The Making Of ABBA's "Waterloo" Album | History
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- Опубліковано 7 чер 2024
- ABBA’s second album "Waterloo" was released in 1974. It is 50 years old. In this video, we are going to explore the creation of the album and dive into every song. One of the most remarkable things is the collision of an album that is generally an uplifting thrill of pop glam, upbeat and sunshine, and yet - below the surface - you will find deep melancholia. You may also be surprised to find out how many songs Björn and Benny are actually very fond of. Let’s go back in time.
0:00 Intro
0:44 ABBA Becomes ABBA
1:19 Euphoria & Melancholy - "Dance (While The Music Still Goes On)"
4:29 Sunshine & Darkness - "Suzy-Hang-Around"
6:42 Funky Jazz - "My Mama Said"
7:43 Harmony Explorations - "What About Livingstone"
8:17 Sweet & Sexy - "Honey, Honey"
8:58 The Infamous "King Kong Song"
11:15 Hurrying Up - "Lovesong", "Waterloo" & "Watch Out"
13:52 Agnetha’s Melodrama - "Hasta Mañana"
15:25 Mixing
16:59 Sequence
19:43 Conclusion
20:15 Outro
---
Written, narrated, recorded & edited by Bobby’s Brother.
Music by Europaweite Aussichten: • Europaweite Aussichten...
Bobby's Brother on Instagram: / bobbysbrother72
#abba #waterloo #voyage
![Abba - Under attack [1982] [magnums extended mix]](/img/n.gif)
I'm a great fan of "What About Livingstone", a praise to all human beings exploring the world and doing science. Dr. Livingstone was a remarkable personality.
I was on the subway a week or so ago when Janne Schaffer suddenly entered the train. He was on the phone and stood up instead of finding a place to sit (he just went on the train for a few stations stations). I was sitting beside him trying not to look star strucked and just listened to the conversation he was having over the phone. He was talking loudly and several others noticed his appearance. He mentioned some ABBA songs, Sitting in a palmtree, for instance. Sadly I don't know the context. He said he was going to take part in an interview at some point during april at a date I don't remember. It remains to be seen what that was about. That made my day!
What a great story! If Janne has a UA-cam channel, it might be worth subscribing to just to see what happens. Perhaps he's doing publicity for the upcoming ABBA landmark.
My Mama said is such a hidden classic.
Agree..fantastic song. Lots of gems on the album.
This deepcut has a lot of steady fans.
A bit of trivia: “Hasta Mañana” was covered by American singer Debbie Boone and used as the B-side to her multi platinum single “You Light Up My Life”. So for all the copies of her massive hit sold in the U.S., Benny, Bjorn, and Stig made money!
always interesting to hear about things like that.
Yes it was! I remember buying the single only for the B side!
I got to ask Debbie about that song and why she recorded it and she said that she was a big ABBA fan simply
That was a fabulous rundown of a special album 😁 A funny childhood memory is that, before I truly got used to the ABBA sound, when I heard King Kong Song playing at someone's house, I thought it was a new song by the Australian band Skyhooks. The vocal delivery of Agnetha & Frida sounded so much like Skyhooks lead singer Shirley Strachan (who is a man). I was so impressed that ABBA were singing rock music 😄
An album with sweet memories. As a 9 years old girl I heard the album for the first time during a holiday in Sweden. I fell in love with it immediately and became a ABBA fan since than. And I still am 50 years later. My favourite is Gonna sing you my live song, jazzy with a sublime fit of Frida's voice. Thank you very much Bobby. You are doing a great job!
🎉 ABBA 50 years Celebration. The greatest group ever. Been listening for 50 years. Retro greetings from coastal Mississippi ❤😂
I love this band I have only been a fan for 2 weeks but well I’m listening to all their songs I’m finding out I’ve actually heard them before
Goes to show how great this band is even people from my generation I’m only 20 even without knowing the band I’ve heard most of there songs before I got into this band 2 weeks ago and I’ve been listening to their music for like 5 hours each day dancing queen is my favourite such a beautiful song followed by one of us dancing queen has over 1 billion plays on Spotify and almost 1 billion on UA-cam crazy how popular and well known There music is almost 50 years later
Abba wrote and produced their own songs.They weren't just performers or depended or any other external songwritting teams.This privilidge and talent also gave them artistic freedom that matched their inventive music creation.A very tight and fruitful musicianship.There's so much going on in an Abba song,far more from what it may seem.Abba 'made complicated seem simple' a a fellow fan once said.I've been a fan for decades and still dig out and discover wonderful details from songs i had heard thousands of times.But stillsurprised and get chills from all their neverending amazing treasure.They are that special.
