92. Santa Rosa (single b-side 1972)

 


In some way, Santa Rosa should not be in my Abba ranking. In 1972 the group (that would not be given its name until 1973) was a side project of two solo artists and two songwriters and record producers. Santa Rosa was a song Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus wrote and recorded for the Japanese market as a follow-up to their song She's My Kind Of Girl that had become a surprise hit in Japan earlier the same year. Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad did not appear on this recording, but because it was released on the B-side of the second single of the group, it is included in my ranking and therefore in this blog. 

I heard this song for the first time as late as 1994, when it was included on the rarities disc on Thank You For the Music four-CD compilation. It was exciting to hear a "new Abba track" that I didn't know even existed and I've been fond of it ever since in spite of the female half of the group not appearing on the song and the male half not appreciating it very much. But how does it hold up 54 years after its recording and 32 years after I first heard it?

I don't subscribe to the dislike of the authors of this song. This recording is full of energy of the young songwriters. It is catchy and, like the best Abba tracks, full of gimmicks in the arrangement that keep it interesting from start to finish. Benny's keyboard lines are full of quirks, the bass lines are lively and the vocal arrangement is imaginative. 

While I like Björn's solo vocals (this song is one example of Björn being an excellent singer in his own right) and Björn's and Benny's joint backing vocals, I can only imagine how good it would have sounded if this song had been given a full Abba treatment with Agnetha and Frida giving their vocal talents to it. This song, which is actually a Björn & Benny duo track, is not in the same league as real Abba tracks with all four giving their input, but an entertaining and worthwhile track just the same.

Pay attention to:
  • Benny's keyboard lines
  • acking vocal harmonies
  • lively bass lines
Coming up...Rock 'n' Roll Band
 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

107. What About Livingstone (Waterloo 1974)

Image
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...
Read more

110. Little Things (Voyage 2021, single 2022)

Image
. 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...
Read more

Revisiting Abba as if for the first time

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...
Read more