ABBA "Arrival" /CD/

Remastered re-release of the fourth full-length studio album by legendary Swedish Pop band.
Widely considered the Swedish foursome's first classic album (and historically important as the first to use the now-famous mirror-B logo), 1976's "Arrival" contains three huge hit singles: the dramatic "Money Money Money", the downcast "Knowing Me, Knowing You", and the absolutely perfect Pop classic "Dancing Queen" - a combination of Spector-ian grandeur, McCartney-esque melody, and the indescribable vocals of Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad.
The rest of ABBA's fourth album is strikingly consistent and accomplished, from the sly, bouncy "When I Kissed the Teacher" to the atmospheric title track, making room in between for the three excellent singles and five other substantial Pop tunes.
The album became a major seller all over the world, becoming the top-selling album of 1977 in both the UK and West Germany for example. It was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America. The "Arrival" was included in Robert Dimery's 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. 
180 g vinyl comes with a printed inner sleeve and includes a voucher to download an MP3 version of the album.
Polar Music Production/Universal Music Group International, 1976/2011 (POLS 272). Made in Germany.

Tracklist:

Side 1
1. When I Kissed The Teacher 3:00
2. Dancing Queen 3:50
3. My Love, My Live 3:52
4. Dum Dum Diddle 2:53
5. Knowing Me, Knowing You 4:02

Side 2
1. Money, Money, Money 3:05
2. That's Me 3:15
3. Why Did It Have To Be Me 3:20
4. Tiger 2:55
5. Arrival 3:00

Total playing time: 33:12 miin.

Remastered re-release of the eighth and the final full-length studio album by legendary Swedish Pop band.
With "The Visitors", ABBA took several steps away from the "lighter" Pop music they had recorded previously and this album is often regarded as a more complex and mature effort.
ABBA's final album was recorded during a period of major personal shakeups, principally in the decision by Benny Andersson and Frida to follow the same route to divorce that had already been taken by Björn Ulvaeus and Agnetha Faltskog. Both male members of the group would soon remarry, but at the time, despite all of these changes in their circumstances, "The Visitors" was never intended as ABBA's swan song - they were to go on recording together. That may explain why, rather than a threadbare, thrown-together feel, "The Visitors" is a beautifully made, very sophisticated album, filled with serious but never downbeat songs, all beautifully sung and showing off some of the bold songwriting efforts.
The opening track, "The Visitors", with its ominous synthesizer sounds and the distinctive lead vocal by Frida, announced a change in musical style. With Benny and Frida going their separate ways, the pain of splitting up was explored yet again in "When All Is Said and Done". The major hit single on the album, "One of Us", also depicted the end of a love story. Elsewhere there were current Cold War themes (highly topical at the time) and further songs of isolation and regret. The title track is a topical song about Soviet dissidents that also manages to be very catchy, while "I Let the Music Speak" sounds like a Broadway number (and a very good one, at that) in search of a musical to be part of, and "When All Is Said and Done" is a serious, achingly beautiful ballad with a lot to say about their personal situations, even "Two for the Price of One," a lighthearted song sung by Björn Ulvaeus about answering a personal advertisement, offered several catchy hooks and beautiful backup singing. "Like an Angel Passing Through My Room" ended the original album on a hauntingly ethereal note, but not as any kind of larger statement about the quartet's fate. The intention was to keep working together, but Andersson and Ulvaeus' growing involvement with their stage project, Chess, prevented any further work together by the group beyond three songs, "The Day Before You Came", "Cassandra", and "Under Attack" - they're all present as bonus tracks on the 2001 remastered edition, along with the orphaned B-side "Should I Laugh or Cry" from the same sessions as "The Visitors", and only add to the appeal of the original album.
"The Visitors" was one of the first records ever to be recorded and mixed digitally, and was the first in history to be pressed on the new CD format in 1982 (though in terms of commercial release dates, it was predated by the Japanese release of Billy Joel's "52nd Street").
The first three tracks for the album had already been recorded using analogue tape and therefore Tretow had to transfer all subsequent tracks from digital to analogue and back again to avoid a difference in quality.
"The Visitors" has been reissued in digitally remastered form three times: first in 1997, then in 2001 and again in 2005 as part of "The Complete Studio Recordings" Box Set.
On its release, "The Visitors" reached the top of the charts in a number of territories but was not as successful as their previous albums.
Re-release includes a color 24-page booklet.
Polar Music International AB, an Universal Music Company, 1981/1982/2001 (549 957-2). Made in EU.


