ABBA - 'Voyage' Album Review
ABBA are a Swedish pop group, who formed in 1972 in Sweden. The four members; Agnetha Faltskog, Bjorn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad, used their first intiials in a chiastic pattern to create the group's name. The group achieved 48 hit singles and are considered to be one of the most successful acts of pop music.
Having been the first Swedish winners of the Eurovision song contest in 1974 with Waterloo, the band began to attract worldwide attention. During the band's main active years - 1972-1982 - the group consisted of two married couples; Faltskog and Ulvaeus, and Lyngstad and Andersson, however as their popularity grew, their personal lives suffered and these struggles were reflected in the music and in December 1982, ABBA broke up with the four members going their separate ways and their marriages collapsing, too.
In 2016, the group reunited and started working on a digital avatar concert tour. In 2018 songs, it was announced that there would be newly recorded songs. The band's first new album in 40 years was released on November 5th 2021, entitled Voyage.
The first song on the album, I Still Have Faith In You, was released as one of the singles from the album, and immediately got me excited. To be living in an ABBA era was thrilling, and still is, but this single for me really is where it all started. ABBA announced they had recorded this song in 2018, is a very regal-sounding, very ABBA-esque track that I feel sounds quite similar to their 1975 track, I've Been Waiting For You. The song is delightful and enjoyable, though not as good as some of their previous work. I Still Have Faith In You really sets a precedent for what I hope the new album will deliver, and I cannot wait.
When You Danced With Me features booming ABBA vocals, which I have never heard any other group nail like this one does. It is such an ABBA marker that it is instantly placeable. The song is a happy-sounding, jiggy sort of song which, despite what might have been the group's best efforts, does sound at times like it is trying too hard to be what the band was in its heyday - however, it is still better than 99% of the drivel which is released these days.
With Little Things, it is abundantly clear that ABBA are going for the 2021 Christmas No.1 single... and they just might achieve it if Adele's upcoming 30 album is not up to her usual parr - it's a dangerous game, but worth a gamble, surely? Little Things is soft and Christmassy, and just generally a beautiful song. There is always a song on every ABBA album that you can cry to, and this is it. I would expect nothing left from the pop sensations.
The second track to be released from Voyage was Don't Shut Me Down, which is a sticky earworm of a song that I hummed all day the first time I heard it. It is, without a doubt, one of the best singles of the year - the fact that the song sounds so similar to previous ABBA songs that it is almost like the band are trying to emulate their previous successes is irrelevant - ABBA are still coming out on top.
Just A Notion is a funky song with 'Waterloo'-esque piano riffs. It is fun, and made of a more so choral vocal set than the majority of ABBA songs. The sound is different to previous ABBA work, but it is no less brilliant; the random bursts of electric guitar throughout also add a more modern sound to the song, which I think works in its favour so it doesn't sound like some outdated 70s outtake.
I Can Be That Woman in it is an old one, but no less relevant, and the inclusion of a dog in it, Tammy, is quite clever because it is good imagery. The emotion in the vocals is incredible. I was blown away by it.
Keep An Eye On Dan, the seventh song on Voyage, has a slightly mysterious build up, and gives me 'Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)' vibes. It is catchy, with a staccato way of singing, which makes the lyrics very understandable and memorable.
Perhaps my least favourite song on the album because of how similar it sounds to Flight Of The Bumblebee (by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, and composed between 1899 and 1900), Bumblebee sounds quite like the group's Fernando (1975), which so happens to be one of my favourite ABBA songs. There is also quite a melancholic sound to this song, which I felt actually echoed the Titanic (1997) theme song, which was just eery. There is quite a combination of different sounds in this, which I think is why it is so confusing and not a song which I particularly liked, however it is not a bad song - in fact, it is listenable.
The penultimate song on what has so far been a terrific comeback album, No Doubt About It is loud and exciting, and I think was made to join the likes of Dancing Queen (1976) in terms of memorability and excitement. The music sweeps you up and forces you to dance along to it, though it is definitely a pleasure to do so.
The final song on the album, I think, is the most boring. Ode To Freedom sounds quite like The Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairy (a song from The Nutcracker, a ballet scored by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1892), and is quite light and choral. It is simple, but not to its detriment. It is enjoyable, but boring nevertheless.
Voyage is what we have been waiting for. ABBA have delivered an incredible album, with some parts of songs being recorded back in the 70s and parts matched to those 70s outtakes in the twenty-first century. The fact that ABBA are able to match their younger vocals is incredible, not least achieve such a true-to-themselves sound. ABBA are not trying to have a sound which is similar to that of what is popular today - no, they know their strengths, and they are playing to them - and successfully, I might add. This album is staggering, and whilst ABBA have announced that they do not intend to release anymore music, I hope that they do because I need more.