TED GARDESTAD (ABBA/TOTO/EUROVISION) - BLUE VIRGIN ISLES, SWEDEN LP 1978

$

59

 TED GARDESTAD - BLUE VIRGIN ISLES 

POLAR POLS 284 A/B SWEDEN POLAR INTERNATIONAL 1978

RARE ORIGINAL 1ST PRESSING WITHOUT the tracks "Satellit" and "Satellite"

MASTERED BY CAPITOL (Wally)

CONDITION:

ALBUM COVER: EXCELLENT

INNERSLEEVE WITH PICTURES AND LYRICS: EXCELLENT

LP RECORD: EXCELLENT

VISUALLY checking vinyl under a BRIGHT light: few paper scuffs, clean labels, very nice!!

Blue Virgin Isles was the fifth album and the international debut from Swedish singer/songwriter Ted Gärdestad, released in late 1978 on the Epic Records label in the UK and Polar Music in Scandinavia.
The Blue Virgin Isles album was mainly recorded in Hollywood, California with a large number of noted American and English musicians, among them Jim Keltner, Jay Graydon, Lee Ritenour, Fred Tackett, James Newton Howard, Dr. John, John Mayall, Chuck Domanico, Mike Melvoin, four of the future members of Toto; Jeff Porcaro, Steve Porcaro, David Hungate and Steve Lukather, and backing vocals by David Cassidy, Venetta Fields and Sherlie Matthews. The album was produced by Norwegian-American Eirik W. Wangberg, also known as Eirik The Norwegian, a nickname given to him by Paul McCartney during the sessions for McCartney's 1971 album Ram. The Blue Virgin Isles recordings began in the United States in the autumn of 1977 and were completed with some additional overdubs made in Stockholm in the summer of 1978.

The album spawned two single releases, "Take Me Back To Hollywood" and "Love, You're Making All The Fools". "Take Me Back To Hollywood" was a re-recording of Swedish hit single "Chapeau-Claque" from the preceding album Franska Kort, produced by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, Michael B. Tretow and Gärdestad himself. The Blue Virgin Isles album was promoted by a guest appearance on ABBA's BBC TV special ABBA in Switzerland a.k.a. Snow Time Special, filmed in Leysin and broadcast worldwide in April 1979. Despite this and a number of other personal appearances in West Germany, The Netherlands, the UK, the US and the Scandinavian countries in the winter of 1978 and the spring of 1979 and generally favourable reviews by music critics, Blue Virgin Isles was only a moderate commercial success; in Sweden the album peaked at #29 and only spent two weeks on the chart.

After having won the 1979 Melodifestivalen, the Swedish pre-selections for the Eurovision Song Contest, with the song "Satellit"/"Satellite" in February 1979 the Blue Virgin Isles album was re-released both internationally and domestically to include this track. The second Polar Music edition of the album features both the Swedish and English language versions of the song. "Satellit" received a disappointing eight points in the contest, held on March 31, 1979 in Jerusalem, Israel, and finished seventeenth out of nineteen participating entries, making it Sweden's second lowest placing in the contest up until that point. Despite the added Eurovision exposure, the second attempt to promote the Blue Virgin Isles album consequently met with the same result as the first, both internationally and in Sweden.

When Gärdestad made his comeback on the music scene in 1993 he re-recorded a Swedish language version of the title track "Blue Virgin Isles", entitled "Himlen Är Oskyldigt Blå" ("The Sky Is Innocently Blue"), for career retrospective Kalendarium 1972-93, then using the original backing track.

Side A:

    "505 To Casablanca" - 3:49
        Arranged by Larry Muhoberac
        Solo: Abe Most, clarinet
    "Blue Virgin Isles" - 4:57
        Arranged by James Newton Howard
        Strings arranged By Gene Page
        Solo: Jay Graydon, electric guitar
    "Love, You're Makin' All The Fools" - 3:26
        Arranged by Jai Winding*
    "Baby Blue Eyes" - 2:36
        Arranged by George Tipton
        Solo: Abe Most, clarinet
    "Wanna Live - Got To Give" - 4:18
        Arranged by Gene Page*
        Solo: Stella Castellucci, harp

Side B:

    "Take Me Back To Hollywood" - 4:18
        Original title: "Chapeau-Claque", from 1976 album Franska Kort
        Arranged by George Tipton
    "Back In The Business" - 3:48
        Arranged by Jai Winding*
        Solo: Jay Graydon, electric guitar
    "Puddle Of Pain" - 3:18
        Arranged by Larry Muhoberac
        Solo: Jim Horn, flute
    "Love Lies Free" - 4:11
        Arranged by Jai Winding
        Solo: Steve Lukather, electric guitar
    "Just For The Money" - 3:59
        Arranged by Gene Page*
        Solos: John Mayall, harmonica and Abe Most, clarinet

