ABBA - Arrival

It seems to me that ABBA can often be unappreciated. There's no legitimate reason why they should be - I say it all the time: when it comes to music, ABBA were geniuses. There's just no denying it. I may be slightly biased because I love the band, and have been listening to them since the time I was a kid, because my mother played a lot of ABBA around the house (yup, I think I inherited this particular musical taste). But even so, if you take any ABBA song and analyse how it works, they're incredibly clever and are in a league away from your typical formulaic pop standards.

I'm under the impression that people are often afraid to like ABBA, just because they're inextricably linked with the Eurovision. Don't get me wrong - I like the Eurovision - but I guess the popular opinion is that anything that's associated with this competition is inherently tacky (and more often than not, this can sadly be true). It's very possible that this view leads to people rating this album with more skepticism than they would with an album by a non-Eurovision act. Therefore, the purpose of this review is to examine the album in terms of how it stands up to such scrutiny. I believe that ABBA's music represents much more than this pop-cheesiness of the Eurovision, and this review will explore the factors that make this album great in itself, as well as pointing out areas where it may be criticised for being overly Eurovision.

First, a little history. Arrival is ABBA's fourth studio album, and was released in Sweden on 11 October 1976. While they had already gained a lot of attention before this release, this album really pushed their place in the limelight. It contains three of their biggest hit singles: 'Dancing Queen', 'Knowing Me, Knowing You' and 'Money, Money, Money'. The track listing is as follows:

1. When I Kissed The Teacher

2. Dancing Queen

3. My Love, My Life

4. Dum Dum Diddle

5. Knowing Me, Knowing You

6. Money, Money, Money

7. That's Me

8. Why Did It Have To Be Me?

9. Tiger

10. Arrival

Before I start, just a little disclaimer: I understand that not every song in the Eurovision is tacky or cheesy, and there is often a wide variety of material in it. However, when I discuss a "typical" Eurovision song, I am referring to songs like ABBA's 'Waterloo' and Bucks Fizz's 'Making Your Mind Up', etc. 

'When I Kissed The Teacher' is a quirky upbeat track, and I like it a lot. When I first heard the opening line 'Everybody screamed when I kissed the teacher', I was really taken aback. I suppose that's probably a good thing - I mean, it grabbed my attention straight away, didn't it? I was suddenly struck with the bizarre yet somewhat funny image of a classroom in disarray. However, it's the vocal harmonies that make this song for me. The different vocal layers are all really catchy in themselves. When you put them together, it's just 100% pure vocal-melodic-harmony-poppy goodness. In this sense, the song is a little complex; it's difficult to create different melodies that work alongside each other, yet are still individually good. For this reason, I think this song stands above your usual Eurovision song. I prefer it to 'Waterloo' for sure, and I love the energy that's in it. 

'Dancing Queen' is a song that I've never liked all that much, but it's still respectable in several ways. I love how the piano interacts with the vocals - it doesn't just provide an accompaniment, but is interesting in itself. It comes in just at the right times, and doesn't take too much attention away from the main melody. Saying that, the song would be completely different without it. There's a lot of emotion in the vocals, and that's something that's important, as it makes a song genuine. It wouldn't be out of place in the Eurovision, but it's still a decent enough song on it's own. I can't really explain why I don't like it; it's a perfectly written song, but it just doesn't do too much for me for some reason.

'My Love, My Life' is one of my new favourite ABBA songs. I never knew it until I listened to this album, but now I'm absolutely addicted to it. It's a very sad song, and describes a breakup. The singer doesn't want the split, but has no choice in the matter. The general message of the song can be summed up with these lines:

I know I don't possess you, 

So go away, God bless you.

You are still my love and my life.

The lyrics are heart-wrenching, and they're also painfully honest. It's refreshing to hear a song about a break-up that doesn't involve anger or spite. The music is beautiful. The main vocal melody is very strong, and the harmonies are subtle which really works. The backing music is also great, and the chord progression is just different enough to catch your attention but still familiar enough to be pleasant on the ear. The whole song is really nice (dare I say slightly Beatle-esque?) and is definitely an extremely respectable song.

'Dum Dum Diddle' is an extremely catchy song, and I love it. Unfortunately, I can't find much in it that sets it apart from typical Eurovision songs. It follows a standard formula, and has a catchy (but in my opinion cheesy) riff. The words 'Dum dum diddle' also seem a little childish to me, and it's a bit of a tacky title. It's the type of song that I'd describe as a guilty pleasure, and I think that says it all.