Welcome
For two weeks! Aww. The wonders you are about to uncover!
Welcome to enjoying ABBA. Those are two great songs to have as your favourite. Dancing Queen is an amazing song. You've also found your way to a great channel for finding out more about the band and the songs. I've been listening to ABBA for almost 50 years longer than you, but I'm still finding out new things about them and the albums that I didn't know or understand, thanks to Bobby's Brother.
Even with its flaws, this is an outstanding album. And even if ABBA would have disbanded soon after releasing it, it would still be appreciated as a hidden gem by Pop connaisseurs.
Certainly ABBA’s most varied album. Great fun and some wonderful songs.
I LOVE how ecclectic "Waterloo" is as an album - for me, it is proof that ABBA always know how to surprise us fans with whatever style they put their hands to! As always, it's virtually impossible to pick a favorite, but two songs that have always stood out to me are "What About Livingstone?" for its great message and "My Mama Said", which I can only describe in one word: COOL!!! Happy Birthday to our beloved Agnetha today and just one more night of sleep before the big anniversary, folks...!!!😍
Adore Anna, forever.
Bravo Bobby’s Brother for another excellent analysis of
an excellent album.
You provide so many technical and aesthetic details that made me listen and look again.
I always thought that the Waterloo album had a magical story book quality to it. If you open it and willing to listen it will take you to a myriad of places literally and figuratively, too.
And wherever ABBA takes us there is always a large serving of love, hope and humanity in multiple colors and flavors. ❤ i🎉🍨
💙💙
Beautiful album filled with different genres of songs... 🙂 Few of my personal favourites from the album are "Dance (while the music still goes on) and My Mama Said". Thanks for the amazing video, BB. You did such a great job. ❤️
I love DWTMSGO. The melody is perfect, the lyric simple and beautiful, the production pure joy. In a way it reminds me of ODe to Freedom, where you have all four members' voices together. And the key changes.... One for a funeral
Gonna Sing You My Love Song is my favourite from the album.. Great video BB, gave me lots to think about..
Yeah, I love it too.
Friday's voice is so hypnotizing.
And the deep meaning of lyrics that many ABBA fans are not aware of.
Frida does that sultry sexy ballad so flawlessly.
@@graphiquejack
Especially sultry.
And Benny's keyboards so distinctive.
Lovely review of this great album. Great work as always.
Thank you kindly!
I didn't own Waterloo as a little kid; only The Best of ABBA, which was a special Australian release. (A bit later, I also owned Arrival and a couple of singles, which was very exciting for a little suburban Aussie kid!) I loved Dance While the Music Still Goes On straight away. Of course I also liked Waterloo, because how could you not?! Honey Honey always cracks me up because of the suggestive noises and some misheard lyrics. I thought the girls sang "You're a duck on bees" 😅 I knew it didn't make sense, but couldn't figure it out. Didn't realise until I was an adult that they were singing "You're a doggone beast" 😅
Fantastic insight as usual. I think My Mama Said is very underrated and I absolutely love Watch Out with its amazing harmonies. Thanks for another first class production, brilliantly put together 👍
I always look forward forward to your Videos.
Hej, thank you. Glad you like them!
Hey Bobby's Brother - you do a really great job on these. I admire your clear writing and welcoming delivery.
And of course we have overlapping tastes, which means you are almost always right!
Thank you so much for all your work. You make your videos so entertaining and informative.
Thanks for making this video of my favorite ABBA Album Waterloo !
