ABBA Album: “Millennium Edition”

This mid-price album was (presumably) designed to appeal to casual record buyers who want some Abba music but don't want to pay full price for a greatest hits package. There are hits here, of course, but there are also some very fine album tracks that could so easily have been hits had they been released as singles. This album covers the whole of their career.

People need love pre-dates the recognized Abba line-up, as it features Benny, Bjorn and a female singer who has slipped back into obscurity. Ring ring was their first major recording. It failed to get Abba the Swedish nomination for Eurovision 1973 but it was a big hit in Sweden, Australia and some other countries. It was a hit in Britain, but only after Abba had established their reputation by winning Eurovision 1974 with Waterloo (not included here). The last new Abba single, Day before you came, is one of my favorite Abba songs. It was only a minor hit but would have been a much bigger hit if Abba had still been at their peak. Angel-eyes was one half of a double-sided hit that also featured Voulez-vous (not included here). Three other outstanding Abba hits -Winner takes it all, Fernando and One of us - are also featured.

Thank you for the music is a brilliant song that was not released as a single until Abba had broken up. Eagle, from the same original album, was released as a single in some countries but not the UK, where it would surely have been a huge hit. So long was not a UK hit but I believe it was a hit in some countries. The remainder of this collection is made of great album tracks. All of them are good enough to have been hits but none were released as singles in Britain or America and I've not heard of them being hits anywhere else.

So this is a great collection of big hits, minor hits and album tracks. All the songs here can be found elsewhere so Abba fans do not need this, though some (like me) may opt to buy it anyway just because it is so well compiled. This is a great introduction to Abba's music for the uncommitted, who will discover that there's a lot more to Abba than just the hits.