''Blue Virgin Isles'' is the fifth studio album and international debut album by Swedish singer-songwriter Ted Gärdestad, released in November 1978 by

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), cong ...

in the UK and

Polar Music Polar Music is a Swedish record company founded in 1963 by Stig Anderson and his friend Bengt Bernhag. Background The first act that Polar Music signed was the Hootenanny Singers featuring Björn Ulvaeus. Polar eventually gained prosperity pr ...

in Scandinavia.

Background

Recording

The ''Blue Virgin Isles'' album was mainly recorded in

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

, California with a large number of noted American and English musicians, among them

Jim Keltner James Lee Keltner (born April 27, 1942) is an American drummer and percussionist known primarily for his session work. He was characterized by Bob Dylan biographer Howard Sounes as "the leading session drummer in America". Howard Sounes. ''Do ...

Jay Graydon Jay Joseph Graydon (born October 8, 1949, Burbank, California) is an American songwriter, recording artist, guitarist, singer, keyboardist, producer, arranger, and recording engineer. He is the winner of two Grammy Awards (in the R&B category) ...

Lee Ritenour Lee Mack Ritenour ( ; born January 11, 1952) is an American jazz guitarist who has been active since the late 1960s. Biography Ritenour was born in 1952, in Los Angeles, California. At the age of eight he started playing guitar and four years l ...

Fred Tackett Fredrick O. Tackett (born August 30, 1945) is an American songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Originally a session player on guitar, mandolin, and trumpet, he is best known as a member of the band Little Feat. In addition to his work with Li ...

James Newton Howard James Newton Howard (born June 9, 1951) is an American film composer, orchestrator and music producer. He has scored over 100 films and is the recipient of a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, and nine nominations for Academy Awards. His film scores ...

, Dr. John,

John Mayall John Brumwell Mayall (29 November 1933 – 22 July 2024) was an English blues and Rock music, rock musician, songwriter and producer. In the 1960s, he formed John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, a band that has counted among its members some of ...

, Chuck Domanico,

Mike Melvoin Mike Melvoin (May 10, 1937February 22, 2012) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger. He served as chairman and president of The Recording Academy and worked as a prolific studio musician, recording with Frank Sinatra, John Lennon, ...

, four of the future members of Toto;

Jeff Porcaro Jeffrey Thomas Porcaro (April 1, 1954 – August 5, 1992) was an American drummer. He is best known for being the co-founder and drummer of the rock band Toto, but is also one of the most recorded session musicians in history, working on hundr ...

Steve Porcaro Steven Maxwell Porcaro (born September 2, 1957) is an American keyboardist, songwriter, singer, and film music composer, known as one of the founding members of the rock band Toto and the last surviving Porcaro brother (after the deaths of Jeff ...

David Hungate David Hungate (born August 5, 1948) is an American retired bass guitarist noted as a member of the Los Angeles pop-rock band Toto from 1976 to 1982 and again from 2014 to 2015, and the son of judge William L. Hungate. Along with most of his ...

and

Steve Lukather Steven Lee "Luke" Lukather (born October 21, 1957) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, arranger and record producer, best known as the sole continuous founding member of the rock band Toto. His reputation as a skilled guitarist led to ...

, and backing vocals by

David Cassidy David Bruce Cassidy (April 12, 1950 – November 21, 2017) was an American actor and musician. He was best known for his role as Keith Partridge in the 1970s musical-sitcom ''The Partridge Family''. After completing high school, Cassidy purs ...

Venetta Fields Venetta Lee Fields (born 1941) is an American-born Australian singer and musical theater actress, and vocal coach. Fields was a backing vocalist for touring American and British rock and pop acts of the 1960s and 1970s, as well as working as a ...

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 Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...

during the sessions for McCartney's 1971 album ''

Ram Ram, ram, or RAM most commonly refers to: * A male sheep * Random-access memory, computer memory * Ram Trucks, US, since 2009 ** List of vehicles named Dodge Ram, trucks and vans ** Ram Pickup, produced by Ram Trucks Ram, ram, or RAM may also ref ...

''. The ''Blue Virgin Isles'' recordings began in the United States in the autumn of 1977 and were completed with some additional overdubs made at Bastun Studio, Marcus Music, and KMH Studios, Stockholm in the summer of 1978.

Promotion and reception

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 ''Franska Kort'' is the fourth studio album from Swedish singer/songwriter Ted Gärdestad, released in 1976 through Polar Music. It contains the hits "Angela", "Chapeau-Claque", "När Showen Är Slut" and "Klöversnoa". The album was produced by ...

