RE-RE-RE-RE-CAP

 

#90 - ABBA - The Piper

#89 - Frida - Twist In The Dark

#88 - Agnetha Faltskog - Let It Shine

#87 - Agnetha Faltskog - Turn The World Around

#86 - ABBA - My Mama Said

#85 - Agnetha Faltskog - Zigenarvan

#84 - ABBA - Bang-A-Boomerang

#83 - ABBA - Happy Hawaii

#82 - ABBA - I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do

#81 - ABBA - So Long

Bang-A-Boomerang was one of the first ABBA songs I loved, mainly because my mum had the first Greatest Hits on record and I played it to death when I was about 6. I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do has become a favourite of mine within the past year or two, I never rated it at all previously!

 

 

Excellent review of The Vistors album as well, Rich! I actually quite like Two For The Price Of One now though, but like "I Do x5", it only really clicked with me very recently. I'm also a little surprised Cassandra didn't get a slightly higher mark as it's a solid 10 for nearly every ABBA fan I come across, and made for an excellent b-side (should have been double a-side) for The Day Before You Came.

I would just to point out that everything on this list is a 7/10 AT LEAST, so even stuff at this stage is verging on 8/10 territory. That either shows how lacking in objectivity I am, or how good they are, or BOTH.

I kinda love So Long! :blush:

 

Certainly not their finest work but it's catchy and does the job properly. And infectious. It pales coming after Waterloo but what doesn't?

 

Never got 'I Do x5' though, that's really too much cheese for me.

BLASPHEMY Rich, Under Attack's one of the best things they ever did! The layering and harmonising on the chorus is pure pop confection :heart:

 

(I'll comment more on this thread at the BUSINESS END when I know I'll just be nodding vigorously, provided things haven't changed too much chez Johnkmincingirishfairy in the last two years)

Interlude #3: Bananarama - Waterloo

 

#80 - ABBA - I'm A Marionette

 

http://www.thorsven.net/News/thealbum/281_133.jpg

 

Onto the 2nd (and last in this list) of the 3 songs from the 'mini-musical' ABBA performed on their 1977 tour, well I say 3, there was actually 4, but Get On The Carousel doesn't exist in studio form sadly. I'm A Marionette works really well as a performance, with ridiculous costumes it's quite the visual treat. Unlike it's cohorts Thank You For The Music and I Wonder (Departure) it transfers much better to record. Perhaps that's because it's an uptempo and lacks the sclock factor of TYFTM. As is, it's not really essential but in itself is a very enjoyable little nonsense song.

 

#79 - ABBA - Move On

 

http://www.thorsven.net/News/thealbum/281_133.jpg

 

Sticking with 'The Album' again we find ourselves with the rather more interesting 'Move On'. 'The Album' was, at the time, ABBA's most 'experimental', there's a lot of different sounds on there to what they'd done before - aided by their travelling to the US to record the album and giving it a much more 'Worldwide' sound than most of their previous output. Not all of these 'experiments' paid off, but Move On is definitely one of them. It starts off with a spoken word intro from Bjorn which isn't bad but by no means something one would want a full SONG of. Around the 45 second mark in rolls the melody and Frida on lead vocks, with Agnetha providing 'la la la la' backing vocals in the chorus. As with THE GREATS, it's a deceptively simple melody, yet somehow manages to sound rather complex with little flourishes here and there completing the picture.

 

Looking at this it's easy to see the steps being laid for the grander and more expanise moments that were to come on their latter albums, particularly The Visitors, but thematically it's all rather JOLLY for the time being.

 

#78 - ABBA - The King has Lost His Crown

 

http://www.swede-dreamz.co.uk/uploads/images/Voulez%20Vous.jpg

 

It's 1979 - the year of DISCO *.* ABBA weren't going to be left behind so dove headfirst into the genre coming up with by far their best album to date. Oddly though it contains no UK number one singles, with Chiquitita and I Have A Dream both stalling at #2, the former being infinitely more deserving of #1 status than the latter.

 

Anyway, onto the track at hand. It starts off with a rather surprising intro, certainly when listened to in context in the album but then BURSTS into full on disco JOY with less than 30 seconds on the clock. It's far from the finest moment on the album, but it's undeniably catchy and features dear old FRED giving a great vocal.

 

BLASPHEMY Rich, Under Attack's one of the best things they ever did! The layering and harmonising on the chorus is pure pop confection :heart:

 

(I'll comment more on this thread at the BUSINESS END when I know I'll just be nodding vigorously, provided things haven't changed too much chez Johnkmincingirishfairy in the last two years)

 

So obviously I don't agree with the crowd with my opinion here! I just don't find it one of their key moments myself, the melody isn't amazing enough for me regardless of its strength in other respects.

Some months before I made my personal ABBA Top 40, so I like your idea about this countdown.

 

Hovas Vittne: Never heard it before. Must be in my 40. Good pop song.

I Am Just A Girl: Very underrated. Epic nice ballad, I adore this song and her voice.

Nina Pretty Ballerina: Next song from my favourite album "Ring Ring". I'm ultimate fan of bubblegum pop, simply amazing for my taste.

