108. Suzy-Hang-Around (Waterloo 1974)

 

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:

  • Interesting melody line in the harmony vocals
  • Baroque keyboards
p.s. Of all the Abba tracks this particular song was covered in 1974 by a british girl group The Anderson Sisters. This lushly arranged track shows that this song might have had more potential if worked on more.

Coming up... What About Livingstone

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