The Winner's Gonna Take It All: The final...

He/Him
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'I've often wondered how did it all start... Who found out that nothing can capture a heart like a melody can...'
- Agnetha Fältskog in Thank You for the Music -

Two couples.

A love for each other.

A love of pure pop music.

That's what started their journey. In the early '70s Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad started performing together as a quartet and the rest is history.

They became one of the most commercially successful acts to come from Sweden ever. They topped the charts worldwide for 8 years after winning the Eurovision Song Contest in 1974. Bjorn and Benny were very much the creative forces behind the band, having the knack for creating a fucking fantastic melody and constantly perfecting their songwriting and experimenting with vocal arrangements. And that's where the girls came in. Agnetha's soprano and Frida's mezzo-soprano voices sounded so beautifully together and lent themselves so wonderfully to the type of music the boys were creating.

Together they made magic.

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And that's what we're celebrating here today. 8 albums. 102 songs.

But first:
- You are to rate every song included in the rate, extras and all.
- You are to rate every song with a score from 0-10. Half marks are allowed.
- You're allowed to give one song that elusive 11.
- Commentary is welcomed and highly encouraged!
- Rate your 'best version' of the tracks. I really don't fucking care which version of Ring Ring you love the best, which language version of Waterloo you like rather than the other or what extended version of Voulez-Vous is the one.
- We're not rating unreleased demos, snippets, Swedish rarities or ABBA Undeleted. That's final and you will all deal.

Them's the rules.

What we are rating:

Ring Ring - 1973

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1 - Ring Ring
2 – Another Town, Another Train
3 – Disillusion
4 – People Need Love
5 – I Saw It in the Mirror
6 – Nina, Pretty Ballerina
7 – Love Isn’t Easy (But It Sure Is Hard Enough)
8 – Me and Bobby and Bobby’s Brother
9 – He Is Your Brother
10 – She’s My Kind of Girl
11 – I Am Just a Girl
12 – Rock’n Roll Band

13 – Merry-Go-Round
14 – Santa Rosa


Waterloo - 1974
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1 - Waterloo
2 – Sitting in the Palmtree
3 – King Kong Song
4 – Hasta Mañana
5 – My Mama Said
6 – Dance (While the Music Still Goes On)
7 – Honey, Honey
8 – Watch Out
9 – What About Livingstone?
10 – Gonna Sing You My Lovesong
11 – Suzy-Hang-Around


ABBA - 1975
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1 - Mamma Mia
2 – Hey, Hey Helen
3 – Tropical Loveland
4 – SOS
5 – Man in the Middle
6 – Bang-A-Boomerang
7 – I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do
8 – Rock Me
9 – Intermezzo No. 1
10 – I’ve Been Waiting for You
11 – So Long


Arrival - 1976
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1 - When I Kissed the Teacher
2 – Dancing Queen
3 – My Love, My Life
4 – Dum Dum Diddle
5 – Knowing Me, Knowing You
6 – Money, Money, Money
7 – That’s Me
8 – Why Did It Have to Be Me?
9 – Tiger
10 – Arrival

11 – Crazy World
12 – Happy Hawaii
13 - Fernando


ABBA: The Album - 1977
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1 - Eagle
2 – Take a Chance on Me
3 – One Man, One Woman
4 – The Name of the Game
5 – Move On
6 – Hole in Your Soul
7 – Thank You for the Music
8 – I Wonder (Departure)
9 – I’m a Marionette


Voulez-Vous - 1979
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1 - As Good As New
2 – Voulez-Vous
3 – I Have a Dream
4 – Angeleyes
5 – The King Has Lost His Crown
6 – Does Your Mother Know
7 – If It Wasn’t for the Nights
8 – Chiquitita
9 – Lovers (Live a Little Longer)
10 – Kisses of Fire

11 – Lovelight
12 – Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)
13 – Summer Night City
14 – Medley: Pick a Bale of Cotton / On Top of Old Smokey / Midnight Special


Super Trouper - 1980
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1 - Super Trouper
2 – The Winner Takes It All
3 – On and On and On
4 – Andante, Andante
5 – Me and I
6 – Happy New Year
7 – Our Last Summer
8 – The Piper
9 – Lay All Your Love On Me
10 – The Way Old Friends Do (Live)