'', produced by

Benny Andersson Göran Bror Benny Andersson (; born 16 December 1946) is a Swedish musician, composer and producer best known as a member of the pop group ABBA and co-composer of the musicals ''Chess (musical), Chess'', ''Kristina från Duvemåla'', and ''Mamm ...

and

Björn Ulvaeus Björn Kristian Ulvaeus (; born 25 April 1945) is a Swedish musician, singer, songwriter, and producer best known as a member of the musical group ABBA. He is also the co-composer of the musicals ''Chess (musical), Chess'', ''Kristina från Duve ...

, Michael B. Tretow and Gärdestad himself. In The Netherlands, the B-side Back in the Business was chosen as the single. It failed to chart. The ''Blue Virgin Isles'' album was promoted by a guest appearance on

ABBA ABBA ( ) were a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. They are one of the most popular and successful musical groups of all time, and are one of the List ...

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

TV special ''ABBA in Switzerland'' a.k.a. ''Snow Time Special'', filmed in

Leysin Leysin is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality of the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud in the Aigle (district), Aigle district of Switzerland. It is first mentioned around 1231–32 as ''Leissins'', in 1352 as ''Leisins''. Located ...

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 as well as receiving generally favourable reviews by music critics, ''Blue Virgin Isles'' was only a moderate commercial success; in Sweden the album peaked at number 29 on the Albums Chart and only spent one week on the chart.

Eurovision and release

After having won the 1979

Melodifestivalen Melodifestivalen (; ) is an annual song competition organised by Swedish public broadcasters Sveriges Television (SVT) and Sveriges Radio (SR). It determines the country's representative for the Eurovision Song Contest, and has been staged almo ...

, the Swedish pre-selections for the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

, 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

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 31 March 1979 in Jerusalem, 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. ''Blue Virgin Isles'' was released on CD in 2009, as part of the 8-CD box set ''Helt Nära Dig - Samlade Album''. It was also released as a separate download.

Track listing

''Music: Ted Gärdestad, lyrics:

Kenneth Gärdestad John Charles Kenneth Gärdestad (9 May 1948 – 3 March 2018) was a Swedish songwriter, best known for writing lyrics for the songs of his brother, Ted Gärdestad. He participated at Melodifestivalen 1979 as a songwriter for the winning song "S ...

'' Side A: #"505 To Casablanca" - 3:49 #* Arranged by Larry Muhoberac #* Solo: Abe Most, clarinet #" Blue Virgin Isles" - 4:57 #* Arranged by

#* Strings arranged By Gene Page #* Solo:

, 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 ''

'' #* 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:

, electric guitar #"Just For The Money" - 3:59 #* Arranged by Gene Page* #* Solos:

, harmonica and Abe Most, clarinet

Additional tracks, 1979 re-release

* International editions: "Satellite", track A1. * Scandinavian edition: "Satellit" (Swedish version), track A1 + "Satellite", track B6.

Personnel

Mostly adapted from Tidal. * Ted Gärdestad - lead vocals, piano, guitar *

- drums, percussion *

- drums, percussion, backing vocals *

- bass * Ray Brown - bass *

Bob Glaub Bob Glaub (born May 10, 1952)Hageman, William (April 29, 2005)."The aces of bass: Five giants of an overshadowed instrument", Knight Ridder Tribune News Service. is an American bass player and session musician. He has played with such artists an ...

- bass * Jai Winding - bass, keyboards *

- guitar *

- guitar * John Collins - guitar *

Larry Muhoberac Lawrence Gordon Muhoberac, Jr. (February 12, 1937 – December 4, 2016) was an American musician, record producer, and composer who was also known under pseudonyms "Larry Owens" and "Larry Gordon". Career in America Muhoberac is widely known a ...

- keyboards *

- keyboards * Dr. John - keyboards *

Victor Feldman Victor Stanley Feldman (7 April 1934 – 12 May 1987) was an English jazz musician who played mainly piano, vibraphone, and percussion. He began performing professionally during childhood, eventually earning acclaim in the UK jazz scene as ...

- percussion * Jerry Williams - percussion *

Hal Blaine Hal Blaine (born Harold Simon Belsky; February 5, 1929 – March 11, 2019) was an American drummer and session musician, thought to be among the most recorded studio drummers in the music industry, claiming over 35,000 sessions and 6,000 singles. ...

