Arrival

There are 2 types of people in this world: people who like ABBA and boring people

Arrival, a 1976 album by the Swedish band ABBA is the music of the day for me. And what a great day. I used to be judgmental about ABBA for some reason. I was very dismissive and they seemed like terrible bubblegum international pop for a long time in my brain. I can't believe anyone would listen to this garbage! This has changed. At some point I learned to let go and be willing to let the context and circumstances sweep me away and bring me joy. At some point, ABBA became a lovely band and I'm now filled with joy from listening to them. Just let go and let the music take you.

Absolute fucking classic man. Fernando is a whole vibe. Add in Dancing queen, and I mean When i kissed the teacher is kinda weird, but it's good. Plus money, money, money. Solid stuff.

You show me someone that won't allow themselves to enjoy ABBA and I'll show you a joyless, pretentious ass-hat. Rating: 4/5 Playlist track: Dancing Queen Date listened: 03/08/23

oh oh oh im too excited for this!!! never have i ever clicked the spotify link and hit play this fast!

The songwriting and production are so underrated with ABBA. They deserve praise for their masterful and intelligent pop songwriting. It’s a pop masterpiece, with songs that will live forever.

Gonna start this off by saying that I dislike ABBA in general. Ever since I heard Dancing Queen the first time years ago, I did NOT like that song. Just ABBA itself I just.. It just does not click with me. We'll see how this goes. // When I Kissed The Teacher - Yep. Sounds like ABBA. Booo. // Dancing Queen - >:( . God damnit I hate this fucking song (Still listened anyways, gotta give it the benefit of the doubt). 3:02~ This song does not end plz god kill me. // My Love, My Life - yawn. // Dum Dum Diddle - these all sound exactly the same. idk if it's the fact that their voices annoy me, or that the melody literally just follows the vocals (which is an awfully boring way to make a song) but this is physically painful for me to listen to. // Knowing Me, Knowing You - I have nothing to say. // Money, Money, Money - oh wow the bass follows exactly with the vocals what a change up from the melody doing it! WOW! SO INNOVATIVE!! // That's Me - Y'know, I think I can see what I hate about this album so much. It's flat. There is no depth sonically. Each song sounds like it's mixed in the exact same way as the other. Not only does it feel uninspired, unimpressive, and honestly, boring, but even given the time period this album came out, there were so many other albums released even during the same year that did have a sonic depth to them, or maybe used more than 5 instruments. I mean, every single Beatles album came out (the most recent being an entire 6 years) before this did, and why are those fun to listen to? More noise. The songs feel like they have a strong sonic substance behind them. That's the simplest way I can put it. I'm a sucker for big sound with lots of moving parts, and this is NOT it. // Why Did It Have To Be Me? - Yeah that's what I'm sayin chief. The only reason I even remotely enjoyed this track is because it sounds like The Wanderer by Dion. // Tiger - You can't go from singing about boo hoo Why Me and then the next song is about being a Tiger. Pick a theme now come the fuck on. Funny enough though, the way this song is built and its chord progression has made it my favorite of the album so far (But I promise that is NOT saying much). // Arrival - 0:02 ~Ok the albums lead track, please be not absolute pond water. 0:44 ~ okayyy a bit of depth, nice. come on little buddy, you can do it! 1:48 ~ mhmm, mhmm, yeah. 3:00 ~ Two things. One: Why is this here? What purpose. Two: Thank you ABBA for a semi-pleasant break from the stand-still traffic monotony that this album has been so far. // Fernando - Ok I actually kind of like this one, but only a little bit. GG // Happy Hawaii - I liked this song until they started singing. 2:06 ~ See, the background vocals, it makes the song better doesn't it. Almost like.. almost like adding more interesting things and D E P T H to the song makes it more enjoyable to listen to. Huh. 3:33 ~ Now thats wtf I'm talking about! More harmonies in the guitars yes yes yes. . Wow this song had so many ups and down! /> Final Thoughts: This album had virtually nothing for me. Tbh maybe I'm just not the target demographic and I get that, but at the same time, I don't know how anyone could be. A flat album, 90% sounds exactly the same. Not fun except for extremely infrequent places where 'Oh look, the did something different this time'. I did stick through it though. In the nature of what this website is trying to do, I did stick with it one single full time through. I owe the album at least that much. I will definitely not be coming back to this album on my own, and if I'm a lucky man, will never hear a single song from it ever again. fuck you dancing queen fuck you.

