Agnetha Fältskog "I Stand Alone"

I Stand Alone is the third English-language solo studio album, and tenth overall, by Swedish singer and ABBA member Agnetha Fältskog. Released on 9 November 1987, the album was produced by Peter Cetera and would be her last for 17 years.

Recorded mainly in Los Angeles and Malibu, California, I Stand Alone was produced by Peter Cetera, the former singer and bass guitar player with American rock band Chicago. He duetted with Fältskog on the track "I Wasn't the One (Who Said Goodbye)" (No. 93 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 19 on the Adult Contemporary chart in the U.S.). The co-producer of the album was Bruce Gaitsch, with whom Fältskog was in a relationship at the time.

The musical style of the album was very different from the European sounds of Faltskog's previous two albums, and reflected the West Coast American influences of the producers. The album became Sweden's best-selling LP of 1988, where it remained at No.1 for eight weeks. It also reached the Top 20 in Norway and Belgium, and No.22 in the Netherlands, but fared less well on charts elsewhere, only reaching No.47 in West Germany, No.72 in the United Kingdom, No.93 in Japan and No.96 in Australia.

Fältskog also made several promo videos for singles from the album, including "The Last Time" and "Let It Shine". When the third single, "I Wasn't the One (Who Said Goodbye)", appeared on the U.S. Billboard Chart in April 1988, Warner Music asked her to make another video immediately. Although it was a duet with Peter Cetera, he did not appear in the video.

Album track "Love in a World Gone Mad" was a cover version of a song by British pop group Bucks Fizz, from their 1986 album Writing on the Wall.

For the cover of the album and promotional interviews, Fältskog appeared with a "new" spiky blonde hair look. Fältskog made a very rare trip on an airplane to Los Angeles to record the album. After it was completed, she didn't fly again for years due to her much-publicised fear of flying. She did, however, admit that the flight was worth it.

The album was picked as a "Lost Treasure" by the Smashing Pumpkins' frontman Billy Corgan. "She's one of my favourite singers of all time", he explained. "It's rare that a singer can hit super-high up the register and sound really good. When I look at the pop world today, I wish we had an ABBA. They had that right combination of fun, beauty, not taking it too seriously, but being deadly in the studio. Everyone's so goddamn serious these days."

The album was re-released as Estoy Sola for the Latin American market on LP's and cassettes in 1987. Although all of the original English language song titles were translated into Spanish for the album's track listing, only two songs were actually re-recorded with Fältskog and Cetera recording new vocals in Spanish for "I Wasn't the One (Who Said Goodbye)" (as "Yo No Fui Quién Dijo Adiós") and "The Last Time" (as "La Ultima Véz").

Track listing

I Stand Alone

Side one

1. "The Last Time" – 4:12 (Robin Randall, Judithe Randall, Jeff Law)
2. "Little White Secrets" – 4:04 (Ellen Schwartz, Roger Bruno, Susan Pomerantz)
3. "I Wasn't the One (Who Said Goodbye)" with Peter Cetera – 4:10 (Mark Mueller, Aaron Zigman)
4. "Love in a World Gone Mad" – 4:08 (Billy Livsey, Pete Sinfield)
5. "Maybe It Was Magic" – 4:07 (Peter Brown, Pat Hurley)

Side two

1. "Let It Shine" – 3:58 (Austin Roberts, Bill LaBounty, Beckie Foster)
2. "We Got a Way" – 3:50 (John Robinson, Franne Golde, Martin Walsh)
3. "I Stand Alone" – 4:48 (Peter Cetera, Bruce Gaitsch)
4. "Are You Gonna Throw It All Away" – 4:52 (Diane Warren, Albert Hammond)
5. "If You Need Somebody Tonight" – 3:32 (Diane Warren, Albert Hammond)

Estoy Sola

Side one

1. "La Última Vez" ("The Last Time") – 4:12
2. "Pequeños Secretos Blancos" ("Little White Secrets") – 4:04
3. "Yo No Fui Quien Dijo Adiós" with Peter Cetera ("I Wasn't the One (Who Said Goodbye)") – 4:10
4. "Amor En Un Mundo Vuelto Loco" ("Love In a World Gone Mad") – 4:08
5. "Tal Vez Eso Era Mágico" ("Maybe It Was Magic") – 4:07

Side two

1. "Déjalo Que Brille" ("Let It Shine") – 3:58
2. "Tenemos Un Modo" ("We Got a Way") - 3:50
3. "Estoy Sola" ("I Stand Alone") - 4:48
4. "¿Vas A Abandonarlo Todo?" ("Are You Gonna Throw It All Away") - 4:52
5. "Si Necesitas A Alguien Esta Noche" ("If You Need Somebody Tonight") - 3:32

Produced by Peter Cetera and Bruce Gaitsch

Engineered and Mixed by Rick Holbrook

Assistant Engineer – Britt Bacon

Mix Assistant – Karen Siegel

Recorded at Chartmaker Studios (Malibu, CA).

