Now, let's forget about ice hockey for a while and concentrate on excellent music... I don't remember exactly when but I did purchase every single studio album by ABBA some time ago... I got them for one euro each. Now I am starting to think that I may have made one of my best puchases ever when you compare the price to the quality. ABBA was, and after all still is, one of the most popular pop groups in the whole world. And, unlike today, in the 70s commercial success still often was a sign of high musical quality. Slowly but surely I have begun the journey of listening carefully to every album by ABBA. The first album was a good place to start. And what did I find... Oh my, I found some of the loveliest bubblegummy 70s pop music with impeccable songwriting, lovely singing, and fabulous instrumentation. The album is, of course, called Ring Ring (1973). Even though I heard every famous ABBA song already as a child, hearing the song Ring Ring now seems to to point towards a certain British classic Love Grows – which is obviously a very good thing. I also have to praise the idea of using male vocals in addition to Agnetha Fältskog and Frida Lyngstad's voices. In my opinion, the combination of female and male voices here makes a considerably more interesting and warm harmony than just using the voices of two women – even though they both sing like birds. Some of the songs here simply have a very bubblegummy vibe, reminding of the Partridge Family, or perhaps Bay City Rollers. These kinds of songs include People Need Love, Love Isn't Easy (But It Sure Is Hard Enough), Me and Bobby and Bobby's Brother. He Is Your Brother also fits in this category. The slow songs are also fabulous. Disillusion sounds like it was written by, say, George Harrison. I can't possibly express how excited I am about the greatness of this music! There is bubblegum, the Beatles, and a ton of overall irreplaceable, magical 70s pop feel. The only thing stopping me from going insane is the lack of bubblegummy male vocals.. But as I said, all the vocals on Ring Ring are excellent. Hooray ABBA, hooray Sweden, hooray real songwriters, hooray lovely 70s pop music! I feel like I should give the whole thing a parade... And notice that there are still thousands, if not millions of people who love ABBA and the undying, timeless 70s pop.
Right now is the perfect moment to get to know Sweden’s pride: a globally successful 70s pop group, winners of Eurovision Song Contest 1974, one of the best pop bands of all times! It’s of course ABBA I’m talking about, and this band definitely is worth mentioning. They are the most famous Swedish band ever, and insanely successful commercially. They continue selling millions of albums every year, and combined with income from musicals it’s no wonder they are one of the most commercially successful bands ever.
Why now, then? First, you already know it’s always a perfect moment to be a pop fan. Second, everyone should be familiar with this group. So, if you aren’t, it’s about time! Third, there is now a complete ABBA box out, nine CDs containing eight most important albums of the group’s ten albums and a bonus CD. The box is called The Albums.
I haven’t really been that close to ABBA so far but I really intend to do something about that. In fact, I am a Nordist which means I’m supposed to familiarize myself with Scandinavian culture. Anyway, I recently proved myself that I’m much closer to this band than I thought. ABBA is actually as familiar to me as The Beatles, probably even more familiar. It’s actually really difficult to avoid hearing ABBA’s music here in Finland – not that it’s a bad thing, not at all (at some other occasions unavoidable music-hearing surely is unwanted). This means that I already have heard probably all of the group’s hits. I checked this with ABBA Gold – Greatest Hits collection that had 19 songs. There were only 1-2 songs that were unfamiliar to me.
So, now really is time to enhance your (and my) knowledge of ABBA! Although I haven’t ordered the new box yet, I intend to do so very soon. Abba at YouTube
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Looking for some new 60s pop? Try Swedish! There was a lot of pop activity in this country back in the 60s. Pop such as instrumental rock (á la The Shadows) and beat music was adopted from the United Kingdom as well as American-styled rock’n’roll, pop, folk-rock and many others. There are, in fact, two excellent 2CD Swedish pop collections called Swedish Graffiti (Unfortunately, it’s probably very difficult to find those).
One of my most recent Swedish favourites has been Hep Stars. This band performed different styles of pop and rock. Their cover choices included Mike Berry (Tribute to Buddy Holly), The Kinks (So Mystifying) and others. The general sound of Hep Stars is quite mellow and includes Byrds-like feel and harmonies. Another strong point of their music is baroque melancholy. Check out Consolation and you’ll be mesmerized!
Hep Stars featured a future ABBA member Benny Andersson as a keyboardist. The band was active in years 1963-1969. During that time they released many albums and had numerous hits in Sweden.
In this blog a Finnish pop music fan blabs about music and albums she has recently found interesting and good, and music-related live experiences. A lot of that music can be labeled as sixties or seventies pop, classic rock, power pop, baroque pop, bubblegum pop, psychedelic pop/rock or alternative pop/rock. However, there are no boundaries, and there will occasionally be talk about jazz and classical music, for instance.
The point of this blog is sharing (and hopefully receiving) music tips, joyful experiences and personal opinions - not files. Feel free to comment on anything you'll find here.
Slowly but surely I have begun the journey of listening carefully to every album by ABBA. The first album was a good place to start. And what did I find... Oh my, I found some of the loveliest bubblegummy 70s pop music with impeccable songwriting, lovely singing, and fabulous instrumentation. The album is, of course, called Ring Ring (1973).
