Day 0495 - The Visitors

ABBA "The Visitors" (1981)

 
I'm a bit of an ABBA fan but I don't actually own this album.  The album feels like a bit of ABBA past/present/future in that there are sounds that they'd already made famous: the catchy songs with luscious harmonies such as on "one of us", but many of the songs dip into (for the time) the 'now' sounds of modern synthesizer.  There are hints of the future too, both in songs like "I let the music speak" which hints at the musical theatre avenues that Benny and Bjorn would explore post-ABBA; and just with a track like "the Visitors" which with its swirling soundscapes and middle-eastern flavour almost sounds like the start of a Chemical Brothers' track.

The divorces of the two couples in ABBA (and subsequent breakup of the group) render this in a slightly more sombre collection of tracks than previous albums... and to be honest, I kind of feel like the darker undertone works well to offset their natural cheesiness and naivety. 

Day 0354 - Arrival

ABBA "Arrival" (1976) - got it

My mum had this album on vinyl when I was growing up and, being an ABBA fan from a young age, I listened to it fairly religiously.  Benny and Bjorn were just such skilled songsmiths.  They could come up with tricky little ideas, but they mostly just favoured strong and simple songs.  It’s not on this album, but I saw an interview with them where they singled out “ the winner takes it all” as one of their stronger compositions exactly because it is a song built more or less around just one repeating melodic motif.

Obviously the ’hits’ from this album are all good.  “Knowing me and Knowing you”, “Money Money Money” “Dancing Queen” and gently anthemic album closer “Fernando” are all memorable earworms that are possibly even popping back into your head just from reading the song titles.  Outside of the hits though, the other tracks are just as enjoyable.  Whether it’s the playful “When I kissed the teacher”, the slightly cheesy “Dum dum diddle” or my personal favourite “Tiger” which switches from poppy glam rock to the subdued, almost childlike melodic bridge sections.

The tracks with Benny and/or Bjorn singing are enjoyable too, but the group really shines when Agnetha and Frida are on the mics, creating the classic ABBA sound.