I also recommend importcds.com.  I use them a lot.

The state's case was a total disaster from the start.  George Zimmerman is a douchebag.  Florida is a joke.  No one wins in these situations, but it would be nice if the media would shift their outrage about the death of one black teenager in Florida.  Where is the wailing and gnashing of teeth at the never-ending string of murdered black teens and young adults in Chicago?

Those shopped pics are awesome.

This thread is incomplete without mentioning The River - Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band.

Don't laugh...

Dancing Queen - ABBA
The Winner Takes It All - ABBA

I get chills up my spine just hearing the opening chords from both of these songs.

Van Halen - 3

Brutal.

Nice Always Sunny reference.

  Thanks.

Holland Oates is great.

They have some really great piano work on their songs.  I think they are really underrated.

I love everything about the song if I ignore Mike's lyric - it's just a bit too cheesy for my taste.  The backing track is good and Carl's vocals are wonderful, especially the last minute or so.

This has been discussed previously.... At length

Thanks for that.  It's also really cool that you left out any links to these lengthy discussions.

It's not up to us to do your research for you.

Nor have I asked for it, as I didn't create the thread.  I just think it's bad form to make a comment like that and not bother to actually reference the prior discussion(s).  If one doesn't like that the topic is being restarted, how about not reading the thread?

This has been discussed previously.... At length

Thanks for that.  It's also really cool that you left out any links to these lengthy discussions.

What do you do now???

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

Amen to that!

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.

The Boss.... um, no.

blah blah blah

blah blah blah

Well, I'm convinced.

The Boss.... um, no.

ABBA

No.

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.

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.

The coda of Surf's Up hits me like a ton of bricks every time I hear it, but it was hearing it as the finale of the Wonderful suite on BWPS that I first realized how affected I was by the song.

I'm not sure I could narrow this down to a single song because there are several that have impacted me at various times including This Whole World, Cuddle Up, All This is That, God Only Knows, Don't Worry Baby, Wouldn't It Be Nice, She Knows Me Too Well, Good Vibrations, All I Wanna Do, Pacific Coast Highway, etc.  I could probably list 20 songs that have impacted me at various times.

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.

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.

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.

Just remembered that I coughed during the bridge of Wendy.  I don't think anyone around me got it.

"This Whole World" - The bridge (?) with the the falsetto "woo-ooo-oo-oo's". It's ethereal, to an almost over-the-top degree.

"I Can Hear Music" - The first few lines of the song that Carl sings, especially when he sings "This is the way", and the "oh-ooh-whoa's" that he hits in the first and second verse. Finally, the "Ahhhhhh-ooooh" (I don't really know how to better write that one out) by Carl at the end of bridge/vocal breakdown. It makes me melt, every time.

These two always get me too.  Good stuff.

All of Baby Blue is kicking my ass right now.  I am totally hit or miss on Dennis songs, but this one is just so good.  I've probably listened to it 20+ times today.