Welcome to Vinyl Stylus, a blog about good music, and what makes music good.

Here, you'll find Rocks In The Attic - a disc by disc journey through my entire vinyl collection.

In a world full of TV talent shows, greatest hits CDs and manufactured pop, take a stroll through something that's good for your ears and good for your soul.

Friday, August 3, 2012

Rocks In The Attic #113: ABBA - ‘ABBA: The Album’ (1977)

Listening to an ABBA album other than Gold: Greatest Hits is a very odd experience. The hits on Gold: Greatest Hits completely overshadow anything else the band ever recorded - much to the disadvantage of some album tracks that aren’t half-bad. In fact, I can’t think of any other band that suffer from this particular quirk. A Greatest Hits collection would usually turn you on to a band’s back catalogue - that’s the aim of the record company - but with Gold: Greatest Hits, much of the world seems to be content with just those nineteen songs. I heard More Gold: More Hits the other day, and aside from a few familiar songs, most of the album left me strangely dissatisfied.

This album is ABBA’s fifth, and is a companion piece to ABBA: The Movie - although not a straightforward soundtrack to that film (only five of the album’s ten tracks are from the film). It was pilfered from my parents’ collection, and I can see from the sticker inside the sleeve that it was purchased from Woolworths, store number 4, on the 3rd of March 1978, which means that my Mum was pregnant with me when she bought it.

Hit: Take A Chance On Me

Hidden Gem: Eagle
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2 comments:

  1. UnknownAugust 4, 2012 at 7:42 AM

    Sly & the Family Stone? They usually get reduced to a handful of big hits, but they did at least two albums that I know that are brilliant from start to finish (Stand! and There's a Riot Going On)
    Abba though, I don't like them. But I do. Don't. Do... You know what I mean...

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  2. UnknownAugust 4, 2012 at 7:53 AM

    Oh, and the Byrds. Officially just a few nice singles. Sometimes even just Turn Turn Turn and Eight Miles High. But I reckon that they are one of the best band of the 60s. Their four albums between 5th Dimension and Sweetheart of the Rodeo are outstanding. In particular the Notorious Byrd Brothers is fantastic, and yet the songs don't even usually appear on their best of albums. Weird.

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