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Post by Roxanne on Oct 27, 2014 11:31:32 GMT
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Post by maxisaxi on Oct 28, 2014 2:05:35 GMT
One of my favourite tracks on this is Hey Hey Helen, I've Been Waiting For You, over all a very strong Album with SOS, Mamma Mia,the Reggae sounding Tropical Loveland.
Just love Agnethas Work on I've Been Waiting For You A shame they never recorded an official video clip for this song, wishing they had shown the complete version of this also on Abba The Movie.
Maxisaxi
New Zealand
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Post by HOMETIME on Oct 28, 2014 11:11:39 GMT
I first got this album in 1978. "Hey, Hey, Helen" was my favourite track by far at the time. The album yo-yo's in my affection overall, but I like it at the moment. But it's the first of their releases that actually feels like an album to me. "I've Been Waiting For You" is the monster smash that got away. WHAT were they thinking when they decided to tuck it away on the flip-side of "So Long"? I think it's my favourite Agnetha (ballad) vocal.
Unlike the preceding albums, there are no tracks that I really skip.
Tony
Ireland
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Post by dizzymoe33 on Oct 28, 2014 16:49:13 GMT
This album was the pinnacle of all their albums in my opinion. Not only are all of these songs wonderful but they all have great driving beats with that funk, pop, folk sound to their songs. This is where they all started to really find their sound! All the songs are strong! I wish this album, and all their albums received more attention from fans out there that only know about 'ABBA Gold'.
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Post by 15/11/79 on Nov 2, 2014 16:59:56 GMT
The cover of this album caught my eye. I really only noticed it after Greatest Hits came out in mid 1976. I thought it had Mamma Mia and SOS so it can't be bad. And it wasn't. The only track I didn't really like was Man In The Middle, which is just a filler with bad lyrics.
Hey Hey Helen still holds up well today, love the backing vocals and drum-beat. Definitely a stand-out song.
I think the three-in-a-row of Rock Me/Intermezzo No1/I've Been Waiting For You work really well. When they performed Rock Me on that German TV special it was magical.
Intermezzo No1 showcases Benny's piano playing and it's a nice catchy instrumental.
I've been waiting for you - the live performance in the Movie is exceptional, just made me appreciate what a beautiful ballad this is, and Agnetha does a heartfelt, powerful vocal. Should have been a massive hit. To have it relegated to the b-side of So Long was just criminal.
A massive step up from the Waterloo album, good solid pop classics - a great release.
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Post by Zeebee on Dec 29, 2014 22:00:38 GMT
"I've Been Waiting For You" is the monster smash that got away. WHAT were they thinking when they decided to tuck it away on the flip-side of "So Long"? I think it's my favourite Agnetha (ballad) vocal. Unlike the preceding albums, there are no tracks that I really skip. Tony Ireland I seem to recall reading somewhere where either Bjorn or Benny was quoted as saying I've Been Waiting For You "deserved a better fate". Let's not forget I Do x5. When I bought the Greatest Hits album in 1981, the only songs on that album that I had ever heard before were Waterloo, SOS, and Fernando, but I immediately liked I Do x5 and Mamma Mia. |
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Post by Zeebee on Jan 3, 2015 22:32:38 GMT
I seem to recall reading somewhere where either Bjorn or Benny was quoted as saying I've Been Waiting For You "deserved a better fate". I found that quote. It is in the book The Complete Recording Sessions. It was Bjorn who said it. The full quote is "It's a damn good ballad which somehow never amounted to anything. It would have deserved a better fate". |
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Post by dizzymoe33 on Apr 13, 2015 15:48:38 GMT
Hard to believe this album is now 40 years old! ABBA’s third album was the bridge that carried the group from Eurovision one-hit-wonders to a vital force in pop. In this feature we explore the journey that ended with worldwide smash hits such as ‘SOS’ and ‘Mamma Mia’. So Long was the first single from the ABBA album sessions - but it did not become a major hit.Together or apart – or both? What do you do with your time after you’ve enjoyed a Eurovision winner and worldwide breakthrough smash hit? That was largely the question that ABBA had to deal with in the summer of 1974, as they were winding down after the chaos of unexpected promotional activities that had followed their victory with ‘Waterloo’ at the Eurovision Song Contest in April. Write and record new songs, thereby building on the success you’ve achieved, you say? Certainly, but for Björn, Benny, Agnetha and Frida, that wasn’t necessarily the entire answer to the question. Although there was little doubt they would go on working as ABBA, there were also other projects on the agenda. Björn and Benny were still house producers at the Polar Music record company, and had several such assignments to attend to: believe it or not, but one of them was actually an album with Björn’s “old” group, the Hootenanny Singers. One would have thought that group would be dead and buried after ABBA’s overwhelming triumph, but at the time Björn actually envisioned a future where he could divide his attention between both groups....for the rest of the story follow this link: www.abbasite.com/the-making-of-the-abba-album/ |
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Post by mwilson on Apr 13, 2015 18:31:30 GMT
Thank you for this, Monica. I very much enjoy the versatility of this album. You've got a boogie woogie sound in "So Long", a rock edge in "Hey Hey Helen", plenty of catchy pop, a few nice ballads and the uncharacterizable music classic that is "S.O.S." Abba was young, for real and just getting started.
