ABBA: The Album

This article is about the 1977 album. It is not to be confused with the 1975 album ABBA (album).

ABBA: The Album (also known as simply The Album) is the fifth studio album by the Swedish pop group ABBA. It was released in Scandinavia on 12 December 1977 through Polar Music, but due to the massive pre-orders the UK pressing plants were not able to press sufficient copies before Christmas 1977 and so it was not released in the UK until January 1978. The album was released in conjunction with ABBA: The Movie, with several of the songs featured in the film. Altogether the album contains nine songs.

ABBA: The Album
Studio album by ABBA
Released	12 December 1977 (1977-12-12)
Recorded	31 May – November 1977
Studio	Marcus, Metronome and Glen Studios, Stockholm and Bohus Studio, Kungälv
Genre	Art rock^[1]
Length	40:01 (Polar LP 1977)
Label	Polar Epic (UK) Atlantic (US original release)
Producer	Benny Andersson Björn Ulvaeus
ABBA chronology
Arrival (1976) ABBA: The Album (1977) Voulez-Vous (1979)
Original UK album cover
Singles from ABBA: The Album
"The Name of the Game" Released: 17 October 1977 "Take a Chance on Me" Released: January 1978 "Eagle"/"Thank You for the Music" Released: May 1978

The album contained two UK number-one singles, "Take a Chance on Me" and "The Name of the Game", as well as European hits "Eagle" and "Thank You for the Music".^[2]

Background and production

The album includes three songs from ABBA's 1977 tour mini-musical The Girl with the Golden Hair performed during each of their European and Australian shows in 1977. Andersson and Ulvaeus wanted to offer more than "a run through of their hits and assorted album tracks" for their concerts.^[3] Although the songs received a "less-than-tumultuous" reception during the first performances of the mini-musical, three of the tracks ("Thank You for the Music", "I Wonder (Departure)" and "I'm a Marionette") were included on the new album. A fourth song written for the musical, "Get on the Carousel", was rewritten as the up-tempo track "Hole in Your Soul" with "a substantial part of the melody [being] incorporated into [its] middle eight". Parts of "Get on the Carousel" appeared in ABBA: The Movie.^[4] The "25-minute opus" had storyline about a talented "small-town girl leaving her hometown" on her "quest for stardom",^[3] with each song representing a different part of her personality. Fältskog and Lyngstad shared the lead-role and wore matching blonde wigs and costumes "for optimum dramatic effect".^[4]

ABBA: The Album was first released on CD in 1984. The album has been reissued in the format by PolyGram (later Universal Music) four times; first in 1997, then in 2001, in 2005 as part of The Complete Studio Recordings box set and again in 2007 as a two disc 'Deluxe Edition'.

On 3 November 2017, the album was released as a double vinyl mastered at Abbey Road Studios using half speed mastering.

Cover artwork

Polar's official cover made by art director Rune Söderqvist featured an entirely white background, and is the basis for current CD versions. However, Epic Records' original UK release of the LP featured a blue background on the front cover, fading to white at the bottom. It also featured a gatefold sleeve. The back cover was altered, incorporating a similar photo of ABBA to that used elsewhere in the world for the inner sleeve, and referencing tracks included in ABBA: The Movie. The inner gatefold was designed to look like an air mail envelope, similar to the style later used for Gracias Por La Música and even had a photo of ABBA incorporated into a stamp in the corner.

This was the first and only time that Epic radically broke away from the standard Polar Music design for an ABBA album. The UK design for ABBA: The Album has only been re-issued on LP format once, in the 2008 european reissue.^[5]

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	^[6]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music	^[7]
NME	7/10^[8]
Rolling Stone	favorable^[9]

The Album received positive reviews from music critics. Bruce Eder from AllMusic website gave the album four out of five stars and wrote that the album marked a "step forward for the group" since they "absorb and assimilate some of the influences around them, particularly the laid-back California sound of Fleetwood Mac (...) as well as some of the attributes of progressive rock" but "without compromising their essential virtues as a pop ensemble".^[6] John Rockwell from the Rolling Stone magazine, gave the album a favorable review and wrote that The Album represents an interesting departure from their past formulas like "innocently superficial lyrics, bouncy Europop music, rock energy and amplification, soaring melodies" to a more mature and intelligent record.^[9] NME wrote a short review to the album when it turned 30 years old, and wrote that the album "still sounds pleasantly nostalgic" and had "some delicious pop nuggets from their Swedish hatch".^[8]

