0026 - ABBA

Come on now, I don't have to tell you about ABBA, do I? I am glad of having a whole album to listen to here though (even if it is just greatest hits compilation ABBA Gold and not Arrival, or something), after so many bands where I have just one or two songs.

You know who they are, so let's just have some videos.  Here's some terrible miming of Waterloo on James Last's Star Parade in 1974:

The miming might be poor, but there's just so much about that performance that's simply brilliant: Björn's cape - his cape!; the bit where Agnetha finds herself facing the wrong way; the sheer unbridled joyousness of Waterloo; the fact that James Last's Star Parade isn't presented by James Last; Björn's cape!!

By this TV miming of Dancing Queen in 1978, things are rather less amateurish:

I like the subversiveness of having the B's by the As and the As in front of the Bs.  Edgy.  I also like that the subtitled lyrics (presumably this is ripped from a karaoke disc?) are wrong on several occasions.

ABBA Gold is a pretty great album.  Yeah, it's a bit flabby and ploddingly mid-paced in places, but  Benny and Björn were excellent songwriters and even the weakest tunes have got something about them.  And at their best - Does Your Mother Know? (creepy though it undoubtedly is), Waterloo, Take A Chance On Me - ABBA were simply magnificent.  I'm listening to Waterloo now and I'm grinning like a loon.

Mamma Mia's my favourite though.  Great video too: