ABBA: Classic Or Dud?

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I became an Abba fan from their "Waterloo" hit in 1974. I was 8 then, and that was at the first "rock" music I had listened to. I followed their career for some time, having then no idea that they would ever be regarded as "classics" .

Around 1980, it had become a disgrace to listen to them, so I stopped doing it. Later, I rediscovered them "in the closet", but I kept having the feeling that it was some sort of excentric vice that I should be ashamed of. I had no idea that so many people felt the same as I did.

I'm proud that their value has been so widely recognized in the 1990's, so I don't have to be embarassed anymore about liking them. I'm proud also because it proves to me that, from the beginning, my ear was right. I have listened to many many other artists since then, in all possible styles, but Abba remains a reference to me, just like the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and Elvis. Their sound is just as unmistakeable, and their production has been just about as creative and diverse.

More than other musicians, Abba have been a victim of their image, maybe because of their gaggy outfits. They were and are still labeled as kitsch by many people, including their own fans. Many of those who declare hating them don't really know their music, and don't bother to.

There were quite a few bands and artists of the 70's that really were dud, but the difference is that those never enjoyed this sort of late recognition. Anyone remembers the Rubettes or the Brotherhood of Man for instance? They were successful though back then...

I don't agree either that Abba's music is plastic and devoid of emotions. That applies maybe to bands like the Bee Gees or Boney M., which are OK in their own style, but which I think do lack depth. On the opposite, an album like "the Visitors" is full of emotion and refinement. Emotion is not just about being "upbeat".

I can very well understand that, for a number of reasons, some people don't like their sound. It probably goes for most artists.; everyone doesn't like the Rolling Stones either, but no doubt that they are classics. But , whether one likes them or not, what I would like to underline is Abba's artistical value. They are by no means just a good old kitschy attraction. They are indeed two outstanding composers, and two outstanding voices.

― francois chevallier, Wednesday, 5 September 2001 00:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

4 months pass...

A bit late to join the debate I know, but Abba clearly and unequivocally rule.

― Chris, Friday, 18 January 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

Abba are definitely one of my favorite bands. Funny that I still say "are", they not being around the last twenty years or so. I don't recall being aware of them when they were around, but now they seem as real a current favorite as any Boredoms album I can think of (well, maybe not VCN).

I think for any of you aspiring pop writers (and by writers, I don't mean journalists, I mean musicians), I can't think of a better, more consistently perfec group of people to follow than Abba. Their music (the songs, the arrangements, the singing, the production) was so wonderfully, precisely pop and transient, and yet if I wanted to find music more studied and academic (in a good way), I'd have to go to Bach.

I can conceivably find two flaws for which to fault Abba (on pop music grounds): 1) sometimes the lyrics came out slightly awkward, and given their utterly airtight songwriting, I can only attest this to the fact that English wasn't their first language; 2) most of their albums were comprised of singles surrounded by what could be construed as "filler". Generally, if I like a band this much, I'm inclined to just buy their studio LPs, but Abba is the exception that proves my rule, and I could probably live with Gold and More Gold -- even though I ended buying the albums anyway!

And if that wasn't enough: they got better as they went along. The last studio record (The Visitors) is their best, even when both couples were divorced, and the band was on the verge of collapse. That's professionalism, with intimidatingly good songwriting to boot.

― dleone, Friday, 18 January 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

5 months pass...

Although 60% of their work could be considered "filler" (super truoper and his bad attempts at disco, i.e.), the remaining 40% is *so* good that I have to say classic. "Arrival" is my favorite.

And yes, they do sound better when you're in an office.

― fernando, Friday, 21 June 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

Self promotion.

― dleone, Friday, 21 June 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

This is a nice thread because it would never occur to me to compare ABBA to space rock outfits. The flaw here is that you're comparing one group to thousands.

