I Just Bought My First ABBA Album Today...Now What Do I Do?

[rab2591]

I bought 'Arrival' today and I've listened to it four times already. I'm blown away by this album, and I still can't get enough.

What album of ABBA's should I buy next? I've been looking around Amazon/Itunes but I don't know which album to get. I'm assuming that, much like the Beach Boys, there's a certain order which is best to hear the albums - which isn't necessarily listening to them in chronological order.

Thanks in advance to the fellow ABBA fans here!

[Eireannach]

Here are the ABBA albums ranked in order of my personal preference:

• Voulez-Vous
• The Visitors
• Arrival
• The Album
• Super Trouper
• ABBA
• Ring Ring
• Waterloo

My top 4 are virtually interchangeable in terms of the quality of the albums.  They might as well be four Greatest Hits albums for me.  I'd recommend Voulez-Vous and The Album as your next choices.  The Visitors is tremendous, but it's definitely a more mature record than the others.

The best part of ABBA is that they really didn't put bad songs on their albums once they were established (I think Ring Ring and Waterloo have some..."curiosities" on them.  You are in for a great journey though.

[rab2591]

Thanks! Voulez-Vous it is then.

Arrival was nearly like a Pet Sounds experience for me - there's no filler on it and the songwriting/production is stellar.

[Malc]

Beg to differ !! In my personal order...

1 The Visitors (at their mature best - and it just 'hits home' for me)
2 The Album (creatively, I think this is their peak and is THE benchmark for all of the others)
3 Arrival
4 ABBA
5 Super Trouper
6 Voulez Vous (too 'disco-fied' for me !)
7 Ring Ring
8 Waterloo

But the 4-CD box-set is a great introduction, especially for the sessions outtakes at the end ...  

[pixletwin]

Totally agree with Malc. The 4 disc boxset (Thank You For The Music) is a great bargain and the 4th disc has some really great rare gems.

My personal favorite ABBA album is Arrival. My Love My Life is still one of my all-time favorite songs. ABBA gets an unfair rap as bubble pop dico music.

[rab2591]

ABBA gets an unfair rap as bubble pop dico music.

That's why I always shied away from them - in fact, I saw their GOLD album a few weeks ago at Wal-Mart and one of my friends saw that I was looking at it: "You are going to buy an abba CD? I just lost so much respect for you." was their response. So I put the CD back on the shelf.

But anywho, thanks for the responses! And keep 'em coming!

[Eireannach]

Yeah, I get that Voulez-Vous is dismissed for being "disco-ey" for some.  Still, I think that the only really disco-sounding tracks on there are Voulez-Vous, If It Wasn't For The Nights, and Summer Night City (and they are all still great songs).  I just think the vocals on If It Wasn't..., Angeleyes, Chiquitita, and and As Good As New are phenomenal, and Gimme Gimme Gimme has just an awesome backing track.

I think The Visitors is great, but I think one is better served hearing it last among their work.  It's so much more mature than its predecessors and will sound out of place after Arrival.

[Eireannach]

Also, the Undeleted track is the gem of the box set people are mentioning, but it can be found on youtube if you want it.  I just think it's better the hear the albums as a whole instead of a collection or greatest hits first.

[Malc]

Fair comments from one and all - I think "The Album" was also where they hit their commercial peak - and it's a nice balance between the 'early years' and the maturer era at the end. So maybe go with that one instead ...  and top it off by watching 'The Movie' as accompaniment

[Eireannach]

I love ABBA: The Movie for the concert footage and the fan mania, but I think I wanted to strangle the reporter following them after the first 20 minutes.

[Jukka]

Congratulations! You made a great choice, Arrival is the best way to enter the world ABBA. Isn't the title track great? Let me tell, you put on some good headphones and close your eyes, and it takes you... somewhere in Scandinavia. One of the most deeply moving pieces of music I have ever heard.

Arrival is my favourite album. Second best choice is ABBA. To me, these two and The Album are Abba's peak. From there, you can move both ways. Voulez-Vous is almost as good, but Super Trouper is not quite as good. Visitors is a whole another trip, very mature. Feels like different band. Takes some time, but rewards patient listener (a fan favourite if there ever was one). And you must get the bonus tracks! The Day Before You Came, Abba's final studio recording. Leaves me speechless every time.

So congratulations once again, and don't let anyone tell you you should be ahshamed of listening to Abba. Trust your ears and heart. Put on Does Your Mother Know, rock out and give 'em the finger!

[Danimalist]

Totally agree with Malc. The 4 disc boxset (Thank You For The Music) is a great bargain and the 4th disc has some really great rare gems.

My personal favorite ABBA album is Arrival. My Love My Life is still one of my all-time favorite songs. ABBA gets an unfair rap as bubble pop dico music.

ABBA for me has always been one of the great singles bands. Great tune (MLML), though; I actually can't recall having heard it. Maybe I will have to give the albums another listen.

If anyone has Spotify, my old band, Javelin Boot, recorded a decent version of "S.O.S."  long ago. Our record label actually chose to put our not nearly as good version of "Knowing Me, Knowing You" on a K-Tel tribute album, rather than "S.O.S." It's REALLY weak, but it was a good lesson in how complicated ABBA's "simple" songs are and on how much studio time was really needed to do them any kind of justice. Wish we hadn't even submitted KMKY.

[Eireannach]

If you listen with headphones, there is so much going on in ABBA's music it's amazing.  So many tracks are layered so complexly that one really has to listen hard to hear them, especially when those two angels are singing the soaring vocal melodies.

[Danimalist]

If you listen with headphones, there is so much going on in ABBA's music it's amazing.  So many tracks are layered so complexly that one really has to listen hard to hear them, especially when those two angels are singing the soaring vocal melodies.

Agreed. I specifically remember when we were recording our cover of "KMKY" that I had done just that (listened carefully with headphones). We'd recorded several background vocals but I could tell one line was missing (perhaps thanks to my decades of being obsessed dissecting BB's songs). The engineer and guys in my band thought I was nuts when I sang it to them without the track. I said, "Just let me record it." So, they did and afterwards all said, "You were right."

OK, I realize that I'm writing about a pretty lame cover of a great production, but the point is, there was a vocal line that sounded like it completely didn't fit out of context, but once it's dropped in, everyone thinks, "Ah...that's it!" ABBA and especiallly Brian are masters of those types of melody and harmony lines.

[rab2591]

Congratulations! You made a great choice, Arrival is the best way to enter the world ABBA. Isn't the title track great? Let me tell, you put on some good headphones and close your eyes, and it takes you... somewhere in Scandinavia. One of the most deeply moving pieces of music I have ever heard.

Arrival is my favourite album. Second best choice is ABBA. To me, these two and The Album are Abba's peak. From there, you can move both ways. Voulez-Vous is almost as good, but Super Trouper is not quite as good. Visitors is a whole another trip, very mature. Feels like different band. Takes some time, but rewards patient listener (a fan favourite if there ever was one). And you must get the bonus tracks! The Day Before You Came, Abba's final studio recording. Leaves me speechless every time.

So congratulations once again, and don't let anyone tell you you should be ahshamed of listening to Abba. Trust your ears and heart. Put on Does Your Mother Know, rock out and give 'em the finger!

Thanks!

Glad to see there are quite a few ABBA fans here!

LOVE the title track to Arrival - that album is really in my top 5 albums now.

I've just bought ABBA and again I'm blown away. I'm finding they have no shortage of brilliant tracks on their albums - very little to no filler. This was the first time I had heard 'Mamma Mia' in its entirety...it's absolutely brilliant. Intermezzo is yet another great instrumental. Following the advice of Eireannach I think my next album will be 'Voulez-Vous' - loved what I heard in the sample tracks on iTunes.

Are there any books about ABBA (something much like 'Catch A Wave') that describe both the genius behind the production but also the personal lives of the band members? I saw a book or two on Amazon but I don't know what would be best to get.

And thanks to everyone who has contributed to this thread thus far!

[rab2591]

If you listen with headphones, there is so much going on in ABBA's music it's amazing.  So many tracks are layered so complexly that one really has to listen hard to hear them, especially when those two angels are singing the soaring vocal melodies.

