| Watershed? I’ve seen the sticker on the upcoming deluxe re-release of ABBA – The Album and noticed the use of the word “watershed”. So, is 'The Album' a watershed in terms of the history of ABBA? I would think that, if there was going to be any album in ABBA's catalogue that earned that title, it would have to be either this one or Voulez-Vous. If there had been more albums after The Visitors which had continued in that vein, then perhaps that album could also have been described as such, but given that there were no more albums (of original material), then that one doesn't get it. So, why either this album or Voulez-Vous? Perhaps the latter was more of a culmination of the changes and influences that were taking place in the style of Björn and Benny's writing, and the growing use of 'adult' themes and imagery and so on. That then perhaps makes it not a 'watershed' as such, in the sense of it being a turning point or a significant step in the journey of the group. The Album is a better choice as a 'watershed' in that it signalled the biggest changes from what the group had produced previously and pointed more clearly to what was to come. Certainly if you had to look for two consecutive albums that were the most different, then Arrival and The Album are probably the two that best fit that description. Arrival certainly fits much more in the style of the earlier albums. The track that stands out as the most different, and as the most indicative of what was to come, would have to be Knowing Me, Knowing You, but this is only one track in 11 (I'm counting Fernando here, given that it was on the Australian release of Arrival), and certainly the balance of the songs, although more refined in their craft (such as Dancing Queen and Money, Money, Money), are closer in style and content to the earlier output (the likes of Dum Dum Diddle, That's Me and Tiger). But The Album is different. From the very first notes of Eagle, it is a different sound we are hearing - far more mature, far more majestic in scope and ambition. And longer than anything they'd done before, at nearly 6 minutes. In fact, the whole of Side 1 sounds like a very different group. Take A Chance On Me is the most reminiscent of the 'old' ABBA, but even it is more complex in its structure than their previous 'pop' output. One Man, One Woman and The Name Of The Game get into some very mature territory - and although it was not the first time they had visited more 'adult' themes (for example, SOS, Gonna Sing You My Lovesong, Hey Hey Helen), they were expressed in music that was far more adult and, in the case of The Name Of The Game, far more complex than they had previously used. One Man, One Woman even echoes SOS in its use of the line, 'Where did all our love go?', but the underlying sentiments of the two songs are very different - the lament of a love that is dying is the same, but One Man, One Woman goes further to draw upon themes of commitment and sacrifice and forgiveness and hope, things which belong to a very different world than the mere 'longing for a love restored' in SOS. Yes, in both songs they look for that to happen, but the realisation of what you have to do to get it puts the later song in a much more 'adult' space. People have talked a lot about The Name Of The Game, and it really does seem to be a case of 'love it or hate it'. Perhaps that has to do with something as simple as the way in which different people perceive ABBA's fortunes in their territory. This is only a very general surmise, but it appears that Australian fans tend to be more in the 'hate it' category, and European fans more in the 'love it' category. Would that be right? And could that be a product of ABBA's 'history' in those two markets? In the Australian case, is it 'hated' because it was perceived as the wrong choice as a single - a ponderous, complex creation, and fairly slow-paced at that, when what was needed to regain the public's attention after the 1977 tour was something racy and catchy, with a bit of oomph and momentum (although, according to Trent's fabby site, it reached number 6 here, 6 places better than Take A Chance On Me)? The story goes that perhaps Hole In Your Soul was the song to do that - that RCA (the record company) had even assigned a catalogue number to it but was not permitted to release it. And from then on, ABBA was never as 'huge' in Australia - there was a string of top 10 and top 20 releases that anyone would be proud to have, actually, but nowhere near their earlier success. On the other hand, in Europe, was the song better received because there was not the 'mountain' of ABBA-mania that existed in Australia, and the song was perceived more positively for its craft and development, rather than being seen to have to do a particular 'job' in keeping the ABBA train rolling? Whatever the case, to me, The Name Of The Game is one of their best songs (maybe I was born on the wrong continent!) and certainly streets ahead of their earlier output in terms of creativity and complexity. It is a perfect example (along with Eagle) of the growing craftsmanship of Björn and Benny's song writing and producing, and well deserves its place on a 'watershed' album. Then we get to Side 2. Side 2 of The Album has always, for me, been a letdown from