Andante, Andante: Like. Good, but not amazing.

I Have A Dream: Good ballad

Thank You For The Music: I must agree with Steps and say "Thanks ABBA For The Music".

I Do, I Do, I Do: My favourite song from "ABBA", which never was in my favour.

 

I watch in future for continue...

Edited August 23, 201313 yr by AlexRange

Thanks for bumping this (and commenting) - I had once again forgotten about it! I'll make some headway tonight hopefully.

#77 - Agnetha Faltskog & Ola Håkansson - The Way You Are

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f9/Agnetha_Faltskog_and_Ola_Hakansson_The_Way_You_Are_single_cover.jpg

 

Agnetha's 2nd and last 'solo' Swedish #1. I have no idea who Ola Håkansson is aside from the fact she worked with him on this trck and its b-side 'Fly Like The Eagle', but more about THAT later. The song was recorded to promote the Swedish bid to host the 1992 Winter Olympic games, the bid failed but the song proved to be a BIG FAT HIT. It's not hard to see why, it's got a lovely melody and unlike some of her other duets the 2 of them sound good vocally together.

 

#76 - ABBA - Gonna Sing You My Love Song

 

http://image.musicimport.biz/sdimages/disk2/547924.jpg

 

As the title might suggest, this is a love song. A love song with Frida on lead VOX. At least in the early days she was the more accomplished vocalist of the pair, especially when it comes to doing emotion. Agnetha always sounded much too SWEET, probably due to age as much as anything. Anyway, the song itself is still quite BASIC as with much of their stuff around this time, but the chorus is lovely and the middle 8 (and indeed post key change chorus) is even more lovely.

 

#75 - ABBA - Lovelight

 

http://media.wrzru.com/covers/12304187384ed9c63cecc2b.jpg

 

Back to 1979 again then, the b-side to Chiquitita, it is quite easy to see why this wasn't a single. it's super catchy and pretty much ABBA by the numbers, but by this point things for the most part were all a little beyond that. Anyway it's a glorious little song all the same, it's pretty disco-tastic, with the slightly slower, more melancholy verses, bursting into a bright chirping chorus.

 

#74 - ABBA - Dance (While The Music Still Goes On)

 

http://image.musicimport.biz/sdimages/disk2/547924.jpg

 

The title is just an exclamation mark away from a Shania Twain song *.*

 

This is one of the few examples where the trade off between the guys and the girls vocally works well. The girls take the verses (and backing vox on the chorus) with the boys (mainly Bjorn natch) singing the chorus. At first the 2 sound slightly incongruous, at least they didn't seem to FIT instantly for me, but with repeated listens it's quite a brilliant move. And as sure as night follows days, at the 2/3 point we find a key change!

 

#73 - ABBA - Love Isn't Easy (But It Sure Is Hard Enough)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/8a/ABBA_-_Love_Isn't_Easy_(But_It_Sure_Is_Hard_Enough).jpg

 

Listening to this now I really should have put it quite a bit higher, but here it is at #73. Another trade off verse/chorus between the guys and girls, this time in reverse with Bjorn taking the verse and the girls the chorus. I've always found this to be utterly charming, especially the little drum beat after in the chorus where everything else drops out. It's BASIC, yes, but absolutely the best kind. Simple doesn't have to equal bad and this is proof positive of that.

 

 

 

#72 - Agnetha Faltskog - It's So Nice To be Rich

 

http://www.getabba.com/collection/vinyl/solo/agnetha/SP_its_so_nice_to_be_rich_451cvr_SWE.jpg

 

OH, YOU POOR OLD BUM IN THE DITCH - I never understood what she was actually saying there for YEARS, until I read the lyrics. It's UTTER NONSENSE though from start to finish. Basically it extoles the virtues of Materialism to its fullest, not that I have an issue with that of course.

 

#71 - ABBA - That's Me

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/57/Thatsmejapan.jpg

 

In Europe, this served as the b-side to Dancing Queen however in some parts of the world it was deemed single worthy, even bumping the magnificent Money x3 to b-side status, how very ODD. It's even so beloved by Agnetha that she named her 1998 Greatest Hits after it. I mean obviously #71 is far from bad and reflects the fact that I do like, rather a lot in fact. I just find it hard to find why anyone would class it as among their best works. It's fun, naturally and as this stage in the game (1976/Arrival) they could have farted out any old shit and it sold millions. This all sounds very negative I know, so moving onto something more positive, I like it very much. YAY.

 

80 - 71:

 

#80 - ABBA - I'm A Marionette

#79 - ABBA - Move On

#78 - ABBA - The King has Lost His Crown

#77 - Agnetha Faltskog & Ola Håkansson - The Way You Are

#76 - ABBA - Gonna Sing You My Love Song

#75 - ABBA - Lovelight

#74 - ABBA - Dance (While The Music Still Goes On)

#73 - ABBA - Love Isn't Easy (But It Sure Is Hard Enough)

#72 - Agnetha Faltskog - It's So Nice To be Rich

#71 - ABBA - That's Me