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".
Background and production[edit]
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. 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. The "25-minute opus" had storyline about a talented "small-town girl leaving her hometown" on her "quest for stardom", 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".
Release[edit]
ABBA: The Album was released in Scandinavia on 12 December 1977.
ABBA: The Album 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'.
On 3 November 2017, the album was released as a double vinyl mastered at Abbey Road Studios using half speed mastering.
Cover artwork[edit]
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.
Critical reception[edit]
Professional ratingsReview scoresSourceRatingAllMusiccite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media [notes] [link]
What Bass did ABBA use?
This resulted in the Super Swede Bass, which was used by Rutger throughout ABBA's final North American tour in September/October 1979. Only 364 of these basses were produced before Hagstrom ceased guitar production in Sweden, and over the years they've become a sought-after collector's item.
Who sounds like Abba?
Bee Gees..
Electric Light Orchestra..
Air Supply..
Fleetwood Mac..
Supertramp..
Olivia Newton-John..