Bravo - a wonderful review of a quirky, funky and often underrated album that I just adore 👏
Wonderful analysis. as I've got all Abbas albums and like them all, with each having a special place and they all are essential. It makes some think of youth, growing up a child, and teenage years, and the raw edge is pleasant, whilst encompassing the best musicianship as always, wonderful vocals, and instrument arrangements ache of the absolute sophistication and perfection in all the albums to follow. As you show in your analysis a large variety of genres that actually fit in well with each other, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts and whilst one can prefer some tracks to others, they are all good and some amazing and they are all essential and add to the album and wonderful Abba tracks.
Underbar analys. eftersom jag har alla Abbas-album och gillar dem alla, där alla har en speciell plats och alla är viktiga. Det får en del att tänka på ungdom, uppväxt och tonåren, och den råa kanten är behaglig, samtidigt som den omfattar den bästa musikaliteten som alltid, underbar sång och instrumentarrangemang som ger den absoluta sofistikeringen och perfektionen i alla album som följer. . Eftersom du i din analys visar en stor variation av genrer som faktiskt passar bra in i varandra, är helheten större än summan av dess delar och även om man kan föredra vissa spår framför andra, är de alla bra och vissa fantastiska och de är allt väsentligt och lägg till albumet och underbara Abba-låtar
Great video!
You have renewed my interest in King Kong Song...such a fun, uplifting, crazy track!
Another train another town is another fantastic song ❤
La canzone Dance tra le altre e una di quelle che suoniamo io e mia moglie è stupendo poter cantare le loro canzoni ...li senti particolarmente vicini.
Grazie Bobby per il tuo lavoro
Good timing - perfect for this Worldwide Waterloo Week!
Great analysis and the ideal accompaniment to the Waterloo section in CMP's 'ABBA on Record' which I purposely avoided reading until this 50th anniversary week.
I just finished watching the video about the Waterloo album cover, and the castle photoshoot. I guess I watched it in the nick of time, because it's since been privated!! But it was an incredible video. A super relaxing journey.
Excellent (and a nicely balanced) review of what was ABBA's first truly international album release. In South Africa the remixed version of "Ring Ring" was added as the last track of Side B (and it became their first Top 3 single here). Listening to "Waterloo" brings back many fond memories! It represents their experimental rock-pop phase. Thanks Bobby's B ~ a spot-on review! ❤
Can't wait to see what else you come up with about Waterloo, BB! Fascinating. You do manage to find everything that's positive about Abba, even songs which are very rarely praised by themselves or fans, like Watch Out (how could you BB!!😂😂) I do find that Suzy has always been an anticlimax as an album closer, for me. But im hindsight, ABBA tend to close albums with a down-paced number, leaving you wanting to play it all right over again with a bang! ( Like an angel, The Way Old Friends, Arrival, Ode To Freedom...) Great analysis BB, thanks again and well done for all the work! We love it and we love you too!!😂🥰🤩
OTF the most catharctic desperate closer.I get wet eyed each time i reach that point in VOYAGE album.It's like a 'must said Goodbye' to something so beautiful that i won't be able to find again.
Brilliant.
This album was mainly recorded in 1973.If someone takes a look around at what was happening in the UK charts - for me the metropolis of Pop music culture-at the time then apart from the Glam rock he could also see the hype pop scene filled up with the likes of The Bay City Rollers,The Osmonds,Middle of the road , The New Seekers etc dominating the charts.Well from all those ones Abba's sound and production to this album, was imo far more superior and lush compared to the rest.(I could easily exclude The Carpenters out of this bunch btw).'Waterloo" might not be same level to the Abba albums that followed but it was a supreme sample of a quite multi genred and greatly produced album for its time.
I think that SHAR was quite close to the sound of Byrd's cover 'Turn!Turn!Turn" that was one of Benny's faves if i remember well..Btw the live cover of SHAR was in utube (the one done by his son Ludvig) quite a few years ago,good effort i must say.
Love your videos 👍🏻
This album has a special meaning to me and it has very special memories on it . The song which started the journey for me was honey honey. It was the song which got me hooked on abba. I love the dance while the music still goes on . I also love what about Livingston and my mamma said and gonna sing you my love song by lead vocal by Frida. Which has always been one of my favourite songs
My Mamma Said is a highlight on the album for me and as a favorite obscure ABBA track. The vocal style in the verses was in my opinion replicated in The Name Of The Game. Frida respectively Agnetha absolutely shine on Gonna Sing You My Lovesong and Hasta Mañana. King Kong Song is so much fun and it’s when the third voice comes into full play. I was always imagining that Agnetha and Frida fought and hissing like wildcats in the studio to top their voices.