Anyway...never heard any of the alb. and the singles only on the radio. Didn't like them when I was younger but 'Murriel's Wedding' is a wonderful movie and I love how this girl finds so much comfort in this music. I do tend to join in, singing along to those songs when played in the movie (as my brother pointed it out to me!).

The singles are wonderful though I never got round to getting a collection as it really isn't needed.

― Julio Desouza, Friday, 21 June 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

1 month passes...

Dumb, vacuous, cynical, hangbag waving, glitter and spandex schlock, party music without possessing the understanding of how to party, gimmick-heavy, mindless, and flithy, filthy, filthy, filthy, filthy, souless, artless, irrelevant, marshmallow mind-rot, with no edge, no passion, no skill, bad instrumentation, lazy hooks, and boring to the point of necessitating a government health warning. An essential but nonetheless deeply shocking indictment of to just what desperately pisspoor levels mankind's musical tastes and interests may degenerate to.

I love it.

I don't love it. Dud.

― Roger Fascist, Wednesday, 31 July 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

Rockist.

― Sterling Clover, Wednesday, 31 July 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

Roger, for god's sake - this is *NOT* a nu-garage-rock thread.

― Clarke B., Wednesday, 31 July 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

I don't love it. Dud.

Not mindless, and no lack of skill. Everything else is debatable.

― dleone, Wednesday, 31 July 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

Oh thank GOD, another chance to express my HATRED for ABBA.

As if that 'Can you hear the drums Fernando?' thing and the 'I Have A Dream' thing and the 'I Believe In Angels' dreck were not enough, someone further up the thread has reminded me of 'Thankyou For The Music' - AAAaaaarrrghgh.

I had to hear their drivel all through my teens, and working as a barman in a handbag- dancer nightclub during the last days of disco meant hearing all those 'classic' singles over and over again...
But even if I'd never heard them before in my life, I would find them absolutely bloody dire - it's not just 'connections' stuff.
The songs are just so..... so..... ersatz.
They sound like things written for theatrical musicals about war, or like they've been commissioned for coachloads of pensioners to sing along to. I don't think I've ever heard a single note in any of their melodies that sounded like it couldn't have been statistically predicted. Their production/sound is so chintzy and schmaltzy and faux-classy, it's like being beaten to fucking death with a fool's-gold-plated wedding cake stand.

Kate, you are not alone - it just generally feels like it because they also seem to infect taste like some kind of lowest-common-denominator cultural virus : even Noise/Industrial music fans I know have Abba collections.

And I do think that all that rusty irony shit can't just be discounted either.

Oh, and RF - now that was a seriously enjoyable post...

― Ray M, Wednesday, 31 July 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

But they have a GOOD BEAT and you can DANCE TO THEM! A bit of Dick Clark rationale that actually holds up in my admittedly biased case.

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 31 July 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

But they have a GOOD BEAT and you can DANCE TO THEM!
That is true for Boney M which were the most embarrassing act ever as well. In my first dancing lesson we danced to Rasputin. What a load of shite. If Boney M hadn't existed Abba would have been the worst band of the 70s. Actually thinking about my hate of Abba, I am sure it has to do with Abba's overexposure when I grew up. In the beginning (at age 10 or something, I was born in 1963) I liked Waterloo and Ring Ring Ring. There was nothing like it at that time. One or two years later all the music was like it. And after five million unwanted radio listens of this stuff it was over. They are so dud that it is not funny anymore.

― alex in mainhattan, Thursday, 1 August 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

Sorry, the first Abba hit is called Ring Ring, in my memory there was one ring too many.

― alex in mainhattan, Thursday, 1 August 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

I forgot that you could dance to Abba... if you have had a full-frontal lobotomy or are seriously into humiliation. I mean Jesus Christ, dancing to Abba (which in my experience constitutes little more than an roll-call for the less co-ordinated but more enthusiastic type to get up and fling their arms about, poke a few eyes and spill a few drinks) is like hitting the absinthe; after a few it seems like a good idea but with the event of the next morning, and the hazy memories that drip back, you resolve never, ever again.