Commercial performance

ABBA: The Album reached No. 1 in many territories. In the UK it debuted at the top and remained there for seven weeks,^[10] ending up as the third biggest selling album of the year (behind the movie soundtrack LPs of Saturday Night Fever and Grease). In the US it became their highest charting album during their original run, where during 1978 ABBA undertook a big promotional campaign.^[2] Due to the Cold War, Western music was actively discouraged throughout Eastern Europe at the time. Despite this, ABBA: The Album sold an unprecedented one million copies in Poland in 1977, exhausting the country's entire allocation of foreign currency. In Russia, only 200,000 copies were permitted to be pressed.^[11]

Track listing

All tracks written by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus except where noted.^[12]

Side one

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Eagle"		5:51
2.	"Take a Chance on Me"		4:05
3.	"One Man, One Woman"		4:33
4.	"The Name of the Game"	Andersson Stig Anderson Ulvaeus	4:54

Side two

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Move On"	Andersson Anderson Ulvaeus	4:42
2.	"Hole in Your Soul"		3:41

The Girl with the Golden Hair: Three Scenes From a Mini-Musical

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
3.	"Thank You for the Music"		3:48
4.	"I Wonder (Departure)"	Andersson Anderson Ulvaeus	4:33
5.	"I'm a Marionette"		3:54
Total length:			40:01

CD edition

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Eagle"	5:50
2.	"Take a Chance on Me"	4:07
3.	"One Man, One Woman"	4:34
4.	"The Name of the Game"	4:54
5.	"Move On"	4:43
6.	"Hole in Your Soul"	3:41
7.	"Thank You for the Music"	3:50
8.	"I Wonder (Departure)"	4:34
9.	"I'm a Marionette"	4:09
Total length:		40:22

2001 CD edition bonus track

No.	Title	Length
10.	"Thank You for the Music" (Doris Day version)	4:03

The Complete Studio Recordings bonus tracks

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
10.	"Al Andar" (Spanish version of Move On)	Andersson Anderson Ulvaeus Buddy McCluskey Mary McCluskey	4:43
11.	"Gracias por la música" (Spanish version of Thank You for the Music)	Andersson Ulvaeus B. McCluskey M. McCluskey	3:49

2007 deluxe edition (The Watershed Album) bonus tracks

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
10.	"Eagle" (single edit)		4:25
11.	"Take a Chance on Me" (live version; alternate mix)		4:25
12.	"Thank You for the Music" (Doris Day version)		4:03
13.	"Al Andar" (Spanish version of Move On)	Andersson Anderson Ulvaeus B. McCluskey M. McCluskey	4:43
14.	"I Wonder (Departure)" (live version)	Andersson Anderson Ulvaeus	4:27
15.	"Gracias por la música" (Spanish version of Thank You for the Music)	Andersson Ulvaeus B. McCluskey M. McCluskey	3:49

2007 deluxe edition DVD

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Eagle"/"Thank You for the Music" (Star Parade, ZDF)
2.	"Take a Chance on Me" (Am Laufenden Band, Radio Bremen)
3.	"The Name of the Game" (ABBA Special, TBS)
4.	"Thank You for the Music" (Mike Yarwood's Christmas Show, BBC)
5.	"Take a Chance on Me" (Star Parade, ZDF)
6.	"ABBA on Tour in 1977" (Rapport, SVT)
7.	"Recording ABBA – The Album" (Gomorron Sverige, SVT)
8.	"ABBA in London, February 1978" (Blue Peter, BBC)
9.	"ABBA in America, May 1978" (Rapport, SVT)
10.	"ABBA – The Album Television Commercial I" (UK)
11.	"ABBA – The Album Television Commercial II" (Australia)
12.	"International sleeve gallery"

Personnel

Cited from liner notes.^[13]

ABBA

• Agnetha Fältskog – lead, harmony, and backing vocals
• Anni-Frid Lyngstad – lead, harmony, and backing vocals
• Björn Ulvaeus – harmony and backing vocals, acoustic and electric rhythm guitars, spoken word lead vocals on “Move On”
• Benny Andersson – harmony and backing vocals, keyboards, synthesizers

