There is a whole new generation of kids listening (or perhaps pretending not to listen) to ABBA's music as interpreted by the new Swedish group, the A-Teens. I must say, I'll have to stick with these originals. If you think you need only one silly seventies pop-dance album, this may be the one for you.

Most of ABBA's songs are syrupy sweet with a dance-able swaying thump in the background, ala Dancing Queen, Fernando, Knowing Me, Knowing You. I love them all. I can never quite decide whether these are smirky camp or absolutely serious, but perhaps that is part of the appeal. The enigma of ABBA.

What surprised me, revisiting some of the early songs, like SOS and Waterloo, is the almost rock and roll feel. The beat is harder and faster before the group went completely disco.

Still, I think if ABBA has a live-forever pop classic, it has to be Dancing Queen, which has pride of place here as the first track. This really sums up everything you need to know about Pop.


Lively, Cheerful, Occasionally Thoughtful   January 26, 2003
 55 out of 59 found this review helpful

I am the right age to have known ABBA in its early years, but I didn't. I've always been out of synchrony with music trends, but I enjoy what I enjoy, when I enjoy it. I "discovered" ABBA in the late twentieth century (Man, that makes me feel old!), and still enjoy them. At first, they come off as "ear candy, and a few of their songs are just pretty fluff, but an examination of the lyrics (yes, there are real words accompanying that powerful beat and those lush melodies) shows that there is some depth there. Not always, but more often than you might think, and not always where one might expect it.

"Dancing Queen" - Okay, I just talked about depth, but then we start with one of the fluffier songs. It does create the image that some girls have of being the star at a big dance, but there is little depth beyond that. This one has a high cotton-candy factor: very sweet, but too much can give you a stomachache (look at the word, "stomachache," as it's a strange word, just to look at).

"Knowing Me, Knowing You" - Well, here we get a bit more meaning. This one, to me, is all about picking one's partners in Life carefully. That might not be profound, but it is a good idea to include in a song. The melody is fairly rich for this song, and the beat is fairly strong. A lively song.

"Take A Chance On Me" - This is a very lively song with lyrics that should be taken with a grain of salt, as that "take a chance on me" statement implies potential danger (otherwise, why would someone need encouragement like that?). A good song, though.

"Mamma Mia" - This one is lively and fun and good to dance to and lively and fun. I don't see the lyrics as having a lot of meaning to them, but the song did inspire a musical, so I guess that some people see an important story in there. To me, it's just a good fun song.

"Lay All Your Love On Me" - Like "Take a Chance on Me", this is a good song, that has the message of "I want you to love me, but be careful, as that is a risky thing to do." Here, though, the risks are more clearly stated, as is the challenge to try love anyway. An interesting song, with a good beat and a good melody.

"Super Trouper" - This one has a powerful beat and a good melody. The lyrics are nothing fancy, but it does make me wants to sing along, and it is very cheerful.

"I Have A Dream" - This happy song is an ode to optimism and an anthem for the cheerful people of the world, set to pleasant music, and featuring nice, clear vocals. It reminds me, in its spirit, of "The Happy Wanderer".

"The Winner Takes It All" - Is this Donald Trump's theme song? No, I guess that would be "Money, Money, Money". This one talks about taking chances, and the concept of "nothing ventured, nothing gained." Risk-taking is something that we all have to think about, as a risk untaken is an opportunity lost, but that opportunity might have been a path to disaster, too.

"Money, Money, Money" - Now, we have Trump's anthem. It might seem out-of-place on this generally upbeat album, but I think its superficially-jaded message is really a lampooning of greed. It's not one of my favorite songs here, but it's good.

"S.O.S." - Oh, this is one of my favorites! The music flows richly, the beat is good, and the message is a simple and strong one: "We had it good, it's gone now, I don't know what went wrong, and I want to know what the heck happened!"

