ABBA: The Album

This article is about the 1977 album. 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, Stockholm Metronome, Stockholm Glen, Stockholm Bohus, Kungälv
Genre	Art rock[1][2] dance-rock[2] pop[3]
Length	39:53 (Polar 1977 LP)
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 "Move On" Released: 1979

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".^[4]

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.^[5] 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.^[6] The "25-minute opus" had a storyline about a talented "small-town girl leaving her hometown" on her "quest for stardom",^[5] 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".^[6]

Release

ABBA: The Album was released in Scandinavia on 12 December 1977. It 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".

The deluxe edition was issued for the album's 30th anniversary and consisted of two discs.^[7][8] The first one was a CD version of the album, expanded with six bonus tracks, and featuring the first recording of "Thank You for the Music", known as the Doris Day version due to Agnetha's vocal inspiration.^[7][8] The second one was a DVD of previously unreleased TV material, which included: two performances of "Take a Chance on Me" from ZDF's Star Parade and Radio Bremen's Am laufende Band; two performances of "Thank You for the Music" from Star Parade (performed alongside "Eagle") and Mike Yarwood's Christmas Show; a "The Name of the Game" performance from the Japanese ABBA Special (on TBS); a February 1978 interview with the band from BBC's Blue Peter, titled "ABBA in London"; three SVT news reports on the band: two from Rapport, titled "ABBA in America" (May 1978) and "ABBA on tour in 1977", and one from Gomorron Sverige, titled "Recording ABBA – The Album"; two ABBA: The Album television commercials; and the "International Sleeve Gallery".^[7][8] This set also featured a 28-page illustrated booklet with an essay on the making of the album.^[7][8]

On November 3, 2017, ABBA: The Album was reissued for its 40th anniversary with a half-speed mastered, 45rpm cut double-LP version of the original album, featuring new liner notes by Carl Magnus Palm; a 7” singles box set of "The Name of the Game", "Take a Chance on Me", and "Eagle", pressed on colored vinyl (blue, red and yellow, respectively); and 7" picture discs of each of these three singles.^[9][10]

Album cover

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.^[11]

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[12]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[13]
NME	7/10[3]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[14]
Spin Alternative Record Guide	8/10[15]

The Album received positive reviews from music critics. Bruce Eder from AllMusic 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".^[12] John Rockwell from Rolling Stone 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.^[16] 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".^[3]

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,^[17] 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.^[4]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, except where noted.

Side one

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Eagle"		5:51
2.	"Take a Chance on Me"		4:05
3.	"One Man, One Woman"		4:25
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
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:			39:53

Notes

• The album's last three tracks were originally from the 1977 tour mini-musical The Girl with the Golden Hair. They are presented on the album as "3 scenes from a mini-musical" and are listed from A to C.^[18][19]

Deluxe edition

Released for the album's 30th anniversary. All tracks are written by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, except where noted.

Bonus tracks

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Eagle" (single edit)		4:25
2.	"Take a Chance on Me" (live version; alternate mix)		4:25
3.	"Thank You for the Music" (Doris Day version)		4:03
4.	"Al andar" (Spanish version of "Move On")	Andersson Stig Anderson Ulvaeus Buddy McCluskey Mary McCluskey	4:43
5.	"I Wonder (Departure)" (live version; B-side of "The Name of the Game")	Andersson Anderson Ulvaeus	4:27
6.	"Gracias por la música" (Spanish version of "Thank You for the Music")	Andersson Anderson Ulvaeus B. McCluskey M. McCluskey	3:49

Personnel

Adapted from the album's liner notes and AllMusic.^[12][20]

ABBA

• Agnetha Fältskog – lead vocals (5, 7), co-lead vocals (1, 2, 4, 6, 9), backing vocals
• Anni-Frid Lyngstad – lead vocals (3, 8), co-lead vocals (1, 2, 4, 6, 9), backing vocals
• Björn Ulvaeus – acoustic guitar, electric guitar, mandolin, spoken word intro (5), backing vocals
• Benny Andersson – keyboards, synthesizer, backing vocals

Additional musicians

• Rutger Gunnarsson – bass guitar
• Ola Brunkert – drums
• Roger Palm – drums (2, 3, 7), tambourine
• Lasse Wellander – lead guitar, acoustic guitar, mandolin
• Janne Schaffer – lead guitar (1), electric guitar
• Malando Gassama – percussion
• Lars O. Carlsson – saxophones, flutes

Production

• Benny Andersson; Björn Ulvaeus – producers, arrangers
• Michael B. Tretow – engineer
• Rutger Gunnarsson – string arrangements
• Rune Söderqvist – album design
• Rune Söderqvist; Björn Ulvaeus – illustrations
• Barry Levine / Mirage – photography
• Jon Astley; Michael B. Tretow – remastering

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (1977–78) Peak position Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)[21] 4 Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[22] 2 Canada Top Albums/CDs (RPM)[23] 8 Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[24] 1 Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[25] 2 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[26] 2 Italian Albums (Musica e dischi)[27] 25 Japanese Albums (Oricon)[28] 9 New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[29] 1 Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[30] 1 Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[31] 1 UK Albums (OCC)[32] 1 US Billboard 200[33] 14 Chart (2021) Peak position Greek Albums (IFPI Greece)[34] 41 Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[31] 29

Year-end charts Chart (1978) Position Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[35] 2 Canada Top Albums/CDs (RPM)[36] 42 Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[37] 4 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[38] 5 New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[39] 19 UK Albums (OCC)[40] 3 US Billboard 200[41] 22

Certifications and sales

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[42]	Platinum	50,000^
Canada (Music Canada)[43]	2× Platinum	200,000^
Czechoslovakia	—	100,000[44]
Denmark	—	225,000[45]
Finland (Musiikkituottajat)[46]	Platinum	57,618[46]
France	—	150,000[47]
Germany (BVMI)[48]	Platinum	500,000^
Hong Kong (IFPI Hong Kong)[49]	Platinum	20,000*
Japan	—	300,000[50]
Netherlands (NVPI)[51]	Platinum	100,000^
Norway	—	200,840[52]
Sweden	—	753,420[53]
United Kingdom (BPI)[54]	Platinum	1,000,000[55]
United States (RIAA)[56]	Platinum	1,300,000[57]
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.