ABBA

Voulez Vous

Many excellent songs, but a couple of weak ones

Review Score:

(10/10)
Many excellent songs, but a couple of weak ones

Some people associate Abba with disco music, but this album is as close as they got to recording a disco album (only some tracks fit that classification). It has several excellent songs but in its original form would only get four stars from me. The addition of two bonus tracks, Summer night city and Lovelight, brings it up to five stars.

The British public, who normally bought Abba singles in quantities big enough to ensure number one in the charts, might appear to be (like me) less impressed with this album, as none of the singles reached number one although they were all top five. However, the album itself sold in huge quantities, so perhaps some people bought the album instead of the singles. In America, this album was less successful than its predecessor, but they visited America to promote that one (The album, featuring Take a chance on me).

Summer night city was the earliest hit here. Released some months before the album, it appeared on several compilations but not on an original album until it was included on the re-mastered version of this album. The first single from the original album was Chiquitita, a song I didn't like at all originally, but I've grown to accept it because it's by Abba - it shows even they're not perfect. Only Blondie's Heart of glass prevented it being number one in Britain

Much better is Does your mother know, in which one of the men (Bjorn) feature on lead vocals. The men started out as folk singers themselves. Their voices are nothing exceptional, but it is nice to hear them occasionally. This was followed by the double-A side Angel eyes / Voulez-vous. I prefer Angel eyes, but it seems that I am in a minority. In any case, the single reached number three, but Roxy Music also had a hit with a completely different song called Angel eyes and this may have caused confusion.

For me, the outstanding song here is I have a dream - it even inspired American country-gospel singer to record a cover. This song, the last to be released from this album, was unlucky not to be a British number one - it was stuck at number two for ages behind Pink Floyd's Another brick in the wall.

Apart from the singles, there were great album tracks, including The king has lost his crown, If it wasn't for the nights, Kisses of fire and the second bonus track, Lovelight, which was the B side of Chiquitita.

I note that the track listing here includes Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie - on the CD's I've got, this was a bonus track on Super trouper instead. It was recorded midway between the two albums and was a British number three hit. Like Chiquitita, it is song I've come to accept but not one I regard as an Abba classic.

While this is not one of my favorite Abba albums, there are a lot of brilliant songs here that are well up to the quality I expect of Abba (hence the five stars). Because of those songs, no self-respecting Abba fan should ignore it. You might even enjoy the songs that I think are merely OK.

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