Published on Nov 6, 1997
According to my mother, I was an Abba fan since I was one. All
she had to do to make me sleep was put this album on the tape deck
and I’d curl up in front of the speakers. I don’t remember a word
of what they sang (I started learning English when I was four) but
I wouldn’t blame my (even more) younger self if I was
impressed.
This tape is almost twenty years old but the sound quality is
crystal (they don’t make ’em like they used to). These days, put
the words “European” and “dance” together and you get, well,
“crap”. The passionless airheaded-ness of Ace of Base, the
half-hearted Spice Girls; although good groups like the Real McCoy
manage to produce good tracks now and then, the so-called Techno
Revolution has left old-fashioned power choruses and acoustic
instruments in the dust.
Believe it or not, what makes this album work is part of what
makes Alanis Morissette so pleasing to the ear (Morissette … you
know, with the long brown hair). Alanis Morissette started out as a
dance artist, so it’s conceivable she ported some of the concepts
to “Jagged Little Pill”. What you got was essentially good dance
music with a rock twist. Addictive choruses. Addictive lyrics.
Throw in some good acoustic riffs and you have Alanis’ World.
With a title like “Super Trouper”, you’d think its silliness
would work against it. But like many songs by Abba, it’s fresh and
sincere. The instruments emit a human-played warmth (for one thing,
the drummer rushes a little) which really works for the sound,
centering on expressing emotions than expressing beauty. This is
more evident in the inspired anthem “The Winner Takes It All” and
the powerfully desolate “Knowing Me, Knowing You”, but most
noticeable in the incomparable “Dancing Queen” (remember? “You can
dance / you can die / having the time of your life”); total youth
radiation poisoning back in the cold war years. Nowadays we have to
settle for Garbage.
Some songs miss their mark, like “The Name Of The Game” which
tries to be another “The Winner Takes It All” but fails despite a
promising chorus; everything else is working against it. “S.O.S.”
is lukewarm, and this time the theme does deteriorate
sincerity.
Tributes to 70’s disco “Gimmie, Gimmie, Gimmie” and “Summer
Night City” definitely brings about a more sophisticated dimension
to Abba’s talents by laying off with lyrics and concentrating on
beat, beat, beat. And the three ballads “I Have A Dream”,
“Fernando”, and “Chiquita” are no lesser in quality. Nowadays three
ballads out of 15 tracks would be considered an atrocity, but here
it only adds to the lyrical beauty of the trio.
Of course, their trademark let’s-just-dance songs must not go
unmentioned. Made semi-popular today by the aforementioned brunette
Morissette, “Take A Chance On Me” (it was part of her set in some
concerts) tops the category with “Waterloo” coming a close second.
I just love the lyrics like “The history book on the shelf / is
always repeating itself” (sure beats “if you wanna be my lovah /
you have got to give / taking is too easy but that’s the way it
is”, which technically doesn’t even rhyme). “I Do, I Do, I Do” and
“Mamma Mia” are perfect themselves even to my nineties-tuned ear
(can you notice it? The instruments sound like mono, sorta).
I try not to give out so many A grades (in “The Daily Vault”, a
B is a compliment) under Mr. Thelen’s nose but some albums simply
deserve more.
The Singles – The First Ten Years captures plenty of
potential without being stingy or reserved. It’s just good stuff;
call me starved in the nineties, but the saddest thing about it is
that the era of good dance has deteriorated to a lot of mm-bopping
and devoid-of-passion love songs on cocaine. Curled up in front of
that speaker, all I had to think about then was going to sleep.