'Knowing Me, Knowing You' is obviously great. I love it. I love it, I love it, I love it. The use of overdriven guitars is different for ABBA, and it really works in their favour. As always, the vocal harmonies are brilliant, and make the song really stick in your head; they're just as memorable as the main melody. I really like the guitar riff a lot too, because it has a really bittersweet sound to it. Everything about this song is great in my opinion, and it really has become a classic, hasn't it? So yeah, this is a brilliant song in itself and earns ABBA a lot of respect.

'Money, Money, Money' is an awesome song. The piano riff is kind of malevolent, and it adds a dark edge to the song. The lyrics handle a great topic - the desire every person has to have lots and lots of money; the desire to live a luxurious life. It's a vice of human nature, and I think the music portrays that perfectly. It's very brooding and driven - it has such a sense of urgency to it, as if the singer needs money right now. The little synth idea that occurs before and during each verse keeps the song moving, and adds to the overall feeling of sinister urgency and desperation. The chord progression also adds to this and is insanely memorable. There's so many things at play in this song, and I could easily spend all day talking about it. Any song that has this much going on in it certainly deserves a lot of respect and recognition.

'That's Me' is another song that doesn't really stand out too much for me. I do like it, but I think it's a bit lacking in terms of complexity. It's better than 'Dum Dum Diddle', and the rising chord progression before the chorus makes for a cool feeling of suspense, but it's nothing they haven't done before. It's very catchy, and is definitely a good song; I just don't think it's the same standard as some other songs on the album.

'Why Did It Have To Be Me?' is stylistically different from the rest of the songs on the album, and that makes it quite cool I think. The blues-inspired piano riff works as a main component of the song, and holds it all together. Again, the vocal harmonies are excellent, and the rising sequences at the end of the chorus are fantastic. I like the way the different voices interact with each other, and overall I think this is a brilliant song.

'Tiger' is one of my favourite songs on the album, because it's so ridiculously catchy. It's so threatening, both lyrically and musically. The vocals are harsher than usual, which works flawlessly with the menacing tone of the lyrics: 

The city is a jungle, you better beware

Never walk alone after midnight

The drums give the song a great momentum, and that suits the sinister edge of everything else and brings it all together. It's definitely worth listening to, as I think it's an under-appreciated song, and not everyone knows about it which is a crying shame. Definitely a high quality song.

'Arrival' is amazing. When I first heard it, I couldn't believe that ABBA could have created something so different from their usual stuff. It's an instrumental piece (there are vocals in it, but no lyrics), and is the best closing song for an album I've ever heard. It's majestic, jubilant, powerful, and deserves way more attention and credit than it gets. After hearing it, I asked some of my friends and family to listen to it and guess who the artist/band was. None of them guessed it. Not one. I wish ABBA had composed more music like this in their time, because it's so so good. Honestly, if you don't know it then go listen to it - I think it'll surprise you as much as it surprised me. What's more, Mike Oldfield covered this song. Yes, Mike frickin' Oldfield, who composed 'Tubular Bells'. I think that says something for the high standard of this music. If anybody ever criticises ABBA around me in the future, I'll sit them down and make them listen to this. It would prove any naysayer wrong.

Final Rating: 7/10

My favourite songs: 'My Love, My Life', 'Knowing Me, Knowing You', 'Money, Money, Money', 'Tiger' and 'Arrival'

In my next post, I'll be discussing Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill.

995 albums to go!

The Human League - Dare

Before I start this blog post, I want to get something straight - I love synthpop. I love everything about it. In my mind, the 80s stand out as one of the best decades for music, mostly because of synthpop. Saying that, when it comes to The Human League, I actually wasn't familiar with a lot of their music until I decided I was going to review Dare. I mean, obviously I knew 'Don't You Want Me' and I was sort of familiar with  'Love Action (I Believe in Love)', but in general I was more or less ignorant of their contribution to the 80s pop music canon. 

So, listening to a lot of classic synthpop that I had never heard before was an absolute treat. When I decided to listen to this album, I was expecting lots of synthpop anthems like 'Don't You Want Me' - you know, general chart-topping songs that are not particularly adventurous or innovative (not that this makes for a bad song; this song is still one of my favourites on the album). 

I was so incredibly wrong. This album isn't just an album full of synthpop songs; it's an album that explores synthpop. Every song is like a study, or an experiment. Actually, scratch that - every song on this album is a work of art. I had never known that The Human League were such pioneers during their golden era, so this album really was an eye-opener for me, and I had a really rich listening experience.

