The ABBA LP is an absolute joy. I prefer it to some of the later albums now. Even though it has some daft moments, I think it’s really aged well. Love the sleeve too.
If only 'Intermezzo No.1' wasn't on ABBA! What the hell were they thinking? I could live without 'Man In The Middle' too. But yes, the rest of that album is super fun. And the sleeve is amazing — my favourite of all their covers.
I love the sleeve, as well! Something just oozes optimism - and the colours are gorgeous! I love all the songs on the "ABBA" album, though "MAN IN THE MIDDLE" and "TROPICAL LOVELAND" are fairly ordinary, by their standards. "BANG-A-BOOMERANG" is as joyful as anything, but it sound so shrill! It´s not my favourite ABBA album, but it´s definitely one of them. One of six!
For me, "INTERMEZZO No. 1" is one of the highlights of the album! Just goes to show... We do see and hear things differently. I think you can hear Benny enjoying the opportunity to blend his pop influences with classical structures. I just love it! "MAN IN THE MIDDLE"... Well, they tried. I don´t dislike it, but it´s definitely second tier ABBA.
I love Intermezzo No. 1. It’s better than the Arrival song for me. I even think Time is an improvement on Arrival.
Does that mean you don't really count the first two? I never listen to them, really. My favourite three albums are Arrival, Super Trouper and The Visitors. ABBA lags behind in fourth place. Of the others, I struggle with side two of ABBA: The Album and I have to confess that I don't really like Voulez Vous at all. Not a very good fan, am I! I think 'Arrival' is a wonderful album closer! But I'm a bit biased when it comes to that record. I've listened to it so many times that I can't really be objective about it.
from what I've seen of the Abba forums: being "not a very good fan" is actually a good thing. Super-fans are really annoying and its doesnt get any crazier or more maniacal than the Abba super-fan. I love Intermezzo, its in my top ten, and I dislike the Day Before You Came so much that I've never managed to finish listening to it; I find it incredibly dull. That's not an opinion that went over well on the old forums. Everybody likes different things, and should have the freedom to express those subjective opinions without harassment. Abba is so universally popular now that I can even tell the country bands I play guitar in, "I like Abba" and I wont get my assed kicked.
I like them. I only have the ABBA boxed set of their albums on CD (the black one) that I got as a gift. I enjoy it. The mastering isn’t the best but honestly, at this stage, I don’t want to spend an arm and a leg to find the best mastered versions. I’m kind of burned out on that. I also have the fairly well mastered greatest hits. the melodies were always sublime sometimes the lyrics were kind of dumb and the translations to English weren’t always the most artful but they were decent if not great.
He also loved Gary Glitter. I remember going to some trendy early new new romantic club in London in about 79/80 and John Lydon was there every week. He used to love it when they played Gary Glitter, dancing wildly on the dancefloor like Gazza himself. Actually he's the cousin of one of my best friends, but I didn't know her then. The club never played any Abba....
You read me right - no, I am not overly fond of the first two albums as albums. They are both great compilations of some excellent, some good and some half-baked, but fun songs. That´s how I see them. "ABBA" is the first one that sort of works as an album, whereas the albums from "ARRIVAL" onward are a lot more consistent and enjoyable as listening sessions. And you are a great ABBA fan! Being a fan is not about liking everything your favourites perform. It just means that we like them in general - their music means a lot to me, but I don´t think of them as infallible or anything. They were just musicians and singers who made some great music that I happen to like. That´s all!
I agree with your thoughts about being a fan. Super-fans make you feel that they are part of an "ABBA sect" - and I don´t want to belong to one! Let me enjoy their music. That´s all I need. We agree on "INTERMEZZO No. 1", but disagree on "THE DAY BEFORE YOU CAME". Two very different songs, that would appeal to different tastes. Just as it should be. These are just opinions. And as such, they are 100% correct - for both of us.
I absolutely love pop star memorabilia and there is some fantastic stuff there. I've never collected it but I do have a Spice Girls pink and white bag/satchel. Its totally fantastic, I used to see it on a stand for sale at a post office I went to regularly. In the end I couldn't resist buying it, it was towards the end of their mega fame. l still have it and its still in the original plastic wrapping as surprisingly I never ending up using it. I am thinking of perhaps trying to sell it in the classified section of the forums but not sure of its worth. I'm sure there would be huge interest on here for such a rare pop item...
I wouldn't have said that. In the 1970s ABBA were such a phenomenon that it was hardly "unhip" to like them, except I suppose in certain circles. By the 1980s the tide had definitely turned and it was definitely unhip to like "Abba-and-the-Bee-Gees" (mentioned in the same phrase so often that people could have been forgiven for assuming this was one band). Personally I thought they were one of those bands that just seemed to get better all the time. Their Waterloo years could be characterised as pleasant lightweight pop. By the time you get to ABBA - The Album, they were doing complex songs like Eagle and The Name of the Game and the almost proggy I'm a Marionette. That album is probably my favourite of theirs, although Super Trouper and The Visitors are also very good.
And let’s not forget that Elvis Costello was a huge Abba fan. He almost gave up on recording his song Oliver’s Army because after many attempts he just couldn’t get it right. He took inspiration from Dancing Queen and added the keyboard riff that opens his song straight from Dancing Queen.
I've seen photos of Seka, and frankly facially there's no similarity whatsoever. That's all I'll say. I go by visual recognition. Besides, wasn't Seka actually from Virginia? But also, in a sense it keys in, since right before ABBA became ABBA, their product up to 1973 was ish'd in the US on Playboy Records - which in terms of "getting them out" was crickets chirping. In that sense moving to Atlantic in time for "Waterloo" was the best thing that could've happened to them in America.
Wasn't Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols an ABBA fan? I read somewhere . . . oh yeah, on the previous page . . .
