ABBA Discography

ABBA DISCOGRAPHY

The following are all the studio albums released by ABBA, and their one and only live album. ABBA has also released many compilation album, but they don't really count, since all the songs on them already exist on these albums.
So these are all you need! :o)

Ring Ring Ring Ring
Released March 26 1973
Although the first ABBA album, 'Ring Ring' was not the only album to be recorded during a long time-span, it's path to a finished product certainly was more crooked and unfocussed than that of any of the subsequent projects. This, of course, was primarily because ABBA did not really exist as a group in late March 1972, when recording sessions started for the first song that would eventually end up on the album ('People Need Love'). Another reason was Bjorn and Benny's many commitments as producers of other Polar acts, which would take up much of their spare time (although increasingly less so) until mid-1976.
"The things we produced for ourselves as Bjorn and Benny were not our primary concern in 1971 and 1972," says Bjorn. "It was the sessions we produced for other acts that simply had to be done, while our own stuff was recorded in our spare time, and during that long period, our career direction gradually changed."
(From ABBA - The Complete Recording Sessionsby Carl Magnus Palm)
Waterloo Waterloo
Released March 4 1974
ABBA's second (and U.S. debut) album contains the American Top Ten title track, as well as "Honey, Honey," a minor U.S. hit that deserved better. This album is rather unusual in the group's output, however, for the fact that the guys are still featured fairly prominently in some of the vocals, and for the variety of sounds — including reggae, folk-rock, and hard rock — embraced by its songs. The reggae number "Sitting in the Palmtree" is quite remarkable to hear, with its perfect Caribbean beat and those radiant female voices carrying the chorus behind the beat. "King Kong Song" is a good example of hard rock by rote, going through the motions of screaming vocals and over-amplified guitar (courtesy of Janne Schaffer), although even here, when the women's voices jump in on the choruses, it's hard not to listen attentively; the quartet knew what a powerful weapon they had, but not quite how to use it. They get a little closer to their winning formula on the catchy, folky-textured pop song "Hasta Mañana," which sounds like a lost Mary Hopkin number. "Dance (While the Music Still Goes On)" is on the money, as the embodiment of the Euro-disco sound that the group would move in the millions on their coming albums, although it also embraces a vague oldies sound, with a melody that somehow reminds this listener of both the Four Seasons' "Dawn" and the Beach Boys' "Don't Worry Baby." [The 1999 Polygram remastering added no songs but was still a significant improvement over the original LP or earlier CD editions. Waterloo was also reissued in October of 2001 in a digipack format with extensive new notes, even crisper state-of-the-art sound, and three bonus cuts, the 1974 remix of "Ring, Ring" and the Swedish versions of "Waterloo" and "Honey Honey" — their presence, and the 24-bit digital audio, only serve to make a beautiful album even better.] — Bruce Eder
Abba ABBA
Released April 11 1975
ABBA's self-titled third album was the one that really broke the group on a worldwide basis. The Eurovision Song Contest winner "Waterloo" had been a major international hit and "Honey, Honey" a more modest one, but ABBA was still an exotic novelty to most of those outside Scandinavia until the release of ABBA in the spring of 1975. "I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do," a schmaltzy tribute to the sound of '50s orchestra leader Billy Vaughn, seemed an unlikely first single, and indeed it barely scraped into the Top 40 in the U.K. But in Australia, it topped the charts, causing the Australian record company to pull its own second single, "Mamma Mia," off the album. This far more appealing pop/rock number followed its predecessor into the pole position Down Under and also topped the charts throughout Europe. "Bang-A-Boomerang," another big production, was less memorable and had less of an impact, but "S.O.S." brought ABBA back to big success in the U.S. and the U.K., pulling along the first two singles. Beyond these tracks, the LP-only songs showed off the group's eclecticism, from the crunchy hard rock guitar riff that propelled "Hey, Hey Helen" to the ambitious instrumental "Intermezzo No. 1," which showed off Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus' classical leanings and foreshadowed their bigger composing projects of the 1980s. ABBA was a surprisingly effective synthesis of pop and rock styles, surprising because the non-English-speaking world had not produced such effective Anglo-American-style contemporary music before, at least for more than a song or two. (The 2001 reissue of ABBA, first released internationally and finally in the U.S., contains "Crazy World," a song from the sessions for the album later released as a B-side, and a medley of folk songs first heard on a charity album.) — William Ruhlmann
Arrival Arrival
Released October 11 1976
Arguably one of ABBA's best albums (it's Benny's favourite), and certainly their best album this far, 'Arrival' would stand up as a classic pop album in any group's oeuvre. Only two months later, the album had sold close to 600.000 copies in Sweden, over 450.000 in England, and over 800.000 in Australia, to name but a few staggering sales figures.