Tracklist:
01. The Visitors 5:46
02. Head Over Heels 3:47
03. When All Is Said And Done 3:17
04. Soldiers 4:38
05. I Let The Music Speak 5:20
06. One Of Us 3:55
07. Two For The Price Of One 3:36
08. Slipping Through My Fingers 3:53
09. Like An Angel Passing Through My Room 3:34
Bonus Tracks:
10. Should I Laugh Or Cry 4:26
11. The Day Before You Came 5:50
12. Cassandra 4:51
13. Under Attack 3:48
Total playing time: 56:41 min.

​​​​​​​

Remastered re-release of the sixth full-length studio album by legendary Swedish Pop band.
Their sixth album coincided with the marital split between Agnetha Fältskog and Björn Ulvaeus and the massively shifting currents in Popular music, with Disco, which had been on the wane, suddenly undergoing a renaissance thanks to the 1977 movie S"aturday Night Fever". 
"Voulez-Vous" showed the band embrace Disco music, which was at its peak at the time. Thus, about half of "Voulez-Vous" shows the heavy influence of the Bee Gees from their megahit disco era. This is shown not just in the fact that the backing track for the title song was cut at Criteria Studios in Miami, where the Bee Gees had cut "Main Course", "Children of the World", and most of the rest of their Disco-era music, but through the Funky beat that ran through much of the material; yet the album still had a pair of soft, lyrical Euro-Pop-style ballads ("I Have a Dream" and "Chiquitita"), which proved as popular as any of the more dance-oriented songs, and were reminders of Fältskog's and Ulvaeus' roots, in particular, in popular Folk music during the mid- to late '60s. Those two songs, plus "Angeleyes", "Does Your Mother Know", and the title cut, were all Top Five Singles in England, although only "Chiquitita" and "Does Your Mother Know" were Top 40 hits in America, where the album's sales peaked at a modest 500,000 or so.
It was the first ABBA album to be mainly recorded at Polar Studios in Stockholm, and the only ABBA album to include a studio recording made outside Sweden: the instrumental backing track for the title track was partly recorded at Criteria Studios in Miami.
"Voulez-Vous" was first released on CD in 1984. The album has been digitally remastered and reissued four times: first in 1997, then in 2001 and in 2005, as part of "The Complete Studio Recordings" Box Set, and yet again in 2010 for the "Voulez-Vous Deluxe Edition".
The album peaked at No.1 in a number of countries and was one of the top five-selling albums in the UK for that year.
Re-release includes a color 24-page booklet.
Polar Music International AB/Universal Music Australia, 1978/1979/2001 (549 955-2). Made in Australia.


Tracklist:
01. As Good As New 3:24
02. Voulez-Vous 5:09
03. I Have A Dream 4:45
04. Angeleyes 4:20
05. The King Has Lost His Crown 3:32
06. Does Your Mother Know 3:13
07. If It Wasn't For The Nights 5:09
08. Chiquitita 5:26
09. Lovers (Live A Little Longer) 3:30
10. Kisses Of Fire 3:16
Bonus Tracks:
11. Summer Night City 3:34
12. Lovelight 3:46
13. Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight) 4:52
Total playing time: 53:56 min.

Vogue, 1979 (LD 8537). Made in France. Used (cover/disc): EX/EX. OIS.

 
Tracklist:

Side A:
1. As Good As New 3:22    
2. Voulez-Vous 5:11    
3. I Have A Dream 4:44    
4. Angeleyes 4:20    
5. The King Has Lost His Crown 3:30    

Side B:
6. Does Your Mother Know 3:13    
7. If It Wasn´t For The Nights 5:13    
8. Chiquitita 5:26    
9. Lovers (Live A Little Longer) 3:28    
10. Kisses Of Fire 3:16

Total playing time: 41:43 min.

Epic Records, 1979 (86086). Made in UK. Used (cover/disc): EX/EX. OIS.

