Moopy's Top 50 ABBA Songs - FULL RESULTS ON PAGE 14

Iguana said:
Disappointed that Disillusion isn't top 10 :(
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45. When I Kissed The Teacher
Album track from Arrival
Released: 1976
Score: 7.32

Another one from Arrival now, and one thing I think stands out from this album is that when ABBA really "found their sound" they actually harked back to the 60s a lot. So much of the mid-70s pure pop they produced had a clean 70s sheen but at times took much more inspiration from hits of the previous decade than their contemporaries of the current one. When I Kissed The Teacher is a perfect example of this - it could almost have been a Ronettes song. Putting as the opening track of the album almost served as a mission statement for what was to come.

At the same time though, what a bizarre choice to open the album with THOSE lyrics. Yes I know they're much more questionable from 2022 eyes, but even not taking that into account, the storytelling sits comfortably alongside the ridiculous Me and Bobby and Bobby's Brother and Suzy-Hang-Around from the first couple of albums (and sorry Suzy fans, neither of them made it into the top fifty). Sometimes though, the hooks will allow you to overlook pretty much anything.

Highest scores: @Devil (10), @Ill Advised (10)
Lowest scores: @Suomi (4), @VoR (5)

 
Sorry about the delay, I got home and had a minor panic over the electricity bill, so I'll be doing the rest of this countdown by fax.
 
44. Tiger
Album track from Arrival
Released: 1976
Score: 7.5

Another one from Arrival here, and it's also the song that was used as then opener on the accompanying tour, which makes sense as it's the punchiest offering on there. Like Summer Night City that came afterwards, it features an urgent beat and lyrics about city nightlife, although unlike Summer Night City, there's a much darker slant to the lyrics, however superficial they may be. This is a bit of a common theme with Arrival - although they really found their groove musically, a lot of the lyrics were still a bit fluffy. "And if I meet you, what if I eat you" indeed.

Highest scores: @Lockhart (9), @Marilyn (9), @Sheena (9), @Tisch (9), @Ill Advised (9), @lolly (9), @Jark (9)
Lowest scores: @Christian (5), @Hak (5), @ZenGiraffe (5)

 
Pingu said:
44. Tiger
Album track from Arrival
Released: 1976
Score: 7.5

Another one from Arrival here, and it's also the song that was used as then opener on the accompanying tour, which makes sense as it's the punchiest offering on there. Like Summer Night City that came afterwards, it features an urgent beat and lyrics about city nightlife, although unlike Summer Night City, there's a much darker slant to the lyrics, however superficial they may be. This is a bit of a common theme with Arrival - although they really found their groove musically, a lot of the lyrics were still a bit fluffy. "And if I meet you, what if I eat you" indeed.

Highest scores: @Lockhart (9), @Marilyn (9), @Sheena (9), @Tisch (9), @Ill Advised (9), @lolly (9), @Jark (9)
Lowest scores: @Christian (5), @Hak (5), @ZenGiraffe (5)

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Can't believe you didn't go with this performance :disco:

I mean, WHERE TO START?

 
43. Ring Ring
Single from Ring Ring
Released: 1973
Score: 7.57

Here we have it - the one and only song from the debut album to make it to the Top 50. Disillusion is the next highest at #80, People Need Love at #84 and Nina, Pretty Ballerina at #87, with quite a few tracks clogging up the very bottom positions - more on that later. Keeping in mind how early it was and how many duds by modern standards are in there, the presence of the title track and just how much like "ABBA" it sounds, is surprising. It was their first Melodifestivalen attempt (coming 3rd but propelling them to major stardom as a group in Sweden), so it was clearly written with an international audience in mind, plus it was the first track to utilise the services and talents of Michael Tretow, who would become the group's regular sound engineer.