Arriving in 1976, Arrival marked the mid-point of the band's chart-topping career, when its powers of pop creativity were at their peak, before both the double marriages and the uncanny ability to give the people what they wanted began to fade (Abba -- The Movie would drop like a too-heavy potato pancake the following year). Like all of the group's official studio offerings, there are a handful of hit tracks that have since become ubiquitous if not inescapable parts of popular culture: After Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive," "Dancing Queen" is probably the ultimate anthem of the disco era, and it was the group's only No. 1 hit in the U.S.
The slyly sarcastic (or is it?) "Money, Money, Money" is one of a handful of great pop songs celebrating the subject, made all the richer when you consider how much lucre Abba was raking in while bemoaning (or was it celebrating?) the "rich man's world." Until Madonna's "La Isla Bonita," the castanet-driven "Fernando" would stand as the most endearingly silly example of blue-eyed Latin music ever to hit the airwaves. And then of course there is "Knowing Me, Knowing You," a foreshadowing of the beginning of the end (by 1980, both couples would be divorced), but one of its strongest moments musically as perfect an artistic expression of overwhelming melancholia as any Bergman film.
These hits are masterpieces, one and all, but the connecting tracks are no mere filler as some have contended. Though the hooks may be a hair less pristine and the productions slightly less flawless than those of the mad-scientist singles, these very glimpses of the human beings behind the indomitable bubblegum machine are what true fans find most rewarding. The girls rock out with an amusing impression of wanton American teens in "When I Kissed the Teacher," while "My Love, My Life" recollects old-world operatic traditions. "Dum Dum Diddle" is one of those so-stupid-it's-sublime throwaways, while "That's Me" is a nice little expression of female empowerment; "Happy Hawaii" is as pleasant a tourist commercial as any Don Ho ever gave us; "Why Did It Have to Be Me" is a '50s-feeling teen ballad posing a timeless question of existential angst; "Tiger" one-ups Survivor as aerobic workout music; and the title track instrumental serves as a nice big bow on a pretty pop package -- a gift, really, from the greatness that was Abba to a world that was happy to hum along.
(From ABBA - The Complete Recording Sessionsby Carl Magnus Palm)
The Album The Album
Released December 23 1977
'The Album' was of course an instant success all over the world, selling an unprecedented 760.000 copies in Sweden alone. It was also a new step towards musical complexity for the group with only three of the nine songs clocking in under four minutes. Bjorn himself proclaimed it "our best album yet" and was justifiable proud of the lyrics, while also acknoledging the fact that several of the songs had been subject to extensive re-recordings.Bjorn: "With 'Take A Chance On Me' I started out with a combination of consonant sounds going round my head, 't-k-ch, t-k-ch, t-k-ch', which I felt were really rhythmic and sounded great. Then I had to find words that contained those sounds, and eventually I landed on 'take a chance' and simply added 'on me' to that. Once I have settled upon a hookline, I start thinking 'what does that mean, is there a story in there somewhere?', and then I build the rest of the lyrics around that line."
(From ABBA - The Complete Recording Sessionsby Carl Magnus Palm)
Voulez-Vous Voulez-Vous
Released April 23 1979
An instant worldwide succes, 'Voulez-Vous' arguably stands up as one of the more cohesive ABBA albums, with a rhythmic disco feel to many of the tracks, and focussing more on classic pop song qualitys and less versatility and variation.
There can be little argument that 1978 and 1979 to a large extent were the years of disco as far as ABBA were concerned, and both Bjorn and Benny acknowledged that they were very inspired by the Bee Gees and their recent success with their songs from the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack.
"I don't know if that was such a good idea, though, to let the inspiration of what others are doing take over to the point where you are almost imitating them," says Benny.