Additional musicians

• Lasse Wellander – lead guitar (except “Eagle”), acoustic and electric rhythm guitars
• Janne Schaffer – lead guitar on "Eagle"
• Rutger Gunnarsson – bass, string arrangements
• Ola Brunkert – drums (except “Take A Chance on Me,” “One Man, One Woman,”, and “Thank You For The Music”)
• Roger Palm – drums (on "Take a Chance on Me",^[14] "One Man, One Woman", and "Thank You for the Music")
• Lars O. Carlsson – flute, saxophone
• Malando Gassama – percussion

Production

• Benny Andersson – producer, arranger
• Björn Ulvaeus – producer, arranger
• Michael B. Tretow – engineer
• Rune Söderqvist – design
• Barry Levine – photography
• Björn Andersson – illustrations
• Rune Söderqvist – illustrations
• Jon Astley – remastering (1997 re-issue, 2001 re-issue)
• Tim Young – remastering (1997 re-issue)
• Michael B. Tretow – remastering (1997 re-issue, 2001 re-issue)
• Henrik Jonsson – remastering (The Complete Studio Recordings box set)

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (1977–78) Peak position Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)^[15] 4 Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)^[16] 2 Canada Top Albums/CDs (RPM)^[17] 8 Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)^[18] 1 Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)^[19] 2 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)^[20] 2 Italian Albums (Musica e dischi)^[21] 25 Japanese Albums (Oricon)^[22] 9 New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)^[23] 1 Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)^[24] 1 Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)^[25] 1 UK Albums (OCC)^[26] 1 US Billboard 200^[27] 14 Chart (2021) Peak position Greek Albums (IFPI Greece)^[28] 41 Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)^[25] 29

Year-end charts Chart (1978) Position Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)^[29] 2 Canada Top Albums/CDs (RPM)^[30] 42 Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)^[31] 4 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)^[32] 5 New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)^[33] 19 UK Albums (OCC)^[34] 3 US Billboard 200^[35] 22

Certifications and sales

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)^[36]	Platinum	50,000^^
Canada (Music Canada)^[37]	2× Platinum	200,000^^
Czechoslovakia	—	100,000^[38]
Denmark	—	225,000^[39]
Finland (Musiikkituottajat)^[40]	Platinum	57,618^[40]
France	—	150,000^[41]
Germany (BVMI)^[42]	Platinum	500,000^^
Hong Kong (IFPI Hong Kong)^[43]	Platinum	20,000^*
Japan	—	300,000^[44]
Netherlands (NVPI)^[45]	Platinum	100,000^^
Norway	—	200,840^[46]
Sweden	—	753,420^[47]
United Kingdom (BPI)^[49]	Platinum	1,000,000^[48]
United States (RIAA)^[51]	Platinum	1,300,000^[50]
^* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

1. Sheffield, Rob (11 August 2018). "The 25 Best ABBA Songs, Ranked". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
2. Rees, Dafydd; Crampton, Luke (1991). Guinness Book of Rock Stars. Enfield: Guinness Publishing Ltd. p. 1. ISBN 0-85112-971-4.
3. Palm, Carl Magnus (1 September 2008). Bright Lights Dark Shadows: The Real Story of Abba. ISBN 9781847724199.
4. Tesch, Christopher Patrick (2008). ABBA : let the music speak : an armchair guide to the musical soundscape of the Swedish supergroup (1st ed.). Fairfield Gardens, Qld.: Christopher J N Patrick. pp. 43–45. ISBN 9780646496764.
5. "ABBA – The Album (2008, 180g, Gatefold,, Vinyl)". Discogs.com. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
6. Eder, Bruce. "The Album - ABBA | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
7. Larkin, Colin (2007). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th Concise ed.). United Kingdom: Omnibus Press. p. 31. ISBN 978-1-84609-856-7.
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9. Rockwell, John (23 March 1978). . Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 14 January 2009. Retrieved 19 November 2011.
10. "Official Charts Company". www.officialcharts.com. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
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12. . Archived from the original on 21 May 2017. Retrieved 8 June 2013.
13. ABBA: The Album (booklet). ABBA. New York: Atlantic Records. 1977.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
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15. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970-1992. St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 10. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
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43. . IFPI Hong Kong. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
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