ABBA and Tretow's admiration of Phil Spector was clear throughout the years, but this was their first attempt to emulate the Spector "wall of sound" with the lower budget and limited musicians they had at their disposal, by getting each musician to record their part two or three times with slight variations in recording speed between takes. It created the huge, crisp, steely sound that ABBA would become known for. This is also the only original ABBA song to be co-written by writers from outside of the group's regular composing team. With the group already determined by this point to break through internationally, they wanted to be sure the English lyrics didn't sound like they were written in a second language, so commissioned Neil Sedaka and Phil Cody to write them.

Highest scores: @Penelope (9.5)
Lowest scores: @Suomi (5)

 
42. No Doubt About It
Single from Voyage
Released: 2021
Score: 7.59

From one of the oldest ABBA tracks, to one of the newest. No Doubt About It is the first of the Voyage tracks to make it into the chart, and what a relief when it came on in the tracklisting to hear that they had given Frida a song that she could sing not as the nostalgic old lady heard in I Still Have Faith In You and Bumblebee, but as the right piece of work we know she is!

It's just one of many examples of Bjorn's fantastic grasp as a lyricist on the domestic minutiae of relationships, with the song dealing with the perverse joy we sometimes get out of having a good old row and driving one another mad. Musically, with its 80s rom-com instrumentation, is one of the only ones in the album that could be placed at a particular point in musical history (just 35 years before it was released), and could easily have slotted into the ninth studio album from the 80s that never was. Certainly Frida sounds like she hasn't aged a day - so impressive given how little she has sung in public in recent decades just how well-preserved and commanding her voice still is!

Highest scores: @HerSereneHighnessAnniFrid (10)
Lowest scores: @ZenGiraffe (4), @Penelope (5)

 
It didn't even cross my mind to give half marks. Thank Christ, it would have probably taken me twice as long.
 
Adoring this @Pingu

I’m guessing if Honey, Honey is one of two from the album in the top 50 that means Dance…hasn’t made it :( Was probably the biggest revelation from this project, it actually is a fine little banger to these ears.
 
Devil said:
Adoring this @Pingu

I’m guessing if Honey, Honey is one of two from the album in the top 50 that means Dance…hasn’t made it :( Was probably the biggest revelation from this project, it actually is a fine little banger to these ears.
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Thank you!

You aren't the only person to say that - it seems to have revealed itself as a hidden gem to a few people who revisited the albums for this. What I will also say is that not all of the singles and well-known tracks have made it into the chart, so you never know! :o
 
I PROMISE this isn’t going to become like one of Jark’s enterprises, but I won’t be able to do more tonight unfortunately as something has come up last minute.

Will be sure to continue tomorrow though, along with some “bubbling under” morsels.
 
Pingu said:
42. No Doubt About It
Single from Voyage
Released: 2021
Score: 7.59

From one of the oldest ABBA tracks, to one of the newest. No Doubt About It is the first of the Voyage tracks to make it into the chart, and what a relief when it came on in the tracklisting to hear that they had given Frida a song that she could sing not as the nostalgic old lady heard in I Still Have Faith In You and Bumblebee, but as the right piece of work we know she is!

It's just one of many examples of Bjorn's fantastic grasp as a lyricist on the domestic minutiae of relationships, with the song dealing with the perverse joy we sometimes get out of having a good old row and driving one another mad. Musically, with its 80s rom-com instrumentation, is one of the only ones in the album that could be placed at a particular point in musical history (just 35 years before it was released), and could easily have slotted into the ninth studio album from the 80s that never was. Certainly Frida sounds like she hasn't aged a day - so impressive given how little she has sung in public in recent decades just how well-preserved and commanding her voice still is!

Highest scores: @HerSereneHighnessAnniFrid (10)
Lowest scores: @ZenGiraffe (4), @Penelope (5)

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This was very close to getting a 10 from me and lost out at the very last minute. Sorry I couldn't join you this time @HerSereneHighnessAnniFrid
 
AS MUCH AS IT PAINS ME TO SAY IT, I can't REALLY get on board with Frida sounding like she hasn't aged a day on No Doubt About It. There are a couple of really quite croaky long held notes on it.
 
