104. I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do (Abba 1975)

Some readers might raise an eyebrow at seeing one of the most well known Abba songs appear so low in my ranking. I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do was an important step for the group from presumed Eurovision one-hit wonders to a group to be taken seriously. It was the first single after Waterloo to have a reasonable international chart success topping the singles charts in, for example, Australia and Belgium, and reaching 15th place in the Billboard singles chart, which was by no means a small achievement. But the in the UK, record buyers and critics were less impressed. The Melody Maker reviewer deemed the song "so bad it hurts" and I am inclined to agree.

There is nothing wrong with the song itself. The melody is well crafted and catchy, but as with So Long the production lets it down. Most Abba recordings give space to different details and separate instruments and vocals to shine, but in this case the sound is compressed and different elements melt together making it muddy listening experience. Even the usually crisp and clear Abba female vocals feel stuffy. I am not the biggest fan of saxophone in a pop song and I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do relies too much on its sax riff.

In my opinion Abba's self-titled album is their worst sounding record and the only one that is recorded in Glen Studios. I doubt it is a co-incidence. Unfortunately, the two first singles from that album, So Long and I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do suffered from that the most. Fortunately, this is where the bad karma ended, and from the next single onward the Swedish group went from strength to strength, scoring one massive hit after another.

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