11 – Elaine
12 – Put On Your White Sombrero


The Visitors - 1981
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1 - The Visitors
2 – Head Over Heels
3 – When All Is Said and Done
4 – Soldiers
5 – I Let the Music Speak
6 – One of Us
7 – Two for the Price of One
8 – Slipping Through My Fingers
9 – Like an Angel Passing Through My Room

10 – Should I Laugh Or Cry
11 – The Day Before You Came
12 – Under Attack
13 – You Owe Me One
14 – Cassandra


Extras

1 - I Am the City
2 – Dream World

1 - Ring Ring
2 – Another Town, Another Train
3 – Disillusion
4 – People Need Love
5 – I Saw It in the Mirror
6 – Nina, Pretty Ballerina
7 – Love Isn’t Easy (But It Sure Is Hard Enough)
8 – Me and Bobby and Bobby’s Brother
9 – He Is Your Brother
10 – She’s My Kind of Girl
11 – I Am Just a Girl
12 – Rock’n Roll Band

13 – Merry-Go-Round
14 – Santa Rosa

1 - Waterloo
2 – Sitting in the Palmtree
3 – King Kong Song
4 – Hasta Mañana
5 – My Mama Said
6 – Dance (While the Music Still Goes On)
7 – Honey, Honey
8 – Watch Out
9 – What About Livingstone?
10 – Gonna Sing You My Lovesong
11 – Suzy-Hang-Around


1 - Mamma Mia
2 – Hey, Hey Helen
3 – Tropical Loveland
4 – SOS
5 – Man in the Middle
6 – Bang-A-Boomerang
7 – I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do
8 – Rock Me
9 – Intermezzo No. 1
10 – I’ve Been Waiting for You
11 – So Long

1 - When I Kissed the Teacher
2 – Dancing Queen
3 – My Love, My Life
4 – Dum Dum Diddle
5 – Knowing Me, Knowing You
6 – Money, Money, Money
7 – That’s Me
8 – Why Did It Have to Be Me?
9 – Tiger
10 – Arrival

11 – Crazy World
12 – Happy Hawaii
13 - Fernando
1 - Eagle
2 – Take a Chance on Me
3 – One Man, One Woman
4 – The Name of the Game
5 – Move On
6 – Hole in Your Soul
7 – Thank You for the Music
8 – I Wonder (Departure)
9 – I’m a Marionette

1 - As Good As New
2 – Voulez-Vous
3 – I Have a Dream
4 – Angeleyes
5 – The King Has Lost His Crown
6 – Does Your Mother Know
7 – If It Wasn’t for the Nights
8 – Chiquitita
9 – Lovers (Live a Little Longer)
10 – Kisses of Fire

11 – Lovelight
12 – Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)
13 – Summer Night City
14 – Medley: Pick a Bale of Cotton / On Top of Old Smokey / Midnight Special

1 - Super Trouper
2 – The Winner Takes It All
3 – On and On and On
4 – Andante, Andante
5 – Me and I
6 – Happy New Year
7 – Our Last Summer
8 – The Piper
9 – Lay All Your Love On Me
10 – The Way Old Friends Do (Live)

11 – Elaine
12 – Put On Your White Sombrero

1 - The Visitors
2 – Head Over Heels
3 – When All Is Said and Done
4 – Soldiers
5 – I Let the Music Speak
6 – One of Us
7 – Two for the Price of One
8 – Slipping Through My Fingers
9 – Like an Angel Passing Through My Room

10 – Should I Laugh Or Cry
11 – The Day Before You Came

12 – Under Attack
13 – You Owe Me One
14 – Cassandra

1 - I Am the City
2 – Dream World

The deadline for getting your votes in is 19 March.
That means you have a little less than 6 weeks to get to know this marvellous discography. So those of you who are not familiar with them, get the chance to get acquainted.

And please...

Don't fuck it up.
 
