ABBA

Polydor remastered CD 1997

2nd paragraph: "Following… an undeservedly brief chart showing for the LP [Waterloo]…" As usual, the Anglocentric view. The Waterloo LP of course was a number 1 hit in Scandinavia and top ten in other parts of Europe, where it remained in album charts for half a year or more.

3rd paragraph: "'I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do', perhaps designed as a pastiche of the Andrews Sisters…" It has long been reported that this song was influenced by such big band names as Billy Vaughan.

continuing: "…but subsequently recognisable as an early example of the karaoke craze - a song with an insistent and repetitive chorus." What the hell is this? Where did this idea come from?

continuing: "...the single was considerably more successful in Australasia, becoming the first of ABBA's six Number One singles in New Zealand and reaching the Top 3 in Australia." Obviously he's using the wrong (i.e. not national) charts, as ABBA had only five number one hits in New Zealand (though he's right that this was the first number one), and 'I Do' was the first of six number one singles in Australia. It was also a top ten hit throughout Europe, so was not the "flop" that Tobler continually reports, just because it didn't make the UK top 30.

6th paragraph: "… at one point there were five ABBA singles in the Australian Top 10, while a compilation LP, 'Best of ABBA', sold nearly a million copies in a country with a population of only 14 million people." The oft-told figure of five ABBA singles in the Australian top ten is a myth, the most ABBA singles in the top ten at any one time is two, though there are many examples of four singles in the top twenty. The Best Of ABBA LP actually sold over one and a quarter million copies in Australia.

7th paragraph: "As bonus items on this re-mastered re-issue are two tracks which were recorded during sessions for the album… and in fact have never before appeared on CD:" Wrong. Both were on the 1994 box set Thank You For The Music, to which Tobler contributed.

continuing: "…the folk medley of 'Pick A Bale of Cotton'/'On Top Of Old Smokey'/'Midnight Special', appeared in September, 1978, as the B-side of the 'Summer Night City' single." Wrong. The medley was actually recorded after the ABBA album had been released, for the German charity album Stars Im Zeichen Eines Guten Sterns. However, it was slightly remixed for the 1978 single, and it is this version that's included on this CD.

The notes generally concentrate on the chart action of the various singles released from the album. The album itself is barely mentioned, and then only as a source for many singles in the UK and USA.