ABBA - The Album

Pour leur cinquième album, ABBA a montré un nouveau sens de l'ambition : de plus longues pistes, des structures plus complexes, et des paroles qui utilisent les plus justes mots adapté a la mélodie.

À côté des hit choisit comme « The Name Of The Game » et « Take A Chance On Me », l'album a offert trois chansons du mini-musical, The Girl With The Golden Hair. L'un d'entre eux était « Thank You For The Music », une des chansons les plus  connues d'ABBA mais un succès simple.

ABBA - The album a été publié en même temps que la sortie de "ABBA - Le Film" au cinéma. Plusieurs des chansons de l'album apparaissent dans le film.		 En su quinto álbum, ABBA demostró un nuevo sentido de la ambición: pistas más largas, estructuras más complejas, y letras que aspiraron estar más que apenas palabras que cupieron la melodía.

Junto a los succesos como “The Name Of The Game” y “Take A Chance On Me”, el álbum ofreció tres canciones del mini-musical, "The Girl With The Golden Hair". Uno de ellos era “Gracias por la Música”, una de las canciones más bien conocidas de ABBA pero nunca un gran suceso.

ABBA - The album fue publicado conjuntamente con el lanzamiento de "ABBA - La Película" en el cine. Varias de las canciones del álbum estan también en la película.		 On their fifth album, ABBA showed a new sense of ambition: longer tracks, more complex structures, and lyrics that aspired to be more than just words that fitted the melody.

Alongside hit singles like 'The Name Of The Game' and 'Take A Chance On Me', the album offered three songs from ABBA's mini-musical, The Girl With The Golden Hair. One of them was 'Thank You For The Music', one of ABBA's most well-known songs but actually never a big hit single.

ABBA - The Album was issued in conjunction with the cinema release ABBA - The Movie. Several of the songs on the album were also featured in the film.

 

Chhronology of the Album

 
04/05 Songwriting sessions for upcoming album.
31/05 Backing tracks of 'A Bit Of Myself, a working title of 'The Name Of The Game' and 'Scaramouche'.
This very first recording, which eventually became the first single from the album sessions, showed how ABBA were determined to further broaden their perspective. A slow bass-and-synthesizer riff, combined with a delightfully lazy drum pattern, formed the compelling rhythm track of ‘The Name Of The Game’, upon which layers of guitars, keyboards and heavenly vocal harmonies were stacked. The many different melody parts of the songs were somehow magically tied together and made to interact with one another, helped along in no small way by Agnetha and Frida’s lead vocals, where they would trade parts one minute and blend into each other’s vocal spectra the next.
01/06 Backing tracks of 'High, High', a working title of 'Eagle'.
The next song to be recorded was ‘Eagle’, the opening track on the completed album. Originally working-titled ‘High, High’, this majestic, soaring song was perhaps the closest ABBA would ever come to a guitar duel, with Janne Schaffer’s swirling improvisations contrasting against Lasse Wellander’s pre-written melody. The lyrics for ‘Eagle’ were no less unusual, for Björn had found inspiration in Richard Bach’s mega-successful 1970 novel Jonathan Livingston Seagull and its “sense of freedom and euphoria”, as he later recalled.
02/06 Backing tracks of 'Thank You For The Music' (Doris Day), 'Eagle' and 'Scaramouche'.
For the third song to be recorded, ABBA finally turned their attention to one of the mini-musical songs. But the ragtime-flavoured version of ‘Thank You For The Music’, recorded on June 2, was not what ended up on the album. A more flowing interpretation, committed to tape in July, is the familiar recording that can be heard on the album. However, the first attempt – known as the Doris Day Version because of Agnetha’s vocal inspiration from the American superstar.
18/07 Backing track of 'Sjömansvisa' a working title of 'One Man, One Woman'.
After a break in June when additional scenes for ABBA – The Movie were filmed, ABBA didn’t return to the recording studio until July 18. On this day they began recording the soft-rock ballad ‘One Man, One Woman’, which stands out as one of ABBA’s most affecting album tracks, and thus far, the most impressive result of Björn’s ambitions to develop his lyric writing. Björn had taken to heart the criticism levelled at ABBA that their lyrics were often inconsequential, even if he felt that the words were primarily meant to be functional as part of a pop song. “It’s important that the words go well with the music. They must have the same sort of rhythm,” he determined in an interview shortly before recording for the album started. ”But I guess the content has suffered because of that. This is something we’re going to get into, which is an interesting new step. Now we want to say something with the words as well.” With ‘One Man, One Woman’, sung by Frida, he proved himself the master of depicting the everyday person’s struggle to keep a relationship together.
19/07 Backing tracks of 'The Name Of The Game' and 'I'm A Marionette'.

