093: ABBA - The Album (1977)
“We have met the enemy and they are them.”
—Robert Christgau
“One of my favorite bands is ABBA.”
—Lemmy Kilmister
Swedish pop band ABBA has become a beloved cultural institution in the four decades since they disbanded, but in a world of ABBA Gold and "Mamma Mia!," the band is typically remembered in terms of individual songs more than in terms of their albums. John, however, got into them primarily through their albums, and for this episode, John lead a discussion (along with Rich, Amanda, and Phil) on ABBA: The Album (aka The Album), the 1977 album by ABBA that in many ways is the most album album that ABBA ever released in a string of terrific albums. Take a chance on the ABBA album, ABBA: The Album, and learn why the band always thought of itself much less as a singles band and much more as an albums band. If you've never heard "Eagle" or "I'm a Marionette," then you have a hole in your soul.
Miscellany
The “Girl with the Golden Hair” musical is available on YouTube as a composite performance with an introduction from a concert in Hamburg and music from a concert in Sydney.
John and Amanda previously talked about “Apache” (and the Shadows in general) back in February 2021, when we did a Patreon bonus episode on greatest hits collections.
Amanda got a lot of information about the shift in emphasis from vocal ability to instrumental ability from the excellent book Freedom Girls: Voicing Femininity in 1960s British Pop by Alexandra Apolloni.
Producer Mike’s theory about the vocals on “Hole in Your Soul” is that they mixed it down, then sped the whole song up by exactly one semitone, and then printed that to tape, which accounts for why it sounds both chipmunky and weirdly compressed.
During this episode’s post-production phase, Mike finally faced his Waterloo and ended up buying not just The Album but The Visitors as well. (He’ll get you next time, poptimists!)
There’s a lot more to Eurovision than the kitschy clips we played in this episode, and subscribers to our Patreon should watch the bonus feed for a special episode on this subject very, very soon.
Spurred by a suggestion from Mike, John created a Spotify playlist, cheekily called “ABBA Plaid,” that compiles 20 of John’s favorite ABBA songs (in chronological order) that don’t appear on the ABBA Gold compilation. Three tracks from The Album (“Eagle,” “One Man, One Woman,” and “I’m a Marionette”) are included on this playlist, which spans from “Hey, Hey Helen” to “The Day Before You Came.”
To be clear, “Slipping Through My Fingers” is not actually a Justin Hayward song, it just really, really sounds like one.
Other links
ABBA's official website (abbasite.com)
“Waterloo” from Eurovision 1974 (YouTube)
“Waterloo” on The Simpsons (YouTube)
ABBA “Take a Chance on Me” video (YouTube)
Erasure “Take a Chance on Me” video (YouTube)
“ABBA Plaid” playlist (Spotify)
Discord & Rhyme’s The Album playlist (Spotify)
Discord & Rhyme Roll Call
John McFerrin (host)
Amanda Rodgers (moderator)
Rich Bunnell
Phil Maddox
ABBA: The Album tracklist
Eagle
Take a Chance on Me
One Man, One Woman
The Name of the Game
Move On
Hole in Your Soul
Thank You for the Music
I Wonder (Departure)
I’m a Marionette
Other clips used
ABBA:
Tiger
Dancing Queen
Ring Ring
Waterloo
S.O.S.
Knowing Me, Knowing You
Voulez-Vous
Hey, Hey Helen
Al Andar
Two for the Price of One
Get on the Carousel
Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)
That’s Me
The Visitors
The King Has Lost His Crown
On and On and On
Intermezzo No. 1
Others:
Iron Maiden/ABBA - Hallowed be the Eagle
Iron Maiden - Flight of Icarus
The Shadows - Apache
Erasure - Take a Chance on Me
The Black Sweden - Enter Sandman/Take a Chance on Me
Olivia Newton-John - Long Live Love (Eurovision 1974)
Mouth and McNeal - I See a Star (Eurovision 1974)
Stevie Wonder - I Wish
Badfinger - Name of the Game
The B-52s - Roam
The Moody Blues - Nothing Changes
Celtic Frost - Circle of the Tyrants
Jimmy Ruffin - What Becomes of the Brokenhearted (alternate mix)
Aerosmith - Hole in My Soul
The Moody Blues - Sitting at the Wheel
The Moody Blues - Here Comes the Weekend
Alvin and the Chipmunks - We’re the Chipmunks
Pierce Brosnan - S.O.S. (from Mamma Mia!)
The Buggles - Johnny on the Monorail
Sandie Shaw - Puppet on a String
France Gall - Poupee De Cire, Poupee De Son
Björn Ulvaeus/Benny Andersson/Tim Rice - One Night in Bangkok
Band/album personnel
Agnetha Fältskog - Vocals
Björn Ulvaeus - Guitars, Vocals
Benny Andersson - Keyboards, Vocals
Anni-Frid Lyngstad - Vocals
Lasse Wellander - Guitars
Janne Schaffer - Guitars
Rutger Gunnarsson - Bass, String Arrangements
Ola Brunkert - Drums
Roger Palm - Drums
Lars O. Carlsson - Flute, Saxophone
Malando Gassama - Percussion
Credits
“Discord & Rhyme (theme),” composed by the Other Leading Brand, contains elements of:
Duran Duran - Hungry Like the Wolf
Amon Düül II - Dehypnotized Toothpaste
The Dukes of Stratosphear - What in the World?? ...
Faith No More - Midlife Crisis
Herbie Hancock - Hornets
Kraftwerk - Autobahn
Talking Heads - Seen and Not Seen
ABBA - Eagle (this episode only)
You can buy or stream The Album and other albums by ABBA at abbavoyage.com, your local record store, or the usual suspects such as Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and Amazon. Follow Discord & Rhyme on Twitter @DiscordPod for news, updates, and other random stuff. Editing is by Rich Bunnell, and special thanks to our own Mike DeFabio, the Other Leading Brand, for production and original music. See you next album, and keep as cool as you can.