(From ABBA - The Complete Recording Sessionsby Carl Magnus Palm)
Super Trouper Super Trouper
Released November 3 1980
The original plan for the next album cover was to make a picture on location at 'Picadilly Circus' in London, featuring ABBA surrounded by real circus performers and animals.
When the arrangements proved to be too difficult, that idea was abandoned, and pictures were taken just in a studio, although the circus theme was retained. "We hadn't planned to call the new song 'Super Trouper' as well," says Bjorn, "but strangely enough, those words just happened to fit. Once we had that title it was difficult to come up with lyrics that made sense, though - imagine trying to write about a damned spotlight!".
On the night of 3rd October 1980, the cover picture and scenes for what was to become the 'Super Trouper' video were shot, with ABBA being surrounded by a mixture of bona fide circus performers, friends and Polar employees.
(From ABBA - The Complete Recording Sessionsby Carl Magnus Palm)
The Visitors The Visitors
Released November 30 1981
ABBA's last album found them taking that last definitive step away from the easy pop sound that had to some degree been retained on the 'Super Trouper' album, and into bleak maturity.
All four members agree that this album became a little too heavy and morose, and Benny says that they had already tried to keep the arrangements simple, in accordance with the philosophy of focussing on the melody rather than studio trickery that has guided his work ever since.
"The reason for the girls singing solo in the verses is that I felt that the lyrics had suddenly become more real to me," says Bjorn. "I could 'hear' what they were singing, whereas in the early days that hadn't mattered as much. To have two voices singing this kind of lyrics was completely unnatural to me."
(From ABBA - The Complete Recording Sessionsby Carl Magnus Palm)
Live ABBA LIVE
Released August 18 1986
Although there had been talk of a live album ever since 1977, it took until 1986 to finally get it released. To a varying degree, all 4 members of ABBA enjoyed being on stage (perhaps Frida more so than the others), but it seems that they did not really see the point of releasing a live album.
I hate live albums myself says Björn. It's boring to hear 'reproductions' of songs that sound much beter in the studio. That kind of thing onlyworks with artists who somehow re-interpret their material on stage."
Since there had been a certain demand for an ABBA live album for several years, they decided to go along with it anyway, and Michael Tretow was duly commissioned to remix the recordings.
The tapes sounded okay, so we just said 'well, go ahead and release it, then', says Björn.There was nothing to be ashamed of.
(From ABBA - The Complete Recording Sessions by Carl Magnus Palm)

	Ring Ring Released March 26 1973 Although the first ABBA album, 'Ring Ring' was not the only album to be recorded during a long time-span, it's path to a finished product certainly was more crooked and unfocussed than that of any of the subsequent projects. This, of course, was primarily because ABBA did not really exist as a group in late March 1972, when recording sessions started for the first song that would eventually end up on the album ('People Need Love'). Another reason was Bjorn and Benny's many commitments as producers of other Polar acts, which would take up much of their spare time (although increasingly less so) until mid-1976. "The things we produced for ourselves as Bjorn and Benny were not our primary concern in 1971 and 1972," says Bjorn. "It was the sessions we produced for other acts that simply had to be done, while our own stuff was recorded in our spare time, and during that long period, our career direction gradually changed." (From ABBA - The Complete Recording Sessionsby Carl Magnus Palm)
	Waterloo Released March 4 1974 ABBA's second (and U.S. debut) album contains the American Top Ten title track, as well as "Honey, Honey," a minor U.S. hit that deserved better. This album is rather unusual in the group's output, however, for the fact that the guys are still featured fairly prominently in some of the vocals, and for the variety of sounds — including reggae, folk-rock, and hard rock — embraced by its songs. The reggae number "Sitting in the Palmtree" is quite remarkable to hear, with its perfect Caribbean beat and those radiant female voices carrying the chorus behind the beat. "King Kong Song" is a good example of hard rock by rote, going through the motions of screaming vocals and over-amplified guitar (courtesy of Janne Schaffer), although even here, when the women's voices jump in on the choruses, it's hard not to listen attentively; the quartet knew what a powerful weapon they had, but not quite how to use it. They get a little closer to their winning formula on the catchy, folky-textured pop song "Hasta Mañana," which sounds like a lost Mary Hopkin number. "Dance (While the Music Still Goes On)" is on the money, as the embodiment of the Euro-disco sound that the group would move in the millions on their coming albums, although it also embraces a vague oldies sound, with a melody that somehow reminds this listener of both the Four Seasons' "Dawn" and the Beach Boys' "Don't Worry Baby." [The 1999 Polygram remastering added no songs but was still a significant improvement over the original LP or earlier CD editions. Waterloo was also reissued in October of 2001 in a digipack format with extensive new notes, even crisper state-of-the-art sound, and three bonus cuts, the 1974 remix of "Ring, Ring" and the Swedish versions of "Waterloo" and "Honey Honey" — their presence, and the 24-bit digital audio, only serve to make a beautiful album even better.] — Bruce Eder