Agreed. I specifically remember when we were recording our cover of "KMKY" that I had done just that (listened carefully with headphones). We'd recorded several background vocals but I could tell one line was missing (perhaps thanks to my decades of being obsessed dissecting BB's songs). The engineer and guys in my band thought I was nuts when I sang it to them without the track. I said, "Just let me record it." So, they did and afterwards all said, "You were right."

OK, I realize that I'm writing about a pretty lame cover of a great production, but the point is, there was a vocal line that sounded like it completely didn't fit out of context, but once it's dropped in, everyone thinks, "Ah...that's it!" ABBA and especiallly Brian are masters of those types of melody and harmony lines.

I'm finding it's much like listening to Pet Sounds in stereo with headphones - there's so much going on and combined it creates a brilliant multi-layered wall of sound.

[ontor pertawst]

"Would you like to do a medley of ABBA songs with me, right now?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyMXOlX6Ujw

[Eireannach]

Thanks!

Glad to see there are quite a few ABBA fans here!

LOVE the title track to Arrival - that album is really in my top 5 albums now.

I've just bought ABBA and again I'm blown away. I'm finding they have no shortage of brilliant tracks on their albums - very little to no filler. This was the first time I had heard 'Mamma Mia' in its entirety...it's absolutely brilliant. Intermezzo is yet another great instrumental. Following the advice of Eireannach I think my next album will be 'Voulez-Vous' - loved what I heard in the sample tracks on iTunes.

Are there any books about ABBA (something much like 'Catch A Wave') that describe both the genius behind the production but also the personal lives of the band members? I saw a book or two on Amazon but I don't know what would be best to get.

And thanks to everyone who has contributed to this thread thus far!

For books, I recommend Bright Lights, Dark Shadows because it's one of the few books written where the author had direct access to the four members.  As a result, it avoids the sensationalism of most of the other written works about ABBA.  It's very insightful into the way the band came together and (sadly) how they broke apart.  It's sad that they broke apart (marriages first, then the band), but the turmoil led to their best and deepest songwriting.  I'm afraid I haven't found any books that go into the recording process for the group in real detail, but there is a lot of good video material on the bonus DVDs for Arrival, The Album, and Voulez-Vous Deluxe Editions.

[Malc]

Agreed, "Bright Lights..." is a great read and is probably the definitive one out there tho' "From Abba To Mamma Mia" is a good one if it's just glossy pix you want. I DO recall seeing the ABBA sessionography book a few years ago (The Complete Recording Sessions) and wishing I had picked it up at the time ... but there's a nice interview with the author here - http://www.carlmagnuspalm.com/abba/books/abba-the-complete-recording-sessions/abba-the-complete-recording-sessions-faq

[Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again]

What do you do now???

You develop a huge crush on Agnetha! That's what 

[Eireannach]

What do you do now???

You develop a huge crush on Agnetha! That's what 

Amen to that!

[donald]

If you listen with headphones, there is so much going on in ABBA's music it's amazing.  So many tracks are layered so complexly that one really has to listen hard to hear them, especially when those two angels are singing the soaring vocal melodies.

Yes.  This is the next thing to do.  Listen on a really good hi fi system, from a good source recording.  Or good system with good headphones.  And only at moderate volume.  At first.

[Lonely Summer]

What do you do now???

You develop a huge crush on Agnetha! That's what 

Amen to that!

Years ago, pre-internet, I thought I was the only guy in the US with a crush on Agnetha. And I kind of liked it that way! 

[Jukka]

What do you do now???

You develop a huge crush on Agnetha! That's what 

Yes, this unavoidable step comes next. And after that, you must check Agnetha's solo records! His Swedish solo output is available in a handy little box (with miniature vinyl replica sleeves and all) in Europe, I don't know about US releases. The first couple of albums are quite schlagerish, but stuff like Elva kvinnor i ett hus or När en vacker tanke blir en sång are definitely worth checking out. You'll be amazed to see how gifted composer she was, and bummed out because she pretty much stopped composing after Elva kvinnor, almost 40 years ago.

[Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again]

I must admit, I've always found Ana Frid actually the prettier of the two, but she seemed to enjoy self-sabotaging her looks too often, but sometimes (like in the "Knowing Me Knowing You" video) she was a damn knockout!