It seems that Bjorn and Benny tend to hate their rockers like watch out and hey hey Helen. I couldn’t disagree with them more. When Abba went rock, they sounded fear! Frida and Agnetha actually have voices that suit rock ‘n’ roll really well.
@@michaelrochester48 Who wouldn't like to have these 2 talented girls in their band?Such a gift.
Agreed. My Mamma Said has such a chill vibe and feel, Motown filter through an icy Scandinavian winter. I love the lyrics and the girls vocals. It's one of my favourite ABBA songs. As is Suzy-Hang-Around...a vibrant shimmering sound with beautiful harmonies, especially the outro. And also agree on Gonna Sing You My Love Song. The phrasing they use is just perfect, so dreamy.
So many good thoughts here from all!
@@bobbysbrother137(I see u are still awake,he!he!).So i take the chance to say Congrats on overpassing 25plus subscribers.
❤❤ABBA❤❤2024❤My Mama Said The ABBA IS THE BEST❤
Brilliant! Thanks so much..
I have always liked King Kong Song, it is a fun song and full of energy, there is a lot going on in there you do not notice at first in the backing and the more I listened the more I heard, I won't say it is my favourite out of the album but certainly one of them. Honey Honey being the song that got me hooked on ABBA hearing it on the Greatest Hits album, it was years later when I got this album. I think it is also a great song I want to play over and over. The whole album is great, I like the early albums where ABBA were experimenting with different ideas.
What an amazing and informative video about the groundbreaking Waterloo album!!! I’m curious though…why did they add the Ring Ring remix on the album in America, where I am?!?!!!
This is such a great piece of work, thank you. Very interesting. Some excellent tracks on this album with very different styles.
Many thanks!
Excellent review ❤
I really love this album - all of it. A lot of people dismiss the first 2 or 3 ABBA albums as "experiments" until the "real" ABBA came later but I disagree totally. Those first 3 albums are just as much ABBA as all the later albums. They are all part of the ABBA sound and legacy. And Waterloo is right up there with any album of that time. Dance (While the Music Still Goes On) and Hasta Manana remain among my all-time favourite songs.
6:13 Benny's voice was soft and nice🎤🎹 💜. Thanks BB again💚
Yay for some King Kong Song love! 🦍 I discovered it like 15 years ago in high school and have loved it ever since. Glad you’re a fan too
Absolutely!
Interesting BB. Always loved this album but I love all of them. I watched and enjoyed the video of Luvig playing Suzy Hang Around many times at the Fan Club. Also interesting that they named a song after you all those years ago. 🎹 👍
oh i like that too.Ain't that so nice?To perform the only Abba song his father was on the lead.?
@@christianoazzuro6711 Yes I agree. I need to learn some ABBA songs but I do play the end of Chiquitita if you want to check it out? Thanks 🙂
I have never seen or heard it! Is it anywhere available?
@@bobbysbrother137 I must have seen the video of Ludvig playing Suzy Hang Around over a 100 times but can't remember where? When I find out I'll let you know. Maybe the fan club site or maybe from a mailing list I was on called abbamail that had many detailed fan reports and videos from all the Fan Club weekends.
@@williampaganucci1084 Thanks to the help of William, here it is: ua-cam.com/video/QBDlS3hKdPc/v-deo.html
Even though my adventure with ABBA began with Waterloo album, I'm not too fond of those earliest recordings. From this album Dance(While The Music Still Goes On) is my absolute favourite! I also like "Honey, Honey" to some degree and that would be about it! Ok,I love "Waterloo" , too, could I not love it???? But, frankly speaking, it is "Arrival" that I truly love in its entirety, from the beginning notes to the end ones. ❤
Hej hej. Like many people, I find this album a bit uneven, but you're right, even in the very early days, that magic was there. I can see why Björn and Benny are a little dismissive of some of these songs, as they were clearly trying out different styles, and the result is that they can sound more like other bands, and less like the ABBA that they became. However, I agree with you that there are treasures in each and every song here. Thank you for your dive into Waterloo, even if you lulled me into a false sense of security with your hushed tones right before the scream of King Kong song, or Mr S*x as I will now know it as 😆😆😆 Great pics of the band as well. Here's to you, Bobby's Brother, as we approach the all-important 50th Anniversary at the end of this week 🥂
Ha!ha!yes,that part of the video with the sudden scream kinda terrorised me for a second..
