With the arrival of Arrival, their fourth album, ABBA, the Swedish group were definitely on a roll, singles from their previous album having dented the Australian charts, and yielding another British #1. This album would yield two more, including one that was so big, it was easier to list the places where it didn't get to #1. Suffice it to say that Arrival is my favourite album because the songs and sounds, catchy rhythmic devices and great melodic arrangements keep getting better. Plus, along with their eponymous album, I first got a very full taste of these guys.

All I'm saying is that I hope the unnamed protagonist in the engaging "When I Kissed The Teacher" is not named Lolita, as it's a song about a student with a crush on the teacher who stuns the class when she performs the title act, much to the surprise of the teacher.

It was clear that the group was making inroads into disco, which was sweeping the US during this time, and "Dancing Queen," which scarcely requires elaboration, whose disco-like synths, highlighted by the piano work from Benny.

"My Love, My Life" is probably the best ballad I've heard from Agnetha, a lovely song even if it's a breakup song. Which means, yes, there are string arrangements

I've never heard a song about someone's violin practicing paying off and wishing for the same kind of attention to that point that the girl wished she was the fiddle so she'd be noticeable. That about sums it up for "Dum Dum Diddle." The synths hear somewhat mimic the fiddle, but not that much.

Frida sings two songs here and they are back to back. The first is the mid-paced and downbeat "Knowing Me, Knowing You", another breakup song, only this time, it seems marital divorce and permanent: "Walking through an empty house, tears in my eyes/here is where the story ends, this is goodbye." I wonder if this and "My Love, My Life" karmically backfired on them, as both couples divorced two albums later. And next...

An excerpt from the promo clip from "Money Money Money" was the first where I heard an ABBA song, and that was when I decided I had to have more of their stuff. The wishing and hoping of a hard-working down-on-her luck woman for a rich man, who'd probably never notice her. The catchy blend of guitars, keyboards, and harmony vocals is captured best here.

The quasi-feminist "That's Me," with its independent but sensitive protagonist features a synth that rapidly descends in register like a waterfall, also has another double rhyme in one line: "I'm Carrie not-the-kind-of-girl-you'd-marry."

The country-tinged "Why Did It Have To Be Me" is sung by Bjorn here, portraying a man who got burned by a woman who only wanted a quick affair, with Agnetha singing from the woman's POV. The sax here is buried beneath the usual instrumentation but can be picked up. However, the B-side of "Knowing Me, Knowing You," the wanting-to-have-a-great-fun-vacation of "Happy Hawaii," sung by Agnetha, was an earlier version of that song, as it has the same melody.

The guitars and drumming of "Tiger" is like that of "Mamma Mia," but this is a more hard-driving song, with a somewhat darker subject, the predatory dangers of the urban landscape, described as a jungle, nightmare, and prison, with the yellow eyes likened to the city's neon lights. The way they make the song tight and punchy with lines, "And if I meet you, what if I eat you, I am the tiger."

The title track is a wistful Celtic-like instrumental where Benny played any keyboards he could lay his hands on, per the liner notes, and Agnetha and Frida vocalizing like a choir towards the end. I can imagine a sunset listening to this.

When this CD was issued in the 1990's, "Fernando" was left off, so I had no idea it was part of this album. Fortunately, that fault has been rectified, and their other #1 UK single is thus included. Wavering between a mellow strings and flute ballad comparable to the love song or theme of some 70's movie and the usual engaging ABBA sound, this spent 14 weeks at the top in Australia.

Arrival demonstrates the band at their peak, with no sign of letup, yet from the faces on the album cover, I wonder if ABBAmania was taking its toll on the quartet.

I originally bought this on LP, replaced it with a CD, and then replaced that CD when a re-mastered version was released with Fernando added as a bonus track, as well as much-improved sound quality. I decided not to bother with this, the most recent version, a digipack featuring Fernando and an additional bonus track, Happy Hawaii. I have not heard that song, but it uses the tune of When I kissed the teacher and first appeared as the B-side of Knowing me knowing you. It seems that Benny and Bjorn tried two completely different sets of lyrics, but When I kissed the teacher is a great opening song that demonstrates the high standard of the album.

The most famous song here is Dancing queen, which provided Abba with their only number one hit in America. It was also number one in Britain and many other countries. Fernando and Knowing me knowing me were also British number ones, while Money money money peaked at number three in December 1976.

Fernando was never released on any original Abba album, although it was included in many Abba compilations. It was released as a single in the spring of 1976 and its wonderful images and brilliant melody ensured that it was a huge hit in many countries, though it did not provide Abba with their American breakthrough. I wonder what might have happened if it had been released in America after Dancing queen.

Among the less well known tracks, Bjorn sings some lines on Why did it have to be me, while Tiger was tipped by some critics as a possible single. My love my life is a lovely reflective song. Arrival, the title track, is essentially an instrumental with the ladies singing la la la - but it works superbly, with a nice Celtic flavor.

Abba was - and still is - my favorite pop group. This was my favorite album of theirs even without Fernando, which I always thought should have been part of the album anyway.