― Roger Fascist, Thursday, 1 August 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

This ersatz thing that you mention is interesting, Ray. For the most part bullshit, but interesting nonetheless. Is it that you see clean harmonies, a full, detailed production etc as 'fake' and say, four indie boys in black T-shirts with squalling feedback as intrinsically more 'real'? If so, how laughable.

The melodies - Money Money Money does sound like a show tune (intentionally, I would guess), but I don't see what you mean about the predictability of the melodies. There are some incredible twists and turns - I'd say that as writers and arrangers Benny and Bjorn are up there with the best ever.

Now Alex. What about this : **In my first dancing lesson we danced to Rasputin**

Well you'd have looked a proper charlie dancing to After The Bloody Goldrush, wouldn't you? Or Nick Drake? What's wrong with Boney M - 'Daddy Cool' has a fucking enormous bass-line - great record to dance to. Also Ma Baker. I used to dance to Boney M, Abba, Heatwave, The Supremes, The Specials, The Jam, The Sex Pistols and The Bee Gees within the same hour in 1978. And I still do given half the chance. This is turning into a rant now. I'm angry. Please don't take it personally Alex - I would buy you a dunkelsbier any day and even dance with you - but your musical world is nonsense. Abba are crap because of overexposure! In one or two years ALL MUSIC WAS LIKE IT!! WHAT! Soul music is crap because of falsetto vocals! Oh no!

Roger - you joyless, clueless fuckwit. I bet you're the po-faced, sneering, slightly smelly person in the corner with the Jim Morrison t-shirt. Aren't you?

― Dr. C, Thursday, 1 August 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

A disappointing and lazy appraisal Dr C. That I slated Abba must make me 'joyless'? You are a pinhead to say such things. Of the rest of your mindless evaluation I might just add that to suggest because I championed the Doors must make me 'smelly'? Come on buddy - you've posted some pretty right-on stuff from what I have seen on these boards - use your fucking loaf. Still, I am sorry that I have given such a misreable impression of myself. The whole thing makes me feel rather depressed actually...

And as for the Jim Morisson T-shirt, I prefer a Brownshirt with jackboots.

― Roger Fascist, Thursday, 1 August 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

You are right, Dr.C, not even I would dance to Joni Mitchell or Nick Drake, but that is not the point. I like their music to listen to. Last night I relistened to Joni Mitchell's Harry's House/Centerpiece and it hasn't lost a bit of its charm. A voice I can never get enough of, great lyrics and some airy jazz around.
Why should only dance music be good music? Concerning dance music I hate a lot of it. But there is some great music I can dance to which is maybe not exactly dance music. For example The Smiths, The Lemonheads, some stuff of The Cure, Nirvana, U2, Talking Heads etc. I don't like Abba as they are so predictable and mechanic in a way. Take Dancing Queen, the melody is so dull and boring. Actually rethinking of my Abba disdain: The overexposure was just the nail in the coffin. What I would like to know is when did Abba become fashionable again? In the 70s Abba's music was not acclaimed by critics. Now it suddenly is. What happened?

― alex in mainhattan, Thursday, 1 August 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

I guess my last post was a little off-topic. What made you angry in my first post, Dr. C.? The reasoning? I admit I was a little over the top. But Abba have influenced 70s dance music a huge deal. Maybe it is stupid to try to explain why some music is shite, I am not very good at it anyway. I accept that you don't like Joni Mitchell but I don't really want to know why (or maybe just out of curiosity). I guess in the future I won't try to find reasons why I don't like Abba, The Bee Gees, most of Soul, Salsa, Rap, Techno etc. I don't like that music. Full stop.

― alex in mainhattan, Thursday, 1 August 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

ABBA lifted more from 70s dance music than they gave back.