- percussion *

Gary Coleman Gary Wayne Coleman (February 8, 1968 – May 28, 2010) was an American actor, known as a high-profile child star of the late 1970s and 1980s. Born in Zion, Illinois, Coleman grew up with his adopted parents, and a kidney disease; due to the co ...

- percussion * Al Hendrickson - ukulele, banjo *

- synthesizer *

Emil Richards Emil Richards (born Emilio Joseph Radocchia; September 2, 1932 – December 13, 2019) was an American vibraphonist and percussionist. Biography Musician Richards began playing the xylophone aged six. In High School, he performed with the ...

- percussion *

- harmonica * Steve Madaio - trumpet * Bob Fowler - trumpet * Gene Goe - trumpet *

Jerry Hey Jerry Hey (born 1950) is an American trumpeter, flugelhornist, horn arranger, string arranger, orchestrator and session musician who has played on hundreds of commercial recordings, including Michael Jackson's '' Thriller'', '' Rock with Y ...

- trumpet * Cappy Lewis - trumpet * Dick Hyde -

trombone The trombone (, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's lips vibrate inside a mouthpiece, causing the Standing wave, air c ...

* Tommy Shepard - trombone * Abe Most -

woodwinds Woodwind instruments are a family of musical instruments within the greater category of wind instruments. Common examples include flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, and saxophone. There are two main types of woodwind instruments: flutes and re ...

* John Lowe - woodwinds *

Jim Horn James Ronald Horn (born November 20, 1940) is an American saxophonist, woodwind player, and session musician. Biography Horn was born in Los Angeles, and after replacing saxophonist Steve Douglas in 1959, he toured with member Duane Eddy for ...

- woodwinds * Buddy Collette - woodwinds * David Luell - woodwinds * Ted Nash - woodwinds * Wilbur Schwartz - woodwinds * Gary Herbig - woodwinds * Dave Duke - French horn * Bob Henderson - French horn * Harry Bluestone - concert master, strings * Israel Baker -

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

* Arnold Belnick - violin * Isabelle Daskoff - violin * Ron Folsom - violin * Bill Hymanson - violin * Anatol Kaminsky - violin * Jacob Krachmalnick - 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 - double bass * Arni Egilsson - double bass * Stella Castellucci - harp * Jon Joyce -

background vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are u ...

and

clapping A clap is the percussive sound made by striking together two flat surfaces, as in the body parts of humans or animals. Humans clap with the palms of their hands, often quickly and repeatedly to express appreciation or approval (see applause), bu ...

- background vocals and clapping *

- 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 * Bill Thedford - 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

Personnel and production "Satellit"/"Satellite"

* Producers: Janne Schaffer & Ted Gärdestad * Musicians: Stefan Nilsson, Janne Schaffer, Mike Watson, Roger Palm,

Malando Gassama Malando Gassama (born Malang Omar Gassam; 7 February 1946 – 25 January 1999) was a Gambian percussionist who spent most of his music career in Sweden. He recorded and performed with many notable Swedish and international artists such as AB ...

& Lars Samuelsson * String arrangement: Lars Samuelsson * Backing vocals: Rose-Marie Gröning, Liza Öhman, Diana Nunez, Lennart Sjöholm & Peter Lundblad * Recorded at

Polar Studios Polar Studios was a recording studio in Stockholm, Sweden, which operated from 1978 through 2004. The studio was formed by ABBA musicians Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson and the band's manager Stig Anderson, owner of the Polar Music recording l ...

, Stockholm

Release history

* 1978

POLS 284 (Scandinavia) * 1978

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic R ...

VPL1 4118 (Australia) * 1979 Polar Music POLS 300 (Scandinavia, re-release including "Satellit" and "Satellite") * 1979

83653 (UK, re-release including "Satellite") * 1979

Polydor Records Polydor Limited, also known as Polydor Records, is a British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in ...

2344 121 (West Germany, The Netherlands & Portugal, re-release including "Satellite") * 1979 Carnaby (Spain, re-release including "Satellite") * 1979 Discomate DSP 5111 (Japan, re-release including "Satellite")

Charts

References

External links and sources

* Eirik Wangberg's official site

* Detailed Ted Gärdestad discograph

* Artist Direct biograph

* MSN Music biograph

* Allmusic biography and discography 1978 albums Ted Gärdestad albums> {{Authority control 1978 albums Ted Gärdestad albums/a> {{Authority control 1978 albums Ted Gärdestad albums