STACK #205 Nov 2021

MUSIC FEATURE

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ABBA ARRIVAL Bryget Chrisfield hits you with some juicy nuggets of wisdom surrounding classic records. This month it’s ABBA’s winsome and sparkling Arrival (1976). Voyage , ABBA’s first new album in 40 years, is out this month via Universal.

Year 1976

enormously beautiful that I started to cry,” she later recalled. ABBA’s biggest smash hit (and only #1 single in the US to date), Dancing Queen (working title ‘Boogaloo’) boasts a loose, swinging rhythm track that was inspired by Rock Your Baby , George McCrae’s infectious hit, as well as the drumming throughout Dr. John’s Gumbo album (1972). Molly broke ABBA on a global scale Even Björn Ulvaeus himself credits our very own living legend Molly Meldrum for ABBA’s success beyond Waterloo : “As ABBA came out of Eurovision it was almost axiomatic that we were to be sunk into oblivion after a while – being a One Hit Wonder. But then Molly started playing our videos down in Australia all of a sudden, and

ABBA dominated the Australian singles chart when three back-to-back single releases ( I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do ; Mamma Mia ; and SOS ) hogged the top spot for a colossal 14 consecutive weeks (1975-1976), but it was their chart-topping fourth album, Arrival – containing shiny hits Dancing Queen ; Money, Money, Money ; and Knowing Me, KnowingYou – that cemented Sweden’s finest export as global superstars. Initial Arrival sessions commenced in 1975, but ABBA didn’t complete this classic album until after they returned from a triumphant 1976 promotional trip Down Under (during which The Best Of ABBA – a Bandstand special that attracted more viewers in this country than the 1969 moon landing – was filmed). Dancing Queen ’s backing track alone moved Frida to tears The story goes that when Benny Andersson brought Dancing Queen ’s unadorned backing track home after a late-night mixing session and played it for Anni-Frid Lyngstad (AKA Frida), she was moved to tears. “I thought it was so

hadn’t planned to do. Upon its release, Mamma Mia topped the charts worldwide and the rest, as

they say, is history.

Breakup song Knowing Me, KnowingYou predates both ABBA divorces Although Knowing Me, Knowing You is often held up as one of ABBA’s classic ‘divorce songs’ (“This time we’re through, we’re really through!”), it was actually written and recorded long before either couple had split (Björn and Agnetha divorced in 1979, before Benny and Frida followed suit in 1981). Benny retrospectively rated Knowing Me, Knowing You as “one of [ABBA’s] five best recordings.” ABBA’s Mamma Mia topped the British charts in 1975 directly after Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody , which goes, “Oh, Mamma Mia, Mamma Mia/ Mamma Mia, let me go” – trippy, right? And it’s the only time that a song ( Bohemian Rhapsody ) has been replaced at #1 by a song bearing a title that’s contained within its predecessor’s lyrical content. If you like Arrival, you’ll love: Roxette Joyride (1991, with 30th anni expanded edition out this month) Both ABBA and Queen exclaim Mamma Mia !

it seemed as though the rest of the world just woke up: ‘What is this?’” Molly also rang ABBA’s record label to insist they release Mamma Mia as a single, which they

Erasure The Neon (2020)

Supertramp Breakfast In America (1979)

ABBA in 1976, L-R: Björn Ulvaeus, Agnetha Fältskog, Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Benny Andersson. Insert: the cover art for ABBA’s Voyage, out Novermber 5 on reagulr and JB-exclusive CD, regular vinyl and JB-exclusive vinyl, and eco-box format.

18 NOVEMBER 2021

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