ABBA, all four of them, were geniuses and you need to know that. This was their fourth offering, and not only did it contain the brilliant and perennial 'Dancing Queen' - - a joyous take on the dancefloor as nothing more or less than just that - - it also boasts the devastating empty-house ballad, 'Knowing Me, Knowing You' (as in, 'there's nothing we can do to save this relationship'). Sure, it has the archetypically sloggy 'My Love, My Life' but that particularly maudlin track is offset by the infectious Boots Randolph-inspired hilarity of 'Why Did It Have To Be Me' (a.k.a. 'Happy Hawaii') and the urban-drenched `Tiger'. Sure, Chrome could proclaim 'I Am The Jaw' with all the dark industrial menace they could muster in 1979, but ABBA beat them to it by two years, chirping 'And if I meet you, What if I eat you - - -I am the tiger!!' with voracious delight. As for the instrumental title track, it's a beautiful bit of Celtic-tinged progressive rock that sounds like something Mike Oldfield wished he could write, tee hee. And the extra track, 'Fernando', hey - - you've heard it and already know it's awesome. If ABBA doesn't astound and delight you, check your pulse . . . speaking personally, I hope you don't have one.

I truely think that this CD is ABBA's best CD. They must have worked incredibly hard because it shows that they really are talented musicians.
Ratings on a scale from 1 to 10, 10 being the best.

1."When I Kissed The Teacher" is a really cute song about a student kissing a teacher. Agnetha dreamily croons, "One of these days i'm gonna tell him i dream of him every night. One of these days, gonna show him i care, gonna teach him a lesson alright." It's an adorable song and has really cool lyrics. It's one of those songs that makes you want to get up and dance. (10)
2."Dancing Queen" is as most people describe it, a 'classic'. It was probably ABBA's biggest hit and is very memorable. It's a completely awesome song ad has a wonderful beat to it. I absolutely adore it. (9)
3. "My Love, My Life" is such a beautiful, romantic song. It's definitely the best ballad performed by Agnetha. Agnetha is given the chance to show off her breathtaking voice and Bjorn and Benny get to show off the fact that they can write slow love songs as well as upbeat rock 'n roll songs. It's a sad song, butit has a beautiful meaning behind it. Simply lovely. (10)
4. "Dum Dum Diddle" indeed is about a different topic than most songs, but is nonetheless creative and made me smile because i lay the violin and sound bad sometimes, as does the person in the song. (9)
5. "Knwoing Me, Knowing You" is an awesome song and has meaningful lyrics as well. It's chorus has very powerful words and gets its meaning across very well. Great song. (10)
6. "Money, Money, Money" shows that Frida as well has a lovely, flowing voice. The song is about wishing you were rich and had more money. It's a disco song, but really makes you wanna dance. I LOVE this! Probably ABBA's best upbeat song. (10)
7. "That's Me" is a charming song about a girl who's not exactly what most guys want, but she doesn't care. She's probably beautiful (like Agnetha and Frida) but is shrewd and independent as the girls sing, "I can't help my ways, I'm just not the girl to hide my face." In other parts they say, "I'm not a man's toy, i'll never be." It's lyrics excelerate as does the music alone. (10)
8. "Why Did It Have To Be Me" shows that Bjorn is good at singing as well as composing music. The song is overall completely magnificent. (10)
9. "Tiger" is a good song and really has spooky lyrics. It sounds like it should be in the play "Cats". Nonetheless, i love it. (8)
10. "Arrival" is a beautiful instrumental. It sounds Celtic and is very relaxing. (10)
11. The bonus track "Fernando" is a very nice song. Very heroic and very fun. No wonder it was a big hit. (10)
12. "Happy Hawaii" has the same music to "Why Did It Have To Be Me", but was not used. "Why Did It Have To Be Me" is better but "Happy Hawaii" is good as well. (9)
My further comments are to buy this CD now!!!!

Despite a string of huge hit singles in Europe and Australia, and a few minor hits in the USA, with the release of 'Arrival' ABBA finally fully realized the potential of the band. 'Arrival' was ABBA's fourth album, and all of the tinkering with singers and sounds on the previous three albums paid off big time with this blockbuster album.

While there is little agreement among ABBA fans as to what their best release actually was, almost all agree this was among their best. It is possibly one of the best pop music albums ever created! The CD starts off with the fun, acoustic guitar driven 'When I Kissed the Teacher' and doesn't let up through the great keyboard driven title song to finish off the CD. The CD does misfire once, on the song 'Dumb, Dumb, Diddle', but even that number has a killer hook in the chorus that most bands would love to have come up with.

Both of the big US singles on this CD are simply killer songs. 'Dancing Queen' was ABBA's biggest and most enduring hit in the USA, and possibly the world over. It features great piano licks all through the song and all the keyboard work is a testiment to Benny Andersson's taste and compositional genius. 'Knowing Me, Knowing You' showed the other side of ABBA. Where 'Dancing Queen' is a fun party song, 'Knowing Me...' dealt with relational breakups in a sensitive and well written way that displayed the emotional depth ABBA would delve into even deeper on subsequint releases.

Musically, ABBA has always mixed genres and styles together and always made them sound like their own. 'Arrival' blends disco (Dancing Queen), early 60's rock (Why Did It Have To Be Me), 70's rock (Tiger), ballads (My Love, My Life), instrumentals (Arrival), Broadway (Money, Money, Money) and pure pop (That's Me) into one cohesive CD of sheer pop genius. Both of the girls are in fine form vocally, with Agnetha's 'My Love, My Life' and Frida's 'Money, Money, Money' as standout vocal tracks.

The remastering of the CD adds to an already strong release and really brings out the layers that Benny played in the keyboards all over the CD, and the great bass guitar parts too. To top it off on the new CD release they added the killer single 'Fernando', which features some of Frida's best vocals, and the song 'Happy Hawaii' that later had the melody from the verse lifted for the 'Arrival' song 'Why Did It Have To Be Me'.

'Arrival' is ABBA at the top of the pop music charts, and clearly displays the lyrical and musical depth that continues to seperate ABBA from so much of the rest of the pop music world before and after. Buy the CD, turn up the stereo, and sing and dance along!