103. No Doubt About It (Voyage 2021)

 

Unlike the songs from the earlier albums I clearly remember listening for the first time the tracks on Voyage. I woke up at about 5am. Usually I would have gone back to bed to sleep one or two more hours, but the excitement of the possibility to hear seven new Abba songs made it impossible for me to do that (the first three songs had been released earlier). The experience was not the bliss and joy I had prepared myself for but a mix of mild satisfaction and disappointment. I was least impressed by this song.


I don’t think my expectations for the new songs were unreasonably high. I wasn't waiting for the perfection of Dancing Queen (although Don't Shut Me Down came very close) or Winner Takes It All. However, having followed particularly Benny Andersson's post Abba career I knew what a songwriting and producing powerhouse he still was. Songs he wrote for Josefin Nilsson, Gemini, his own Benny Anderssons Orkester, Ainbusk Singers and three different musicals showed me that he was capable of creating music that was exciting, moving and distinct. And with Abba as his greatest instrument we should have heard truly something special that we hadn't heard for decades.

I tried to give these songs the benefit of a the doubt and a chance to grow on me. Most of the songs on Voyage did, but not No doubt about it. Although I now tried to listen to the song with new ears, as if I hadn't heard it before, it had nothing distinctly Abba that stood out to me. If I had heard this song without knowing it was Abba I might not have recognized it at all.

No doubt about it is a harmless romp without anything that catches my ear. The vocal harmonies are far from what I have come to expect from Abba vocals and the arrangement is uninspired. This is one of several songs on this album that the group should have worked more on. Something surprising in the arrangement, something to move the song along, anything to make it stand out. In my ranking this song was the eight-worse song in Abba's catalogue. If I were to redo the ranking right now No Doubt About It would fall even lower.

Pay attention to: -

Coming up... Rock me

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