I'm not a musician or musicologist so I can't comment on the predictability of melodies thing - except to say that if that was the case then why haven't there been more groups like ABBA? Predictability implies that making ABBA records must be easy but the list of other bands who've enjoyed anything remotely approaching their level of success with a similar sound is very small. Part of that was the fact that they appeared and flourished at a time when the singles charts were possibly less concerned with 'cool' than any other, so the show-tunes influence (for example) and the Swedishness didn't ring any cultural alarm bells.

I think ABBA's lyrics show flashes of greatness all the way through and from about '77-'78 onward are consistently marvellous.

I'm a bit surprised at myself for how much I love them and how my love for them continues to grow - they still seem to me the most perfect group, despite inconsistencies of output.

― Tom, Thursday, 1 August 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

They're OK, y'know. I feel a bit weird being so non-committal about a group who seem to get everyone so excited but I don't really get ABBA. Yeah, they've got a fair few good songs and fewer bad and it's not like I hate them or anything. I just find it difficult to engage fully with them. Maybe it's the production; it is kind of gloopy in its attempt to be super shiny. It might something to do with my being such a child of the eighties, when extra super shiny WAS extra super shiny, or at the very least agreeably trebly/crisp. Or maybe it's the insane overexposure to some of the songs I've had over the years. I dunno, I just find the extent to which they're lauded slightly baffling. Fine rather than great then I suppose.

― RickyT, Thursday, 1 August 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

I'll never be able to like Abba. Their music just seems like fucking gigantic sugary melting lumps really to me, but that's all it is. (classic description I know). Maybe the reason people love them is the fact that the music and the vocals seem so melted together, or maybe I'm the only one that thinks that, but that's part of my dislike. I don't think I could ever like something so bubblegum and without descending into BBC Teletext Music pages, it feels like it has no "substance" whatsoever.

I mean I say this as someone who likes a silly dance song or ten but, I don't know I'll never like Abba. Also I probably have subconscious prejudices about the 12 cd people who like them being fantastically happy and going to see Bjorn Again 3 times a year and living wonderful lives.

― Ronan, Thursday, 1 August 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

Always used to consider myself a fan even though I didn't own any of their albums. Bought Gold about a year ago, played about a four or five tracks, realised I was way past the point where I needed to hear any more. Never been tempted to play it again.

Great stuff while the initial buzz was still there but occasional radio/disco listening is as much ABBA as I need. So not quite classic because like the bunny in the Duracell ad they've run out of power while the best of Chic, EWF, Motown etc still motors on.

― ArfArf, Thursday, 1 August 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

Yay! You know you've finally arrived on ILM when someone says you're talking bullshit!
What's that 'for the most part' mean, though, eh Dr C ?
And the answer to your question is 'No' - because:
(1) Indie feedback scenarios do nothing for me.
(2) Don't worry, I too lost such childish 'rockist' (tm ILM) notions as 'more real' >20 years ago - it's just that I've never felt convinced that it was for the better. I acknowledge it's a lot more complicated than 'real' vs. 'fake', but you have to decide whether you're willing to lose the dimensions of dialogue that the belittling of such ideas, however crassly expressed, leads to. Aren't there areas of aesthetics which allow for the validity of these criteria? Or do you think that pop music should by definition be exempt?
(3) I wasn't referring to the idea of Abba as 'fake' vs. Some Indie Noise as 'real' - I was trying to get across (perhaps badly) that they and their sound and their songs have to me a kind of representational efficiency <=> ideas/emotions/themes which is the audio equivalent of a fake tan. I'm not saying that I think all music 'should' have these affective/cognitive functions either, nor even that music which is popular and melodic and shiny necessarily has only 'ersatz' qualities (I find the Pet Shop Boys 'Rent' for example, to be quite a lucid musical/lyrical encapsulation of a complex set of feelings as well as a lovely wee tune with a sophisticated depth of production) - but I am saying that the idea of finding 'emotion' in Abba's songs (by which we don't usually just mean -'hey, this sounds like fun!') makes me think 'WTF?', in much the same way as imagining those for whom 'Lady In Red' is a rilly good love song...