 
Tracklist:

Side A:
1. As Good As New 3:22    
2. Voulez-Vous 5:11    
3. I Have A Dream 4:44    
4. Angeleyes 4:20    
5. The King Has Lost His Crown 3:30    

Side B:
6. Does Your Mother Know 3:13    
7. If It Wasn´t For The Nights 5:13    
8. Chiquitita 5:26    
9. Lovers (Live A Little Longer) 3:28    
10. Kisses Of Fire 3:16

Total playing time: 41:43 min.

Epic Records, 1979 (86086). Made in UK. Used (cover/disc): NM/NM. OIS.

 
Tracklist:

Side A:
1. As Good As New 3:22    
2. Voulez-Vous 5:11    
3. I Have A Dream 4:44    
4. Angeleyes 4:20    
5. The King Has Lost His Crown 3:30    

Side B:
6. Does Your Mother Know 3:13    
7. If It Wasn´t For The Nights 5:13    
8. Chiquitita 5:26    
9. Lovers (Live A Little Longer) 3:28    
10. Kisses Of Fire 3:16

Total playing time: 41:43 min.

Epic Records, 1977 (86052). Made in UK. Used (cover/disc): EX/NM-. OIS.

 
Tracklist:

Side A:
1. Eagle 5:51    
2. Take A Chance On Me 4:05    
3. One Man, One Woman 4:25    
4. The Name Of The Game    4:54    

Side B:
5. Move On 4:42    
6. Hole In Your Soul 3:41    
7. Thank You For The Music 3:48    
8. I Wonder (Departure) 4:33    
9. I'm A Marionette 3:54

Total playing time: 39:53 min.

Epic Records, 1977 (86052). Made in UK. Used (cover/disc): NM/NM.

 
Tracklist:

Side A:
1. Eagle 5:51    
2. Take A Chance On Me 4:05    
3. One Man, One Woman 4:25    
4. The Name Of The Game    4:54    

Side B:
5. Move On 4:42    
6. Hole In Your Soul 3:41    
7. Thank You For The Music 3:48    
8. I Wonder (Departure) 4:33    
9. I'm A Marionette 3:54

Total playing time: 39:53 min.

Polydor Records, 1976 (2344 058). Made in Germany. Used (cover/disc): EX/EX. Glossy cover. Insert.

 
Tracklist:

Side 1
1. When I Kissed The Teacher 3:00
2. Dancing Queen 3:50
3. My Love, My Live 3:52
4. Dum Dum Diddle 2:53
5. Knowing Me, Knowing You 4:02

Side 2
1. Money, Money, Money 3:05
2. That's Me 3:15
3. Why Did It Have To Be Me 3:20
4. Tiger 2:55
5. Arrival 3:00

Total playing time: 33:12 min.

Polydor Records, 1976 (2344 058). Made in Germany. Used (cover/disc): EX/EX. Glossy cover. Insert. Sticker.

 
Tracklist:

Side 1
1. When I Kissed The Teacher 3:00
2. Dancing Queen 3:50
3. My Love, My Live 3:52
4. Dum Dum Diddle 2:53
5. Knowing Me, Knowing You 4:02

Side 2
1. Money, Money, Money 3:05
2. That's Me 3:15
3. Why Did It Have To Be Me 3:20
4. Tiger 2:55
5. Arrival 3:00

Total playing time: 33:12 min.

Epic Records, 1976 (86018). Made in UK. Used (cover/disc): NM/NM. 

 
Tracklist:

Side 1
1. When I Kissed The Teacher 3:00
2. Dancing Queen 3:50
3. My Love, My Live 3:52
4. Dum Dum Diddle 2:53
5. Knowing Me, Knowing You 4:02

Side 2
1. Money, Money, Money 3:05
2. That's Me 3:15
3. Why Did It Have To Be Me 3:20
4. Tiger 2:55
5. Arrival 3:00

Total playing time: 33:12 min.

Polydor Records, 1980 (2344 162). Made in Germany. Used (cover/disc): VG+/VG+. OIS.

 
Tracklist:

Side 1
1. Super Trouper 4:13    
2. The Winner Takes It All 4:55    
3. On And On And On 3:41    
4. Andante, Andante 4:38    
5. Me And I 3:56

Side 2
6. Happy New Year 4:37    
7. Our Last Summer 4:58    
8. The Piper 4:40    
9. Lay All Your Love On Me 4:33    
10. The Way Old Friends Do 2:53    

Total playing time: 43:04 min.