Where their first album had been a suggestion of what ABBA would become, by the time Waterloo and their self-titled third record released, there was no mistaking the seismic shift. Mamma Mia, a song so defining for the band that it inspired not one, but two, outstanding Meryl Streep-featuring movies, is a staggering opener. The truth for a lot of 1970s and 1980s pop outfits, like ABBA or Queen and Bon Jovi, is that their works are overstated because of how popular they were. ABBA being fantastic pop features is as true as their songwriting qualities, as clear as their Europop strengths. ABBA is, like the two bands mentioned above, defined by their hits. The album work is lost in the noise of chart-topping classics that are still, despite themselves, popular with the next generation. Timelessness for songs themselves rather than the albums come through assimilating music through other forms of media, be it television or film. The latter has served ABBA, and their self-titled album, extremely well.
Mamma Mia and SOS are the bona fide hits here, but there is much to love about the songs to come between the two out-and-out classics. As much as the lighter style of their sound is the prevailing, popular one, there is much to love about ABBA when they tackle the more traditional rock and roll structure. They do so with Hey, Hey Helen on a song that threatens to be so simple it’s silly, but it comes across as very likeable. Tropical Loveland, however, does the opposite. A real derailment which lands itself into the “Jimmy Buffet without the warmth” category. SOS is close by to revive interest and that spirit of goodwill for ABBA, and it lasts the rest of the way for this self-titled release. It’s a bit all over the place and there isn’t as much a theme to tie it all together as there is a sense of relatability from song to song. Independent stories that line up with loves losses and gains.
From the love loss of SOS to the funk-driven frenzy of Man in the Middle is a whiplash experience but the emotional range and instrumental styles ABBA were keen to explore are appreciated. It keeps ABBA fresh, if a bit off-kilter. Bang-a-Boomerang is another bit of filler, like Tropical Loveland. Much of ABBA’s work can be broken down into the simplicity of repetition, but it needs the perception of depth to keep it alive. Nobody can connect to the obtuse idea of life coming around like a boomerang, but they can navigate their way into Napoleonic conquests as they did on the previous album. There needs to be a basis in familiarity, instrumentally or otherwise, that ABBA are so patchy with on this release. Still a lot of fun to be had, but there are only two or three hits here, if you include I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, at a push.
When ABBA is in form, it’s a brilliant time. Rock Me is a reserved piece but a thoroughly fun one. There’s no deeper read from the band than what they write up. There is, of course, a deeper meaning that satisfies the hearts and minds of listeners, but ABBA are keen to wear the message on their sleeve with every song, no matter what it means for the complexities of the instrumentals. A song like Intermezzo No. 1 is out of the blue and doesn’t fit with the rest of the album, but what fun it is. The inverse is the same, where ABBA find themselves detailing lighter-than-light material with little to no impact. It’s a messy but thoroughly enjoyable experience from the band, with the padding between hits making you savour them more.
