Rating:
Genre:
Rock
Release Date: 10/16/2001
ABBA's fifth album was a marked step forward for the group, having evolved out of
Europop music into a world-class
rock act over their previous two albums, they now proceeded to absorb and assimilate some of the influences around them, particularly the laid-back California sound of
Fleetwood Mac (curiously, like
ABBA, then a band with two couples at its center), as well as some of the attributes of
progressive rock. That they did this without compromising their essential virtues as a
pop ensemble makes this album seem even more extraordinary, though at the time nobody bothered to analyze it --
The Album was simply an incredibly popular release, yielding two British number one singles in
"The Name of the Game" and
"Take a Chance on Me" (which made the Top Five in America, their second-best showing after
"Dancing Queen"), and achieving the quartet's highest-ever showing on the U.S. LP charts, reaching the Top 20 and selling a million copies in six months. The opening number,
"Eagle," dominated by synthesizers and soaring larger-than-life vocal flourishes, is followed by the more lyrical
"Take a Chance on Me," with its luminous
a cappella opening. The whole album is like that, effortlessly straddling
hard rock,
pop/rock,
dance-rock, and
progressive rock -- though the hits tend to stand out in highest relief, there are superb album tracks here, including the driving, lushly harmonized
"Move On" and
"Hole in Your Soul," which provides guitarist
Lasse Wellander with a beautiful showcase for his lead electric playing. The second side of the album is dominated by material from a "mini-musical" called
Girl with the Golden Hair that
Benny Andersson and
Björn Ulvaeus wrote for the concerts on their just-ended tour intended to be used in a dramatically coherent storytelling context. Two of its songs,
"Thank You for the Music" and
"I Wonder (Devotion)," are less exciting than the straight
rock material found elsewhere on the album, though the former became a popular concert number for the quartet, while the latter is the kind of lushly melodic, moodily reflective song that could easily have graced a
Barbra Streisand album of the era. The closer,
"I'm a Marionette," however, is a startlingly bold attempt to recast the influence of
Kurt Weill in a
hard rock mode, ending
The Album on a high note, musically and artistically. [
The Album was reissued in October 2001 in a gatefold format in remastered 24-bit digital audio, which reveals extraordinary detail and richness in every track, and with one delightful bonus cut,
Agnetha Fältskog's beguiling
Doris Day-style interpretation of
"Thank You for the Music."]
~Bruce Eder & William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
;)
Listen