I cannot fucking believe that every single song on this record has a Wikipedia article. Key Tracks: Dancing Queen, Tiger

I love the way Abba have gone from brilliant in the 70s, to cheesy in the 90s, and back up to brilliant now. Every song is perfectly written and flawlessly executed.

Saw ABBA and just laughed to myself. Then I listened to the album. This is good quality fun stuff. Much better sounding than I remember as a kid. I'm serious. How can you not like Dancing Queen, Fernando and Knowing me, Knowing you? I would guarantee if you put this on in the background of a get together, you would catch people grooving along.... Also enjoyed Money, Money, Money and Why did it have to be me. Not sure you could put out a song like I kissed the teacher these days. And what's wrong with Carrie, that you wouldn't want to marry? Good fun album. I enjoyed listening. I'll give a solid 3. Maybe would have gone a little higher, but can't score ABBA above Steve Earle. 3 for me

Dancing Queen is one of my favorite songs, so I enjoyed that one. Found Dum Dum Diddle peppy and Tiger sort of catchy. Otherwise, enjoyed listening but not enough to buy the album.

Unpopular opinion : everybody is peer pressured or family pressured, and pretends to like ABBA. And since show up in your life so often, that you connect ABBA to fun-ish moments, until the brainwashing is complete.

Always just ignored Abba. But this forced to me to listen to them properly, and it was very enjoyable. "Dancing Queen", "Knowing Me, Knowing You", "Money, Money, Money" and "Fernando" were the standout songs on the album.

Dum Dum Diddle.... need I say more..... Ah well. It has several number one all time super hits that are hard to ignore. Even when you don't like the 70th dance music style of Abba you have to admit that Benny and Björn have been geniuses over a long time. Name any party that doesn't get better when they play Dancing Queen? It's as classy as IKEA.

it's abba. nuff said. excellent uplifting beats, some big hitting classics on here, mixed in with a good dose of melacholy-ish but not too much to bring the overall mood down. a party album - will come back to it again and again!

Such perfect 70s pop - the rhythms, harmonies, and just plain and simple fun.

Made me want to dance

July 15, 2021 All the light is topaz. Someone came to look at the house next door and I stopped it so they wouldn't hear me playing ABBA with the window open at 9:30am. Sorry ABBA for doing you like that. Cheesy, but I love it. There are a few classics on here. Also, somewhat surprisingly learning I'm kind of into ABBA's album cover aesthetic?

12th April 2022 Listened in the morning getting ready to go to brunch on Huntington Beach, wander around the pier then head to Guy and Jana’s for drinks and games in the evening. ABBA bring me such unbridled joy and they should never be mocked or disrespected for giving that to people in such ASM unapologetic way.

Undeniably catchy pop. Not my thing, but I can see it has to deserve 5 stars. Not sure 'when I kissed the teacher' could be played in public these days...great tune though. 4 massive international hits, but a purely singles band. Who has ever heard an album track of theirs (unless they actually bought the album, obviously)? 'Dum dum diddle' - really? Practising for the next Eurovision Song Contest, obviously. 'Tiger' could easily have been a single, too.

Wonderful! Improves with age

Who doesn't like ABBA?

Love the singles, “Arrival” and at least half of “Happy Hawaii”. Had I the time, I’d talk to Simon’s excellent comment re inverse snobbery and ABBA, which made me felt looked at. To be clear, I think they are a good few tiers above Ace of Bass, but I hear the europop awkwardness outside the singles. I think they built their own world.

There's a weird inverse snobbery around ABBA - if you don't think they are unbridled geniuses then you must hate pop music and be a really boring human, a joyless cipher. I find them a bit basic and awkward in the classic Europop fashion - fun and tuneful but no different fundamentally from Ace of Base or Eiffel 65. This album cover was everywhere when I was a kid, and the mysteries contained therein were revealed today as: a bit basic and awkward, if fun and tuneful. Didn't hold my attention long despite fond memories of "Dancing Queen" signaling lights-up horror at The Dome in Tufnell Park, and amusing thoughts of Zapata and Villa chilling over a margarita to "Fernando". Aha..

