April 15, 20205 yr Author OK, I didn't do commentaries for all 100 or I'd never had got the list done. I genuinely love everything on the list increasingly as it goes on, but the top 40 is pretty much the cut-off what I especially A grade love to bits. Everyone knows the famous singles, but there's more to Abba than those, and I especially love the darker side of Abba - their image is Mamma Mia fun-but-sad-happy, but I once planned a very dark follow-up musical to Mamma Mia using the darker songs with a dark tragic plot I was hoping to get Abba to think about, and then after the film success they went and did Mamma Mia 2 which sort of put the chance of it happening close to zero, so I didn't bother working on the idea any more. Some of the songs that might work in a dark musical are in the top 40. 40. HAPPY NEW YEAR - ABBA (1980 Super Trouper album track and single in some territories) 3Uo0JAUWijM This is classic Abba singalong and is still popular in some European countries each New Year, but sadly not in the UK as very annoyingly it wasn't chosen as a single from an album that was packed with potential singles. They'd just had 2 number ones in a row, and then John Lennon was shot and that took over the musical world for the rest of 1980, it was such a shock. I still wonder if maybe they'd have released it at Christmas if that hadn't happened ready for a New Year top 5 smash, which was virtually guaranteed at that phase of their career. Instead they delayed a 3rd single for months and missed the opportunity for another big hit. Abba's UK record label did this constantly to my ongoing annoyance. Still tuneful, wistful, and lovely, and the only New Year's song worth digging out each year that springs to my mind, unless you count U2's New Year's Day as a New Year track (which I don't).
April 16, 20205 yr Author 39. SLIPPING THROUGH MY FINGERS - ABBA (1981 The Visitors album track) hRr7qRb-7k4 Abba's final album was their saddest and most adult, quite downbeat over-all and my least-favourite since Abba at the time, but time has been kind and it's really rather fab. This, for example, was a song I liked but would never have singled-out particularly - not until I saw the Mamma Mia movie, and then it all clicked, it's lovely, bittersweet, gentle and moving all at once. Understated often is an advantage in the long run.
April 16, 20205 yr Author 38. I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU - ABBA (1974 Abba album track and B side) gJRxEiAivEA Back at christmas 1974 I was big into Abba, as the rest of the UK seemed to fall out of love with them I was mad keen on So Long, their latest flop glamrock single, and this was the B side. Mellow Abba was something I wasn't prepared for, I only could afford singles, usually from bargain baskets, and Abba's singles had all been upbeat pop or rock tracks to date. Consequently I played it a few times, called it "nice" and forgot about it until I got hold of the Abba album in 1976 - at which point I was more dazzled by the poppier tracks I was discovering to pay attention to it much. Skip forward 30 years or so, and I saw this video I think, which brought the charms of the melody into sharp focus, and it was a goose-bump moment - how on Earth had I not noticed how fab the song was!
April 16, 20205 yr Author 37. I LET THE MUSIC PLAY - ABBA (1981 The Visitors album track) nLM1pRQVPQE Another low-key track on The Visitors that I wasn't at all fussed about at the time, more or less picking up where The Albums' Mini-Musical ambitions had left off. Benny & Bjorn were clearly gearing up for Chess, this song would be spot-on perfect in a musical, it has all the ingredients, a central vocal for a great female singer (Frida's honey-sweet warm vocals do it total justice), and it takes you on a 5-minute plus musical journey, swirling this way and that way along with the orchestra. Gorgeous.
April 16, 20205 yr Author 36. WATERLOO - ABBA (1974 Eurovision-winning single) BQn1gJdVKi4 Shock-low-placing moment! I've adored this record since the moment I first heard it: I was 16, I was earning pocket-money babysitting for quite a few RAF families with kids of all ages on Saturday Nights while their parents went out for darts evenings and dances with my parents, and on Eurovision night I'd got the kiddies in bed in time for me to settle down and watch Eurovision, the best contest to date, the best contest of the 20th century, and won by the track that was an instant "Oh my God I love this record, and I love Abba!" moment. I bought it full-price immediately as soon as I could, sod revising for my exams, and straight in at 1 on my charts it was. Still the definitive and most-popular Eurovision winner, it was even a big hit in the USA on it's own rights - they'd no idea about Eurovision there - and the story goes that launched them on to world stardom. Err, no it didn't. It gave them a foothold of familiarity and 18 months of hard work to overcome the stigma that winning Eurovision meant in those days, and still means. Honey Honey was a hit - but not for Abba - Ring Ring scraped into the charts, So Long flopped, I Do I Do I Do got into the 50 thanks to some Radio 2 support (Terry Wogan was a fan) but they were largely dismissed by critics as a flash in the pan act. The latter track put a chink in my love for Abba, it was sub-par for me, but it didn't last long... So why so low? Over-familiarity, partly, I hear it without that nostalgic glow these days as it's always getting played somewhere, but also because errr there are 35 Abba tracks I love even more....