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Post by Zeebee on Apr 13, 2015 20:41:50 GMT
So Long was the first single from the ABBA album sessions - but it did not become a major hit. Indeed, So Long did not become a major hit, but three songs from this album are among ABBA's 14 Top 40 hits here in the USA: SOS, Mamma Mia, and I Do x5 |
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Post by shoshin on Apr 13, 2015 21:53:25 GMT
I Do x 5 was also the only ABBA single to chart higher in the US than the UK
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Post by dizzymoe33 on Apr 14, 2015 17:44:24 GMT
Thank you for this, Monica. I very much enjoy the versatility of this album. You've got a boogie woogie sound in "So Long", a rock edge in "Hey Hey Helen", plenty of catchy pop, a few nice ballads and the uncharacterizable music classic that is "S.O.S." Abba was young, for real and just getting started. I agree with you M_Wilson...this album was where the training wheels came off and they were spreading their musical wings. This album is when I discovered ABBA for the first time, I was in Germany visiting my cousins when I heard them listening to S.O.S. on the radio and I was hooked ever since.  |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 15, 2015 8:15:14 GMT
For me, this is the album where ABBA made the biggest single advance from the previous one. The overall songwriting quality is light years ahead of what we hear on 'Waterloo'. This is the album that truly got ABBA on track and where they recognisably start to establish themselves as the iconic ABBA we know today.
I could live without 'I Dox5', but apart from that it's thumbs-up all round from me. Particular soft spot for the glam-stomp of 'Hey Hey Helen' and the joyous one-two romp of 'Rock Me' followed by 'Intermezzo No.1'. As for the 'throw the kitchen sink at it' outro on 'So Long', what a cracking way of ending an album...
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Post by Zeebee on Apr 16, 2015 20:42:30 GMT
I could live without 'I Dox5', but apart from that it's thumbs-up all round from me. Barry, do you mean to say you don't like I Do x5, but you do like Man in the Middle? When I bought the Greatest Hits album, the only songs on that album that I had heard before were Waterloo, SOS, and Fernando. I immediately liked I Do x5 and Mamma Mia better than the rest of the songs I hadn't heard before (although I liked the others too). |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 17, 2015 8:53:16 GMT
Barry, do you mean to say you don't like I Do x5, but you do like Man in the Middle? Yep, Mike - I'm afraid so. I particularly like the 'Superstition'-esque keyboard, as well as the funky guitar at the start that always reminds me of the 'stake-out' music that used to feature in 'Starsky & Hutch'! I know I'm slightly out of step wth many people, but I quite like a lot of the songs where Bjorn takes the lead vocal and the girls do 'classic'-style '70s backing vocals. (E.g. 'Rock 'n' Roll Band', 'I Saw It in the Mirror' etc.) Not forgetting, of course, 'Two for the Price of One', which is in my personal ABBA top 10 and where the backing vocals are as good as anything I've ever heard anywhere, anytime. That's my confession for the day! |
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Post by David on Apr 17, 2015 16:50:15 GMT
I bought ABBA and Waterloo at the same time at some stage during 1978. Possibly around my birthday as I would have been"flush" with money! These purchases really made sense of GH1 album for me.
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Post by angela on Feb 5, 2017 23:11:22 GMT
I think its a shame they didn't have "I've been waiting for you" as a single, so many hits on this album it would be hard to have favourites.
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Post by angela on Feb 11, 2017 10:33:18 GMT
I have to add "Bang a Boomarang" I've just been watching a DVD of their songs and they look so happy in this song.