I would like this band if they didn’t sound anything like the way they do. 2/5

Here we have a concept disco album by the Swedish band Abba. We follow a tale of a promiscuous high school girl who gets kicked out of school for sexually assaulting her math teacher. She becomes a stripper and is fairly popular with the guys, she tries to have a romantic relationship, but just ends up getting her heart broken, realizing that no one wants a stripper girlfriend. Devastated she quits dancing, but now she is struggling with her bills, alone and broke she spirals into a pit of depression. One night as she's being followed home by a stalker in a tiger outfit (probably a furry), she realizes she's had enough, so she packs her bags and moves to Hawaii, where she meets a man named Fernando, and they live happily ever after. Musically this album is annoying as hell, the repetitive saccharine melodies are particularly painful. The lyrics are stupid. The story is stupid. I hate everything about this. This needs to remain in 70's Sweden. You know those people who use phrases like "someone's got a case of the Mondays"? They're the only ones who listen to this. And only in the presence of others. Because they want to torture you. Abba is shitty torture music. Stay away unless you have masochistic tendencies.

Despised them back then and still cannot listen to them…they were the Monkees of the 70’s..terribly irritating…so much better music in that era

I respect them and remembered some of the songs from when I was a kid. But so far this has been the most difficult to wade through in its entirety.

This is going to be tough. Historically, I haven't liked ABBA at all. Let's see what happens... When I Kissed the Teacher - Didn't like it. Dancing Queen - Obviously I've heard it before. I was ok with it this time. Dum Dum Diddle - I hate this... Literally "hate." Knowing Me, Knowing You - I don't hate this. There's something decent happening here. Money, Money, Money - The minor key helps. It's not a good rock song, but I feel like it could be part of a European opera. Don't hate it. That's Me - nah Why Did it Have to be Me? - Nothing particularly in either direction here. Tiger - oof no Arrival - No vocals definitely helps Fernando - Not terrible. I'd rather to hear someone else play it with a talented Spanish acoustic guitarist. Happy Hawaii - I'd rather hear this in a Hawaiian style recorded by Don Ho. Or anyone else. Fuck, AC/DC would have made a better version of this. I feel like this album (and all of Abba) is part of the Eurotrash origin story. I forced myself to listen to the whole thing. I won't be listening to it again. Goddamnit, I hate Abba.

Utter. Garbage. Disco is the worst thing to ever happen to music. So much hate.

We had this one on 8-track when I was a kid. I don't know precisely who in my family "owned" it --- it seemed to just belong to all of us, which was unusual. My mom (now 82) didn't ever listen to a lot of popular music but she can still name Dancing Queen from the opening glissando. I loved listening to this today. ABBA sounds distinctly superb and these are some top-notch pop songs.

This is one of my favorite ABBA albums, so I was excited to see it here! The album has a little of everything that ABBA is great at: dance, rock, ballad, folk music, boogie boogie. All the songs are great, and I'm glad the bonus track version includes Fernando! Perfect Swedish vocals, lovely arrangements, excellent production.

Bangers on bangers

Banger after banger

Yay, ABBA! This is their 4th collection of catchy tunes and memorable melodies. Among others, we find classics as Dancing Queen, Knowing Me, Knowing You, Money, Money Money, Arrival and Fernando. Of course, not all tracks are equally good, but there hardly is any filler material here. Onle My Love, My Life and Dum Dum Diddle do nothing for me, but everything considered, this is a great album. 4.5/5

Fantastic album by ABBA!! Don't think there was one song that I disliked. Their harmonies are distinct and so beautifully done. From catchy party tunes like Dancing Queen and Money, Money Money. To the more captivating verses of My Love, My Life and Why Did It Have To Be Me. Overall stunning! Probably my fav album they've produced.

If it’s good enough for Alan Partridge, it’s good enough for me.

First off, there's no denying Dancing Queen is an all time banger. Just a great pop song through and through. The rest of the album is quite solid. A well constructed, well crafted pop album. Not every song hits but most of them do. Deserves to be on this list.

It's ABBA. If you want to get down with some well-crafted pop songs, this is your jam.

4.5 ESTE ALBÚM ES MI VIDA, LO MEJOR DE MI VIDA. ME SÉ TODAS LAS CACNIONES Y DE CORAZÓN. CÓMO LO AMO. ABBA VINO A SALVARME DE TODO LO MALO. Aunque debo admitir que había alguna canciones que no conocía. Creo que esas tendría que escucharlas de nuevo. Excepto "That's me".

Pop. Varios megahits. No me apasiona tanto como a ti :-P Un 4.

Fun disco album that tells us how Abba dominated pop in the 70s. With catchy lyrics and melody, each track stands on its own. "Dancing Queen" is one of the best disco tracks of all time. I just wanted to point out how stupid "Dum Dum Diddle" is and how I feel they were trying to make a point the lyrics don't have to make sense. "Why Did It Have To Be?" was a nice surprise, incorporating jazz, blues, and rockabilly yet still making it catchy pop. The closing title track almost feels like the end of mass. The 1997 bonus track "Fernando" is another favorite of mine, capturing a unique perspective of the Mexican Dirty War. Overall not my favorite Abba album, but with solid production and creativity, it certainly tops the pop scene of the era.