Additional recording at Skyline Recording (Topanga Canyon, CA), That Studio (North Hollywood, CA), Sun Valley Audio (Sun Valley, ID) and Zebra Studio (Studio City, CA).

Mixed at Lion Share Recording Studio (Los Angeles, CA).

Mastered by Wally Traugott at Capitol Mastering (Hollywood, CA).

Production Coordination – Ivy Skoff

Art Direction – Greta for Ink-a-Dinka, Inc.

Photography – Albert Tolot

Agnetha Fältskog "I Won't Let You Go (Single & Video)"

"I Won't Let You Go" is the first single from Agnetha Fältskog's second English solo-album Eyes of a Woman. The song was composed by Fältskog with lyrics by producer Eric Stewart, formerly of the group 10cc.

The track reached the Top 10 in Sweden and Belgium, but due to the lack of promotion, "I Won't Let You Go" proved unsuccessful in Britain, where it peaked at #84.

The B-side of the single, "You're There", was also written by Fältskog and was the last song written by her to be released until "I Keep Them On The Floor Beside My Bed", which was the closing track on her 2013 album, A.

In some countries a 12" single was released that featured an extended remix instead of the album version.

Agnetha Fältskog "Wrap Your Arms Around Me"

Wrap Your Arms Around Me is the first English-language solo studio album by Swedish singer and ABBA member Agnetha Fältskog, and her seventh studio album overall. It was released by Polar Music on 31 May 1983 and was produced by Mike Chapman. "The Heat Is On", "Wrap Your Arms Around Me" and "Can't Shake Loose" were released as singles to promote the album. In 2005, the album was re-released in CD format with five bonus tracks.

The first track from the album, "The Heat Is On", was issued as a single in Europe, where it is commonly regarded as Fältskog's best-known 1980s solo hit. "The Heat Is On" was successful in Europe and Scandinavia, reaching number one in Sweden and Norway and peaking at number two in the Netherlands and Belgium. The album's title track was another successful single, topping the charts in Belgium and Denmark, reaching the top 5 in Sweden, the Netherlands and South Africa, and the top 20 in Germany and France. "Can't Shake Loose" was the choice for the lead single in North America; this song became the first of only two solo singles from Fältskog to chart on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States, peaking at number 29 in October 1983. The song was written by Russ Ballard, who also wrote "I Know There's Something Going On", the only US hit by Fältskog's former ABBA companion Frida.

The track "Man" was the only song on the album written by Fältskog herself in contrast to her pre-ABBA 1960s recordings in Swedish, which were mostly self-written. The album's strings were provided by the Sveriges Radio Symphony Orchestra.

The album has sold over 1.2 million copies worldwide.

Track listing

1. "The Heat Is On" Florrie Palmer, Tony Ashton 3:53
2. "Can't Shake Loose" Russ Ballard 4:21
3. "Shame" David Clark Allen 3:36
4. "Stay" Allen 3:17
5. "Once Burned, Twice Shy" Dan Tyler, Richard Spady Brannan 3:42
6. "Mr. Persuasion" Susan Duncombe Lynch, Larry Whitman 2:41
7. "Wrap Your Arms Around Me" Mike Chapman, Holly Knight 5:12
8. "To Love" Jill Brandt, Randy Goodrum 3:52
9. "I Wish Tonight Could Last Forever" Ballard 4:12
10. "Man" Agnetha Fältskog 3:32
11. "Take Good Care of Your Children" Tomas Ledin 3:43
12. "Stand by My Side" Guido & Maurizio De Angelis, David Cowles 4:15

Total length: 46:16

Aerosmith "Pump"

Pump is the tenth studio album by American rock band Aerosmith. It was released on September 12, 1989, by Geffen Records. The album peaked at No. 5 on the US charts, and was certified septuple platinum by the RIAA in 1995.