The song Hasta Mañana, if it had been performed at Eurovision in 1974, would also have won for ABBA, I am sure of that. I will say more, even after 50 years, if ABBA had been formed as a new band, they would have definitely won Eurovision 2024 with songs such as Waterloo or Hasta Mañana.
I wonder (Departure) was also a bracketed song
Once again, another outstanding news report and summary. In watching the video and doing my own search, I was surprised that the Waterloo song and album were released BEFORE Eurovision. So the public already knew about the song, but it still won the contest. I was always under the impression that the song won and they released it soon after. Is this correct?
i dont watch TV so im looking forwrd to this i know it will be great because its BB produced ! Im a guitar player oh God what an amazing guitar solo ln "My Mama Said" WOW never knew this existed its awesome
thanks for the review with all the details again.
my favourite tracks are:
hasta manana
my mama said
dance
honey honey
gonna sing you my lovesong
and suzy hang around.
if l had to pick out just one, l'd go for honey honey. or gonna sing you my lovesong. its always so difficult.
Isn’t The Visitors also a bracket song? I think it’s full title is:
The Visitors (Crackin’ Up)
I wonder (departure) too!
Incorrect. The original album "The Visitors" does not list the title with a subtitle. In year 2000, a greatest hits album called "The Definitive Collection" was released, and a subtitle was added to that album.
@@shyman99 in my 1981 vynil copy(bought Nov.'81), the 'Cracking up" in parethesis is featured there.Maybe it differed in various future pressings.
@@alexioverdo5225 - What country? I purchased it immediately when it was released in the US. Since then I purchased an import CD from Germany around 1990. I then purchased a remastered CD in 2010. All version do not list a subtitle. So I went to a music site which shows photos of the various reissues of the album throughout the years and none of them have the subtitle.
@@shyman99 I bought it while i was with my aunt on a visit to Athens Greece.Label was ''Music Box".First pressings.Had just been released there.Also got the cassete but can't remember if it the sub was featured there too .
@ Bobby's Brother: thank you for your work! You 'speak out' what I think about that Album. I never understood why Björn and Benny did not like "Watch Out". As you mentioned I also think that for this 2nd album, you can hear that the group is more "growing up" compared to their first LP... What still surprises me (and this is not only for this ABBA-album) is the fact that the Sweidish versions, the german versions etc are always a bit different to the english version. I think that, especially for "Honey Honey", they did that with some good reasons...
Anyway, I will thank you again for your never ending work for us and for your knowledge of ABBA's work... I am curious for your next post
That's a lot, Greetings from switzerland
The album with a few songs Benny was using the Mellotron. I lik it a lot.
Totally agree with you about the excellent arrangement and production of King Kong Song, although with different lyrics I have always thought it could have become a real classic track. A bit like On and On and On from Super Trouper, also the third track on the album and which I feel could have been a big hit with different lyrics. Of course that's only judging by Bjorn's incredible achievements on so many other songs and I can understand he wanted to try something different on occasions. Another fascinating video which makes me appreciate the Waterloo album even more, thank you.
It has one of the hardest rockers ABBA ever had ….Watch Out! If Slade had pretty females in the band, it would have a song like watch out in its repertoire. Also, it had a funk song, my mama said if it wasn’t for the Soso lyrics it would’ve been a stand out track.
For many, many years, I was convinced that the leading vocals in "Suzy-Hang-Around" were Bjorn's...
It's because of the high-pitched voice...
The sound of synthesizers in this song, though, have always blown me away.
Yes, I was going to write a separate comment about it. The vocals sound like Bjorn. Benny always had a deeper singing voice.
ᗅᗺᗷᗅ Waterloo
6 april 1974 also
Hooked on a Feeling
Honey honey e la mia preferita grazie bobby❤
I love King Kong song. I love every song on this album. ❤
I dont remember if I watched the video the making of Ring Ring album .Can I have the link please?I love that album.