As for 'laughable' - yes such an attitude may well be so by our sophisticated standards. Or maybe it wouldn't be so much a laugh, as a snigger.

I used to dance to Boney M, Abba, Heatwave, The Supremes, The Specials, The Jam, The Sex Pistols and The Bee Gees within the same hour in 1978. And I still do given half the chance

Bet you get a bit more out of breath now though haha
And just where the hell were you going in 1978 that played all this? I was stuck with either Saturday Night CattleMarket 'Discos', or Saturday Night Fuckwit 'Punk/New Wave Discos'..... but then I didn't want to dance to either...

As for your final point, I would refer you to the post by Andrew L:
I do hate the assumption that if you don't like ABBA (or their cohorts in evil, the Beatles) you're somehow anti-pop, anti-dance, anti-fun, whatever. You really don't have to be a musical elitist/purist to find ABBA cloying and annoying.

(Office Card: No - but it HELPS!! hahaha)

Tom - I can't back that melody thing up with any musicological analysis myself, cos I don't speak tadpole. It's just that I've never heard any sequence by them which sounded 'unexpected', there's never any sense of suspension/resolution in them - its just like one damn note after another...
I think you have a good point about 'why not more Abba's if they were that predictable', I need to think about that a bit more, but maybe:
Well maybe there have been lots more 'Abbas' - ref. Kate earlier.
Time and place, like you said.
The issue of being 'the original' group of that type.
The stuff mentioned by dleone in his post.

I think this thread is great - the degree of polarisation it produced dug out all the criteria which people use to evaluate music, many of which are themselves the subject of dispute as to applicability - eg craft & skill, art vs. industry, functionalism, personal/social context, who else likes it, etc.
I think that all kinds of things are relevant because they are made so by the surrounding culture - awkward, but everything counts. That's why its all so fucking personal and emotive and difficult and interesting.

― Ray M, Thursday, 1 August 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

**And just where the hell were you going in 1978 that played all this?

To discos, nightclubs and people's houses.

**I think this thread is great - the degree of polarisation it produced dug out all the criteria which people use to evaluate music**

**eg craft & skill, art vs. industry, functionalism, personal/social context, who else likes it, etc**

Do you know what? I don't know why I love Abba. I don't know why I love ABC, The Human League, Joy Division, The Kinks, Chic....

I know *what it is that they do* that I like, but I don't know why I like what they do, at least in a way that I can sensibly analyse and articulate.

The polarisation around ABBA IS astounding, though. Ronan thinks it's too bubblegum, I think they're rather bleak. At least the later stuff is.

Alex - you didn't make me angry. Sorry if you thought that.

― Dr. C, Thursday, 1 August 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

Ronan thinks it's too bubblegum, I think they're rather bleak.

Bleak Bubblegum -- chew it and feel your spirit wither. (A cousin to Chunks of Sadness, Robert Smith's favorite chocky.)

There's a definite bit of nostalgia for loving Abba on my part in that, born in '71 and all, theirs was some of the first pop music I heard and recognized as such on the radio. "Dancing Queen" and "Voulez-Vouz" and all give me a basic rush and a fix, much like snoozerific hash such as "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)" also does -- but the latter just sounds like snoozerific hash, but ABBA still sounds perfectly sparkling and wonderful.

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 1 August 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

here's a question: hands up if you love ABBA *AND* were not around at all during their heyday. note that my hands are firmly in my pockets on both counts.

― Dave M., Thursday, 1 August 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

I was around, but was too young to notice.

― dleone, Thursday, 1 August 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

Answer = THE A*TEENS!

I think it's odd ABBA haven't got a younger audience among people who are into music, but on the other hand I think the number of those people who go back and investigate older pop music is generally quite low (the people talking on the Four Tops threads have been older than the ILM average I'd guess).

