| Arrival | ||||
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| Studio album by ABBA | ||||
| Released | October 11, 1976 (Sweden) January 5, 1977 (US) |
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| Recorded | August 4, 1975–September 18, 1976 | |||
| Genre | Pop, disco | |||
| Length | 33:16 | |||
| Label | Polar Atlantic (US original release) |
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| Producer | Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus | |||
| ABBA chronology | ||||
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| Alternative cover | ||||
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French edition using the inner sleeve image
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | link |
| Robert Christgau | C[1] |
| Rolling Stone | (Favorable) link |
Arrival is the fourth studio album by the Swedish pop group ABBA. It was originally released in Sweden on October 11, 1976 by Polar Records. Recording sessions began in August 1975 and continued until September 1976. The album was recorded at Metronome and Glen studios in Stockholm, Sweden. Arrival was first released on CD in 1984. The album has been reissued in digitally remastered form a total of four times; first in 1997, then in 2001, 2005 as part of The Complete Studio Recordings box set, and again in 2006 (as a special Deluxe Edition). Upon its original 1976 release, "Fernando", released as a single earlier the same year, did not appear on Arrival, but it was included on the South African, Australian and New Zealand versions. "Fernando" remained unreleased on Arrival until the first remastered issue in 1997. The album also contains three of the group's biggest hits, "Dancing Queen", "Money, Money, Money" and "Knowing Me, Knowing You". The helicopter used for the album art is a Bell 47. Arrival was the best-selling album of 1977 in the United Kingdom. In April 1977, the album was certified gold by the RIAA.
Contents |
All songs written and composed by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, except where noted.
| Side one | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length | |||||||
| 1. | "When I Kissed the Teacher" | 3:00 | |||||||
| 2. | "Dancing Queen" (written by Andersson, Stig Anderson, Ulvaeus) | 3:50 | |||||||
| 3. | "My Love, My Life" (written by Andersson, Anderson, Ulvaeus) | 3:52 | |||||||
| 4. | "Dum Dum Diddle" | 2:50 | |||||||
| 5. | "Knowing Me, Knowing You" (written by Andersson, Anderson, Ulvaeus) | 4:02 | |||||||
| Side two | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length | |||||||
| 1. | "Money, Money, Money" | 3:05 | |||||||
| 2. | "That's Me" (written by Andersson, Anderson, Ulvaeus) | 3:15 | |||||||
| 3. | "Why Did It Have to Be Me?" | 3:20 | |||||||
| 4. | "Tiger" | 2:55 | |||||||
| 5. | "Arrival" (Instrumental) | 3:00 | |||||||
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Total length:
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33:16 | ||||||||
The recording of "Dancing Queen" commenced at the same time as "Fernando" in August 1975. The original working title of the song was "Boogaloo" and George McCrae's 1974 disco classic "Rock Your Baby" was used as an inspiration for finding the right groove on the recording. Some of the rhythmic feel was also inspired by the Dr. John album Dr. John's Gumbo, which influenced drummer Roger Palm. Frida started crying the moment she first heard the backing track for the song.
Arrival was remastered and reissued in 1997 with one bonus track:
"Fernando" was released in the original track listing for the South African, Australian and New Zealand version of the original record, after "Why Did It Have to Be Me?" and before "Tiger".
Arrival was remastered and reissued in 2001 with another bonus track:
Arrival was remastered and reissued again in 2005 as part of The Complete Studio Recordings box set with several bonus tracks:
Tracks 13–15, vocals recorded January 1980. These three songs are from the album Gracias Por La Música (Septima SRLM 1, June 23, 1980).
Arrival was reissued again in 2006 (October 16) as a 30th Anniversary of the original release, called the Deluxe' Edition. This features the same track listing as the 2005 release, with one additional track "Fernando" sung in Swedish by Frida (solo version, not with ABBA), and also came with a bonus DVD with the following clips:
Arrival was reissued once again in 2008 as part of The Albums box set but without any bonus tracks.
Recorded during the Arrival sessions this song was eventually dropped due to the similarity of "Dancing Queen". Later the song was recorded by Svenne & Lotta, Australian group The Studs, Alcazar, and Arrival, a Swedish ABBA tribute band.
An early demo version of "My Love, My Life". The theme of a lost love in Paris would later be revisited in "Our Last Summer". Although the demo has never been released, an extract was heard during a Swedish radio interview with Agnetha Fältskog.
A short track recorded for the Australian TV commercial of the National appliances. It is a re-recording of "Fernando" with new lyrics, using the backing track from the song.
"Dum Dum Diddle", an Arrival album track, which features lead vocals shared by Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad, was recorded on 19 July 1976.[3]
On 19 September 1976, ABBA performed the song live as part of the ABBA-dabba-dooo!! TV special.[4]
In 1977, the song was released as a single in Argentina. The B-side was "Tiger", another track taken from Arrival.[5] According to Carl Magnus Palm,[6] "Tiger" and "Dum Dum Diddle" can be called direct opposites. While the former track has a rock sound, the latter is "very light-poppy".
