Former
ABBA member
Agnetha Faeltskog's
That's Me: Greatest Hits compiles highlights and rarities from the second phase of her solo career, which lasted from
ABBA's breakup in 1982 to the late '80s, and comprised three albums,
Wrap Your Arms Around Me (1983),
Eyes of a Woman (1985), and
I Stand Alone (1987). Three tracks each have been selected from these albums, songs that were released as singles in various territories and enjoyed some commercial success. For example,
"The Heat Is On" (not to be confused with the
Glenn Frey song of the same title that came a couple of years later) was released as the first single from
Wrap Your Arms Around Me in the U.K. and made the Top 40, while in the U.S.,
"Can't Shake Loose" was chosen instead and made the Top 30. Both tracks, produced by British hitmeister
Mike Chapman (
the Sweet,
Blondie), were in the synth-dance-rock style of the early '80s. More typically, however,
Chapman and
Eyes of a Woman producer
Eric Stewart of
10cc, among others, tried to re-create elements of the
ABBA sound that had made
Faeltskog successful, even to the point of recording in Sweden with some of the same backup musicians the group had used. The
ABBA sound becomes even more prevalent on the disc because of the presence of a few actual
ABBA tracks.
"The Winner Takes It All" and
"Slipping Through My Fingers" are songs on which
Faeltskog had the lead vocals, while
"That's Me," an
ABBA B-side, though featuring both
Faeltskog and fellow
ABBA singer
Frida, is described by annotator
Carl Magnus Palm as one of
Faeltskog's favorite tracks by the band. Her last album producer of the era,
Peter Cetera, did not go for an
ABBA-like sound on
I Stand Alone. Instead, recording in Los Angeles, he simply inserted
Faeltskog's vocals into one of his typical
David Foster-like productions of West Coast pop in the manner of his own later work with
Chicago and solo. As heard here,
Cetera's duet with
Faeltskog on
"I Wasn't the One (Who Said Goodbye)" (a Top 20 Adult Contemporary chart hit) was, for all intents and purposes, the follow-up to his duet hit with
Amy Grant of the year before,
"The Next Time I Fall." In addition to tracks from the solo albums and
ABBA songs, the compilation is filled out by English-language singles and non-LP B-sides, several of which were issued only in Sweden. Several of these are impressive pop performances, notably the previously unreleased 1981 demo
"The Queen of Hearts," co-written and co-produced by
Faeltskog herself, which is one of the more
ABBA-like tracks here. After the release of
I Stand Alone,
Faeltskog essentially retired from her musical career, but this album gives a good accounting of her immediate post-
ABBA efforts. ~ William Ruhlmann
