In 1974 ABBA won the Eurovision Song Contest with the title track from their second studio album, Waterloo. To mark the 40th anniversary of the win and the album's international release it's getting a 'deluxe' re-release on 7th April.
Some of the songs will be familiar to all of a certain age; 'Hasta Manana', 'Ring Ring', 'Honey Honey', 'Dance (While The Music Still Goes On)', and the title track. The reason we remember these songs (and perhaps none of the others) is that they have tremendous melodic quality. The lyrics may seem a little simple and dated but a good tune never grows old.
Sadly, the quality control department were out to lunch when some of the other tracks made it onto the record. Particular mention has to go to the truly awful 'Sitting In A Palmtree' on which Bjorn takes lead vocal (so imagine a Swedish man attempting to emulate a West Indian to an irritating reggae influenced musical backdrop - excruciating).
So, the basic album is about 50% great and 50% awful but this isn't the basic album, it's "DELUXE"!! So what else do you get? Well, multi-linguists are in for a treat as you get 5 versions (yes FIVE) of the tile track - French, German, Swedish, English and Alternate Mix. Then there's foreign language versions of Honey Honey and Hasta Manana and a remix of Ring Ring. I think it's fair to say that this is a bit of a completest's dream but for the rest of us it may seem a little bit too much of a good thing.
Apparently there's a DVD release to co-incide if that isn't enough for you!
Words: Rachel Jean
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