The Album

ABBA: The Album (also known as simply The Album) is the fifth studio album by the Swedish pop group ABBA. It was released in Scandinavia on 12 December 1977 through Polar Music, but due to the massive pre-orders the UK pressing plants were not able to press sufficient copies before Christmas 1977 and so it was not released in the UK until January 1978. The album was released in conjunction with ABBA: The Movie, with several of the songs featured in the film. Altogether the album contains nine songs.

The album contained two UK number-one singles, "Take a Chance on Me" and "The Name of the Game", as well as European hits "Eagle" and "Thank You for the Music".[4]

Background and production

The album includes three songs from ABBA`s 1977 tour mini-musical The Girl with the Golden Hair performed during each of their European and Australian shows in 1977. Andersson and Ulvaeus wanted to offer more than "a run through of their hits and assorted album tracks" for their concerts.[5] Although the songs received a "less-than-tumultuous" reception during the first performances of the mini-musical, three of the tracks ("Thank You for the Music", "I Wonder (Departure)" and "I`m a Marionette") were included on the new album. A fourth song written for the musical, "Get on the Carousel", was rewritten as the up-tempo track "Hole in Your Soul" with "a substantial part of the melody [being] incorporated into [its] middle eight". Parts of "Get on the Carousel" appeared in ABBA: The Movie.[6] The "25-minute opus" had a storyline about a talented "small-town girl leaving her hometown" on her "quest for stardom",[5] with each song representing a different part of her personality. Fältskog and Lyngstad shared the lead-role and wore matching blonde wigs and costumes "for optimum dramatic effect".[6]

Release

ABBA: The Album was released in Scandinavia on 12 December 1977. It was first released on CD in 1984. The album has been reissued in the format by PolyGram (later Universal Music) four times; first in 1997, then in 2001, in 2005 as part of The Complete Studio Recordings box set and again in 2007 as a two disc "Deluxe Edition".

The deluxe edition was issued for the album`s 30th anniversary and consisted of two discs.[7][8] The first one was a CD version of the album, expanded with six bonus tracks, and featuring the first recording of "Thank You for the Music", known as the Doris Day version due to Agnetha`s vocal inspiration.[7][8] The second one was a DVD of previously unreleased TV material, which included: two performances of "Take a Chance on Me" from ZDF`s Star Parade and Radio Bremen`s Am laufende Band; two performances of "Thank You for the Music" from Star Parade (performed alongside "Eagle") and Mike Yarwood`s Christmas Show; a "The Name of the Game" performance from the Japanese ABBA Special (on TBS); a February 1978 interview with the band from BBC`s Blue Peter, titled "ABBA in London"; three SVT news reports on the band: two from Rapport, titled "ABBA in America" (May 1978) and "ABBA on tour in 1977", and one from Gomorron Sverige, titled "Recording ABBA – The Album"; two ABBA: The Album television commercials; and the "International Sleeve Gallery".[7][8] This set also featured a 28-page illustrated booklet with an essay on the making of the album.[7][8]

On November 3, 2017, ABBA: The Album was reissued for its 40th anniversary with a half-speed mastered, 45rpm cut double-LP version of the original album, featuring new liner notes by Carl Magnus Palm; a 7” singles box set of "The Name of the Game", "Take a Chance on Me", and "Eagle", pressed on colored vinyl (blue, red and yellow, respectively); and 7" picture discs of each of these three singles.[9][10]

Album cover

Polar`s official cover made by art director Rune Söderqvist featured an entirely white background, and is the basis for current CD versions. However, Epic Records` original UK release of the LP featured a blue background on the front cover, fading to white at the bottom. It also featured a gatefold sleeve. The back cover was altered, incorporating a similar photo of ABBA to that used elsewhere in the world for the inner sleeve, and referencing tracks included in ABBA: The Movie. The inner gatefold was designed to look like an air mail envelope, similar to the style later used for Gracias Por La Música and even had a photo of ABBA incorporated into a stamp in the corner.

This was the first and only time that Epic radically broke away from the standard Polar Music design for an ABBA album. The UK design for ABBA: The Album has only been re-issued on LP format once, in the 2008 European reissue.[11]

Critical reception

The Album received positive reviews from music critics. Bruce Eder from AllMusic wrote that the album marked a "step forward for the group" since they "absorb and assimilate some of the influences around them, particularly the laid-back California sound of Fleetwood Mac (...) as well as some of the attributes of progressive rock" but "without compromising their essential virtues as a pop ensemble".[12] John Rockwell from Rolling Stone gave the album a favorable review and wrote that The Album represents an interesting departure from their past formulas like "innocently superficial lyrics, bouncy Europop music, rock energy and amplification, soaring melodies" to a more mature and intelligent record.[16] NME wrote a short review to the album when it turned 30 years old, and wrote that the album "still sounds pleasantly nostalgic" and had "some delicious pop nuggets from their Swedish hatch".[1]

Commercial performance

ABBA: The Album reached No. 1 in many territories. In the UK it debuted at the top and remained there for seven weeks,[17] ending up as the third biggest selling album of the year (behind the movie soundtrack LPs of Saturday Night Fever and Grease). In the US it became their highest-charting album during their original run, where during 1978 ABBA undertook a big promotional campaign.[4]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, except where noted.[18]

The last three tracks of Side two were originally from the 1977 tour mini-musical The Girl with the Golden Hair and presented on the album as "3 scenes from a mini-musical", labeled from A to C.[18][19]

Deluxe edition

Released for the album`s 30th anniversary. All tracks are written by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, except where noted.

Personnel

Adapted from the album`s liner notes.[20]

ABBA

• Agnetha Fältskog – lead vocals (5, 7), co-lead vocals (1, 2, 4, 6, 9), harmony and backing vocals
• Anni-Frid Lyngstad – lead vocals (3, 8), co-lead vocals (1, 2, 4, 6, 9), harmony and backing vocals
• Björn Ulvaeus – harmony and backing vocals, spoken word intro (5), acoustic guitar
• Benny Andersson – harmony and backing vocals, keyboards, synthesizers

Additional musicians

• Lasse Wellander – electric lead guitar, acoustic and electric rhythm guitars
• Janne Schaffer – additional electric guitar on "Eagle"
• Rutger Gunnarsson – bass, string arrangements
• Ola Brunkert – drums
• Roger Palm – drums (on "Take a Chance on Me", "One Man, One Woman", and "Thank You for the Music"), tambourine on "Take a Chance on Me" and "Thank You for the Music"
• Lars O. Carlsson – recorders on "Eagle" and "Move On"
• Malando Gassama – percussion

Production

• Benny Andersson – producer, arranger
• Björn Ulvaeus – producer, arranger
• Michael B. Tretow – engineer
• Rune Söderqvist – design
• Barry Levine – photography
• Björn Andersson – illustrations
• Rune Söderqvist – illustrations
• Jon Astley – remastering (1997 re-issue, 2001 re-issue)
• Tim Young – remastering (1997 re-issue)
• Michael B. Tretow – remastering (1997 re-issue, 2001 re-issue)
• Henrik Jonsson – remastering (The Complete Studio Recordings box set)

Charts

Certifications and sales