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He/Him
#100: I Saw It In The Mirror
#99: She's My Kind of Girl
#98: Merry-Go-Round
#96 (tie): Man in the Middle
#96 (tie): Santa Rosa
#95: Me and Bobby and Bobby's Brother
#94: King Kong Song
#93: Sitting in the Palmtree
#92: Suzy-Hang-Around
#90 (tie): What About Livingstone?
#90 (tie): I Am Just a Girl
#89: Rock'n Roll Band
#88: Watch Out
#86 (tie): Intermezzo No. 1
#86 (tie): He Is Your Brother
#85: Love Isn't Easy (But It Sure Is Hard Enough)
#84: Medley: Pick a Bale of Cotton / On Top of Old Smokey / Midnight Special
#83: Nina, Pretty Ballerina
#82: Put On Your White Sombrero
#81: Crazy World
#80: People Need Love
#79: Another Town, Another Train
#78: Tropical Loveland
#77: Gonna Sing You My Love Song
#76: Rock Me
#75: Disillusion
#74: Happy Hawaii
#73: Arrival
#72: Hasta Mañana
#71: I Have a Dream
#70: My Mama Said
#69: Dance (While the Music Still Goes On)
#68: Why Did It Have to Be Me?
#67: Hey, Hey Helen
#66: Andante, Andante
#65: Lovers (Live a Little Longer)
#63 (tie): Dum Dum Diddle
#63 (tie): I Wonder (Departure)
#62: My Love, My Life
#60 (tie): Bang-A-Boomerang
#60 (tie): Move On
#59: Elaine
#58: Hole in Your Soul
#57: So Long
#56: One Man, One Woman
#55: Dream World
#54: Cassandra
#53: Two for the Price of One
#52: I'm a Marionette
#51: The Way Old Friends Do
#50: You Owe Me One
#49: Tiger
#48: I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do
#46 (tie): The King Has Lost His Crown
#46 (tie): Lovelight
#45: I've Been Waiting for You
#44: The Piper
#43: When I Kissed the Teacher
#42: Like An Angel Passing Through My Room
#41: Thank You for the Music
#40: Happy New Year
#39: Honey, Honey
#37 (tie): That's Me
#37 (tie): Ring Ring
#36: I Am the City
#35: I Let the Music Speak
#33 (tie): Me and I
#33 (tie): Does Your Mother Know
#32: On and On and On
#31: Should I Laugh Or Cry
#30: Kisses of Fire
#29: Soldiers
#28: Slipping Through My Fingers
#27: Our Last Summer
#26: Eagle
#25: Under Attack
#24: Head Over Heels
#23: As Good As New
#20 (tie): If It Wasn't for the Nights
#20 (tie): The Name of the Game
#20 (tie): Angeleyes
#19: Fernando
#18: Chiquitita
#17: Money, Money, Money
#16: Waterloo
#14 (tie): Super Trouper
#14 (tie): One of Us
#12 (tie): The Visitors
#12 (tie): When All Is Said and Done
#11: Summer Night City
#10: Take a Chance on Me
#9: Mamma Mia
#8: The Day Before You Came
#7: Voulez-Vous
#6: SOS
#5: Lay All Your Love On Me
#4: Dancing Queen
#3: Knowing Me, Knowing You
#2: Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)
#1: The Winner Takes It All
 
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He/Him
8 - Ring Ring - 1973
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Average: 4.8820
#37 (tie): Ring Ring
#75: Disillusion
#79: Another Town, Another Train
#80: People Need Love
#83: Nina, Pretty Ballerina
#85: Love Isn't Easy (But It Sure Is Hard Enough)
#86 (tie): He Is Your Brother
#89: Rock'n Roll Band
#90 (tie): I Am Just a Girl
#95: Me and Bobby and Bobby's Brother
#96 (tie): Santa Rosa
#98: Merry-Go-Round
#99: She's My Kind of Girl
#100: I Saw It In The Mirror

Highest scorers:
@constantino - 7.3929
@Sprockrooster - 7.1786
@tylerc904 - 6.6071

Lowest scorers:
@VivaForever - 2.2857
@CasperFan
- 2.4286
@idratherjack - 2.5714

My average: 6.1071
Our first album to fall is the much maligned Ring Ring. The fact that most of these songs fell before we even reached the top 80 should have given you a fair warning that this would be the album with the lowest average here.

I have repeated time and time again when we were cutting these songs that this is an album recorded by a group of four people who were or had had success, be it as part of a group or solo. Björn had been part of a group called The Hootenanny Singers, Benny was part of the band Hep Stars and Agnetha and Frida had been recording music from a young age with varying degrees of success.

Benny and Björn decided to form a duo and had already released a couple of singles (among them She's My Kind Of Girl, En Karusell, which was the Swedish version of Merry-Go-Round and Rock'n Roll Band, yet that version was a bit different to the one we're used to), but it wasn't until they decided to record People Need Love that their manager Stig Anderson suggested the boys could enlist the vocal help from both of their fiancées.