April 16, 20205 yr Bjorn's hat in the top left hand corner of corner of the Waterloo thumbnail matches yours. :D I only know Abba's singles really but it's good to see Under Attack and Head Over Heels quite high up. I hope One Of Us and The Day Before You Came are still to come. They stopped at the wrong time for me. I prefer their later singles to the earlier ones. I didn't know Murray Head was Anthony Head's brother.
April 16, 20205 yr Author Bjorn's hat in the top left hand corner of corner of the Waterloo thumbnail matches yours. :D I only know Abba's singles really but it's good to see Under Attack and Head Over Heels quite high up. I hope One Of Us and The Day Before You Came are still to come. They stopped at the wrong time for me. I prefer their later singles to the earlier ones. I didn't know Murray Head was Anthony Head's brother. Thanks Rollo, and yes my stylish hatwear is timeless hah! (aka avoiding sunburn on the bald patches :lol: ) Fear not the later singles will all feature, I love the later stuff as much as the peak stuff. The first couple of albums are patchy but from 1975 onwards they were pretty top-notch :D
April 16, 20205 yr Author I only know their singles and I like waterloo but prefer many others to it. Thanks, and all the famous singles that havent already featured are coming up... :)
April 16, 20205 yr Author 35. I KNOW THERE'S SOMETHING GOING ON - Frida (featuring Phil Collins) (1983 single) p98PjtSfNWo Frida's finest solo moment by some distance, and the best non-Abba track on the rundown - if it sounds a bit like Phil Collins' In The Air Tonight, that's because it's Phil Collins drumming, singing backing, and producing. As if ol' Phil didn't already have a very busy solo and band schedule, he thought he could also sling in a solo album with Frida while he was at it. The song is written by the fab songwriter and popstar Russ Ballard who'd teamed up with Zombies' Rod Argent to form the band Argent, who kick-started his hit songwriting career with God Gave Rock 'N' Roll To You, a solo album, and songs galore gifted to hit-makers like Hot Chocolate (So You Win Again), Rainbow (Since You've Been Gone), America (You Can Do Magic) and Hello (New York Groove). A top 10 hit everywhere, virtually, except the UK, where it still remains largely obscure, but even the USA got it to 13 in the charts so the fault is entirely at the feet of the UK music industry (ie Radio and promotion) rather than this thumpingly good rock track not being hitworthy.
April 16, 20205 yr Author 34. MONEY MONEY MONEY - ABBA (1976 single) ETxmCCsMoD0 The one that interrupted what would have been a run of 7 number one's in a row if they'd gone for another track off the Arrival album - I mean it's great, loved the video (one of 2 they made) which got shown on Top Of The Pops, the ragtime-vibe suited the lyrics, and the lyrics will ever-remain pertinent and true for the masses living out their lives making ends meet - and yet it wasn't my choice for the next single after Dancing Queen (that's coming later), though it probably is a better actual song than my faves tracks on the album, and it's still pretty famous and popular so peaking at 3 can't have been too bad. I recall it competing with Queen's Somebody To Love for the top spot, but neither eternally popular band actually making it thanks to....err, Showaddywaddy's Under The Moon Of Love cover and Johnny Mathis' When A Child Is Born Christmas song. Ouch! That still hurts....
April 16, 20205 yr Author 33. ME AND I - ABBA (1980 Super Trouper album track) DTQ5kxuZ-Bg Smooth and polished, sophisticated but still got the pop hooks, Abba's last huge commercial hurrah was around 1980, and the album was crowded with potential singles, so it was frustrating that they only released 2 old-fashioned 45's off the chock-a-block album. Tracks like this fab Frida-led goodie that could have filled a chart gap in early January or February 1981 while we waited for the 12"-only next track. And it's not even the best non-single track on Super Trouper....
April 16, 20205 yr Author 32. THAT'S ME - ABBA (1976 B-side and Arrival album track) mP_dk429rbc B-side to Dancing Queen, and ahead of the album release I loved this track as much I'd loved some past Abba singles, which set me on course for doing something I never did - buying a current pop album at full price when it came out. They were pricey and I preferred singles, but I had to have those peak-Abba tracks anyway. Totally worth every penny. Abba even kept me buying the singles by putting B sides on that weren't available elsewhere - as all the best bands did in the days when you bought more than one track (and Pet Shop Boys still do).
April 16, 20205 yr Author 31. IF IT WASN'T FOR THE NIGHTS - ABBA (1979 Voulez-Vous album track) vylJ4xnVHHI Such a fabulous lost single this one - Bjorn and Benny considered as single-material, even performing it on The Mike Yarwood Show, and instead Epic went for the way-inferior Does Your Mother Know and the throwaway poppy Angel Eyes - though in both cases they at least made up for that by having flips that were also better than the main radio hits - both of them still to come. There's a Dancing Queen vibe to this one, and the song is just achingly good, the girls vocals impeccable, the production flawless. I can only guess they didn't want to be accused of doing Dancing Queen part 2 after the stick they got for the temerity of releasing the previous single with a title that sounded like a previous Abba chart-topper - how very dare they!!
