The first album, "Gemini," now out of print, delivered not only a reworked Just Like That, but also a heavily arranged version of Slowly. With Slowly, Björn delivers an insistent, adult themed lyric of love being lost, which should be immediately thrown in the face of every alleged pop critic who claims that B & B, as pop composers, produce only bubblegum. That theme, and some of the imagery, was foreshadowed in Should I Laugh or Cry, and will resurface in Nilsson's We Won't Be Going Anywhere. The dense, driving music suits the theme, and reinforces the mood.
And then, in Slow Emotion, the album neatly, and with humor, gives us the reciprocal theme: "Are you ready to wait?" Still one of the cleverest, funniest lines Björn's ever given us.
I would nominate Gemini's Slowly for one of the best pop songs of all time. If all you have heard is Frida's lily-white presentation of this song, try Gemini's, particularly if your soul is in a dark place.
Something of the same seriousness animates the Gemini version of Just Like That. I also revere this cut. The ABBA track of JLT is likewise wonderful, but while Agnetha is already recovering, we cannot be so optimistic for Karin and Anders in this song. The lyric ventures into an area ordinarily avoided, and the arrangement brings out the melancholy. Comparisons between the ABBA and Gemini versions need to be made, and would bear study in depth. They would be likely to reveal the meanings lying underneath the somewhat patronizing dismissal of ABBA by B & B in the middle '80's, and the essential function of vocal tone in establishing the grain of the product. In short, I do not think A & F could have sold this arrangement of the song.
Nine cuts in all, none poor, some classic. From this album, Just Like That b/w Another You, Another Me was released as a single, and the 12 inch of Another You, Another Me featured the bonus track Copy Love, which is otherwise unavailable. Copy Love is another interesting lyric, delivered with conviction and some irony by Anders.
Links
Second album,
GEMINISM
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