ABBA as we know them were not even considered a thing at the time.

Yet, the rest is history...

The album was only officially released in 1973 in Scandinavia and several parts of Europe such as Germany, Austria, The Netherlands and Belgium, where it was their first chart-topper too.
Australia and New Zealand got it in 1975, but it wasn't until 1992 that it was released in the United Kingdom and it took up until 1995 to be leashed upon the American public...

You do have to keep in mind that the musical climate was very different at the time. Schlager music was the thing back then and was largely considered pop music. Hence the light and sometimes childish nature of some of these songs, which is a big part of why some of you couldn't give out a lot of high scores. Their later songs were very complex and in stark contrast with some of the songs on display here.
Pair that with the fact that the general focus was not on the girls' voices, as Benny and Björn were very much trying to be the stars of this project, with the girls playing second fiddle and most of you aren't here even for male pop stars with good voices, let alone those with awful voices...

Is it their worst album? Yes.
Is it a bad album per sé? Certain opinions beg to differ.

I'd strongly suggest you all listen to it with new ears and maybe go back into our countdown to follow along. Who knows... Maybe you'll find a hidden gem somewhere or a song you would never have given the light of day after hearing it for the first time when scoring these songs.


7 - Waterloo - 1974
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Average: 5.7797
#16: Waterloo
#39: Honey, Honey
#69: Dance (While the Music Still Goes On)

#70: My Mama Said
#72: Hasta Mañana
#77: Gonna Sing You My Love Song
#88: Watch Out
#90 (tie): What About Livingstone?
#92: Suzy-Hang-Around
#93: Sitting in the Palmtree
#94: King Kong Song

Highest scorers:
@tylerc904 - 8.3636
@Remorque - 7.7727
@constantino - 7.7273

Lowest scorers:
@dancingwithmyself - 3.0909
@AGiantSheep - 3.3636
@CasperFan - 3.
5455

My average: 7.7273
Our second album to fall is their first to be released internationally under the guise of ABBA and wel... their second overall. Seeing it lose almost half of its songs before we hit the top 85 was heartbreaking, but hey... It and Ring Ring actually put up a fight against each other with the latter eventually losing and getting cut as the album y'all like the least...

Recording sessions for the album began in September 1973 and didn't end until February the year after, two weeks before the album was to be released. It was actually a surprise to me too that the songs that were written during the first weeks of recording are the ones on the second part of album... Songs like Waterloo, Hasta Manaña (which were both written after the group had gotten news of their participation in Melodifestivalen) and Honey, Honey were all only completed at the beginning of 1974.

Björn went on to sing on a lot of these tracks, still thinking he could be a legit rockstar (cases in point: Watch Out and King Kong Song), the girls each had solo songs, yet still appeared in harmony on others and this album has the only song to be lead by Benny in the form of Suzy-Hang-Around.

It was eventually released on 4 March 1974, a month before they won the Eurovision Song Contest. It became a chart-topper in their native Sweden and Norway, was a top 10 album in Germany, yet kinda failed to set the charts alight elsewhere... It did, however, reach no. 28 in the United Kingdom, where they were the first Eurovision act to actually chart up until then.

I'm relistening to the album right now and it actually is a strong package of songs... Yet, I do agree that maybe this album kinda pales in comparison to their later albums that actually had well-though out campaigns. Waterloo's more a collection of songs that Benny and Björn thought would sound good internationally. Hence the rock songs, pop songs, schlagers and reggae-tinted songs all put together.

Just put your mind on hold and listen again without prejudice.
I certainly wasn't disappointed.


6 - ABBA - 1974
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Average: 6.7362
#6: SOS
#9: Mamma Mia
#45: I've Been Waiting for You
#48: I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do
#57: So Long
#60 (tie): Bang-A-Boomerang
#67: Hey, Hey Helen
#76: Rock Me
#78: Tropical Loveland
#86 (tie): Intermezzo No. 1
#96 (tie): Man in the Middle

Highest scorers:
@Animalia - 8.3636
@nlgbbbblth - 8.1818
@tylerc904 - 8.0455


Lowest scorers:
@AGiantSheep - 3.5455
@dancingwithmyself - 4.8182
@VivaForever @JonBcn - 5.2727


My average: 7.3636
Our fifth album to fall in its entirety is 1975's self-titled ABBA. Seeing as the average is lower than that of The Album and The Visitors, this one gets ranked third for now and makes the other two rise a place on our album leaderboard...