So, with all that said, I'll look at every song individually. The tracklist is as follows:

1. The Things That Dreams Are Made Of

2. Open Your Heart

3. The Sound Of The Crowd

4. Darkness

5. Do Or Die

6. Get Carter

7. I Am The Law

8. Seconds

9. Love Action (I Believe In Love)

10. Don't You Want Me

'The Things That Dreams Are Made Of' sounds so dark and menacing, but has a great underlying message in the lyrics. It promotes living life to its absolute fullest - going on adventures, meeting new people, generally having new experiences and enjoying every day. It's a philosophy I agree with and it's a large part of the reason why I think this song is so great. Of course, the music itself is also brilliant. The opening synth riff is so catchy, without sounding too much like regular pop. It's a great hook to open the album with, because it's immediately strange yet entrancing. I also love the chorus - not only is it vocally interesting (let's admit it, Phil Oakey has a really cool tonal edge to his voice), but the main synth line is also so strange but incredibly addictive. 

'Open Your Heart' is your more typical 80s synthpop song, but it's still fantastic. Saying that, it's quite complex in its composition, as it's made up of multiple synthesizer and drum machine layers. Everything about this song is insanely catchy, from the beat to the synth riff to the vocal melodies. The harmonies in the chorus work really well, and the way that the main hook is also being played by a synthesizer is a great addition.

'The Sound Of The Crowd' is definitely one of my favourites from the album, if not my absolute favourite. Released as a single in April 1981, this song was the band's first commercial breakthrough. Honestly, I can see why. I don't really dance, but if I heard this song in a club I think I would feel compelled to head towards the dance floor - I can just feel that beat taking me over. Obviously the vocal melodies are very catchy, but what I really love about this song are the instrumental sections. Everything works really well together, and it's always what I have stuck in my head after listening to the song. It's a great synth dance song, but it's still so incredibly unique - it's dark and compelling, with a really different instrumentation that makes it stand out.

'Darkness' is a great following track. The subject matter is quite unusual; it describes the feeling of fear that can come late at night while surrounded by darkness after reading horror books. The vocals are brooding, the chord progression is catchy (yet sorrowful), and the synth in the background is unobtrusive but adds to the general feeling of indulgent fear.

'Do Or Die' is a bit of a strange song, but I really enjoy listening to it. There's a great sense of urgency about it, which is fitting with the title. The opening riff is at once unusual and enthralling - seriously, I can't listen to the start of this song without sticking through until the end. The beat is also full of momentum, and that alone makes the song worth your attention.

'Get Carter' is one I don't have much to say about. Just over one minute in length, it serves as an instrumental interlude before 'I Am The Law'. It's a cover of Roy Budd's theme for the movie Get Carter, and is played on a Casio VL-1. It sounds quite eerie which is cool, and it blends really well into the following track.

'I Am The Law' kind of carries on the same mood from 'Get Carter'. It's dark and slightly twisted and I love it. It's the slowest track on the album, but definitely doesn't suffer from that. There's no drum beat for the majority of the song, which adds to the feeling of  atmospheric space. The lyrics are slightly threatening, and that works perfectly with the music.

'Seconds' is a little bit said, and it really makes you think. The lyrics describe the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963. The tone of the music is sombre and reflective, and the lyrics are just perfect. The line "It took seconds of your time to take his life" will stick with me forever. I don't have much more to say about this song, but it's absolutely brilliant.

'Love Action (I Believe In Love)' is one of the few songs on the album I already knew before listening to it (not because of the soundtrack for Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, I swear...). It's obviously very catchy, but I wouldn't ever call it a pop standard. It's The Human League at their best - it's very definitive of their general sound, with the catchy synth riffs; cool vocal harmonies from Joanne Catherall and Susan Ann Sulley; and an overall 80s-fueled appeal.

'Don't You Want Me' needs no introduction, but I'm giving it one anyway. Released on 27 November 1981 as the fourth single from Dare, this song is the band's biggest commercial success to date (ironic given the fact that Phil Oakey did not want it to be released as a single). I love everything about this song. I love the intro, I love the rising chord progression and melodic sequences in the pre-chorus, I love the fact that it's a male-female duet, I love the story told in the lyrics, and above all I love the simple yet brilliant chorus. I defy anyone not to dance to this song when they hear it, even just a little bit. I'm going to be really cheeky and add that I've also uploaded a cover of this song on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/justin-p-ryan/the-human-league-dont-you-want-me-cover.

Final Rating: 10/10

My favourite songs: All of them. Literally all of them.

In my next post, I'll be discussing ABBA's Arrival.

996 albums to go!