Side 1. But that's not the topic here. Do the songs on Side 2 support the description of the album as a 'watershed'? One point in favour of this is the simple ambition of the mini-musical. Regardless of whether you like the results or not, the very fact of them doing it marks a huge step forward in terms of creativity and a vision of what they could accomplish. Perhaps it would have worked better if it had been recorded in its entirety, with Get On The Carousel included and perhaps even the narration - now, that would have made it a very different album, wouldn't it? During 1977 there was even talk that there would be two ABBA albums released at the end of the year – with one being completely live in concert. A question - I wonder if, in their decision to record the songs from the musical for The Album, was their aim to include the songs simply as a reminder of the musical for those who had seen the tour, something like the 'highlights', or did they think that including just those three songs gave enough of the 'story'? Was it a case that, in giving us the mini-musical, it should have been 'all or nothing'? As for the Side 2 songs themselves, a lot can be said in terms of change and development. Move On I sometimes liken to Eagle, in that it tries, in both music and lyrics, to be 'majestic' in its scope - after all, it does deal with philosophical issues such as the essence of the cosmos and the sanctity of life (pretty profound topics). But it doesn't quite pull it off with the same level of success that Eagle does in achieving its lyrical or musical scope. Nevertheless, the ambition is there - and the fact that there are two such songs on one ABBA album certainly marks The Album as significantly different to their previous releases. Add to that the themes of One Man, One Woman and the musical complexity of The Name Of The Game and you have one incredibly 'grown up' album. And something more - as we know, the working title of The Name Of The Game was A Bit Of Myself. If Björn had continued with that theme for the lyrics, I wonder what kind of philosophical musings he would have come up with? Hole In Your Soul. Hmm. I was never sure about this song. Did I like it or not? I couldn't always tell. There are those who think that all of ABBA's attempts to 'rock' failed, and there's a lot of evidence to support that. Whenever they tried to sound 'heavy', for some reason they ended up sounding 'cheesy'. Just think of Watch Out, So Long, Rock Me, Rock 'n' Roll Band, and - the worst of them all - Rikky Rock 'n' Roller. Thank goodness that one stayed in the vaults for as long as it did. And there are parts of Hole In Your Soul which put it in the same category, in particular the 'chipmunk' voices, but even then the song has something which sets it apart from those earlier attempts, and it probably lies in the production more than anything else. There are elements and nuances which really do reflect a far more complex structure than the early 'rock' songs possessed, and which makes it the best of all of their attempts to get 'heavy'. 'Watershed'? Close, but perhaps not quite - but certainly more evidence of growth and development. And then we have the songs from the mini-musical themselves. Something of a mixed bag, I guess. People love them - people hate them. But what about the idea of their place on a 'watershed' album? As I said previously, the 'idea' of the mini-musical definitely contributes to the 'watershed' concept, but the songs themselves probably don't. Thank You For The Music is just about as quintessentially 'ABBA' as you could possibly get, both in sentiment and structure. There's nothing really that sets it apart from, say, I've Been Waiting For You or Hasta Manana in terms of being an 'ABBA ballad', although it does have something of a dramatic quality that gives it a place within the mini-musical. I Wonder is a bit different in terms of drawing on the perhaps more adult themes of wondering about life and its meaning (similar to Move On and Eagle), and it also has a drama to it, perhaps more so than Thank You For The Music, but it too comes out more along the lines of a traditional 'ABBA ballad'. Where the most significant difference comes, is with I'm A Marionette. This is drama to the nth degree, both in style and production. It is also one of the more successful 'ABBA rock' numbers, although it gets repetitive in places which dulls the gloss of the overall impression of the song. For me, it is probably the most 'different' song on the entire album, which is probably why I haven't always liked it, and still have mixed feelings about it. So, having considered all of that, does The Album qualify as a 'watershed' album? I think that, both overall and in terms of particular songs, it has many of the elements to make it one. It's the album that is the most different from its immediate predecessor, and the album that points most clearly to the type of music the group was to produce in its future. Voulez-Vous definitely continued that development, so perhaps it's more accurate to talk about 1977 and 1978 as 'watershed' years in the group's history. But if any of their albums has to have that title, then I'm happy for ABBA - The Album to have it. Thanks for reading! Darren Lloyd, Brisbane, Australia | 