"Chiquitita" - This one makes me want to not only sing along, but to march! The melody is rich, the vocals are great, the beat is powerful, and the lyrics are inspiring. A+

"Fernando" - For me, this is the best of the album. Not only do I love the sad melody and the rich vocals, but the lyrics are packed with meaning. Even though I have never been much of a rebel, this song clearly conveys the idea of "We might have failed, but the attempt was worth it, because our cause was just." Wow.

"Voulez Vous" - This one is what it is: a powerful, primal invitation to love. The beat is strong, the melody is pretty rich, and the message is simple and straightforward.

"Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)" - On the surface, this one seems like it's redundant with "Voulez Vous", but listen to the lyrics. While "Voulez Vous" is wanton and reckless, hedonism distilled, "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)" is something different. It has a powerful, almost primal beat, and a whirlwind melody, but the lyrics are not about sex and impulsive love, but about safety, security, and keeping away the shadows, the evil of the night. This might be the deepest song of the album.

"Does Your Mother Know" - A catchy, upbeat tune, but it seems to lack the magic of the others. My least favorite of this bunch.

"One Of Us" - Okay, we had something, it's gone now, and I don't like losing what we had. Nothing complex there, but well-stated in this song.

"The Name Of The Game" - "Nobody else has figured me out, but you did, so what do I need to do to make this work?" That's the message here -- another invitation to a potentially risky relationship. Not the best song here, but not bad.

"Thank You For The Music" - I like this one. ABBA is thanking their fans, thanking each other, thanking God, for their success; that's how I interpret this catchy song. Fun, and good to sing along with.

"Waterloo" - A strong beat, a good melody, good vocals, very upbeat. Not their most profound song, but it closes out the album on a fun note.

If you're unfamiliar with ABBA, Wikipedia has a good description of them. They are from Sweden, they were active from 1972 to 1982, their music was a mix of pop and disco, and the four members were: Benny Anderson, Bjorn Ulvaeus, Agnetha Faltskog (who married Bjorn Ulvaeus in 1971), and Anni-Frid "Frida" Lyngstad.


Excellent Pop   October 16, 2002
 35 out of 38 found this review helpful

It would be easy for me to give any Abba CD less than 5 stars, if you consider their music in comparison to all rock music. However, if you consider their music in comparison to all pop, the rating must be different. Abba didn't create good pop, they created excellent pop. Bennie and Bjorn could churn out one catchy tune after another, and Agnetha and Frida could sing in harmony well enough that those of us that watched them on tv fell in love instantly and became immediate Abba fans.

This CD collects the majority of Abba's biggest hits, though they may have been hits in Germany or England or the United States. I know that when I bought this CD (which I purchased after "More Abba Gold" - which I'll talk about momentarily) I recognized nearly every song, which says that most of them did get good airplay.

Most of these songs are classic 70s pop songs, with very little if any disco influence. And while most of the songs are catchy and do little to press the boundaries of rock music, there are a few songs that transcend the genre. Most particularly "Lay All Your Love On Me", "I Have a Dream", "Fernando", "One of Us", and "Thank You for the Music", which in hindsight is the group's goodbye and thank you to fans.

I enjoy Abba's music. It's generally easy on the ears, you can sing or hum it, and pretty darn well written. However, Abba is much more than the music on this CD. If you like this CD you may want to try "More Abba Gold", which has miscellaneous hits of somewhat lower stature (less sales) than those on this CD. While the "More Abba Gold" CD songs sold less than these, I think the music is more complex in some cases, and often shows that Abba was more than just catchy tunes. One step further would be to buy the albums and catch Abba as they were originally released and appreciated by those of us who bought their albums.

Yes, it's a bit of nostalgia from the 70s and early 80s. It's music we heard so often on the radio, and perhaps even more often on our record players (that thing that plays those round black plastic thingies with the grooves on each side). It's takes us back to a fun time when maybe life was just a little less complicated. And yes, it's very listenable and among the best of pop music...go have fun listening...


