It’s weird here in the world of “The Daily Vault,” now that JB
\nis on sabbatical. God help us, I actually have to take some musical
\nchances on my own.<\/p>\n
For example, I was walking through the halls of the Pierce
\nMemorial Archives this evening, when my eyes darted towards
\nArrival<\/i>, the 1976 release from Swedish popsters Abba.
\nNormally, this review would be right up JB’s alley – he has never
\nbeen known to shy away from the power of pop or the dazzle of
\ndisco\/dance\/whatever the hell they’re calling it this month. Ah,
\nbut JB’s nowhere near an Internet connection… so, I took a deep
\nbreath, and attacked the album myself.<\/p>\n
And… well, it’s kind of embarrassing to admit, but
\nArrival<\/i> isn’t a bad album at all. As much a guilty pleasure
\nas a dated portrait of adult contemporary music in 1976, Abba knows
\nhow to take a good hook and milk it for all it’s worth.<\/p>\n
First, let’s get one misconception cleared up right off the bat:
\nIf Abba is disco, then I’m Babe Ruth. Even calling their smash hit
\n“Dancing Queen” disco is a stretch – a simple syncopated beat
\ndoesn’t a disco track make. Sure, you could dance to some of the
\nsongs on
\nArrival<\/i>, but it’s nowhere near the bass-driven dreck that
\nmade up disco. I don’t give a damn what movies like
\nMuriel’s Wedding<\/i> say – c’mon, who are you going to believe,
\na movie producer or
\nme<\/i>? (Don’t answer that…)<\/p>\n
Two other early hits are contained within the ten tracks of this
\nalbum – “Money Money Money” (a song I’ve never warmed up to) and
\n“Knowing Me, Knowing You” – which proves its mettle well, even 22
\nyears after it came out. The harmonized vocals of Benny Andersson,
\nBjorn Ulvaeus, Agnatha Faltskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad are
\nsurprisingly addictive. If you were growing up when
\nArrival<\/i> comes out, you’re going to be surprised how much of
\nthis music you’ll enjoy.<\/p>\n
However, some cuts on
\nArrival<\/i> fall flat. I’m sure at one time “When I Kissed The
\nTeacher” was a harmless, cute song. But after that idiot teacher
\nwho was impregnated –
\n
\ntwice<\/i>
\n<\/b> , for Crissake – by her student, this one doesn’t seem so
\nfunny anymore. “That’s Me” has to be a crusher to any girl with a
\ncertain name: “I’m Carrie \/ not-the-kind-of-girl-you’d-marry \/
\nThat’s me.” (I once dated a girl named Carrie – and trust me, she
\nproved the song wrong in every way. That’s why I made her my wife.)
\nOthers, like “Dum Dum Diddle,” are just damned stupidly
\nwritten.<\/p>\n
But there are more strong moments on
\nArrival<\/i> than weak ones. “My Love, My Life” is a decent song
\nwhich hasn’t gotten recognition, while Ulvaeus gets a chance to be
\na lead vocalist on “Why Did It Have To Be Me”. The title track is a
\nbeautiful way to close the album, with an instrumental that reminds
\nme a lot of Mike Oldfield.<\/p>\n
Honestly, I wanted to hate this album. But
\nArrival<\/i> thwarts even the most cynical critic at the pass.
\nHow can you not enjoy the vocal harmonies and most of the
\nsongwriting? The fact is that this album has held up better than
\nsome of its counterparts of this genre – there’s a reason why Abba
\nstill maintains a large fan base.<\/p>\n
\nArrival<\/i> is a surprisingly good album that will please
\nfirst-time listeners and provide great memories for those
\nre-discovering its hits. Maybe JB was onto something all this
\ntime.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24711,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5870],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-35915","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-abba","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/35915","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35915"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/35915\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35915"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=35915"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=35915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}