You're only smilin' when you play your violin

Continuing my trip back through the 1977 album charts.

28/08/77 : Arrival - ABBA

And two more women - this is getting out of control!!  This is our first "proper" ABBA album - we've have two best-ofs and they are undoubtedly very fine best-ofs (as you can tell because they didn't get totally ignored!).  So much so, that I suspect very few people listen an ABBA studio album these days - the chances are the best tracks are on ABBA Gold and the not so good tracks tend to be a bit twee, so why bother?  Well, let's see - shall we?

Well, it opens with "When I Kiss The Teacher" which is a good enough reason - not on ABBA Gold and some fine harmonies, even if some of the lyrics probably don't stand up to scrutiny these days.  And "Dancing Queen", "Knowing Me, Knowing You" and "Money Money Money" are peak ABBA, aren't they?  After that, "Dum Dum Diddle" is super corny but I still liked it, as I did with "Tiger" - the rest are all fine but maybe don't jump out quite as much as they might, although "Arrival" is a curious way to end the album.  My other main thought was that I'd like to hear Status Quo do a cover of "Why Did I Have To Be Me?" - I reckon they'd probably do a better job with it than ABBA did.  All in all, a fine album - yes, it would be great if it was all as good as "Dancing Queen" but we just have to accept that the high points are so high that some variation in quality is almost inevitable.

We're at #13 in the chart this week on their 41st week of an 83 week run with it having peaked at #1 for its eighth week back in January and then again, somewhat bizarrely, for a nine week run starting in April.  Also, somewhat oddly, it was last seen in the charts at #100 for a single week in '21.  The top five this week were the Connie Francis best-of, Jean Michel Jarre, Fleetwood Mac, A Star Is Born and an Elvis re-entry - he's only got five albums in the chart this week, including the highest (and only) new entry (#12).

Wikipedia has loads on the album (their fourth) but I have to admit I spent a lot more time reading about ambigrams - this is the first time the backwards B appeared in their name and there are some fascinating (and better) examples of ambigrams if you go down that rabbit hole (I did the same when reviewing this album).  The album's entry in comparison is a mostly dull background to each track - the only interesting thing is the critical reviews at the time were not all that great, with our old mate Robert Christgau stating it was "a record of clear professionalism or barely discernible inspiration, but not both".  It did OK commercially though, being the best selling album in the UK in this year and getting to #1 in quite a few countries, but only #20 in the US.

"Customers also listened to" Agnetha Fältskog (who?), Boney M, Village People and Bee Gees - which is a somewhat peculiar mix.  I liked this album though - it's not all great, but "Dancing Queen" or "Knowing Me, Knowing You" are worth the price of admission alone.

21/08/77 - Yes.  Quite.
04/09/77 - Probably not as good as I thought

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