The album contains the hit singles "Love in an Elevator", "The Other Side", "What It Takes", "Janie's Got a Gun", which all entered the Top 40 of the Hot 100. It also has certified sales of seven million copies in the U.S. to date, and is tied with its successor Get a Grip as Aerosmith's second best-selling studio album in the U.S. (Toys in the Attic leads with eight million). It produced a variety of successes and "firsts" for the band including their first Grammy Award ("Janie's Got a Gun"). "Love in an Elevator" became the first Aerosmith song to hit number one on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. The album was the fourth best-selling album of the year 1990.

In the UK, it was the second Aerosmith album to be certified Silver (60,000 units sold) by the British Phonographic Industry, achieving this in September 1989.

Pump was the second of three sequentially recorded Aerosmith albums to feature producer Bruce Fairbairn and engineers Mike Fraser and Ken Lomas at Little Mountain Sound Studios.

A video documentary on the recording, The Making of Pump, was released in 1990.

In December 1988, Aerosmith got together at Rik Tinory Productions in Cohasset, Massachusetts to rehearse and compose new songs, as the band members thought the isolated nature of the studio would help their creativity. Over 19 songs were written, split between an "A-list" with songs considered possible hits, such as "Love in an Elevator" and "What It Takes", and the "B-list" having songs yet to be developed such as "Voodoo Medicine Man". Producer Bruce Fairbairn focused on getting as many hooks on the songs as possible.

Some songs proposed for the album, though never released, include "Girl's Got Somethin'", "Is Anybody Out There", "Guilty Kilt", "Rubber Bandit", "Sniffin'", and "Sedona Sunrise". Many songs also had alternate titles, for example, "Voodoo Medicine Man" was originally titled "Buried Alive" and "News for Ya Baby". The majority of these songs can be seen in photos of the studio's whiteboard and in footage from The Making of Pump.

In January 1989, the band went to Vancouver to again record at Fairbairn's Little Mountain Sound, where the producer had helmed Bon Jovi's Slippery When Wet and New Jersey. "I don't even listen to Bon Jovi," Steven Tyler protested, "so we didn't say, 'Oh, shit, they had a great album,' and go up there."

The intention with the album was exploring a rawness that had been glossed over for a commercial sound in Permanent Vacation. Joe Perry declared that "When we went to do this album, we knew what we wanted, we wanted to strip off a little fat we felt on our last one. We didn't say 'We need a drug song or a child abuse song,' but when they fit, we used them. That's Aerosmith: we aren't bound by any rules." This escape from the rules lead to the instrumental interludes between the songs. The interludes were done with the collaboration of musician Randy Raine-Reusch, who was brought to the studio after Perry and Tyler visited his house to search for unusual instruments to employ. Many of the lyrics employ sexual themes, which Tyler attributed to having "making up for the lost time" he spent using drugs instead of having sex in the 1970s.

On a 1989 MTV special entitled "Aerosmith Sunday", Brad Whitford explained the album title with "Now that we're off drugs, we're all pumped up."

Steven Tyler regretted not putting lyrics in the album booklet, something that happened because Geffen was afraid the Parents Music Resource Center would protest over lyrical content with many sex and drugs references. To remedy this omission, the lyrics were included in the tour program. The album cover features a black and white photo of a smaller International K Series truck on top of a larger International KB Series truck, both with their cargo beds removed. The chrome International markings on the hoods have been replaced with the letters "F.I.N.E.", short for "Fucked Up, Insecure, Neurotic, and Emotional" as stated in the album's liner notes.

Aerosmith found themselves in law school textbooks after a small rock band named Pump sued Aerosmith's management company for service mark infringement. Aerosmith won the case. Aerosmith also found themselves in legal trouble when the songwriting team Holland–Dozier–Holland threatened to sue the band over the main melody in Aerosmith's song "The Other Side" which sounded similar to the melody in the song "Standing in the Shadows of Love". As part of the settlement, Aerosmith agreed to add "Holland–Dozier–Holland" in the songwriting credits for "The Other Side".

