Super Trouper <\/i>is the sound of the four members of ABBA breathing a collective sigh of relief. \u201cFinally, the 70s are over,\u201d was what they were trying to say. \u201cAnd we don\u2019t have to make another dreadful disco album like Voulez-Vous<\/i>.\u201d\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Yes, this seventh album was a lucky one for ABBA indeed.\u00a0 To say they shifted gears when 1980 rolled around would be an understatement. What they were able to do was transform from a bubblegum pop group into serious Adult Contemporary artists. As with most music acts, the dawn of the new decade helped breathe new life into much of the material that was released at that time. Less bittersweet than their claustrophobic final album The Visitors<\/i>, the ABBA we find here is a lot more hopeful and full of good cheer. <\/p>\n
You can\u2019t get more upbeat than \u201cThe Piper.\u201d This folk song is so unabashed in its sugary expression of happiness that it almost makes you go into diabetic shock. But hey, that\u2019s the Swedes for you, always looking for an excuse to drink up and be merry. Before you put those glasses down, you may want to toast ABBA for including a song to properly ring in the \u201cHappy New Year.\u201d Then, when you\u2019re all properly liquored up, hit the dance floor for Super Trouper<\/i>\u2019s best upbeat songs, \u201cOn And On And On\u201d and \u201cLay All Your Love On Me.\u201d When I first those two songs as a 10-year-old kid, I went nuts over them and became an instant ABBA fan from that point on. <\/p>\n
The title track to Super Trouper <\/i>is yet another festive delight. It combines the warm and fuzzy tone of a Christmas carol with the staccato rhythm of a marching band. Only Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus could ever pull off something like that. As always, both men served as producers for this album and delegated the lead vocal duties to their principal vocalists Agnetha and Frida. <\/p>\n
Although Frida gets the lion\u2019s share of material, Agnetha manages to steal the spotlight completely out away from her with one knockout punch: \u201cThe Winner Takes It All.\u201d Not only did this poignant ballad become the only US Top 40 hit from Super Trouper<\/i>, but it is also ABBA\u2019s best song ever. After turning in such a stunning performance, Agnetha would be elevated to cult icon status, while all you could do was feel sorry for poor Frida. Even a minor hit with 1983\u2019s \u201cI Know There\u2019s Something Going On\u201d couldn\u2019t sustain Frida\u2019s resulting solo career for very long. <\/p>\n
The closing song \u201cThe Way Old Friends Do\u201d seems to sum up all you need to know about the recording of Super Trouper<\/i>. It was when ABBA was seemingly on top of the world and all four members came together as a cohesive and dynamic unit. Each person knew what their role was and their execution was right on the money.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Somewhat telling, however, are the lyrics to \u201cOur Last Summer,\u201d which is where an eyebrow could possibly be raised.\u00a0 Little did ABBA know just how prophetic their words would turn out to be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":25787,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5870],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-40407","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-abba","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40407","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\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40407"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40407\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=40407"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=40407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}