If I''m not mistaken, the lyrics for many songs were written by Stig Anderson together with Bjorn, including for Waterloo. I think that's important to say.
It’s listed on the cover. Stig helped with 3 song lyrics on this album.
@@popcult I think Stig helped them a lot more in whatever had got to do with the English 'correction' lyricwise and less on the ideas and lyric writting.His latest contribution was in ABBA The Album 1977.He's not featured in the following Abba albums ever after.
I love the album overall even more than the successor. I would love to hear the album remixed by B&B with the craft they gained with Arrival and The Album. What would the album sound like if it was recorded, let’s say in summer 1978… or better January 1980… Arrival and later albums are timeless for me, but the first three albums have a distinct early mid seventies sound that I’m not too found of.. that’s why my fave albums are the ones from 76 to 80…
😊⭐️
I won't really agree with Agnetha on MMS stating that it was propably the closest one they got to Motown sound.I think i hear more Motown in 'What about Livingstone" if not also for WIKTT in 1976.Also her 1983 solo track ''Mr.Persuasion" is imo very close to '60s Motown stuff,a very good one btw.
Como siempre no entiebdo todo pese azq ests doblado al esoañol igual hsbla ligero Bobbi's Brothers
I didn't know that Benny did the vocals of "Suzy-hang-around". It sounds so unfamilliar.
I love the album "Waterloo". I feel like this album is a little depreciated. My personal highlights are Dance (While The Music Still Goes On) ,because of the melancholic vibe and never endless, and "Hasta Manana", because of Agnetha's melancholy vocals and everything is just good "I just don't know". In my opinion I just can't stand "King Kong Song". I feel so annoyed when I hear those loud screams. However, I am grateful that ABBA added all of these songs without leaving them as outtakes.
I’m afraid this isn’t my favourite ABBA album, but you can see the group was experimenting with finding their voice and sound, and there are definitely several gems. I agree King Kong Song is a bop, and gets shade from people for no reason when there are definitely bigger clunkers on this album. I’m sorry but I can’t get behind Suzy-Hang Around, which aside from Benny’s merely adequate vocal… the lyrics are just weird… why did he write a song about bullying a younger sister? lol. Hasta Mañana and Gonna Sing You My Lovesong show us the strengths of Agnetha and Frida as lead vocalists in their different ways. Waterloo and Honey Honey are worthy singles. Dance is okay… a good song but not great.
You said they used real strings on "Honey honey". I don't believe that. I listened the song once again, and I could clearly hear a synthesizer.
They used real strings. It has been documented by Michael B. Tretow himself, and in the historian book by Carl Magnus Palm. The instrumental solo bridge of "Honey, Honey" used Benny's Minimoog synthesizer.
@@bobbysbrother137 yea, i believe intro part is real strings sound,if i hear well.The instrumental bridge is Benny's blessed minimoog and hands playing this.
Almost everything about King Kong song is great. EXCEPT the darned lyrics and King Kong theme! If they'd just made it about something more normal it would have stood with Elton John's rocky bangers of the time.
Why wasn't any distributed in U. S. Perhaps U.S would haved bought more albums.
Connie Francis...
The "c" in her surname is pronounced like "c" in "France".
🤩💖🌹🌹🌹🪄🎉✨🌈🌻
first?
Ok. So not even on April Fools' Day I get to be the first one...
@@bobbysbrother137 ha!ha!
🇸🇪 ᗅᗺᗷᗅ 🇸🇪
Yes.
Agnetha’s understanding of Motown is extremely questionable to say the least . Waterloo was a track that was beyond its years in 1974 , totally un-Eurovision it still holds up today
'Waterloo" song had a strange blending of pop music with rock n roll to my ears.It's like 'pop n roll' that Abba dealed so fine with it.
King Kong Song is the worst song they ever wrote and recorded!
For me this kinda stands for 'I saw it in the mirror".I love KKS.Btw out of their whole discography that counts over 100 plus songs i only 'dismiss" 2-3 songs.Rest i love them.
Thank you Bobby for a fab informative video.