ABBA – Super Trouper Review

Their march towards the end was filled with hits, but it is hard to hear what ABBA had in mind on Super Trouper. It would be their penultimate album, or would still be had it not been for the abysmal Voyage. Nothing is sacred, and yet, when your eighth album in seven years features a well-known title track and the peak of Europop and at-the-time synth modernity, you secure your place in music history. Deservedly so. ABBA is a group that gets better the longer they plug away, but their hits are so one-note that it would be hard to listen to much of it in quick succession. It’s what makes their albums a problem, and by the sounds of it, that’s a problem even the band were trying to figure out across Super Trouper. The collective problem for all these ABBA albums is that the filler is bad enough to sink the project. No amount of Dancing Queen or Waterloo can save earlier instalments in their discography. Here, though, the likes of The Winner Takes it All and Our Last Summer are strong enough to just about support the driftwood stuck on the tracklist.  

Nine songs and a live track they recorded at Wembley, presumably because they’d run out of time in the studio or didn’t have the confidence in other materials, that’s what Super Trouper offers. Some of it is all-time great ABBA, the four-piece is at their peak on the title track and The Winner Takes it All. Four hits across Super Trouper is better than no hits, but ABBA is all too frequently given a free pass when they’ve released a fair amount of unfortunate, and often embarrassingly bad, material. Two songs that put ABBA at their very best. Colossal, emotionally moved pieces of work before they begin experimenting with their instrumental style a little. You can hear it clear enough throughout On and On and On, a slightly off-kilter instrumental thrill ride where its patchy and cheesy lyrics are such a treat. It’s easy to be harsh on ABBA because of how similar much of their music sounds, but Super Trouper is a sonic experience worth having.  

Andanta, Andante keeps the surprises rolling. Between the tearjerking stylishness of that piano and percussion-led piece and the experimental thrill of On and On and On, ABBA sound keen to lean into risks so close to the end of their careers. Me and I and Happy New Year are the clangers here. Decent enough, and they don’t derail the album as much as Tiger did on Arrival, but the drop-off in quality is clear and a reminder of ABBA’s limitations. Even The Piper, an admittedly lesser ABBA offering, exudes the confidence and charm the group had kindled so well up to this point. But it’s here, more than anywhere else in their discography, that it feels like ABBA is planting the seeds of relatively underwhelming songs in the hopes of it bolstering their bigger hits. It works for The Piper. A catchy piece that balloons into a bit of brilliance with Lay All Your Love on Me following.  

It’s ABBA at their very best. Even the tactical tracks used as a break between their hits are enjoyable. It’s the first album by the four-piece that has a quality featured in every song. Instrumentally vibrant, lyrically strong and learning from what came before it. How unlucky it is to hear the album is as strong as it is, so close to the end of their days together as a band. But they knew the writing was on the wall at this point. There’s only so far you can go with this particular sound, and even the live song finale works here. Admittedly a cheaper way to end the album, but what a powerful moment it remains, irrespective of the context of the songs at hand. ABBA’s best collection of songs outside of best-of compilations. Super Trouper is a moving, exciting, and brief trip with ABBA.