Re-Mix, not Greatest Hits   December 2, 2003
 26 out of 30 found this review helpful

I recently bought the ABBA Gold Greatest Hits CD and something just doesn't sound right! I have the original recordings on LP and 45, so I have a reference other than memory. Someone has done some serious re-mixing on this compilation. It almost sounds like they are singing in a living room with overstuffed chairs. The rhythm track sounds like someone beating on a plastic garbage can with a broom. The originals had heavy compression on the vocals and lush reverb which was an integral part of the ABBA sound. It sounds like in this version they are using some sort of noise gate on the vocals, because they tend to unnaturally disappear between syllables. I was amazed that of all the 173+ reviews only one shared my disappointment with this compilation from a technical standpont. I certainly agree with that review. that "the new (1993) version is extremely boring and in no way reproduces the musical excitement of the real ABBA from the 70s and 80s." The recordings, as originally released, were masterpieces that did not need to be "improved upon".The A-Teens recordings sound closer to the originals in terms of production technique than this collection does.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ONE YEAR LATER, November 26, 2004..... I wrote my original review of ABBA Gold back on December 2, 2003, and my opinion of it has not changed. It does not sound like the original ABBA recordings, even though Michael Tretow, the original recording engineer produced this CD. I have gained some insight into the magic Michael Tretow put into the original mixes. I recently purchased The Winner Takes it All (The ABBA Story) DVD. Michael talks about doubling up the instruments and the vocals to make the recordings sound bigger than life. The doubled instruments and voices were also changed in pitch slightly to enhance the sound. If you listen closely to the original ABBA vinyl recordings, you can hear this chorusing effect. The sound is sort of like a choir of angels singing along with the 4 ABBA vocalists. This effect is lacking on the ABBA Gold CD, where the vocals tend to get lost in the mix, particularly low listening levels. It has nothing to do with some special ethereal quality of phonograph records versus compact discs. ABBA Gold is a re-mix. It is nearly impossible to duplicate all of the aspects of the original mix, a decade and a half later. I wonder if the original 2-track mix tapes that were sent to the record pressing plant are still in a vault somewhere. It would be wonderful if they could be put on CD. You think ABBA Gold is good? The original mix on CD would blow you away!


ABBA Platinum   April 22, 2000
 23 out of 24 found this review helpful

Gold is an impressive and valuable mineral. But the most impressive and enduring of all is platinum and for that reason alone, this album should be retitled for future editions.

It is almost superfluous trying to review a body of the "greatest" work from arguably the best pop-act the music world has ever known. How do you evaluate a collection of songs that has seeped into the consciousness of pretty much anyone who was around in the mid to late 70's and which continues to impress even the most cynical music listener today?

The best that you can do is merely to remember the exhiliration on first hearing the soaring strings and harmonies of "Dancing Queen" and not quite believing a song could sound so beautiful. Or to recall the moment you thought you might stop breathing as you listened to the aching resignation and almost gorgeous pain in "The Winner Takes it all". Or to decribe the marvel when you first recognised the maturity and balance contained in the mini-opus "The name of the game". Or maybe to smile at the day you knew you had died and gone to pop heaven whilst being serenaded with the delightful suggestiveness of "If you change your mind, I'm the first in line, Honey I'm still free, take a chance on me". And I could go on in similar vein with and each and every one of the remaining tracks.

"ABBA Gold" is a only a sample of music that has transcended time and genres and (now it can be said) generations. A souvenir if you like of the joy and fun and the sheer brilliance of being alive which was contained in just about all of ABBA's 3 to 4 minute pop gems.

Hyperbole and exaggeration? Maybe. But the fact remains that ABBA's music and genius continues to impress people and critics all over the world with its timeless simplicity and complexity, its technical brilliance and a mastery of that most essential element of all great songs - the "hook". Add to that the glorious sounds of Agnetha and Frida harmonising together (every time) and you know that ABBA will never be bettered.

The real point to buying this album is not to be reminded of the days when a pop song could be equally sublime and fun nor to confirm in one sitting that ABBA were (and are) the absolute masters of songwriting and singing the perfect tune. The real point of this collection should be to lead you to discover the wealth of treasures contained in ABBA's lesser known albums and album tracks.