ABBA was always doomed to be one of the lowest ranked, seeing as it lost more than half of its songs before the top 50, with Australian mega-hit I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do and AgnethaBallad I've Been Waiting for You doing a little bit better... It being represented in the top 10 with two outright classics in the form of Mamma Mia and S.O.S. rightfully made it outrank their two previous efforts though.

Writing and recording for the album began in August 1974, with the album being released on 21 April 1975, to mixed reviews. ABBA were being branded a one-hit-wonder after the runaway success of breakthrough Eurovision hit Waterloo, seeing as everything released from their second album was nowhere near as successful as the title track. A general feeling of "Who the fuck are we?" left the boys not knowing which direction they really wanted to go in... They had already dabbled in reggae-tinged songs, so decided to include Frida's Tropical Loveland and there were also elements of jazz on their previous efforts, so Björn included his Man in the Middle...

Glam rock had a breakthrough around the time of release, so Benny and Björn were quite influenced by that sound, resulting in songs such as Rock Me, Bang-A-Boomerang, Hey, Hey Helen and lead single So Long. Seeing as that song did absolutely nothing around the world, the record company decided to go with the schlager I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do next and that turned their fortunes upside down in Australia and New Zealand, where the song was a hit of absolutely epic proportions.

What followed was the boys and their manager Stig Anderson being able to do what they wanted and release the pop songs they thought had more pop sensibilities and suited the band more... Mammoth hits S.O.S. and Mamma Mia were unleashed to the world and the rest is history.

The album was never a big hit though. Although it did reach the top spot of the Australian, Norwegian and Swedish markets and was a top 3 album in the Netherlands and New Zealand, it failed to make a really big impact anywhere else.

Relistening to it now for this write-up, it's definitely an album that needs to be listened to with an open mind. It's not a very cohesive collection of songs, yet every song stands firmly on its own though. The band had kinda lost their way and didn't really know who they actually were... And that shows.

Björn has always admitted that the band had a hard time figuring out what style would identify them at the time, but that they firmly found their pop identity with the two stone cold classics on this collection.


5 - The Album - 1977
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Average: 7.6379
#10: Take a Chance on Me
#20 (tie): The Name of the Game

#26: Eagle
#41: Thank You for the Music
#52: I'm a Marionette
#56: One Man, One Woman
#58: Hole in Your Soul
#60 (tie): Move On
#63 (tie): I Wonder (Departure)

Highest scorers:
@P'NutButter - 9.1111
@Mumty - 9.0556
@Gotnomoretosay - 8.8333

Lowest scorers:
@dancingwithmyself - 4.444
@WhatKindOfKylie?
- 4.7778
@bichard - 5.0556

My average: 7.9444
The third album to fall is the band's fifth and also their shortest, released as the tie-in to ABBA: The Movie, hence the name... It was recorded during most of 1977, which was the height of ABBA-mania and saw the band travel the world promoting their brand, filming a movie (most of that time the band members weren't even aware they were filming one) while on the road in Australia and were heading out on their first ever world tour.

Most fans look at The Album as their least inspired, yet most progressive album in their discography... The band were at the height of their succes (there literally was no one as popular around the world as them) and while the girls were gaining popularity in magazines and sporting every latest fashion and hairstyle available, the boys tried to progress their sound when their ambition started to develop into more than just wanting to craft catchy pop songs... The arrangements and production of the songs were intrinsically more complicated than on their previous albums and (let's put the gloompop of The Visitors aside for a sec) The Album is probably the most serious record in their catalogue.

The release of the album wasn't without its difficulties either...
Audio-wise: Side A on the original LP release is known for having been sourced from a poor quality master tape, which affected the first four songs. The songs that were released as singles (The Name of the Game, Take a Chance on Me and Eagle) were ultimately remastered for their single treatment by their sound engineer Michael B. Tretow, yet it took up until the 1997 re-issues for the rest to be fully remastered...
Release-wise: The album was first released in Scandinavia on 12 December 1977, but didn't come out in the United Kingdom until January 1978, due to the massive pre-orders, as the UK pressing plants were not able to press sufficient copies before Christmas 1977.

