Abba – Abba (1975)

Back when I was still listening to children's music, there were two artists I listened to that weren't classified as children's music per se. Those bands were Abba and Roxette. Apparently there was something in those simple melodies and cheerfulness in Swedish pop music that worked for me in my early years. I ended up owning this album a lot later though. Probably about seven years ago to be exact. I went through the record collection at my grandmothers house. She said I could take anything I wanted. There were probably some albums that were previously owned by my uncles. One of these albums was this Abba's self-titled album. I haven't really listened to this album that much but I was keen on owning it, since, let's face it, Abba is one of the most popular bands of all times. I like owning classic records even if the music itself is not something I regularly listen to.



The first thing that strikes me now that I'm listening to this album is how varied it is. There are numerous different musical styles that I would never had associated with Abba. Tropical Loveland is a reggae song. Man In the Middle is hot funk. I guess they were interested in trying out some of the musical styles that were popular around the time when this album was released. It almost sounds like Man In the Middle backgrounds were played by Herbie Hancock's band. Rock Me sounds almost like a hidden Queen song in places. Crazy World sounds a bit like a Cat Stevens or Elton John song. Then there are obviously just classic pop songs, such as Mamma Mia and S.O.S. that are familiar to everyone.

To me, Abba was one of the bands that I knew purely based on their compilation albums, so I was surprised to see that there is much more about them than what appears on the first glance. There has been something a bit embarrassing about listening to Abba for the most of my life. I guess it's the cheesiness of it all, or the fact that Finnish people are secretly envious of Sweden's musical success, but Abba wasn't something that you could seriously be listening to. Anyway, I have to say that I really think that Abba is a musical group of highly talented musicians and their songs are extremely well composed. So, my hat goes off to this band even if they got their name from a herring company (we all know that the capital letters of band members' first names was just an excuse).

One of the most persisting myths, which I don't know if it's true or not, is that Abba had to wear such crazy performing outfits so that they could reduce the costs in taxation. In order to do this, the clothes had to look like no-one would wear them in their normal life. This music video of S.O.S. shows some great examples of those outfits even though, by no means, are they the craziest outfits they used.

I'm sure Abba has influenced some great musicians and some bands have actually made amazing versions of their songs. The first song that comes to mind is Portishead's version of S.O.S. This version is just amazing in all its darkness.

Abba was the band of my childhood, and I grew up being somewhat embarrassed about it, but now later on I am quite proud of it actually. When I see what bands other people are embarrassed about from their childhoods, I have nothing to be embarrassed about.

Listen to the album on Spotify.