Audio CD review:
ABBA - 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of ABBA

ABBA - 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of ABBA

Band: ABBA Title: 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of ABBA Rating: Release Date: 2000-09-26 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: Waterloo 2: S.O.S. 3: I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do 4: Mamma Mia 5: Fernando 6: Dancing Queen 7: Knowing Me, Knowing You 8: The Name of the Game 9: Take a Chance on Me 10: Chiquitita 11: The Winner Takes It All

One Of The Better In The Series From Universal Such was the case with the 20th Century Masters Millenium Collection that seemed to be everywhere in 2000. Owning some 70 to 75% of the Pop hits to have come out in recording history, the so-called Big Four of music distributors (Universal, Sony/BMG, Warner and EMI) held the attitude, with the advent of the CD Age a couple of decades back, that all they had to do was toss out 10- to 12-track CDs, often with the same tracks over and over and, with the right promotion, the public would rush out to buy them, even at the inflated prices (for what you got) being asked. Often sub-titled "The Best Of" whichever artist was being presented, they would give you 11 or 12 tracks (there never seemed to be any consistency in that regard) which, more often than not, included cuts that were nowhere near as big hits as some left out of the volume. Accompanying each disc was an insert containing a couple of pages of liner notes (in this case written by Joseph F. Laredo), but never a proper discography of the contents. Every now and then, however, you'd come across one that did indeed give you the best of the artist concerned, especially if there were just around a dozen hits to begin with. As is the case with Abba, the Swedish group that burst onto the North American scene in 1974 with Waterloo (billed to "Abba [Bjorn, Benny, Anna & Frida]" by the Atlantic label), a # 6 on the Billboard Pop Hot 100 that summer. By the time of their last hit here in 1983 (One Of Us), they had chalked up 21 hits in all, and here, with two exceptions, you get the best 11 (six of their hits never made it into the Hot 100 Top 50). One of the exceptions is Honey, Honey, their second North American hit, which scored at # 27 on both the Adult Contemporary (AC) and Hot 100 in the fall of 1974, while the other is Does Your Mother Know, a # 19 Hot 100/# 41 AC in June 1979. Either one of those as a 12th track (thereby becoming consistent with many of the others in the series containing an even dozen), would have been appreciated. The # 1 hits here are: Dancing Queen (# 1 Hot 100/# 6 AC in late 1976/early 1977); Fernando (# 1 AC/# 13 Hot 100 in the fall of 1976); and The Winner Takes It All (# 1 AC/# 8 Hot 100 in late 1980). As for the remainder, Take A Chance on Me finished at # 3 Hot 100/# 9 AC in May/June 1978, Knowing Me, Knowing You at # 7 AC/# 14 Hot 100 in June 1977, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do ended up at # 8 AC/# 15 Hot 100 in spring 1976, SOS peaked at # 15 Hot 100/# 19 AC in late 1975, Mamma Mia topped out at # 12 AC/# 32 Hot 100 in summer 1976, and Chiquitita scored at # 15 AC/# 29 Hot 100 in late 1979/early 1980. An oddity is that SOS is the only charted hit where both the song title and the artist are palindromes (even taking into account the reverse "B" which, by the way, only appeared with the release of their 8th hit here, Knowing Me, Knowing You, and remained thereafter). Like just about all in the series, they have long since been eclipsed by volumes produced in the U. K. and elsewhere in Europe which not only contain upwards of 30 tracks, but also copious liner notes and complete contents discographies and even sessionographies in many cases. And for not all that much more than you were expected to pay for these when they first emerged. . I'm Ha ving a Hard Time Understanding You Anyway, SOS and the rare Dancing Queen are worth purchasing this disc for alone, Swedish disco music from the royal family of Sweden. I'm sorry, I'm having a hard time understanding you; going as far back as the 1700s before a branch of the Amish owned everything, or still stuck in the 80s 25 years, a quarter century later. I'm related to every member of this 4 piece, who are going way back to the 1700s. The mus ic is modern as hell- the royal family of America can't afford clothes, too rich for their blood because they can't afford clothes. Abba bombed, just like everything else except the Holy Bible. . great hits--but nowhere near enough of them " However, as usual with this CD series, what we do get is very high quality control numbers with great sound. 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of ABBA purports to give us the "best of" ABBA in a single CD--with just eleven tracks yet! There's no way eleven tracks can be the entirety of ABBA's "best. The front cover artwork is par for this series; but the "eco-friendly" packaging means that you'll have to go to a website to download or read any liner notes you may be interested in reading. The CD starts with one of their biggest hits ever, "Waterloo. " "Waterloo" compares the huge battle from ages ago to a love affair when one person finally gets roped down by the person who loves them! The electric guitars are excellent and ABBA sings this with a lot of enthusiasm and style. "S. O. S. " begins with a brief piano solo and the rest of the keyboard work on "S. O. S. " really sounds great. The minor keys of this tune are great and I think you'll enjoy this tune. Moreover, listen for "I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do. " This ballad has a beautiful melody and ABBA performs this without a hitch! "Dancing Queen" certainly gets fine treatment from ABBA; they first played this song at the wedding of their country's princess to her special man. Apparently because she would one day be Queen, ABBA decided to call this number "Dancing Queen. " It does sound better than `Dancing Princess" if you hear the song--the words "Dancing Princess" never would have fit the melody! "Dancing Queen" starts with a huge musical flourish and they never miss a beat. Even all these years later I really like "Dancing Queen. " "The Name of the Game" starts strong with music and when the ladies come in this number takes flight! They sing beautifully and they harmonize well on this number about a love that needs communication to stay alive. "Take a Chance On Me" also shines like gold; the beat is awesome and this upbeat, pop flavored number is also very good for dancing. The album ends with "The Winner Takes It All. " This features a great piano arrangement and as always ABBA performs this with style and grace. I love it! Overall, this is a collection of eleven songs by ABBA that simply doesn't capture all of this group's best work. Indeed, I was never particularly enchanted with "Chiquitita" which makes it onto this album while very memorable hits including "Lay All Your Love On Me" are inexplicably absent. I give this CD three stars--or maybe even just two and ½ stars. There's just not enough material here, people. Sorry! The casual fan will be most likely to enjoy this album if all they want is a sampling of ABBA's finer tunes. More serious fans like me will want CDs including ABBA: Gold and other discs by this group, too. . good collection for the new abba fan i dig that catchy groove and the vocals are cool. fernando was a cool cut, but my favorite song by them is dancing queen. abba had there own vibe and sound and there songs still hold up real well to me. this is a good guide for a new fan getting into abba. Sweet sounds from a super group. There is not a "sour"" note on the whole CD. Abba is one of the few music groups who's music is always in fashion. Abba lives and this CD proves it!. You can see a complete list of all ABBA discography, or go back to the ABBA tabs