It was a fucking massive commercial triumph though. It reached no. 1 in most territories, like Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, South Africa, Mexico and their native Sweden and also debuted at the top of the UK charts and stayed there for seven weeks straight and ended up being the third best selling album of 1978 (behind Saturday Night Fever and Grease).
It was also their biggest commercial succes in the United States, reaching no. 14 on the Billboard Hot 200, while also reaching the top 10 in Canada, Germany, Japan and Poland...

With I Wonder (Departure) being the first song to fall after we had already lost fourty-ish songs and Take a Chance on Me rightfully taking it into the top 10, there's no denying this album has a place in your hearts and is the sound of a band at the height of their success, yet the boys' ambitions to make more complicated sounding songs and 'art'-ing it up in places let it down in places...

But as I'm listening to it while doing this write-up, I simply can't resist those wonderfully crafted melodies by Benny and Björn and the fantastic voices and harmonies of Agnetha and Frida, giving it their all...

All four of them had fully developed into the stars they deserved to be.



4 - Arrival - 1976
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Average: 7.4918
#3: Knowing Me, Knowing You
#4: Dancing Queen
#17: Money, Money, Money
#19: Fernando
#37 (tie): That's Me
#43: When I Kissed the Teacher
#49: Tiger
#62: My Love, My Life
#63 (tie): Dum Dum Diddle
#68: Why Did It Have to Be Me?
#73: Arrival
#74: Happy Hawaii
#81: Crazy World

Highest scorers:
@WhipperSnapper - 9.0000
@Mumty - 8.9231
@Animalia - 8.6538

Lowest scorers:
@cityofdoomsday - 5.0000
@dancingwithmyself
- 5.6154
@bichard - 5.7308

My average: 8.2692
With Dancing Queen and Knowing Me, Knowing You bowing out in our top 5, Arrival is our next album to fall...

Writing and recording for the album began as early as August 1975 at ABBA's own Metronome Studios in Stockholm. The boys had decided to take a step back and let the girls sing most of the songs, letting them become the true superstars of the band and the boys taking a backseat and focus on writing and recording. Benny and Björn's focus for the album was writing true pop songs which would resonate with the general public, after previous schlager and rock 'n roll efforts were met with modest success around the globe (with the exception of I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do being massive in Australia and New Zealand) and finally getting to number one with Mamma Mia and S.O.S., both pop songs in the truest sense of the word and the ballad Fernando from the Greatest Hits compilation, released earlier in 1976.

The album eventually was leashed upon the world on 4 August 1976, nearly a year after the first sessions for the album took place. A couple of weeks later Dancing Queen, the album's lead single was released and the rest is history, really... The song was a massive succes of epic bloody proportions and was followed up with the worldwide hits Money, Money, Money and Knowing Me, Knowing You. (I'm excluding That's Me, because that was a Japan-only release.)

This is ABBA at their commercial peak with what on the outside seem to be light and breezy pop songs, but bubbling underneath there's always that odd melancholy feeling and those production values. Benny and Björn certainly did that. Take that with the girls giving it their all on the vocal department and you can see why the album was such a massive commercial success as it was, reaching no. 1 in Australia and New Zealand (where ABBAmania was at its absolute peak), Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and their native Sweden (among many others) and the United Kingdom, where it was the best selling album of 1977. In Canada it was a top 3 hit and on the massive succes of Dancing Queen alone Arrival coasted to the top 20. Not a bad feat for four Eurovision wannabes that were once described as one hit wonders...

For me, personally, Arrival ranks as one of their best albums as a whole package. I'm relistening to it for this write-up and I'm getting my absolute life to some all-time classics, some fan favourites and some deep cuts. This is the album I'd recommend to any new ABBA fan if ever they were to delve deeper into their discography. Hell, I'd recommend you all to listen to it again, while reading this write-up.


And seeing as Arrival too has an average lower than The Visitors, it makes the latter take up a place in your official top 3 ABBA albums ever!


3 - Super Trouper - 1980
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Average: 7.8297

#1: The Winner Takes It All
#5: Lay All Your Love On Me
#14 (tie): Super Trouper
#27: Our Last Summer
#32: On and On and On
#33 (tie): Me and I
#40: Happy New Year
#44: The Piper
#51: The Way Old Friends Do
#59: Elaine
#66: Andante, Andante
#82: Put On Your White Sombrero


Highest scorers:
@WhipperSnapper - 9.2500
@tylerc904 - 9.0833
@P'NutButter - 9.0000

Lowest scorers:
@cityofdoomsday - 5.2500
@dancingwithmyself - 6.5000
@VivaForever - 6.5471

My average: 8.0833
Super Trouper is eventually placed as your third favourite ABBA album ever here on PopJustice. It actually only has one real stinker on it and that was an unreleased track up until their 1994 box set Thank ABBA for the Music, so I'm extremely happy this made the top 3.