	ABBA Released April 11 1975 ABBA's self-titled third album was the one that really broke the group on a worldwide basis. The Eurovision Song Contest winner "Waterloo" had been a major international hit and "Honey, Honey" a more modest one, but ABBA was still an exotic novelty to most of those outside Scandinavia until the release of ABBA in the spring of 1975. "I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do," a schmaltzy tribute to the sound of '50s orchestra leader Billy Vaughn, seemed an unlikely first single, and indeed it barely scraped into the Top 40 in the U.K. But in Australia, it topped the charts, causing the Australian record company to pull its own second single, "Mamma Mia," off the album. This far more appealing pop/rock number followed its predecessor into the pole position Down Under and also topped the charts throughout Europe. "Bang-A-Boomerang," another big production, was less memorable and had less of an impact, but "S.O.S." brought ABBA back to big success in the U.S. and the U.K., pulling along the first two singles. Beyond these tracks, the LP-only songs showed off the group's eclecticism, from the crunchy hard rock guitar riff that propelled "Hey, Hey Helen" to the ambitious instrumental "Intermezzo No. 1," which showed off Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus' classical leanings and foreshadowed their bigger composing projects of the 1980s. ABBA was a surprisingly effective synthesis of pop and rock styles, surprising because the non-English-speaking world had not produced such effective Anglo-American-style contemporary music before, at least for more than a song or two. (The 2001 reissue of ABBA, first released internationally and finally in the U.S., contains "Crazy World," a song from the sessions for the album later released as a B-side, and a medley of folk songs first heard on a charity album.) — William Ruhlmann
	Arrival Released October 11 1976 Arguably one of ABBA's best albums (it's Benny's favourite), and certainly their best album this far, 'Arrival' would stand up as a classic pop album in any group's oeuvre. Only two months later, the album had sold close to 600.000 copies in Sweden, over 450.000 in England, and over 800.000 in Australia, to name but a few staggering sales figures. Arriving in 1976, Arrival marked the mid-point of the band's chart-topping career, when its powers of pop creativity were at their peak, before both the double marriages and the uncanny ability to give the people what they wanted began to fade (Abba -- The Movie would drop like a too-heavy potato pancake the following year). Like all of the group's official studio offerings, there are a handful of hit tracks that have since become ubiquitous if not inescapable parts of popular culture: After Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive," "Dancing Queen" is probably the ultimate anthem of the disco era, and it was the group's only No. 1 hit in the U.S. The slyly sarcastic (or is it?) "Money, Money, Money" is one of a handful of great pop songs celebrating the subject, made all the richer when you consider how much lucre Abba was raking in while bemoaning (or was it celebrating?) the "rich man's world." Until Madonna's "La Isla Bonita," the castanet-driven "Fernando" would stand as the most endearingly silly example of blue-eyed Latin music ever to hit the airwaves. And then of course there is "Knowing Me, Knowing You," a foreshadowing of the beginning of the end (by 1980, both couples would be divorced), but one of its strongest moments musically as perfect an artistic expression of overwhelming melancholia as any Bergman film. These hits are masterpieces, one and all, but the connecting tracks are no mere filler as some have contended. Though the hooks may be a hair less pristine and the productions slightly less flawless than those of the mad-scientist singles, these very glimpses of the human beings behind the indomitable bubblegum machine are what true fans find most rewarding. The girls rock out with an amusing impression of wanton American teens in "When I Kissed the Teacher," while "My Love, My Life" recollects old-world operatic traditions. "Dum Dum Diddle" is one of those so-stupid-it's-sublime throwaways, while "That's Me" is a nice little expression of female empowerment; "Happy Hawaii" is as pleasant a tourist commercial as any Don Ho ever gave us; "Why Did It Have to Be Me" is a '50s-feeling teen ballad posing a timeless question of existential angst; "Tiger" one-ups Survivor as aerobic workout music; and the title track instrumental serves as a nice big bow on a pretty pop package -- a gift, really, from the greatness that was Abba to a world that was happy to hum along. (From ABBA - The Complete Recording Sessionsby Carl Magnus Palm)
