You would think that ABBA had always been the \u201csupergroup\u201d we all know and love straight out of the gate. But no, their first album, Ring Ring<\/i>, barely registered with the listening public when it was released back in 1973. Even now, it ranks as their weakest effort from a critical standpoint. It opens strongly enough with the booming title track, so much so that they would go on to record the similar \u201cWaterloo\u201d as the follow-up. Even though the two songs are carbon- copies of each other, they both deserve to be singled out as high water marks for both albums.<\/p>\n
Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Anderson share the lead singing duties equally with Agnetha Faltskog and Anni-Frid \u201cFrida\u201d Lyngstad on their debut. Keep in mind that this album was released a year before their breakthrough winning performance at the Eurovision song contest, when the two ladies basically stole the show. From that point on, the boys would only sing sparingly on their records (though Bjorn\u2019s \u201cRock Me\u201d from 1975 is still a favorite of mine). However, Agnetha does<\/i> have her sole songwriting contribution on Ring Ring<\/i>, on the glowing ballad \u201cDisillusion.\u201d<\/p>\n
As two married couples thrown together in Sweden in their attempt at taking the world by storm (which as history has shown, they have), there seems to be a clear ambivalence toward the subject of love itself on this album. Proponents of the Defense Of Marriage Act will point to \u201cPeople Need Love\u201d as an anthem, while those heading for divorce court (as both couples would by the end of the \u201870s), will be singing an entirely different tune, namely \u201cLove Isn\u2019t Easy (But It Sure Is Hard Enough).\u201d The latter track is a howler, with its punch line drum beats pushing it WAY over the top. Something tells me they didn\u2019t intend such songs to be so funny\u2026<\/p>\n
To hit us over the head with ABBA\u2019s ongoing battle of the sexes they even have corny songs about brothers (\u201cHe Is Your Brother\u201d and \u201cMe And Bobby And Bobby\u2019s Brother,\u201d which begs the question, who the hell is Bobby?) and the demure girls they fancy (\u201cShe\u2019s My Kind Of Girl\u201d and the feathery whisper that is \u201cI Am Just A Girl\u201d). Such material is so downright syrupy, you can\u2019t help but cry out for something stronger. At least the members of ABBA attempt to have fun on the circus-themed \u201cNina Pretty Ballerina\u201d and the so-so stab at a real rock tune, \u201cRock \u2018N Roll Band,\u201d but sadly it\u2019s a case of too little, too late. Or in this case, too little, too early. It\u2019s a miracle that Polar didn\u2019t pull the plug entirely after such a dismal first outing.<\/p>\n
Thankfully, wiser heads would prevail and ABBA would continue to creatively develop as a unit by leaps and bounds on their subsequent seven releases. They would even reach the #1 position in Billboard<\/i> with \u201cDancing Queen,\u201d in 1977. Though ABBA would ultimately break up in 1982, their popularity would grow to mythic proportions in the decades to follow. The greatest hits comp ABBA Gold<\/i> and the wildly successful musical Mamma Mia<\/i>, proved to be the one-two punch that would carry the band into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2010. There\u2019s even a rumor that there may be a reunion heading our way sometime soon. It\u2019s just too bad Ring Ring<\/i> doesn\u2019t live up to all the hype. Their magic formula had yet to be perfected. Fairy dust, stat!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":31827,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5870],"rating":[5614],"class_list":["post-43545","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-abba","rating-rating-c-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/43545","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=43545"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/43545\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=43545"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=43545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}