Visitors" on CD

Björn and Benny were invited to listen to a new record played called Compact Disc Digital Audio System. "The Visitors" was the first ABBA album which was issued on CD by Polydor in West Germanyin the autumn of 1982. In Great Britain the CD release of "The Visitors" had to wait until March 1983. While they were listening to the album they heard a fault in one of the tracks (unknown which one) which they thought was a fault on the disc. But not - the fault was in the recording! The engineers explained that that section had been mastered conventionally without the use of digital gear.

ABBA in London, November 3-7, 1982

ABBA went to Great Britain to celebrate their 10 years' anniversary and promote the album "The Singles - The First Ten Years". They gave interviews, participated in TV shows "Saturday Superstore" and "The Late Late Breakfast Show".

go.to/ABBA In London day-by-day

Agnetha photo session

Photographer Eric Watson took several photos of Agnetha for the interview with the singer preparing for issue in the Swedish weekly "Veckorevyn" on March 9, 1983.

The Singles - The First Ten Years

The new double album "The Singles - The First Ten Years" was released on November 8, 1982 (the UK release November 5th). It contained 23 tracks including two new ones: "The Day Before You Came" and "Under Attack". A special box edition was released in Great Britain. The box contained two picture discs, poster and a copy of the entrance ticket from the Eurovision Song Contest in 1974. "The Singles" entered the British chart on November 20, 1982 where it stayed for 22 weeks. The album reached the top one week later.

Polar Music released two music cassettes: "The Singles 1" and "The Singles 2". Polydor and Atlantic chose another option and released one cassette with double length.

The Singles - The Gallery

The official press release from Polar Music

Various promotional stuff

Alternative shots

The CD

Simultaneously with the LP release the CD version of the album was available. The box contained two CDs as the material was about 10 minutes too long for one CD.

The Singles - the box

Epic released a special limited box which contained two picture disc LPs, a booklet with the story of the group, a copy of the original ticket to the Eurovision Song Contest in Brighton and a large poster. At the beginning of 1983 the Swedish King Carl Gustav received the box from Stikkan Anderson as a gift.

ABBA In Saarbrücken, November 8-11, 1982

ABBA went to Germany to participate in the "Show Express" show which would be group's very last TV show there. The Four seemed to be very happy and relaxed on stage and made probably one of their best TV shows ever.