21/07 Backing track of 'Thank You For The Music' ('The Album' version).
The recording of the new album continued with the re-make of ‘Thank You For The Music’, and then the two other mini-musical songs to be included on the album: Frida’s “leaving home for an uncertain music career” ballad ‘I Wonder (Departure)’ and the dramatic “trapped by fame” number ‘I’m A Marionette’. The rocky ‘Hole In Your Soul’ followed, a song that actually “rescued” a melody section from ‘Get On The Carousel’, the discarded closing number of The Girl With The Golden Hair. Before the month was over the backing track for ‘Take A Chance On Me’, perhaps the most well-known song from the album, had been recorded, along with the spiritual reflection on the meaning of life that was ‘Move On’. It seemed ABBA were in a good place if they wanted to have the album out before the end of the year.
01/08 Backing track of 'I'm A Marionette'.
02/08 Backing track of 'I Wonder' (Departure).
03/08 Backing tracks of 'High On Your Love', a working title of 'Hole In Your Soul' and 'Billy Boy', a working title of 'Take A Chance On Me'.
04/08 Backing track of 'Yippee Yay', a working title of 'Move On'.
08/08 More work on the backing track of 'Move On'.
15/08 Backing track of 'Billy Boy', a working title of 'Take A Chance On Me'.
17/08 Bass and drum overdubs for 'Billy Boy, a working title of 'Take A Chance On Me'.
09 Filming of the promotion clip of 'The Name Of The Game' and 'Take A Chance On Me' with a pregnant Agnetha.
08/09 Horn and string overdubs for 'I Wonder' (Departure).
12 to 16/09 Recording various backing tracks and mixing 'The Name Of The Game' at the Bohus Studio in West Sweden.
17 to 30/09 Preparing single release 'The Name Of The Game'.
10/10 Overdubs for 'Eagle' and 'Joanne', a working title of 'Move On'.
17/10 Release single 'The Name Of The Game' - 'I Wonder (Departure)'.

 
1. The Name Of The Game [4:54]
2. I Wonder (Departure) (Live) [4:29]

24/10 Bass overdubs for 'Take A Chance On Me'.
01/11 Mixing 'Hole In Your Soul and 'Take A Chance On Me'.
07/11 Mixing 'Thank You For The Music'.
09/11 String overdubs for 'One Man, One Woman and 'I'm A Marionette'.
10/11 Mixing 'I'm A Marionette' and 'One Man, One Woman'.
10/12

 

 

 

 

 

 


12/12		 Release LP 'The Album' only in Scandinavia.


      

Side A
1. Eagle [5:51]
2. Take A Chance On Me [4:05]
3. One Man, One Woman [4:25]
4. The Name Of The Game [4:54]

Side B
1. Move On [4:42]
2. Hole In Your Soul [3:41]
"The Girl With The Golden Hair" - 3 scenes from a mini-musical -
3. Thank You For The Music [3:48]
4. I Wonder [4:38]
5. I'm A Marionette [3:54]

Release LP 'The Album' in the rest of the world.
13/12 Mixing 'Take A Chance On Me' (never released).

1978

27/01

Release single 'Take A Chance On Me' - 'I'm A Marionette' along with the video of 'Take A Chance On Me'.
 

1. Take A Chance On Me [4:05]
2. I'm A Marionette [3:54]

02

 The promo clips for 'Eagle', 'Thank You For The Music' and 'One Man, One Woman' were made.
11/04 Editing 'Eagle' for release on single.

05

Release single 'Eagle' - 'Thank You For The Music'.

1. Eagle (Edited) [4:31]
2. Thank You For The Music [3:48]

Later
07-08
/01/1980		 Tape to tape copying and recording Spanish vocals for songs used for 'Gracias Por La Música' y 'Al Andar'.
 
03/1980 Release single Dame! Dame! Dame! - Gracias Por La Música in Japan and Fernando (Spanish) - Gracias Por La Música (Promo) in Spain,
Gracias Por La Música - Dame!, Dame!, Dame! in Argentina, Uruguay, Mexico and Argentina and Hasta Mañana - El Andar in Peru.

1983

 Release all singles of the albums as part of 'Complete Singles Collection'

1984

Release CD 'The Album'

1. Eagle [5:51]
2. Take A Chance On Me [4:05]
3. One Man, One Woman [4:25]
4. The Name Of The Game [4:54]
5. Move On [4:42]
6. Hole In Your Soul [3:41]
"The Girl With The Golden Hair" - 3 scenes from a mini-musical -
7. Thank You For The Music [3:48]
8. I Wonder [4:38]
9. I'm A Marionette [3:54]

 

05/1997

 Release Remastered CD 'The Album'.

1999

 Release all singles of the albums in a CD-Singles as part of 'Complete Singles Collection'.
25/01/2001 Reissued Remastered CD 'The Album'.

