ABBA: Classic Or Dud?

that was me i think. you're welcome, it's a fantastic album. especially when you know what turmoil they were going through. I'm always sad that the original album doesn't include Under Attack and The Day Before You Came, both of which feel inseparable to the Visitors experience.

Sorry for forgetting you dl! You're a luminary too. And yeah, you can tell the songs are coming from a very real place despite the glossy/disco/crowd-pleasing ABBA sheen.

xp

agreed, adding Cassandra as an awesome add-on for this record. If you're interested in more ABBA, here's an overview I did years back when all the CD reissues came out: http://www.stylusmagazine.com/articles/weekly_article/abba-the-full-story.htm

Thanks dude! Reading now

cool, dominique! :-)

Dud: Chiquitita.

Correct about the song. Wrong about the album. Some of their best stuff.

Prefer albums before and after it.

Of the last four, Voulez-Vous has the weakest singles and the strongest deep cuts. On balance, I think it's their best album.

don't know if i posted it anywhere, but i went to the abba exhibition at the southbank a few weeks ago
it was great! but the abba japan 1980 tour jacket they had was the real winner, i need one

it's on the right here: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MXo60bJRd9g/VhWwn7WFfAI/AAAAAAAADmY/rHR4GYP3T7g/s1600/IMG_0208.jpg

'Chiquitita' is maybe not one of their finest singles, yet the outro is wonderfully rousing and melancholic; the most memorable thing in the song for me is the wonderful leap that the piano makes, after it seems the song has finished, and then this outro bursts in.

― Tom May (Tom May), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 17:40 (fourteen years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

^^^^

It's no "Fernando" but it's still great, and, despite the Hispanic title and flourishes, it's so Teutonic/Nordic the video was probably shot at Berchtesgarden.

I don't know much about schlager but I think a lot of 50s/60s pop music in Germany and Scandinavia had Spanish or Italian themes - you know, better than thinking about Saturday night in Tromsø. This seems to be in that tradition.

back in the public consciousness thanks to..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wb49gB5gdH8

(which just makes it even more dud)

2 of their best deep cuts and shoulda-been-singles are on Voulez Vous though; If It Wasn't For The Nights (a Top 20 ILX ABBA songs poll smash!) and As Good as New.

I've explained why I loathe Three Billboards yet blocked that "Chiquitita" scene.

I've no idea what they're getting at with it either; he's not a bad racist really because he likes Abba? I wonder if it's meant to be funny.

hot take: "Chiquitita" and "Fernando" are both among their worst singles

I never got the hate for "Fernando."

(I also never knew "Chiquitita" was particularly hated until now.)

"Fernando" is top 10 ABBA for me (it was actually @ 7, "Chiquitita" was 15)

I have a suspicion that "Fernando" and "Chiquitita" are harder to love if you grew up in a schlager tradition.

And didn't like schlager, I assume.

I didn't but I did grow up with ABBA Gold and More ABBA Gold on near-constant repeat and they were clearly the lowlights of the compilation

(More ABBA Gold is the better compilation, anyway)

I'm kinda fine with schlager at this point but I'm also fine with Chas & Dave and I bring this up because the journey to be able to enjoy that stuff if you're from the continent* is what I imagine the journey to being able to enjoy Chas & Dave would be like for Brits.

* don't want to lump all of Europe together but in my experience every nation I've been to has an equivalent

song is mitigated by the fact everyone and EVERYONE sings 'chicken tikka you and I know' when it comes on

is this worse i dunno

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGoWbJbgjbY

I'm kinda fine with schlager at this point but I'm also fine with Chas & Dave and I bring this up because the journey to be able to enjoy that stuff if you're from the continent* is what I imagine the journey to being able to enjoy Chas & Dave would be like for Brits.

* don't want to lump all of Europe together but in my experience every nation I've been to has an equivalent

― Daniel_Rf, Tuesday, March 13, 2018 3:20 PM (fifty-five minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Had some very similar thoughts a while ago when I realised that the UK west country still celebrates The Wurzels as part of their regional identity, getting played at weddings and birthday parties. More than just 'Combine Harvester' too. Wouldn't mind a thread about regional novelty acts - the Proclaimers, Chas'n'Dave, the Wurzels, maybe even someone like Sleaford Mods could even count..

(xp) Of course, that is garbage. Anyway, if an ABBA album has "I Have a Dream" on it then it's simply not possible for any other track to be any dudder, duddlier.

(xp) Uh, I'm no fan of theirs but do you really want to label the Proclaimers as a regional novelty act to sit alongside the Wurzels?

*holds hand up slightly and murmurs* 'I Have A Dream' makes me a bit weepy when I hear it. I know it's sentimental dreck but it's a killer 'ambushed by unexpected emotion' song for me.

xp - maybe? is there that much in it?

If the Proclaimers are regional novelty act then I'd nominate the Pogues as the same, London Irish.

i guess The Wurzels are seen much more as a comedy act than the Proclaimers so maybe they're not part of it but 500 Miles is like a standard now and synonymous with Leith/Edinburgh to the rest of the country.

They're not from Edinburgh or Leith though.

But, no-one south of the Tweed can pronounce Auchtermuchty tbf.

it's synonymous with rugby lads on the piss to the rest of the country

well sure.

maybe "Thank You For the Music" is worse than "Chiquitita" but I ain't gonna find out.

Have you not heard "I Have A Dream"?

The 'Doris Day' version of Thank You For The Music is quite a fun little genre exercise:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7pb1R1mXFw

Combine Harvester was massive compared to Brand New Key, i think many people back then (maybe even now?) were unaware it was a parody.

Exactly like Angelo and Fernando then.

hot take: "Chiquitita" and "Fernando" are both among their worst singles

― aloha darkness my old friend (katherine), Tuesday, March 13, 2018 2:12 PM (four hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

OTM.

Fwiw, I don't think ABBA ever made a studio album that doesn't have at least one track that's far too corny for me. Even the last two LP's. Take the 1975 self-titled record, for instance: 'Mamma Mia', 'Hey Hey Helen', 'S.O.S.', even 'Tropical Loveland' and 'Intermezzo No. 1' are all superb, but then you've got unbearable crap like 'Bang a Boomerang' ...

Arrival has 'When I Kissed the Teacher' and 'Dum Dum Diddle' on it, both cringeworthy as fuck.

'When I Kissed the Teacher' cringeworthy? I think you'd best pack up your things and ride on out of town, stranger.

Yes, cringeworthy.

I think you spend too much time listening to lyrics.

On that song, they're fucking unavoidable!

Sometimes when I listen to 'Gimmie! Gimmie! Gimme!', I just wish that middle section would go on for a little bit longer. I love that groove.

I’ve always liked “I Have a Dream.” I think it’s a much darker song than the critical consensus suggests. Also, electric sitar (?) on ABBA’s attempt at a country song (??)? Fuckin sign me up.

I don't think it's supposed to be a country song, more like a Hitler Youth anthem.