Bands often don’t have the distinguished honor of having both a musical AND 2 movies, one of which starring Oscar winner Meryl Streep, celebrate their songs – not to mention is still widely popular. For a band that survived the tacky disco era of the 1970’s, this is quite an an accomplishment.
With their 1976 album, Greatest Hits, ABBA shows those that reside in the US that they are most definitely star-worthy with catchy songs such as Ring Ring, Mamma Mia, Waterloo, and Fernando. For those that are more familiar with the film rather than the actual group, this is a great way to get into the music of ABBA. However, only 3 songs that were used in the film are present. One of these songs is I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do – which contains a unique blending of band members Agnetha and Frida’s beautiful voices with a sound reminiscent of the Beach Boys hit single Wouldn’t It Be Nice. If you remember from the film version of Mamma Mia, this is what is sung when Donna’s ex lover (played by Pierce Brosnan) proposes to Donna (played by) Meryl Streep.
Though there is some great tracks such as Ring Ring and Fernando, I cannot recommend this album. ABBA is great for downloading, but they are not an album artist. Their music, though at times creative, is somewhat formulaic and that formula goes bland when you flip it to side 2. However, I do highly recommend the film version of Mamma Mia. The music is more entertaining due to the fact that there is a different track selection than the this piece of junk.
the wildheart 