1. Eagle [5:50]
2. Take A Chance On Me [4:00]
3. One Man, One Woman [4:35]
4. The Name Of The Game [4:51]
5. Move On [4:43]
6. Hole In Your Soul [3:41]
"The Girl With The Golden Hair" - 3 scenes from a mini-musical -
7. Thank You For The Music [3:49]
8. I Wonder [4:32]
9. I'm A Marionette [4:03]
10. Thank you for The Music (Doris Day Version) [4:03]

 
07/11/2005 Release 'The Album' as part of Complete Studio Recordings.

1. Eagle [5:49]
2. Take A Chance On Me [3:58]
3. One Man, One Woman [4:34]
4. The Name Of The Game [4:54]
5. Move On [4:42]
6. Hole In Your Soul [3:41]
"The Girl With The Golden Hair" - 3 scenes from a mini-musical -
7. Thank You For The Music [3:49]
8. I Wonder [4:33]
9. I'm A Marionette [4:09]
10. Al andar [4:43]
11. Gracias Por La Música [3:49]
 
28/03/2006 'The Album' also available as part of 'Chronicles 3 Classics Albums'.

11/10/2007

 Release of the 'Deluxe' version of 'The Albums' .


Booklet Info
 

CD

1. Eagle [5:53]
2. Take A Chance On Me [4:07]
3. One Man, One Woman [4:34]
4. The Name Of The Game [4:54]
5. Move On [4:43]
6. Hole In Your Soul [3:42]
"The Girl With The Golden Hair" - 3 scenes from a mini-musical -
7. Thank You For The Music [3:50]
8. I Wonder (Departure) [4:32]
9. I'M A Marionette [4:10]
10. Eagle {Single Edit} [4:26]
11. Take A Chance On Me {Live London 1979} [4:34]
12. Thank You For The Music {Doris Day Version} [4:03]
13. Al Andar [4:45]
14. I Wonder (Departure) {Live Sydney 1977) [4:32]
15. Gracias Por La Música [3:49]

And... The Missing Songs

16. The Name Of The Game & Eagle (Live London 1979) [9:36]
17. Hole In Your Soul {Debe Ser Rock'n'Roll Live London 1979} [4:03]
18. I'm A Marionette {Live Edited From The Movie} [3:01]
19. Get On The Carrousel {Live Edited From The Movie} [3:08]
20. Thank You For The Music {Live London 1979} [3:39]
 

Bonus DVD

 1. Eagle & Thank You For The Music {Star Parade 78} [6:36]
2. Take A Chance On Me {Am Laufenden Band} [3:55]
3. The Name Of The Game {Japanese Television Special} [4:48]
4. Thank You For The Music {Mike Yarwood Christmas Show} [4:07]
5. Take A Chance On Me {Star Parade 78} [3:37]
6. ABBA On Tour In 1977 {Rapport, SVT} [3:52]
7. Recording ABBA - The Album {Gomorron Sverige, SVT} [5:10]
8. Blue Peter TV Show {Live on BBC} [4:57]
9. Rapport {ABBA in America, SVT} [4:14]
10. ABBA - The Album Television Commercial I {UK} [0:32]
11. ABBA - The Album Television Commercial II {Australia} [0:59]
12. International Sleeve Gallery [4:26]
13. Credits [1:01]

 

 

Credits

 

All Songs wited by Björn Ulvaeus & Benny andersson.
With Stig anderson  for The Name Of The Game, Move On and I Wonder (Departure)
Spanish lyrics by Buddy & Mary McClusky

 

Musicians

Bass: Rutger Gunnarsson
Drums: Ole Brunkert & Roger Palm (On Take A Chance On Me, One Man , One Woman and Thank You For The Music)
Lead Guitar: Lasse Wellander & Janne Schaffer (Eagle)
Acoustic Guitar: Björn Ulvaeus (Thank You For The Musc, Doris Day Version)
Electric Guitar: Janne Schaffer (Thank You For The Musc, Doris Day Version)
Other Guitar: Björn Ulvaeus & Lasse Wellander
All Keyboars: Benny Andersson
Percussion: Malando Gassama
Saxophones: Lars O. Carlsson
Flute: Lars O. Carlsson
String Arrangements: Rutger Gunnarsson

 

Produced and arranged by Benny Andersson & Björn Ulvaeus
Engineered by Michael B. Tretow
Cover Illustration by Rune Söderqvist & Björn Andersson
Booklet Photos by Karlsson , Hasse Presson, Ola Lager, Bengt H. Malmqvist
Original Art Direction by Rune Söderqvist
Art Direction and Redesign 2001 and Deluxe Edition by Fredrik Hurtig
New Liner Notes 2001 and Deluxe Edition by Carl Magnus Palm
Remastered 2001 by Jon Astley With Michael B. Tretow
Reissue Supervised by Marko Söderström
Reissue Project Coordination by Jeanette Andersson & Margareta Ludström
Deluxe Edition CD mastered by Henrik Jonsson
Deluxe Edition Booklet Photo and Cover Photo by Barry Levine
Deluxe Edition Project coordination by Mia Segolsson