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

he/him
I'm...not a fan of instrumentals but I always end up overscoring them because they're never actively bad and/or I don't want to tank someone's fav which is funny because they never are.
 
He/Him
86. - a tie

' My life was so lonely, didn't care for anybody... But then I happened to meet a begging man on the street and as I turned down his praying I heard someone saying "Treat him well, he is your brother!"'
- Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad in He Is Your Brother -

polarhesyourbrother-edit.jpg

Recycling kweens.

Average: 4.9239
Highest score: 1 * 9.50 - @Mumty
Lowest score: 1 * 0.00 - @idratherjack
My score: 6.00

#86 is quite the unlucky number for poor Mumty, but a winning one for idratherjack, as we lose He Is Your Brother. It was recorded in 1972 and was released in 1973 as the ninth song on the debut album, when the group was still called Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid. More importantly, it was also their second single. It only charted in Scandinavia and although it didn't really set the charts alight over there, it did become quite the radio hit in Sweden.

This blues-y schlagersong had all four members on vocals and was an early favourite among the group. I, personally, don't find this a bad song at all and although it's not really very ABBA in how it's composed, the melody is undeniable and it fits in well with the theme of reaching out to your fellow man, as also expressed in songs like People Need Love.

Let's begin our commentary with the aforementioned members, shall we?
Mumty thinks "This rocks! Especially live. Look at Agnetha go!" and I can actually see his point. Agnetha's bum was magnificently noticeable during their performance of it in ABBA: The Movie and that last note gives life. Let rip, sis.
idratherjack just gives us a simple "Woeful.", so his feelings about this song are quite clear.

ufint confuses me and I'm sure a lot of you will be too... "Oh, I hear bits of S.O.S. in here! That’s a few extra points right there.". Bish, where?

Some of you really didn't like it.
Notable Ring Ring unenthousiast VivaForever is feeling generous, saying "I'll give this a point because I can't keep handing out 0's, and this actually does have a good song stuck in there; the arrangement is just terrible. The opening guitars... Lord." and WhatKindOfKylie? suffers from short-term memory loss, uttering "Mmmm, I've forgotten pretty much about this as soon as I had finished listening to it. Which shows how much it appealed to me."...
Mina just "can't even.". I see you.

We can safely say that Mikey1701 isn't a fan of the Ring Ring era either. "I really, really dislike the production style on this. It just doesn’t do anything for me. I know that the band were just finding their feet and that for much of the parent album, they weren’t even fully committed with Agnetha and Frida recording solo albums, but that doesn’t excuse how mediocre much of the album is.".
If you're talking about Frida and När en vacker tanke blir en sång, then I don't think that's the case really, as those sessions had been completed quite a while before they started recording Ring Ring... But I can definitely see your point about the era as a whole.

Hudweiser's a fan! "The best Ring Ring song behind the title track, I really love the honky-tonk truckstop sound of the guitars and the "ah-ah-ah-ahhhhh" leads into each chorus." and Filippa even takes it a step further, saying "Best song on this album – shows their potential!". It's definitely a highlight, I'll agree.

Poor ol' Sprockrooster isn't the highest scorer for TWO tracks in a row and is quite annoyed at the title of the song, mentioning "They have two tracks with 'Brother' on the tracklist and this is the weaker one. It feels a bit weird though to have two tracks with 'Brother' titled. I demand some emancipation and expected sister somewhere.". Poor you if that is your only gripe about the song though.
tylerc904 talks about the word 'brother' too, but in a more positive light as he loves the ad-libs here. "The maddening “BROOOOOTHHHEERR”s in the last minute are whacky and amazing. I love this more than I should.".

CasperFan mentions a band some of y'all will have to invest, saying "Plodding but the chorus is ok! A bit New Seekers!". I'll let you all discover for yourselves, mmkay?

Let's end with some love, y'all!
SecretsOfFatima admits it's a "Guilty pleasure of mine. Enough said.". I bet you're not alone on this one though!
I mentioned the theme previously in this post and some of you picked up on it too. bichard mentions other earlier singles too, claiming it's "Much better than its prototype (People Need Love). Those ah-ah-ahs into the chorus are great, the guitar line in the post-chorus is good too and the girls' verse is stellar with their feisty sounding vocals. Subject matter-wise, it manages to be a "love the world" anthem without crossing over too much into cheesiness. Along with Nina, this is the album's saviour.". Not quite the popular opinion though as we've yet to see the back of the debut single. constantino meanwhile shouts "C’mon family values!". Yath!
TrueBeliever just wants to get high after listening to this one, saying "Some strong vocals here. I like the interweaving between them here. Makes me want to sit in a circle, holding hands, and sing Kumbaya.". You would.



As previously mentioned, the song was performed during their 1977 tour of Australia and Europe and was featured in ABBA: The Movie:


If you'd like to see ABBA lip-synching to it together with stars such as Olivia Newton-John, Earth, Wind & Fire, Donna Summer, John Denver, The Bee Gees (who are living for every second of it) and an off-his-tits Rod Stewart (who frankly couldn't be bothered less) at the 1979 Unicef Concert:


ABBA tribute band Arrival also covered for their First Flight album:
 
D

Deleted member 312

There's no way He Is Your Brother should have gone before People Need Love.

But hang on just a minute. Aren't Disillusion and Love Isn't Easy still in? And Arrival. And Move On. And I Have A Dream. And Rock Me. And Why Did It Have To Be Me. And My Love My Life. And My Mama Said. And Eagle. And One Man One Woman. And Thank You For The Music. And Andante Andante. And Put On Your White Somebrero. If so, then you really all should be ashamed of yourselves!

I'm currently fearing for Nina...
 
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Oh come on. I have a feeling people not familiar with the first albums just tarnished each song with a 5 and left it at that.

This song should have been at least 30 if not 40 places higher!
 
They/them, he/him
Oh come on. I have a feeling people not familiar with the first albums just tarnished each song with a 5 and left it at that.

This song should have been at least 30 if not 40 places higher!

Or they could have not liked the album? I hadn't listened to Ring Ring since I was 12 (outside of that title track of course) and it was every bit as terrible as I remember it. If not more.

I'm also LIVING for Dame @idratherjack's unabashed hatred of Ring Ring. Come through common sense!
 
I didn't just bash Ring Ring for the sake of it. I did like a few songs on Waterloo as the scores will reflect but Ring Ring really is just dire. Tuneless, forgettable and worst of all boring. Outside of the admittedly amazing title track nothing going for it. Nada.

I just can't wait till we can all move on with our lives and get to the good stuff!
 
he/him
We're doing a great job overall about only cutting the worst out from Ring Ring and Waterloo, so I'm very pleased about that.

I don't think people just scored the earlier material bad just for the hell of it, I just think the sound isn't what they want to hear from ABBA. A new listener like me had no expectations going in, so I just took what came for what it was and combine that with the fact that I always score songs in a vacuum and not really in comparison to the rest of a rate. I'm still a bit shook that I of all people end up being one of the more...forgiving voters as far as liking all kinds of different sounds here, especially the #misandryjustice archon himself not minding many of the male vocal-led songs.
 
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