    Ted Gärdestad - lead vocals, piano, guitar
    Jeff Porcaro - drums, percussion
    Jim Keltner - drums
    David Hungate - bass guitar
    Ray Brown - bass
    Bob Glaub - bass
    Jai Winding - bass, keyboards, synthesizers
    Jay Graydon - guitars
    Lee Ritenour - guitars
    Steve Lukather - guitars
    Fred Tackett - guitars
    John Collins - guitars
    Larry Muhoberac - keyboards
    Mike Melvoin - keyboards
    James Newton Howard - keyboards
    Dr. John - keyboards
    Victor Feldman - percussion
    Jerry Williams - percussion
    Hal Blaine - percussion
    Jim Keltner - percusscion
    Gary Coleman - percussion
    Al Hendrickson - ukulele, banjo
    Steve Porcaro - synthesizers
    Emil Richards - cymbalum
    John Mayall - harmonica
    Jim Keltner - heartbeat and bicycle bell
    Steve Madaio - trumpet
    Bob Fowler - trumpet
    Gene Goe - trumpet
    Jerry Hey - trumpet
    Cappy Lewis - trumpet
    Dick Hyde - trombone
    Tommy Shephard - trombone
    Abe Most - woodwinds
    John Lowe - woodwinds
    Jim Horn - woodwinds
    Buddy Collette - woodwinds
    David Luell - woodwinds
    Ted Nash - woodwinds
    Willie Schwartz - woodwinds
    Gary Herbig - woodwinds
    Dave Duke - french horns
    Bob Henderson - French horns
    Harry Bluestone - concert master, strings
    Israel Baker - violin
    Arnold Belnick - violin
    Isabelle Daskoff - violin
    Ron Folsom - violin
    Bill Hymanson - violin
    Anatol Kaminksy - violin
    Jake Krachmalnik - violin
    Bernie Kundell - violin
    Betty La Magna - violin
    Erno Neufeld - violin
    Don Palmer - violin
    Stan Plummer - violin
    Nat Ross - violin
    Henry Roth - violin
    Jack Shulman - violin
    Marshall Sosson - violin
    Joe Stepansky - violin
    Pam Goldsmith - viola
    Allan Harshman - viola
    Garry Nuttycombe - viola
    Dave Schwartz - viola
    Julianna Buffum - cello
    Jesse Ehrlich - cello
    Armand Kaproff - cello
    Dennis Karmazyn - cello
    Ray Kramer - cello
    Chuck Domanico - bass
    Arni Egilsson - bass
    Stella Castellucci - harp
    Jon Joyce - background vocals and clapping
    David Cassidy - background vocals and clapping
    Venetta Fields - background vocals and clapping
    Sherlie Matthews - background vocals and clapping
    Stan Farber - background vocals and clapping
    Jackie Ward - background vocals and clapping
    Mitch Gordon - background vocals and clapping
    Jim Haas - background vocals and clapping
    Jai Winding - background vocals and clapping
    Alix Wangberg - background vocals and clapping
    Tere Mansfield - background vocals and clapping
    John Baylor - background vocals and clapping
    Sally Stevens - background vocals and clapping
    Jean King - background vocals and clapping
    Anita James - background vocals and clapping
    Bili Thedford - background vocals and clapping
    Jim Keltner - background vocals and clapping
    John Mayall - background vocals and clapping
    Dr. John - background vocals and clapping

Production

    Produced by Eirik W. Wangberg
    Recorded at: Sounds Labs Inc., Hollywood, Bastun Studios AB, Stockholm, Marcus Music AB, Stockholm, Capitol Studios, Hollywood; KMH      Studio AB, Stockholm; Whitney Studios, Glendale, Western Recorders, Hollywood; Hollywood Sound Recorders, Hollywood
    Sound engineers: Eirik W. Wangberg, Ron Hitchcock, Val Garay, Armin Steiner
    Assistant engineers: Linda Tyler, Olle Ramm, Christer Berg, Dennis Cook, Lennart Karlsmyr, Åke Grahn, Cecil Jones, Don Henderson, Bob  Mocler, Ed Perry.
    Mastering: Wally Traugott at Capitol Studios, Hollywood
    Musician contractor: Frank DeCaro
    Art direction: David Larkham
    Cover design: David Larkham and Eirik W. Wangberg
    Front & back cover photographs: Yoshi Ohara for Barry Levine Studios
    Inner sleeve photography: Barry Levine & Torbjörn Calvero
    Thank You: Janne Schaffer, Randy Edelman, Thom Rotelia, Ben Benay, Scotty Edwards, Ralph Grierson, Howard Weiss, Peggy Steiner, Annie Street, Virginia Berger, John Sands, Ned Forsythe, Robert Lamoureux, Jon Joyce, Steve Kelman, Mikke Tretow and to Stig Anderson, ABBA, and the Polar family. Special thanks to Alix Wangberg whose cheerful spirit and lyrical talent helped when times were rough and no words were in the air. /TED & KEN


1978 Polar Music POLS 284 (Scandinavia)

SHIPPING

PRIORITY AIR MAIL EUROPE: $15

PRIORITY AIR MAIL REST OF THE WORLD: $20