Recording for the album began in early 1980 after a very successful album campaign, a world tour and way too many personal problems between the four band members. Agnetha and Björn had finalized their divorce, Frida and Benny were experiencing problems in their marriage, the girls had all but estranged themselves from each other and Benny and Björn had no idea where to go musically. Their previous album had been a bit of a jump on the disco bandwagon and both of the boys were feeling as if they had sold out. But there was one thing Benny had remembered from those recording sessions... Don't be afraid to use more of those keyboards.

So Benny persuaded the band to go for a more progressive, adult sound, that was very synthy and, in places, clubby. So while he was focussing on getting the album to sound exactly like he wanted, Björn stepped his fucking bussy up on the lyrics department, with songs such as The Winner Takes It All, On and On and On, Me and I and The Piper being lyrical highlights in their entire discography.

The album went on to hit the top spot in Belgium (KWEENZzzz... last one, I promise), Germany, Norway and their native Sweden, was a top 5 hit in Australia and New Zealand and reached the top 10 in Canada, Italy and Japan.
It was yet another chart-topping album in the United Kingdom and eventually reached the Billboard 200 top 20.

While The Visitors is definitely their most difficult album overall, Super Trouper has always seemed to be somewhat of an emotional rollercoaster and confusing in a way. It's quite a diverse collection of songs about heartbreak, flirting, sensuality and melancholy. Their personal feelings were poured into all of these tracks and it's a fucking shame they couldn't reconcile personally as we all know where their partnership was going.

Listening to it know, it's making me quite emotional...



2 - Voulez-Vous - 1979
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Average: 7.9728

#2: Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)
#7: Voulez-Vous

#11: Summer Night City
#18: Chiquitita
#20 (tie): Angeleyes
#20 (tie): If It Wasn't for the Nights
#23: As Good As New
#30: Kisses of Fire
#33 (tie): Does Your Mother Know
#46 (tie): Lovelight
#46 (tie): The King Has Lost His Crown
#65: Lovers (Live a Little Longer)
#71: I Have a Dream
#84: Medley: Pick a Bale of Cotton / On Top of Old Smokey / Midnight Special


Highest scorers:
@SecretsOfFatima - 9.2143
@Gotnomoretosay - 9.1429
@haps - 9.0357

Lowest scorers:
@cityofdoomsday - 5.7143

@dancingwithmyself - 5.8571
@JonBcn - 6.8571

My average: 7.9643
Your second highest ranked ABBA album is the band's sixth overall, Voulez-Vous. Seeing as it had only lost three songs (well, two if we don't count the Summer Night City b-side) before the top 50 is what probably helped its placing here...

Recording for the album was to start in March 1978 at the band's own Polar Studios and these sessions would be the first the band would work on in their new studio. The band were at the height of their success, fresh off the success of hits like The Name of the Game and Take a Chance on Me, a hit at the box office with ABBA: The Movie and a successfully completed promo tour.

Behind the scenes things weren't all as rosy though... It was no huge secret that Agnetha and Björn were having marital problems, Frida was distancing herself from the other band members opting for time on her own and our favourite writing team was having trouble coming up with songs they thought were good enough... Only two songs were completed during these early sessions, namely Lovelight and Dream World, the first getting b-side status and the second only seeing a commercial release during the 90s revival...
So the boys opted to travel to Miami instead and immerse themselves in the club scene and eventually retrieved their mojo. They created uplifting melodies, went with more complex production techniques and tried to get Anna and Frida to challenge themselves on the vocal front, resulting in wonderful harmonies, fantastic solo performances, but also a clunker here and there... Lovers (Live a Little Longer), I'm looking at yew.

The album was eventually released in March 1979, more than a year after they started recording it. It spawned four successful singles and went on to become one of their best-selling albums, reaching number one in Belgium (YATH!), The Netherlands, Finland, Germany, Norway and their native Sweden and even reached the top spot on the Japanese album charts.
In the United Kingdom it was yet another chart-topper for the band, with the album reaching the top 5 in Australia, the top 10 in Canada and also went on to become a top 20 hit in the United States.