― Tom, Thursday, 1 August 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

Tom - didn't you ask a question about ILM'ers ages once ? What do you reckon *is* the average ?

― Ray M, Thursday, 1 August 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

Averaged out I'd guess late 20s - 26 or 27 maybe?

― Tom, Thursday, 1 August 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

Ha - those bloody pensioner Abba fans must be dragging it upwards... ;)

― Ray M, Thursday, 1 August 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

10 months pass...

Anyone who still needs convincing about ABBA's 'adult' ness should listen immediately to "Should I Laugh Or Cry" - wonderful and terribly sad song about a woman realising that her love has turned to pity.

Also, bump.

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Wednesday, 18 June 2003 13:07 (9 years ago) Permalink

For an insight into the ABBA phenomenon (and it WAS a phenomenon), there's a book called 'Bright lights Dark Shadows' which is an excellent, well wroitten,comprehensive account of their time before, during and after ABBA... really fascinating. It's sad what's happened to the two girls, Frida especially, but I'm glad they've maintained their grace and dignity and refused the massive offers they've received to reform.

The delights of ABBA are many..... from the perfect pop of hits like 'S.O.S', 'Knowing me Knowing You' and 'Take a chance on me' to the beautifully written, darker moments like 'The day before you came' (one of the greatest songs ever written), 'The Winner takes it all' (ditto) and 'The Visitors'.

It's a shame they're remembered more for their appalling campy dress sense than their incredible music talents - Andersson/Ulvaeus are easily up there with Lennon and McCartney for their staggering songwriting talents - moreso, in fact, in my humble opinion.

To even question Classic/Dud with ABBA is terrible. ABBA changed the face of music, and their legacy lives on.

Absolutely classic.

― russ t, Wednesday, 18 June 2003 13:51 (9 years ago) Permalink

Still jousting with Led Zeppelin for "Beatles of the 1970s" honors.

― Chris Clark (Chris Clark), Wednesday, 18 June 2003 14:33 (9 years ago) Permalink

Led who?

― russ t, Wednesday, 18 June 2003 15:16 (9 years ago) Permalink

5 months pass...

What happened to the two girls? I hope nothing dreadful!

― Sean (Sean), Monday, 15 December 2003 05:08 (9 years ago) Permalink

One of them is now a real actual Princess I think! The other one is a recluse.

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Monday, 15 December 2003 08:51 (9 years ago) Permalink

But a happy recluse probably.

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Monday, 15 December 2003 08:51 (9 years ago) Permalink

Princess and happy recluse = fabulous. We have nothing to worry about.

― Sean (Sean), Monday, 15 December 2003 08:55 (9 years ago) Permalink

Apparently Agnetha's plotting a comeback, says some womens' magazine i saw a couple of days ago. What a gloomy thought.

― Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Monday, 15 December 2003 09:15 (9 years ago) Permalink

The ABBA fairytale/Swedish saga goes on.
And they lived happily ever after.

(They were always princesses to me)

― pete s, Monday, 15 December 2003 10:05 (9 years ago) Permalink

7 months pass...

I thought Agnetha was depressed in seclusion, actually.

Just bought The Visitors for $5, absent the bonus tracks sadly, but remastered. Investigating their album tracks might be worthy of an ILM thread, actually...

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Friday, 16 July 2004 16:47 (8 years ago) Permalink

"Suzy Hang Around" dude

― amateur!st (amateurist), Friday, 16 July 2004 16:49 (8 years ago) Permalink

Me and a friend were significantly wowed by "Suzy Hang Around" during undergrad. It bears a certain pleasent similarity to Phil Ochs' "Cross My Heart" too.
Another steller album track, from Ring Ring, if I recall correctly, is the spooky sixties-ish "She's Just My Kind of Girl"

― theodore fogelsanger, Friday, 16 July 2004 19:47 (8 years ago) Permalink

btw, new Agnetha album My Coloring Book (first in 15 years) has some decent stuff, but also a lot of really bland songs. It's all covers too.

