ABBA (Album)

Labels

  • Polar ( Scandinavia)
  • Polydor ( Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Netherlands ... )
  • Epic ( UK )
  • RCA ( Australia)
  • Vouge / Baboo (France)

Term

  • 36 min 9 s ( 11 items)
  • 44 min 43 s ( 13 items)
  • 51 min 36 s ( 18 items)

ABBA is the third album by the Swedish pop group ABBA. It was published in 1975 and was largely recorded in the Glen studios in Stockholm. The album was ABBA's decisive step towards an international career.

  • 2.1 Page 1
  • 2.2 Page 2
  • 2.3 Bonus tracks
  • 3.1 album
  • 3.2 Singles

Genesis

Start Taking Pictures

After the victory of the group at Euro Vision Song Contest, the title Waterloo held until mid-May at the top of the charts in the UK. To be able to repeat their success, ABBA devoted to record their next album together, which began on 22 August 1974 at the following summer. The first songs were man in the middle, So Long and SOS. It was planned to finish the album before year end. However, this failed because of the autumn tour, which took place in November 1974. Before the start of yet Hey, Hey Helen, Bang -A- Boomerang, I've Been Waiting for You, Rock Me and Crazy World were taken in September and October.

Around the same time with the beginning of the tour also appeared So Long as the first single of the recording sessions. Both the concert tour and the single was not a success. The very first concert in Copenhagen on November 17, 1974 was not sold out, just as the following concerts in Hanover, Munich and Vienna. The measures provided for concerts in Dusseldorf and Zurich were ultimately canceled completely due to bad ticket sales. In December, the instrumental Intermezzo No.1 was produced, which was also used on stage as the opening. Under the foiled by the tour promotion also suffered the single So Long, who arrived only in Austria, Sweden and New Zealand in the top ten and seen commercial was a flop.

Release of the album and first reactions

On 10 January 1975, the Scandinavian tour began with a concert in Oslo, which was quickly sold out. The ticket sales in Sweden and Finland went well, and the concerts were more successful overall than in Central Europe. From the end of February, four artists were able to focus on the final studio recording of Tropical Loveland, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do and Mamma Mia. The release of the album, entitled ABBA took place on 21 April 1975 and it rose in Sweden at number 1 on the album charts. In seven other countries it reached the Top Ten. By the end of the year nearly 500,000 copies were sold in Sweden.

Also in April 1975, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do was released as a single. Although she was able to lead the charts in four countries, not the longed-for success in the British charts showed. The song was criticized by numerous magazines and only reached # 38 Since the success of Waterloo a year had now already gone by, and ABBA had not managed still to repeat this performance. Gradually, you began in spring 1975 with the production of music videos for I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, SOS, Mamma Mia and Bang -A- Boomerang, directed by Lasse Hallström, who in 1974 at had led the music clips to ring Ring and Waterloo director. The work on the videos created with a relatively small budget of 50,000 crowns.

Success in Australia and return to the international charts

In the summer of 1975, ABBA led a month-long tour of the Swedish folk parks, which started on 17 June and was seen throughout the course of more than 100,000 spectators, making the group set a record. Shortly before the song included on the album SOS was released as a single. Towards the end of the concert tour in July 1975 I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do topped the single I Do, in the Australian singles chart and rose over the next few weeks more and more on what the producers of the Australian television program Countdown to prompted even the broadcast both the associated music clip as Mamma Mia as part of the show. In particular, Mamma Mia impressed the Australian audience, so that when record label RCA Records arrived countless requests for a single and a re- broadcast of the video clips. Although Polar Music, in which ABBA was under contract, initially spoke out against another single release, there was pressure from RCA ultimately after, and Mamma Mia was released in September 1975 as a single in Australia.

In October 1975, the single I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do reached # 1 on the Australian singles chart and held the top position for three weeks before she was replaced by Mamma Mia, which topped the charts ten weeks. Could then occupy the top spot for a week and the single SOS, which ABBA behind the other with three singles lingered a total of 14 weeks at No. 1. The album ABBA reached # 1 on the album charts and remained there twelve weeks. Despite the predominantly restrained media coverage of the group, Australia was very difficult to "ABBA Fever ". About five months ABBA was present both in the charts and on radio and television. In addition, the single Rock Me was released in Australia even further, which reached fourth place.

Meanwhile, ABBA also returned in the UK with SOS in the top ten back. In October, the single reached the 6th place in the UK singles chart, and in Germany SOS was the first of six number-one hits in a row. Inspired by the great success of Mamma Mia in Australia the single was now decoupled in Europe, reaching on 31 January 1976 as the first ABBA song since Waterloo the 1st place of the British charts.

Title list

Page 1

Page 2

Bonus title

Publications and chart success

In Germany, the album was initially released under the original name Abba, then under the title Mamma Mia It contains the same tracks as on the original version and in addition So Long as the last number. The LP rose only on 15 March 1976 in the charts, reaching number 31

Album

Singles

Sources and Literature

  • "ABBA Annual" of 1974, 1975 and 1976
  • ABBA - The Worldwide Chart Lists
  • Carl Magnus Palm: light and shadow. ABBA - The True Story. Bosworth Musikverlag, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-86543-100-4 ( German translation: Helmut Müller).
  • Carl Magnus Palm: Abba. Story and songs compact. Bosworth Music, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-86543-227-8 ( German translation: Cecilia Senge ).
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