Abba - Arrival (Arrival - ABBA)

Member Name: Krystal

Product:	Arrival - ABBA
Date:	07/10/00 (178 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great songs

Disadvantages: None

This album was given to me for Christmas 1977, and so began my love affair with Abba, which continues today. I was 11 years old, and didn't have my own "record player" as they were called in the good old days! So my poor parents had to endure endless plays of this album (funnily enough, for my next birthday I was given a music centre and headphones. I wonder why?!

"Arrival" is still one of my favourite albums, the tracks on it are as follows:

WHEN I KISSED THE TEACHER
.........................

When I hear this it always reminds me of a wet break time at school. A friend and I (a fellow Abba fan) were playing Hangman, and unfortunately a teacher walked past and looked at what we were writing just as we were filling in the blanks! It must have looked pretty odd, and although we explained it was just a song title, I'm not sure that he believed us!
A lively, upbeat pop song about a girl who can't control her feelings and kisses the teacher in front of the class!


DANCING QUEEN
.............

What can I say about Dancing Queen except that it's probably the most well known and best loved of all Abba's songs, and still sounds as fresh today as it did in 1976. Benny and Bjorn wrote this together with their manager Stig Anderson, who also co-wrote some of their earlier material. Agnetha and Frida hit notes in Dancing Queen that others can only dream of - on a recent TV programme where groups and singers performed their favourite Abba songs, Steps among others were amazed at the range and pitch of the girls' voices.


MY LOVE, MY LIFE
................

Agnetha takes the lead vocal in this melancholy song about two lovers who realise their relationship is ending. Although her voice is pure and clear, this is not one of Abba's better ballads, and is definitely an "album track".


DUM DUM DIDDLE
..............

Yes
, it's a strange title isn't it? What can it possibly be about, I hear you ask. Well, I'll tell you - violins of course! A fiddle to be precise, to rhyme with "diddle". I don't think anything else rhymes with violin!
A catchy little song about unrequited love. The girl listens to the object of her affections practising his violin and holding it lovingly, and wishes she was his instrument instead - "Dum dum diddle to be your fiddle, to be so near you and not just hear you...." Quite an original idea that works rather well.


KNOWING ME KNOWING YOU
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A deserved number one in 1977, this is a poignant song about the end of a relationship, sung beautifully; mainly by Frida. I think she was the right choice for the main solo part on this track, I can't imagine it sung by Agnetha. One of my all-time favourite songs.


MONEY MONEY MONEY
.................

"I work all night, I work all day, to pay the bills I have to pay" - after this reached number 2 in the charts in 1976, I should think any money worries that Abba had would have disappeared. A brilliant song which I'm sure most people can sing from memory. Frida sings the main vocals again.


THAT'S ME
.........

Not the strongest track on the album, and the rhymes are a bit dodgy too - "I'm Carrie-not-the-kind-of-girl-you'd-marry, that's me". Hmm. You have to remember that Bjorn and Benny were writing in a foreign language, and with experience their lyrics improved 100%. Pleasant enough though.


WHY DID IT HAVE TO BE ME
........................

This song surfaced previously as the B-side to "Knowing Me Knowing You" and was then called "Happy Hawaii". Same tune, different lyrics, and instead of the girls singing, Bjorn takes centre stage. He sings the main vocals and Agnetha and Frida join in for the c
horus. A toe tapping song with some great saxophone playing.


TIGER
.....

"I am behind you, I always find you, I am the tiger". Whenever I hear this it reminds me of "Abba - The Movie" and the group performing this live in Australia in front of thousands of fans, and the girls clawing at the air pretending to be tigers. A lively song, aggressive in places, then the tempo changes and it slows down, only to build up again to the climax.


ARRIVAL
.......

The final track on the album, and an instrumental. Sounds a bit like bagpipes to me, but I'm sure it isn't! A gentle, low-key track to finish the album.



I now have this album on CD as well, but would never part with my beloved vinyl copy, it holds too many memories!

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