Revisiting Abba

The first single from Abba 's third, self-titled album was clearly an attempt to recreate the Waterloo success by turning the glam-rock dial up to eleven. From hindsight it is easy to say it was a wrong move, but it is also easy to understand the situation the group was in. Waterloo was a massive hit, but after the worldwide success of the song they had to find a successful follow-up quickly before they became a one-hit Eurovision has-been. Ring Ring and Honey Honey failed to set the world alight so why not try to return to the success formula. My first recollection of So Long is hearing a short live snippet of the song from their 1977 world tour. I was captured by the hook of the refrain and looked very much forward to hear the whole song. When I finally heard the original studio version on their third eponymous album I was disappointed that the hook-laden melody was buried in the glam rock disguise that was not what I had learned to love in Abba. The early (1972-1975) Abba r...

For the longest time (approximately 45 years) I have thought that this song is sung by Agnetha Fältskog . When I listened to this song again now trying to analyse and pick all the finest details of this song I realized that this is actually Fältskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad singing in unison. This revelation overshadowed almost every other aspect I was expecting to hear from this song.  The vocals of What About Livingstone are one of the purest examples of Lyngstad's and Fältskog's singing voices blending together to create a so called "third voice". You can't really tell one voice from another. To prove this it took me, an avid Abba fan, over 40 years to realize this in this song. On the other hand this is not a surprise. I liked this song when I bought the Waterloo album sometime in 1980 or 1981, but soon after that it fell to the small pit of Abba songs that I don't particularly enjoy. The tune is catchy, no surprise there, but overly bright and perky ton...

  This track is often dismissed as a throwaway song on the stylistically most diverse of Abba albums. The fact that it is sung not only by the male half of the group but also uniquely Benny Andersson on lead vocals (with his vocals sped up to add insult to injury) makes this one of the least popular Abba tracks among the fans. I do not disagree, as my ranking tells you (108th of 110 tracks).   Like Björn Ulvaeus , who usually is the male vocalist on Abba songs, Benny Andersson is not a bad singer as such, but there is nothing distinctive in his delivery to justify a lead vocal in a group with three better singers than him. The few redeeming factors of this song can be found if you ignore the vocals and listen to what is going on in the background.  The wordless backing vocals are carefully arranged making their lines almost like another song in itself. The baroque style keyboards are worth mentioning too. But that is all there is to it. Pay attention to: Interestin...

Abba made a few attempts at creating a "funky" track, with more or less success. The song about a business fat cat, driving in his limousine, sipping wine and eating caviar with his 17 year old female companion was the least successful of these tracks. Its place in my ranking (109th out of 110) makes it clear that I have never cared much for this track. The fact that I never gravitate toward this song does not mean it has nothing to offer. While the lyrics and uninspired lead vocals (both by Björn Ulvaeus ) fall short of Abba's usual standards, there are interesting instrumental passages hidden behind the vocals. Bassist  Mike Watson has his hands full with the complicated riff and the clavinet lines played by Benny Andersson are really interesting. Even so, this song has very little to give to an Abba fan, and I wonder if 109th place might be too generous. Pay attention to: Bass and clavinet riff Coming up... Suzy-Hang-Around

. The fourth single from Abba 's 2021 comeback album Voyage has been a difficult pill for me to swallow. I have really tried to like this song but in the recent ranking of my favourite Abba songs it fell to last place (110th out of 110 songs). Taking the time to stop and really listen to the song made me find things in it to enjoy, but unfortunately it does not change the fact that I cannot think it as a bona fide Abba song As a melody this is very much from Benny Andersson 's songbook of the 21st century. Simple, not overstated but with quirky changes and turns in the melody. As an instrumental it would work well as included on Benny Anderssons Orkester album or second volume of his Piano album. I also love how the delicate piano lines are merged in places with the synthesizer and acoustic guitar.   As wonderful as Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad are as singers, the problem for me in this song are the vocals. Their tender take on the song sounds as if they are hol...

I became an Abba fan some time in 1979 when I heard Arrival and Abba the Album on a cassette tape. The final blow was to see the music video of Gimme Gimme Gimme on television and to see the group apparently (pretending, as I found out later) recording their new song in the studio. Between 1979-1982 I experienced the sensation of hearing each Abba album and each Abba song for the first time. During the 46 year that followed I listened to all the Abba songs tens of times, maybe hundreds of times, but the feeling of hearing an Abba song for the first time was obviously never felt again, not even in 2021 when the new 10 Abba songs were revealed.  Recently I have come across several videos of people, usually American, hearing Abba songs for the first time. It has been a revelation to see the reactions of heavy fans, proggers or classical musicians discover the songs I knew through and through for the first time with mostly awe and surprise.  This has given me new approach to these...