ABBA- should I seek out any "Deep Cuts"?

Cafe Society
1

In one Thread I started, with which I was very pleased with the responses, we discussed bands as “Get the Greatest Hits Only”, “Get One Particular Album”, “Get the Boxed Set”, or “Get the Whole Catalog”. Original Thread Here.
As far as ABBA is concerned, I don’t even like every song on the Greatest Hits CD (the compilation I’ll be referencing is the 19 track ABBA Gold). In fact, I dislike almost half of the songs.

Normally, if I were to dislike half the songs on a freakin’ Best Of compilation I would have absolutely no interest whatsoever in seeking out any more of the artist’s catalog. Really: I dislike half of the songs on the “Best Of”? If half the songs on your “Best Of” are crap, what chance is there I’d like the songs that didn’t make the cut???

In the case of ABBA, however, the songs that I do like, I like so much that I can’t help think to myself “Damn, this band has just got to have other great songs!!!” Yes, a thought in conflict with my dislike of the rest of the songs I’ve been exposed to- still, I can’t shake the feeling that such great songs can’t have been put out by a group that had nothing else to offer.

So, Doper ABBA fans, am I missing out on anything great? Or should I follow my general rule- if a band can’t please me throughout a “Best Of” album, ignore the rest of their work?
Songs on ABBA Gold that I not only like, but LOVE LOVE LOVE:
Dancing Queen
Knowing Me, Knowing You
Take A Chance On Me
Mamma Mia
Super Trouper
S.O.S.
Chiquitita
Fernando
Does Your Mother Know
One Of Us
Waterloo

Now, if the above songs had been released as an 11track “Best Of”, I may have hazardly run out in search of the entire catalog. Luckily, I was cautioned in that it was actually a 19track compilation including the following crap:

Songs on ABBA Gold that I actually DISLIKE:
Lay All Your Love On Me
I Have A Dream
Winner Takes It All
Money, Money, Money
Voulez Vous
Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)
Name Of The Game
Thank You For The Music
If it helps you to better peg my ABBA likes and dislikes, I’ll mention that I also loke only about half the music from the musical Chess.

2

Their best album was their last, their contractual obligation album: The Visitors. It’s the only Abba album I’ve bothered to hang onto.

3

Well, I think “Arrival” is up there with the best pop albums ever made, by anybody. Side 1 especially, including the unfairly maligned “Dum Dum Diddle”, which is pure Benny Andersson hurdy-gurdy brilliance. The title track is wonderful too. Basically anything that Benny Andersson had a hand in, he’s a genius.

4

Huh?
ABBA was on Polar Records, a Swedish company owned and founded på Stig Andersson, who was also business manager for the group. He also wrote quite a few lyrics.
ABBA split up due to a number of reasons. The divorce between Benny and Frida being cited as the major factor, but Björn and Benny was taking more and more time to work on the musical Chess. There were songs being written for yet another ABBA album, that never happened.

**Usram ** - Benny had a hand in everything the group put out.

5

Precisely :wink:

6

Once song I like that wasn’t mentioned is Eagle. But yeah, best pop band ever.

7

Anyway, good Abba songs that are not in the OP’s “like” list (with which I mostly concur, although I’m disappointed that “Name of the Game” and “Winner Takes it All” are in “Dislike”), in alphabetical order:

Arrival
Happy New Year (terribly cheesy, but the tune is a belter)
My Love My Life
Ring Ring
The Day Before You Came
Under Attack
When I Kissed the Teacher

8

bienville,
Here’s a few of my suggestions. I included similar songs on “Gold” so you know what they sound like. How about “Ring, Ring”? It’s in the same upbeat, fully orchestrated sound as “Waterloo.” “The Day Before You Came” is a ballad that reminds me of “Chiquitita.” “Honey, Honey” is a dance track reminiscent of “Mamma Mia.”

You may run across non-English versions of some of their songs. It’s odd hearing the familiar music with different words. I’d probably not make a special trip to get them, though. Wait a minute, I should have said “you probably;” I actually made a special trip to Sweden for an ABBA CD, only to find they made most of their records in English. What a bummer.

9

I clicked on the topic to mention this - just gorgeous. Beautifully melancholic song about the singer realising the essential mundanity of their existence through the fresh perspective granted by the arrival of the new person referred to in the song title.

For me, its ABBA’s best song.

10

To me, that one sounds more like one of their later songs for musicals than an Abba song. Great lyric to accompany the haunting tune, though - a very clever inversion of a break-up song, which is what it sounds like but which it is not. I think by that stage it was mostly Bjorn doing the lyrics and Benny doing the music, but I could be wrong.

11

If you want to hear ABBA in Swedish, find the ABBA pa svenska CD, which I think has been deleted. It features Swedish versions of some of their songs, plus some of the pre-ABBA songs by the members (all four ABBA members were well known in Sweden before they got together).

There’s a four CD boxed set for all the fanatics.

There’s also a Swedish (and German, Dutch & Spanish) cast recording of Mamma Mia.

12

Thanks for the recommendations- particularly from those of you who have framed your recommendations within the context of my above stated likes and dislikes!