ABBA: The Album

The fifth album, released with ABBA: The Movie, with Take a Chance on Me, The Name of the Game and a mini-musical on side two.
ABBA, 1977

Released: 12 December 1977
Label: Polar Music
Producer: Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus

ABBA: The Album came out in Scandinavia on 12 December 1977, timed to ABBA: The Movie. The UK pressing plants could not make enough copies of it for Christmas because of the number of pre-orders, so it reached British shops in January 1978. Its last three tracks, Thank You for the Music, I Wonder (Departure) and I'm a Marionette, came from The Girl with the Golden Hair, a mini-musical the group performed on their 1977 tour, and are sequenced on the record as three scenes.

It debuted at number one in the UK and stayed there for seven weeks, becoming the third-biggest-selling album of the year there, behind the Saturday Night Fever and Grease soundtracks. In the United States it was their highest-charting album of their original run, at number 14. The singles Take a Chance on Me and The Name of the Game both topped the UK chart. AllMusic's Bruce Eder later called the record a step forward for the group.

Track listing

Eagle5:51
Take a Chance on Me4:05
One Man, One Woman4:25
The Name of the Game4:54
Move On4:42
Hole in Your Soul3:41
Thank You for the Music3:48
I Wonder (Departure)4:33
I'm a Marionette3:54

Personnel

Agnetha Fältskog lead and backing vocals
Anni-Frid Lyngstad lead and backing vocals
Björn Ulvaeus guitars, mandolin, backing vocals, producer, arranger
Benny Andersson keyboards, synthesizer, backing vocals, producer, arranger
Rutger Gunnarsson bass guitar, string arrangements
Ola Brunkert drums
Roger Palm drums, tambourine
Lasse Wellander lead guitar, acoustic guitar, mandolin
Janne Schaffer guitar
Malando Gassama percussion
Lars O. Carlsson saxophones, flutes
Michael B. Tretow engineer

More from ABBA

Waterloo (1974), Arrival (1976), Super Trouper (1980), The Visitors (1981)

Sources

ABBA: The Album, Wikipedia
ABBA, Wikipedia