― dleone (dleone), Friday, 16 July 2004 19:57 (8 years ago) Permalink

2 weeks pass...

revive! i'm on a serious abba kick this weekend after having finished elizabeth vincentelli's magnificent abba gold book (from the continuum 33 1/3 series).

― Maneating Leopards of India (Jody Beth Rosen), Sunday, 1 August 2004 15:19 (8 years ago) Permalink

su-pa-pa troo-pa-pa - classic. I don't associate Abba with bad memories or people or anything else. like Tom said, it's pop that gets it right.

― aaronk (AaronK), Monday, 2 August 2004 12:33 (8 years ago) Permalink

there are only about 30 songs in existence that make me cry, and "S.O.S." is one of them.

― Josh Love (screamapillar), Monday, 2 August 2004 12:37 (8 years ago) Permalink

30? You're a big softy.

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Monday, 2 August 2004 12:39 (8 years ago) Permalink

Skipping 39 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

yeah Abba The Movie is amazing innit. shame that 'Get On The Carousel' from the film was never put on wax.

― piscesx, Monday, 5 September 2011 18:48 (1 year ago) Permalink

Narrator dude on the live version is great: "She feels like... A MARIONETTE!!!"

― three word displayname (snoball), Monday, 5 September 2011 18:55 (1 year ago) Permalink

"I've Been Waiting For You" is so underrated as well - gorgeous ballad.

― Turrican, Monday, 5 September 2011 21:58 (1 year ago) Permalink

8 months pass...

Where on earth has 'Summer Night City' been all my life? Such a tune.

― Chewshabadoo, Wednesday, 9 May 2012 16:44 (1 year ago) Permalink

I've never really been too keen on that one. Apparently even ABBA themselves considered it to be a bit of a weak song. 'I'm A Marionette' is still kicking my ass.

― The Jupiter 8 (Turrican), Wednesday, 9 May 2012 16:54 (1 year ago) Permalink

Summer Night City was inspired by The Bee Gees too according to the liner notes on the re-issue of the Voulez Vous album. "It never turned out as good as it could have been, there's something missing" says Bjorn and they deliberately left it off the album in the end. i like it. still baffles me why If It Wasn't For The Nights wasn't a single off that album.

― piscesx, Wednesday, 9 May 2012 17:16 (1 year ago) Permalink

Well, to me it's more of a 'track' than a song, perfect dancefloor/mixing material, with a really driving atmosphere, therefore to me it's their most disco.

― Chewshabadoo, Wednesday, 9 May 2012 17:26 (1 year ago) Permalink

Great song, Bjorn's wrong. #5 in the British charts, not exactly obscure either!

― Charles Kennedy Jumped Up, He Called 'Oh No'. (Tom D.), Thursday, 10 May 2012 11:44 (1 year ago) Permalink

"WALKING in the moonlight"

― Here he is with the classic "Poème Électronique." Good track (Marcello Carlin), Thursday, 10 May 2012 12:44 (1 year ago) Permalink

Then Play Long finally reaches Abba: http://nobilliards.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/abba-greatest-hits.html

― Here he is with the classic "Poème Électronique." Good track (Marcello Carlin), Sunday, 13 May 2012 00:06 (1 year ago) Permalink

Sunday morning reminder.

― Here he is with the classic "Poème Électronique." Good track (Marcello Carlin), Sunday, 13 May 2012 08:00 (1 year ago) Permalink

2 months pass...

The ABBA Session Band: http://felpin80.tripod.com/ata/id41.html

― My Elusive Memes (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 14 July 2012 14:38 (10 months ago) Permalink

2 months pass...

The soundtrack of the movie, except it's more of a soundtrack of their own minds: http://nobilliards.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/abba-album.html.

― Here he is with the classic "Poème Électronique." Good track (Marcello Carlin), Monday, 24 September 2012 11:13 (7 months ago) Permalink

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