Track listing

Side one

1. "Young Lust" Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Jim Vallance 4:19
2. "F.I.N.E." Tyler, Perry, Desmond Child 4:08
3. "Going Down/Love in an Elevator" Tyler, Perry 5:38
4. "Monkey on My Back" Tyler, Perry 3:56
5. "Water Song/Janie's Got a Gun" Tyler, Tom Hamilton 5:40

Side two

1. "Dulcimer Stomp/The Other Side" Tyler, Vallance, Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, Eddie Holland 4:56
2. "My Girl" Tyler, Perry 3:10
3. "Don't Get Mad, Get Even" Tyler, Perry 4:48
4. "Hoodoo/Voodoo Medicine Man" Tyler, Brad Whitford 4:41
5. "What It Takes" (Includes an instrumental hidden track composed & performed by Randy Raine-Reusch) Tyler, Perry, Child 6:28

Total length: 47:44

Japanese version

1. "Ain't Enough" Tyler, Perry 4:57

Total length: 52:46

Producer: Bruce Fairbairn

Engineers: Michael Fraser, Ken Lomas

Mixing: Mike Fraser

Mastering: Greg Fulginiti

Mastering Supervisor: David Donnelly

Art direction: Kim Champagne, Gabrielle Raumberger

Logo design: Andy Engel

Photography: Norman Seeff

Tattoo art: Mark Ryden

John Kalodner: John Kalodner

3 "...To The Power Of Three"

3 (sometimes referred to as Emerson, Berry & Palmer) were a short-lived progressive rock band formed by former Emerson, Lake & Palmer members Keith Emerson and Carl Palmer and American multi-instrumentalist Robert Berry in 1988.

After one album, To the Power of Three, 3 split up. Emerson & Palmer reunited with Greg Lake for 1992's Black Moon and Berry would form Alliance.

They performed live, as "Emerson and Palmer" (Berry was onstage but unnamed), at the Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary concert in 1988, broadcast on HBO, but only performed a long medley instrumental set including Fanfare for the Common Man, Leonard Bernstein's America, and Dave Brubeck's Blue Rondo, which later became an ELP encore in their 1990s concerts. They did not perform any original ELP material without Lake, nor did they perform any 3 songs since the band's label was Geffen Records.

3 performed at live venues to support their album, sometime in 1988. The three studio musicians were sometimes augmented by Paul Keller on guitar, Debra Parks and Jennifer Steele on backing vocals. Their setlist mainly consisted of material from their album, including "Runaway" and an extended jam version of the cover song "Eight Miles High". The group did a different arrangement of "Desde La Vida". The band did long instrumental jams based on music ELP covered including "Hoedown" & "Fanfare for the Common Man", but did not do any original ELP compositions. A long, elaborate cover of The Four Tops' "Standing in the Shadows of Love" was also included in the set.

Two live albums were released many years later, both on Rock Beat Records: Live Boston 88 (2015) and Live - Rockin' The Ritz (2017).

In October 2015, Emerson and Berry signed a contract with Frontiers Records to record a follow-up album at last, to be called 3.2. Emerson's death in March of the following year put a halt to that project. However, in July 2018, Berry released (as 3.2) The Rules Have Changed, built from musical ideas contributed by Emerson, but produced and performed entirely by Berry.

To the Power of Three (stylised as ...To the Power of Three) is the only album by the British-American progressive rock band 3. Produced by Carl Palmer and Robert Berry, it was released in early 1988 by Geffen Records.

The album contains a version of the Byrds' classic song "Eight Miles High" with altered lyrics. The closing track, "On My Way Home", was dedicated to Tony Stratton-Smith.

To the Power of Three was met with negative reviews and was a commercial failure, having reached just number 97 in the U.S. Billboard 200. Jason Ankeny wrote to AllMusic a one-sentence review in which he opined that "...To the Power of Three fails to recapture the magic of Keith Emerson and Carl Palmer's past collaborations" and gave the album a 2-out-of-5 star rating.

"Talkin' Bout", the only single released from the album, peaked at number 9 in the Mainstream Rock chart.

Track listing

Side one

1. "Talkin' Bout" Robert Berry 4:00
2. "Lover to Lover" Keith Emerson, Berry, Carl Palmer 4:12
3. "Chains" Sue Shifrin, Bob Marlette 3:42
4. "Desde la Vida"  Emerson, Beer, Palmer  7:06

              (I) "La Vista"

             (II) "Frontera"

            (III) "Sangre de Toro"

Side two

1. "Eight Miles High" Gene Clark, Roger McGuinn, David Crosby 4:08
2. "Runaway" Berry 4:42
3. "You Do or You Don't" Berry 5:02
4. "On My Way Home" Emerson 4:46

Total length: 37:57