When I was a kid I set a challenge to myself to see what would happen if I ate 1 piece of every kind of halloween candy in my bag. It was fun at first... then I felt sick. ABBA is like that. I like them in small doses, but a whole album makes me want to barf by the time I get to the end.

Tough one, on the one hand you got some monster hits and production genius, on the other there are some really dumb songs on here. And a few questionable choruses. Think I prefer their breaking up album more

You ever eat something really sweet and decadent and you know it's going to make you want to puke but you just keep hammering down fork fulls into your fat face? This is the audio version.

3 stars only for dancing queen

3/1001. You probably had to be there, yet I wasn’t there. Weird album to critique, some songs (Dancing Queen) are absolutely iconic as they’re larger than music, but I can’t get the deeper cuts to stay with me. The vocalist is infectious but it gets to the point of becoming grating at times. I’m sure I would have loved this in the 70s. Right now it’s not plainly bad, but it’s not interesting to me either. I’ll go 4/10.

I'm sorry but Abba does nothing for me as a whole. Thier music is so comically Eurovision down the line to me... Best song on the album for me was "Knowing Me Knowing You" the only other songs I actually liked were the bonus tracks (in fact I liked both of them better than "KMKY") (5.7) ★★½

Dancing queen and Fernando are good, the rest sounds too much like show tunes.

Non merci

ABBA schmabba

Garbage One star because I can’t give it zero!

Unhörbar

Classic tracks, teeing up for my favorite ABBA to come!

It's a terrific pop album, the singles are obviously the standouts (i'm including Fernando), but the album tracks, particularly on side B are also worth a listen. Dancing Queen is such a banger on it's own, I'm very happy I can give this a 5.

Världsklass!

I'm sorry but I love this. Forgive me.

GIMMIE

I was 12 when Arrival came out and since I already had the rather prematurely released 1975 ‘Greatest Hits’. I trotted down to Woolies and gave them my £2.99. It was a great album and I loved it. But I was only 12. As I got older I was laughed at by my older step-brothers who were into hard rock and metal. I learned to hide my love for ABBA. I got into rock and metal. I’ve not listened to this album in 45 years (though I've abviously heard the mega-hits off it endlessly). And it’s still as good as I knew it was. So 12 year old me was right all along. Dancing Queen might be in my top 10 favourite songs of all time. And any other track on the album could have been a worthy single. I'm glad Fernando wasn't on the 1976 album at purchased by me, because I've always thought it was a bit duff. 'Arrival' is a perfect closing track so I would hope they didnt just tack Fernando onto the end of side 2 on the Aussie version like they have done on the Spotify stream. Do youself a favour and stop listening after 'Arrival' ends. Don't sully perfection. (edit. I managed to get through that review without once fawning over Agnetha. I'm so proud of myself)

PERFECT!!!!! BEST ONE YET

Perfection. I don't know, but it clicked for me. So many iconic poppy songs, I like almost every single one on this album :)

Classic good times music

Dancing Queen, Knowing Me Knowing You, Money Money Money, AND Fernando are you KIDDING me

Lots of classics on here that I really love, though some of the songs I didn’t know made the album slightly less impressive to me. They definitely share the same feel as the songs I already knew but just fell short. This album’s still a 9/10 to me because the hits really do hit. Dancing Queen, Knowing Me, Knowing You, and Fernando all on the same album is a gift.

I honestly felt like this album flew by. Which I guess is a good thing. Honestly I can probably listen to this album on repeat and it'd still be a fun listen. Even their "worst songs" from this album aren't even bad. They got their own style and rhythm. Add on top of that their singles from this record, "Dancing Queen", "Fernando", "Money, Money, Money" are all incredibly good and featured everywhere. To me, there's absolutely no reason to not give this album 5 stars.

Obviously we all know that ABBA slaps - Dancing Queen an all time classic that only grumpy grumps (see: stupid teenage me) don't appreciate

Ее

good

Ståpels

9/12 låtar är i min egna Abba Gold-lista, I rest my case.

Did not expect this to be this good

Classic ABBA

Classic

An album of bangers! Questionable Song - "When I kissed the teacher" - definitely wouldnt be made today, haha. Top Tier - Dancing Queen - forever. Favorite surprise - Dum Dum Diddle.