	The Album Released December 23 1977 'The Album' was of course an instant success all over the world, selling an unprecedented 760.000 copies in Sweden alone. It was also a new step towards musical complexity for the group with only three of the nine songs clocking in under four minutes. Bjorn himself proclaimed it "our best album yet" and was justifiable proud of the lyrics, while also acknoledging the fact that several of the songs had been subject to extensive re-recordings.Bjorn: "With 'Take A Chance On Me' I started out with a combination of consonant sounds going round my head, 't-k-ch, t-k-ch, t-k-ch', which I felt were really rhythmic and sounded great. Then I had to find words that contained those sounds, and eventually I landed on 'take a chance' and simply added 'on me' to that. Once I have settled upon a hookline, I start thinking 'what does that mean, is there a story in there somewhere?', and then I build the rest of the lyrics around that line." (From ABBA - The Complete Recording Sessionsby Carl Magnus Palm)
	Voulez-Vous Released April 23 1979 An instant worldwide succes, 'Voulez-Vous' arguably stands up as one of the more cohesive ABBA albums, with a rhythmic disco feel to many of the tracks, and focussing more on classic pop song qualitys and less versatility and variation. There can be little argument that 1978 and 1979 to a large extent were the years of disco as far as ABBA were concerned, and both Bjorn and Benny acknowledged that they were very inspired by the Bee Gees and their recent success with their songs from the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. "I don't know if that was such a good idea, though, to let the inspiration of what others are doing take over to the point where you are almost imitating them," says Benny. (From ABBA - The Complete Recording Sessionsby Carl Magnus Palm)
	Super Trouper Released November 3 1980 The original plan for the next album cover was to make a picture on location at 'Picadilly Circus' in London, featuring ABBA surrounded by real circus performers and animals. When the arrangements proved to be too difficult, that idea was abandoned, and pictures were taken just in a studio, although the circus theme was retained. "We hadn't planned to call the new song 'Super Trouper' as well," says Bjorn, "but strangely enough, those words just happened to fit. Once we had that title it was difficult to come up with lyrics that made sense, though - imagine trying to write about a damned spotlight!". On the night of 3rd October 1980, the cover picture and scenes for what was to become the 'Super Trouper' video were shot, with ABBA being surrounded by a mixture of bona fide circus performers, friends and Polar employees. (From ABBA - The Complete Recording Sessionsby Carl Magnus Palm)
	The Visitors Released November 30 1981 ABBA's last album found them taking that last definitive step away from the easy pop sound that had to some degree been retained on the 'Super Trouper' album, and into bleak maturity. All four members agree that this album became a little too heavy and morose, and Benny says that they had already tried to keep the arrangements simple, in accordance with the philosophy of focussing on the melody rather than studio trickery that has guided his work ever since. "The reason for the girls singing solo in the verses is that I felt that the lyrics had suddenly become more real to me," says Bjorn. "I could 'hear' what they were singing, whereas in the early days that hadn't mattered as much. To have two voices singing this kind of lyrics was completely unnatural to me." (From ABBA - The Complete Recording Sessionsby Carl Magnus Palm)
	ABBA LIVE Released August 18 1986 Although there had been talk of a live album ever since 1977, it took until 1986 to finally get it released. To a varying degree, all 4 members of ABBA enjoyed being on stage (perhaps Frida more so than the others), but it seems that they did not really see the point of releasing a live album. I hate live albums myself says Björn. It's boring to hear 'reproductions' of songs that sound much beter in the studio. That kind of thing onlyworks with artists who somehow re-interpret their material on stage." Since there had been a certain demand for an ABBA live album for several years, they decided to go along with it anyway, and Michael Tretow was duly commissioned to remix the recordings. The tapes sounded okay, so we just said 'well, go ahead and release it, then', says Björn.There was nothing to be ashamed of. (From ABBA - The Complete Recording Sessions by Carl Magnus Palm)