41. Soldiers
Album track from The Visitors
Released: 1981
Score: 7.65

Despite being one of the deeper cuts from The Visitors, Soldiers is one of those songs that kind of epitomises the album. One the surface, the melody and the harmonies are about as ABBA you can get, but there's something a bit unsettling and off-kilter in the music that you maybe can't put your finger on in the first listen, and as with several Visitors tracks, the lyrical themes are a mile away from the relationship ups and downs that defined the group's prior successes.

Musically, Soldiers is a waltz, but it's the least waltz-like waltz you will ever hear, partly thanks to the work of drummer Per Lindvall. The lyrics aren't so much about ordinary soldiers on the ground, but rather those in charge, specifically according to Bjorn, "dictators: ice-cold, unimaginative, lacking in empathy, who just march forward and think they know what's important and are never interested in any other points of view." Clearly these have dated quite a lot and have absolutely no relevance in this day and age.

Highest scores: @VoR (10)
Lowest scores: @ZenGiraffe (4)

 
40. Like An Angel Passing Through My Room
Album track from The Visitors
Released: 1981
Score: 7.68

This incredibly haunting album closer from The Visitors is one of the sparsest in the ABBA discography, and with a sole vocal from Frida carrying the song, it's one of very few only to contain one voice. It took them quite a while to settle on this sound for the song, based loosely on the nursery rhyme Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

It went through various iterations, with different lyrics, conventional ABBA harmonies and even a disco version was recorded, before they finally decided that less is more. If you haven't heard the From A Twinkling Star To A Passing Angel demo medley, then you should definitely give it a listen if you're interested in the group's working process. It really is remarkable how much they ploughed away at this one during the recording sessions, showing they must have been pretty confident in the melody they had settled on.

Highest scores: @VoR (10), @Marilyn (10), @Suomi (10)
Lowest scores: @ZenGiraffe (1), @Madison (4), @dUb (4)

 
39. Slipping Through My Fingers
Album track from The Visitors
Released: 1981
Score: 7.72

Another from The Visitors, and unlike the ambiguous, non-specific and almost supernatural lyrics of Like An Angel, Bjorn is right back in kitchen sink, literal territory for this one. Slipping Through My Fingers lays down exactly how he felt about watching his daughter Linda growing up, and the pangs of regrets felt by spending so much time in the studio and on the road, missing key milestones in her childhood. Agnetha, who was always much more of a homebird, identified with the song as well, and sang the lead on it.

It may be slightly shmaltzy, particularly compared to some of the darker moments on the same album, but it seems to emotionally resonate with a lot of parents who can relate to the sentiments expressed, particularly since it has been featured in the stage show and film of Mamma Mia!, which feels like the song's natural home.

Highest scores: @Christian (10), @Suomi (10)
Lowest scores: @ZenGiraffe (3), @Iguana (4)

 
The last two songs are Frida and Agnetha at their different bests. One a masterclass in controlled precision and intelligent musicianship, the other a masterclass in creating an ‘everywoman’ kind of resonance and awakening a song.
 
38. That's Me
Album track from Arrival
Released: 1976
Score: 7.74

Back to the considerably more chirpy Arrival now and to possibly one of the chirpiest offerings on there. That's Me feels hooky and lively enough to have been a single at the time, but it probably wouldn't have aged nearly as well as the singles that were chosen, and it does sound like something right out of a 70s TV special listening to it now. Indeed, it was probably never on the cards as it was put out as the B-side to Dancing Queen just before the album came out, making it one of those strange instances of an ABBA deep cut that your mum probably knows.

The lyrics, about a girl warning her partner that she's jealous, proud, and unlikely to travel to a pub more than halfway between them on their first date, lack the storytelling in some of their later work but I've always found to be very enjoyable for what they are. This is perhaps a perfect example of what sets Arrival apart from the albums that came before it - even the lightweight filler tracks are charming as hell, and for the most part, this would remain to be the case for their remaining albums.

Highest scores: @Penelope (9.5)
Lowest scores: @VoR (4), @dUb (4)

 
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