Good vibes only, perfect for a sunny sunday morning like the one today

Such icons. Not necessarily my cup of tea but I have mad respect and not just for the album cover.

I have very eclectic tastes in music but, deep down, I am a metalhead and heavy rock fan, with regular excursions into Jazz. But I have owned and loved this album on vinyl for years. Arrival is close to the perfect pop album, and ABBA the perfect pop band. There are classic songs here - Dancing Queen, Knowing Me, Knowing You, Money, Money, Money - and the rest comes close to equalling those. The arrangements are wonderful and the sounds so influential (listen to Costello's Oliver's Army immediately after Dancing Queen...). I love this album. It always makes me smile.

yesssssss

Sweet ABBA, sweet childhood memories

So excited to finally get ABBA on this, they always make me so happy. They go so hard. Their harmonies are *chef's kiss* Highlights: fernando, dancing queen, money money money, knowing me knowing you, when i kissed the teacher (still catchy despite the creepiness)

UM HELLO I KNOW MORE THAN HALF THE SONGS AND THEY’RE MY FAV ONES WHO KNEW THEY WERE ALL IN ONE ALBUM THIS MAKES PERFECT SENSE

Listening to ABBA songs I don't know is always an odd experience. This is packed with the hits which are iconic through familiarity, and the others fit in really well. I'm intrigued that their idea of an alien landing appears to just be bagpipes. Not the first time I've heard that either. I suppose if you've tried to understand a Scottish accent it kinda makes sense

Is it embarrassing to admit when pop music hits the spot?

Everyone likes Abba but not everyone can admit it.

Okay, I don’t even need to listen to this album… I will because I want to, but I already know 99% of these songs and this is without a doubt a 5

This album comes with almost 50 years of cultural baggage attached, from Alan Partridge to the musical Mama Mia to every wedding disco I’ve ever been to, along with some of the most memorable songs of all time. If you can put that to one side and listen to this with no pre-conceptions then you are in for a treat. The first thing to say is that this album feels a little like a greatest hits compilation, including ‘Dancing Queen’, ‘Knowing Me, Knowing You’, ‘Money, Money, Money’ and ‘Fernando’, but any of the other tracks can justifiably stand alongside these hits. This is immaculately constructed pop, across a variety of genres from cheesy Euro disco to dark cabaret to good old rock ’n’ roll, not forgetting the majestic instrumental title track. The lyrics have an occasional odd turn of phrase (‘Dum dum diddle, to be your fiddle’) which just adds to their quirky Scandinavian charm when sung by Agnetha and Anna-Frid with just a hint of a Swedish accent. Eurovision-tastic!

Abba can do no wrong. Ever. Period.

Nice and light

Tem Dancing Queen nesse álbum, ABBA em estado puro, merece 5 só por causa disso.

Vele nummers ken ik al uit me hoofd, benieuwd naar de wat minder bekende nummers van het album

Oh my favourite/ one of the first albums I owned

Is this the music you’re going to catch me listening to week in and week out? Probably not, but it’s hard to deny that iconic nature of Abba. I’m not afraid to say I can get down to most of these tracks and there’s something charming and silly about ABBA in the best ways. Lotta Bops on this one. Fernando FTW

Pop perfection

Tons of hits on this record, love the unique abba sound. First track was kind of wild.

One of ABBA's best.

Surprisingly good! Knew several tracks but not others. 5/5

It was Valentine's Day so I let my wife rate this one. They are still listened to even by GenZ.

good tunes, heard many before

Happy people like ABBA. Sad people like ABBA because they want to be happy. Angry people don’t like ABBA.

This is the 27th album I’m rating. I’ve barely listened to ABBA but the ABBA I’ve listened to has been pretty good so I’m expecting great things from this album. When I Kissed the Teacher - Adding to my Playlist. I hope this was a college professor. Dancing Queen - Adding to my Playlist. Classic song and probably the most famous ABBA song. My Love, my Life - Adding to my Playlist. I think I like ABBA. Dum Dum Diddle - Adding to my Playlist. Fun simple song. Knowing Me, Knowing You - Adding to my Playlist. Maybe I should watch Mamma Mia! Money, Money, Money - Adding to my Playlist. LeBron’s favorite song maybe. That’s Me - Adding to my Playlist. This is a really fun album. Why Did it Have to be Me? - Adding to my Playlist. The guys are singing and it’s pretty good. Tiger - Adding to my Playlist. Best song on the album. Arrival - Adding to my Playlist. Interesting way to end the album. All in all I liked 10/10 of the songs. This was a fantastic album and actually exceeded expectations. ABBA is great.