ABBA: Arrival [INTERSCOPE]

Why you'll love it

This edition is remastered and pressed on 180g vinyl with a printed inner sleeve. Arrival was the UK's best-selling album of 1977, went gold in the US and joined the Library of Congress's National Recording Registry in 2024.

This edition

• Remastered
• 180g vinyl
• Printed inner sleeve
• Lyrics included

About the album

Arrival is where ABBA stopped being a successful pop group and became a global institution. Recording began in August 1975 at Metronome and Glen studios in Stockholm, with the first song on tape a disco-flavoured number the band were calling Boogaloo. Agnetha Fältskog said they knew right away it would be massive. It became "Dancing Queen."

Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus wrote and produced every track, and the hits come thick and fast. "When I Kissed the Teacher" opens the album with a bright, bouncy wink. "Dancing Queen" is their biggest song, "Knowing Me, Knowing You" is a heartbreak masterclass with Anni-Frid Lyngstad out front, and "Money, Money, Money" swaggers like a cabaret number. "My Love, My Life" is a lovely ballad for Agnetha, and the instrumental title track closes the album with a stately, folk-tinged flourish.

Several songs took the scenic route. "Money, Money, Money" spent a spell as "Gypsy Girl" before getting its name back, and "My Love, My Life" began as an upbeat number called "Monsieur Monsieur" before turning into a lush ballad with harmonies inspired by 10cc's "I'm Not in Love." The closing instrumental started out as "Ode to Dalecarlia" before taking the album's name, a sensible swap for anyone who has ever had to spell Dalecarlia on a shop label.

Also at Kops: more ABBA on vinyl · browse Pop

Tracklist

Listen

On Polar (cat# POLS 272), a reissue of the 1976 album.