Björn Ulvaeus, the group's lyricist, was deeply dissatisfied with the outcome of his work, explaining that the words were written in the early morning, thus being not as good as he might have expected.[6] In her turn, Lyngstad described the track as "silly".[6]
"When I Kissed the Teacher" was recorded on 14 June 1976 at Metronome Studio. While never released as a single, a promotional video was made for "When I Kissed the Teacher" (originally called "Rio de Janiero"). In the video, the teacher was played by Swedish actor Magnus Härenstam with Fältskog playing the student. Benny Andersson considers this one of his favorite ABBA songs.[7]
The song was included on the greatest hits album More ABBA Gold: More ABBA Hits and the video was included on The Definitive Collection.[8][9]
"When I Kissed the Teacher" cover versions
In popular culture
"Why Did It Have to Be Me?" was originally recorded as "Happy Hawaii" on 26 April 1976 at Metronome Studio. "Happy Hawaii" was originally meant to be unreleased, but was eventually used as the b-side to "Knowing Me, Knowing You". After the melody had slightly been reworked it was re-recorded as the song "Why Did It Have to Be Me?" (which had also been the original working title), and included on Arrival.
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1976 | Australia | 1 |
| 1977 | RPM chart - Canada | 4 |
| CRIA chart - Canada | 8 | |
| 1976 | Italy | 12 |
| France | 15 | |
| West Germany | 1 | |
| 1977 | Mexico English language chart | 1 |
| 1976/1977 | The Netherlands | 1 |
| 1976 | New Zealand | 1 |
| 1976/1977 | Norway | 1 |
| Sweden | 1 | |
| Zimbabwe | 1 | |
| Belgium | 1 | |
| Switzerland | 2 | |
| 1977 | Japan | 3 |
| UK[10] | 1 | |
| Billboard 200 | 20 | |
| 2009 | Finnish Albums Chart[11] | 24 |
According to The Official Charts Company, the album spent 79 consecutive weeks in the Top 40 between 27 November 1976 and 9 May 1978.
Weekly chart positions from 27 November 1976: 6-3-2-2-2
Weekly chart positions from 8 January 1977 to 10 September 1977: 3-1-2-2-5-10-11-14-9-11-9-3-3-2-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-3-3-5-5-6-9-14-13-13-12-10-13-18-9-17-25-37-34-33-39-25-31-30-25-30-21-19-22-22
Weekly chart positions from 7 January 1978 and 9 May 1978: 20-21-12-22-25#-30-23-19-13-15-17-19-29-22-25-38-35-37
Note that for the entire run the album charted along with Greatest Hits. From the week marked # it also charted along with The Album. At the beginning of March 1978 all three albums were in the Top 15.
UK Singles Chart
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 | "Dancing Queen" | UK Singles Chart | 1 |
| "Money, Money, Money" | 3 | ||
| 1977 | "Knowing Me, Knowing You" | 1 |
USA
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1977 | "Dancing Queen" | Billboard Hot 100 | 1 |
| Billboard Adult Contemporary | 6 | ||
| "Knowing Me, Knowing You" | Billboard Hot 100 | 14 | |
| Cashbox singles chart | 11 | ||
| Billboard Adult Contemporary | 7 | ||
| "Money, Money, Money" | Billboard Hot 100 | 56 | |
| Billboard Adult Contemporary | 38 |
Canada
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 | "Dancing Queen" | RPM singles chart | 1 |
| RPM Adult Contemporary chart | 3 | ||
| Steede Report airplay chart | 2 | ||
| 1977 | "Knowing Me, Knowing You" | RPM singles chart | 5 |
| RPM Adult Contemporary chart | 6 | ||
| Steede Report airplay chart | 2 | ||
| "Money, Money, Money" | RPM singles chart | 47 |
Australia
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 | "Fernando" | Australia Singles Chart | 1 |
| "Dancing Queen" | 1 | ||
| "Money, Money, Money" | 1 | ||
| 1977 | "Knowing Me, Knowing You" | 9 |
West Germany
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 | "Dancing Queen" | Sales Chart | 1 |
| "Money, Money, Money" | 1 | ||
| 1977 | "Knowing Me, Knowing You" | 1 |
Norway
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 | "Dancing Queen" | Norway's Single Chart | 1 |
| "Money, Money, Money" | 2 | ||
| 1977 | "Knowing Me, Knowing You" | 6 |
| Preceded by A Day at the Races by Queen |
UK Albums Chart number one album 15 January 1977 (one week) |
Succeeded by Red River Valley by Slim Whitman |
| Preceded by Portrait of Sinatra by Frank Sinatra |
UK Albums Chart number one album 16 April 1977 (nine weeks) |
Succeeded by The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl by The Beatles |
| Preceded by Let's Stick Together by Bryan Ferry |
Australian Kent Music Report number-one album 22 November 1976 - 16 January 1977 |
Succeeded by Hotel California by Eagles |
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