To me, it's definitely not the extreme change in sound people were saying it was at the time, but it does indeed feature lots of strings, American influences, more keyboards and dance elements. And isn't that what we here at PopJustice want from our music? We want to sing and dance and bop and twirl... (We'll forget for an instant that I Have a Dream exists.)

Was it ABBA jumping on the bandwagon? Maybe.

Is it thoroughly enjoyable as a total package? Absolutely!

So grab your leotards, ghewls and get down to it!

1 - The Visitors - 1981
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Average: 8.1522
#8: The Day Before You Came
#12 (tie): When All Is Said and Done
#12 (tie): The Visitors
#14 (tie): One of Us
#24: Head Over Heels
#25: Under Attack
#28: Slipping Through My Fingers
#29: Soldiers
#31: Should I Laugh Or Cry
#35: I Let the Music Speak
#42: Like An Angel Passing Through My Room
#50: You Owe Me One
#53: Two for the Price of One
#54: Cassandra

Highest scorers:
@Mikey1701 - 9.8786
@chris4862 - 9.5000
@WhipperSnapper - 9.4286

Lowest scorers:

@dancingwithmyself - 5.3571

@cityofdoomsday - 5.5714
@Epic Chocolat - 5.7857


My average: 9.0714

Our fourth album to fall in its entirety is the band's eighth and final album, The Visitors.

The words have fallen several times during our countdown...
Gloompop masterpiece.
And that's exactly how I would describe the record as a whole.

In 1980, after the release of the Super Trouper album, tensions between the four of them were extremely strained, what with Björn and Agnetha finalizing their divorce, starting to adjust to living life on their own and Benny and Frida filing for divorce, with Benny quickly moving on, leaving Frida a broken woman who was distancing herself further from the other members as time passed... These personal tensions made their musical and professional relationship a lot more difficult and all four members have been vocal ever since about the atmosphere in the studio while recording The Visitors being cold and distant.

The music Benny and Björn were writing for the album took on a more serious approach too. Not only divorce, isolation, loneliness and heartship were the topics du jour... No, a subject as heavy as the Cold War was a running theme throughout some of the songs. This coming from the band who brought us Bang-a-Boomerang and Dum Dum Diddle...
And whereas the band previously had a collection of songs to choose from for the tracklistings to their earlier albums, this time they had nine songs, which were all featured on the album...

Recording sessions for the album weren't without their technical issues either. The Visitors was the first album to be pressed on the new CD format in 1982 and ABBA's sound engineer Michael B. Tretow had to become accustomed to using the new 32-track digital recorder that was used to mix the songs digitally, which made it difficult for him to not get a difference in quality between them.

It was eventually released in November 1981 to critical acclaim, but the public seemed to have quietly given up on the band... It was nowhere near a flop, as the album reached the top spot in Belgium, The Netherlands, Norway, their native Sweden and the United Kingdom, yet sales figures, when compared to their previous albums, were lacklustre.
Pair that with the fact that there was almost no promotion for the album or the individual songs that were released as singles and all four members quietly seeking other means to express themselves and you get why the general public had somewhat lost interest. Together with their professional relationship their commercial star was fading too...

What we're left with a is a very heavy album, a certain sadness constantly bubbling under songs that are dressed up as bops, with more ambition and technicality than on any of their previous efforts and a record that was a fucking risk of epic proportions from a band that had once been written off as camp, cheesy one-hit wonders.

And although it's the most mature, grown-up album they ever released, fourteen year old me got all the fucking feels he never knew he needed when listening to it for the first time way back when...

I suggest you all listen to it again. Pour yourself a glass of wine, sit down and just listen...
Let the music speak for itself and enjoy.
 
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He/Him
If only I knew all the songs...

Predicting Winner takes it all (tellingly) takes it all...
Sis, you've got SIX weeks... Dive in!

Should i finally branch out from GOLD and More Gold for this? I've been meaning to delve into their catalogue for years.
Yes!

Oh wow that's a lot of songs. I'm tragically only familiar with the (More) GOLD material, but I want to use this as an opportunity to dig deeper!
Do it!
 
D

Deleted member 3416

Oh my days, I must do this! I don't know their discography much outside of the singles so this would be perfect for me to discover some gems. Make sure I do it. Can you do a PM friendly list of all the tracks included please @Remorque?
 

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