200 MOST RECOMMENDED ALBUMS: #40. Continues in 2 days.

THE CAFFE` LATTE`

200

MOST RECOMMENDED ALBUMS

Some are the best selling, while others may be obscure, but the albums listed here are all worthy of a listen. No compilation/ best of sets. Only exceptional live albums included. This is a personal listing of the albums I enjoy the most to this day.

#40

WATERLOO: ABBA

 

 [1974] 

On the group's 2nd album, ABBA was making better use of its greatest asset: the 2 females' vocal skill. There were still some tracks where Bjorn Ulvaeus took the lead, but he was outshone by Agnetha Faltskog and Frida Lyngstad. The album was unleashed around the time of the Eurovision Song Contest. ABBA had decided to try again after failing to qualify the previous year with "Ring Ring". The group had 2 songs it was seriously considering: "Waterloo" and "Hasta Manana", both included on this LP. After they selected the former, ABBA did succeed at the national selection. As is widely known now, the band triumphed in Birmingham, securing a victory with what is this album's title track. The win helped attract sales for the single and the parent album. ABBA was soon charting all over Europe, Australia and even cracked the US market. On this album, the group was perfecting its Europop magic. Bigger and better songs were yet to come, but 'Waterloo' serves a range of sounds and genres: both playful and at the same time revealing the skills of Ulveaus and co-writer Benny Andersson (often with manager/ songwriter/ producer Stig Anderson). ABBA rocks out on "Watch Out" and "King Kong Song".  "Hasta Manana" gives a hint of how the band would integrate the female half for maximum impact, offering an impassioned vocal from Faltskog. The title track is a pastiche of the 1960s and a nod in particular to Phil Spector's Wall of Sound. "Honey, Honey" and "Dance (While The Music Still Goes On)" is Europop. There are traces of reggae on "Sitting In The Palmtree" [sic]. Digging deeper into the LP, one discovers rhythms aplenty on "What About Livingstone". There is a retro feel on "Suzy-Hang-Around". "My Mama Said" is the group at its funkiest thus far. Finally, Lyngstad gets her chance to deliver a beautiful vocal on "Gonna Sing You My Lovesong" [sic].

Highlight tracks: Waterloo; Gonna Sing You My Lovesong; King Kong Song & Honey, Honey.