April 17, 20205 yr Author 30. HOLE IN YOUR SOUL - ABBA (1978 The Album album track) geooJv-Usus I love the banging intro to this one, and the uptempo girl-vocal hyperactive verse (which is really the main hook) while the low-key male-sung chorus is like it's from a different song. Bung in some key changes straight from the style of musicals (very much the theme of the album) and it's a right ol' odd one that always pushed my buttons even though I know it's a bit of a cheesy mish-mash.
April 17, 20205 yr Author 29. BANG-A-BOOMERANG - ABBA (1975 Abba album track & European single) _CsJCa2TlXU Talking of cheesy - here's the moment when I started to realise the UK branch of Epic weren't on the same wavelength as me and my pop sensibilities. This was the obvious catchy, hooky single-that-never-was off Abba - timing was an issue (ideally it should have come out after I Do I Do I Do), as were the naff lyrics: Bjorn had not quite made the quantum leap in quality for English lyrics that he would display in later years - but I still love soaring guitar intro, the driving rhythm and as is often the case, the verse and the bridge links to the chorus. The chorus is the let-down, though there's no denying it gets stuck in your head. Frothy pop fun. Kiddies, please don't try banging a boomerang, it'll just come back to you afterwards as a bad idea....
April 17, 20205 yr Author 28. TIGER - ABBA (1976 Arrival album track and single in some territories) wWQ7wrPyUe0 12 months on from Bang-A-Boomerang and the new Arrival album was massive leap in quality and sophistication, and this was my instant takeaway fave to be a single, and yet again I was disappointed. The growling guitar riffs, the prowling bridges after the soaring chorus, the pounding verse, the girls vocals fab, full of attitude and then gentle, this is a sort of early version of older women-as-jaguars looking for a good time (or else troublingly hyperactively stalking) and it's just fab. This would have been my choice for 2nd single, not Money Money Money, or failing that a 4th track (as it was in some countries) in the summer gap between number ones and the wait for the next release in the autumn of 1977. Just that in those days 4 singles off an album wasn't a thing anyone did...
April 17, 20205 yr Author 27. TAKE A CHANCE ON ME - ABBA (1978 single) -crgQGdpZR0 Hook-laden chug-chugging train-rhythm intro and a huge catchy single, in the USA second only to Dancing Queen in chart success. At the time I loved the video, and sometimes annoyed my male-housemates in College digs with my Abba obsession (had the posters on the wall, had The Album), especially Pete and Alan who I shared a room with - I was prone to park myself downstairs in the TV lounge to maker sure I got to see the latest Abba video on Top Of The Pops or Saturday morning kids TV. At least till I brought my portable B&W from home to stop the moaning. One of our first year girls went walkabout before the latest TOTP one evening, so we were out patrolling the streets trying to find her - she'd been depressed about a relationship breakdown I think, and we were concerned - but all turned out well, she was found and I got to see this video in time. I don't love it as much as I did at the time, but it's still pop class.
April 17, 20205 yr Author 26. GIMME GIMME GIMME (A MAN AFTER MIDNIGHT) - ABBA (1979 single) XEjLoHdbVeE Final year at College now, digs on campus, mixed-sex as we had our own rooms which was fab, own space, yay! Then this came out unexpectedly as a single-only release after Abba had done 3 singles off Voulez-Vous, with yet again blindingly obvious tracks still to be released as singles - in the event they waited until Christmas before pulling I Have A Dream off - but this was a more subtle-Abba, and not one of my top Abba singles given most of the releases of the past 4 years by late 1979 - but time has been kind, especially with that riff, so good that Madonna nicked it for Hung Up 27 years later. It topped my chart, of course, from Mamma Mia on everything they released topped my chart, it was just a question of how many weeks on top (2 weeks). So good a title that it was nicked for a camp sitcom, and if it wasn't really dance/disco it was a nice little diversion into funkpop.
April 17, 20205 yr Author 25. SHOULD I LAUGH OR CRY - ABBA (1981 B side to One Of Us) kTmZnQOfAF8 This should so have been on The Visitors album, it fits in beautifully with the sad mood, and 9 tracks was a bit short-changing. I'm guessing it was because Frida had a few showstopping solo vocals on the album and the lads liked to keep those roughly equal on singles and albums, but even so this is a real loss - it's both gently sad and beautiful. As almost all their key tracks by this point, the lyrics deal with break-up and being alone - both couples were now history - and benny's musical creations and arrangements are increasingly low-key sophisticated: but pay attention to the lyrics. No longer are there grammatical errors in a second language, what you have now is lyrical poetry, give or take, and marvel how Bjorn writes them from the woman's point of view, not the man's. Total gem.
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