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Post by shoshin on Feb 12, 2017 0:37:51 GMT
I have to add "Bang a Boomarang" I've just been watching a DVD of their songs and they look so happy in this song. If ABBA hadn't won Eurovision in 1974, Bang-A-Boomerang would have been their 1975 entry. Would it have won? It's one of the most poptastic ditties ever, but I'm not sure that the title would have won many marks for originality, Lulu having already been a joint winner with Boom-Bang-a-Bang. |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 12, 2017 9:06:46 GMT
I have to add "Bang a Boomarang" I've just been watching a DVD of their songs and they look so happy in this song. If ABBA hadn't won Eurovision in 1974, Bang-A-Boomerang would have been their 1975 entry. Would it have won? It's one of the most poptastic ditties ever, but I'm not sure that the title would have won many marks for originality, Lulu having already been a joint winner with Boom-Bang-a-Bang. Mind you, 'Ding Dinge Dong' won in '75, so I don't think the title would have held it back. In the days of unreconstructed jury voting, anything was possible and that was a pretty ordinary year for entries. So definitely in with a very good shout. But I'm sure it would never have become an 'iconic winner' in the way 'Waterloo' has, even assuming ABBA had still gone on to great things. It probably would have been viewed as part of the ESC 'problem' rather than part of the 'solution'.  |
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Post by The Rubber Ball Man on Feb 16, 2017 19:11:17 GMT
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Post by wombat on Feb 16, 2017 19:20:56 GMT
Yep, Mike - I'm afraid so. I particularly like the 'Superstition'-esque keyboard, as well as the funky guitar at the start that always reminds me of the 'stake-out' music that used to feature in 'Starsky & Hutch'! I know I'm slightly out of step wth many people, but I quite like a lot of the songs where Bjorn takes the lead vocal and the girls do 'classic'-style '70s backing vocals. (E.g. 'Rock 'n' Roll Band', 'I Saw It in the Mirror' etc.) Not forgetting, of course, 'Two for the Price of One', which is in my personal ABBA top 10 and where the backing vocals are as good as anything I've ever heard anywhere, anytime. That's my confession for the day! no confessional needed from me - Two for the Price of One is easily in my top 10 too. I believe it was in the Abba album era where some interviewer claimed they were all head over heels in love with Stevie Wonder, and it really shows, especially with Benny's use of the clavinet all over it. GET FUNKY! |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 16, 2017 18:02:09 GMT
I wonder if this picture of Ola Håkansson inspired to the ABBA LP cover?  |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 13, 2018 19:51:01 GMT
A 2 page article about Glenstudio from 1984.   |
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Post by The Rubber Ball Man on Apr 21, 2020 18:13:42 GMT
It’s the 45th Anniversary of ABBA today. What songs are your favourites from this album? Are there any that you skip?
There are 3 songs that are close to each other in the top spot: Hey Hey Helen, SOS and So Long. I can’t seem to decide.
I tend to skip Bang-A-Boomerang and I’ve Been Waiting For You. I just don’t like the whiney instruments used in Bang-A-Boomerang and I just find I’ve Been Waiting For You a bit bland. I suppose it could be because it’s sandwiched between Intermezzo No.1 and So Long which are more upbeat.
And as for Man In The Mirror, even though it’s a weak song, I can still sit through it once in a while.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 22, 2020 17:00:55 GMT
Hard to believe that ABBA's third album is 45 years old. Where does time fly ? My favourites are SOS, BAB and IBWFY. MM and IDIDIDIDID are,also, close to my heart. Tracks that I skip are MITM and TL as I find these very bland. HHH and SL are not bad on the whole. Very interesting that we have different tastes. I don't like RM at all so I never listen to it.
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Post by gazman on Apr 22, 2020 18:47:42 GMT
I love this album. I enjoy all 11 original tracks and I like to play this one all the way through, in the original order of Side 1 and Side 2 of the vinyl.
On the 2001 CD, I tend to skip the 2 bonus tracks, which I don't think fit very easily...
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Post by Alan on Apr 22, 2020 20:32:15 GMT
I love this album. I enjoy all 11 original tracks and I like to play this one all the way through, in the original order of Side 1 and Side 2 of the vinyl. On the 2001 CD, I tend to skip the 2 bonus tracks, which I don't think fit very easily... Hurrah, someone like me that listens to a full album from start to finish and doesn’t skip anything! The two bonus tracks are both borrowed from other eras, both due to having a dodgy connection with this album (as it is unique in having no bonus tracks to truly call its own - The Album is only saved by a few alternative versions) |
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Post by gary on Apr 22, 2020 21:05:19 GMT
But the two bonus tracks are from the same era as the album, aren’t they? Crazy World is from late 1974 and Medley is from early 1975. The album is from early 1975.
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Post by Alan on Apr 22, 2020 23:01:30 GMT
^^ Yes, but they are more closely associated with other eras. Crazy World with Arrival and Medley with Voulez-Vous, both due to singles they were b-sides for.
I’m not even sure Crazy World was completed by 1975. I think they went back to it during the Arrival sessions. Medley sounds far more 1978 than 1975, but granted, it was completed in 1975. Very few would have heard it until 1978.
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