Ring Ring 50th Anniversary, 2023

And it was a Wednesday, with the English version following on the 19th (a Monday).

It also means that Åh, Vilka Tider is also 50 years old. The only commercially-released ABBA song never recorded in English, and so consequently most people forget about it or don’t even think of it as an ABBA recording. To be fair, it’s quite rare in terms of physical releases, usually only getting an airing in box sets (2005 Complete Studio Recordings, 2004 Japanese 30th CD box, 2014 vinyl singles box). It was even missed off the deluxe issue of Ring Ring in 2013, even though they saw fit to include tracks not actually performed by ABBA.

She’s My Kind of Girl was the b-side of the English version of Ring Ring in Scandinavia, but internationally it was Rock ‘n’ Roll Band. She’s My Kind of Girl was a 1969 Björn and Benny recording that was included on international editions of the Ring Ring album. Rock ‘n’ Roll Band had also originally been a Björn and Benny recording with a few slightly different lyrics, before being re-recorded for Ring Ring.

Rock ‘n’ Roll Band was the b-side of both versions of Ring Ring in the UK. Four further tracks were included on Greatest Hits in 1976, leaving the remaining six songs unreleased until 1988 when a cheap Castle Communications compilation, ABBA The Collection Vol 2, included the Scandinavian configuration of Ring Ring on Sides 2 and 4. Sides 1 and 3 included 11 tracks from ABBA Live. As this album included the Swedish version of Ring Ring, it still left She’s My Kind of Girl unreleased in the UK. The one-disc CD version of the album omitted both Rock ‘n’ Roll Band and the Swedish version of Ring Ring.







Interestingly (for nerds like me anyway) there is no mention of the tracks being licensed from CBS, who were still ABBA’s UK record company licensee at that point. Instead, only ABBA’s British music publisher, Bocu Music, is credited. This might be because CBS never released either Ring Ring or ABBA Live, but six tracks from Ring Ring had been released by them.

(The Collection Vol 1 was merely a compilation of singles and album tracks. This time CBS Records was credited, who were sub-licensing ABBA out to all and sundry by that point).

Yes, I suspect the exclusion of the individual names in parenthesis on the 1973 UK release was either a mistake or at the time they were just going to be ABBA. To then use them for the Waterloo singles and album in the UK was a bit pointless as they’d never been known as anything other than ABBA here.

The Waterloo album in its original artwork was also odd, as the ABBA name didn’t stand out and was the same size and font as the individual names. The UK and some other countries changed it to make the ABBA name more prominent (altering Agnetha’s name to “Anna” in the process).

The mix-up over the names does at least mean it’s very easy to tell the Ring Ring remix from the original without looking at the catalogue number. The 1973 issue fetches high prices compared to pocket money for the 1974 one.

There are many that say Honey Honey should have been released in the UK by ABBA and not Sweet Dreams, but I don’t hold with that. I honestly don’t believe ABBA would have done as well with it as Sweet Dreams, and that’s simply because of the rather toxic Eurovision connection. ABBA were entitled to their one big hit and then quietly expected to go back to Sweden and never bother us again. Thankfully they persisted and it was rewarded, but immediately after Waterloo was the wrong time.

Exactly! This is the primary reason why Ring Ring wasn't a big hit - and arguably why Honey Honey wouldn't have been either.


As I suggested in my post Honey Honey was only Top 5 in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. It failed to make the Top 10 in Netherlands, Begium and Finland and only got to #30 in Australia It didn't do great in Canada or America either. It certainly wasn't a universal mega hit.

I saw that. How odd. At least they're upfront about taking the data. I presume they get a cut from the cost of the calls too?

I wonder if they're hoping to get some insight into what fans want from this (bonkers) exercise? Like, will someone suggest or ask for something they hadn't considered - something they could monetize? And the strangest thing of all is the number of people who have posted breathlessly about how they left a message for ABBA or one of the members. What's that old adage about fools and their money?

Ring Ring to get the half speed remaster/coloured vinyl singles and picture disc singles (not actually confirmed for definite yet):

abbaomnibus.wordpress.com/2023/03/23/ring-ring-50th-anniversary/

I just searched on Amazon but couldn’t see anything.

They really should have done The Visitors last year. That albums picture disc issue could have waited until 2024. 2026 does now seem the earliest. I’d like to think they might follow it up with Voyage.

Whilst I’m pretty certain I’ll get the Ring Ring releases (though I never bother with the half-speed albums, just the singles), I am questioning just how much more clutter I need round the house! I stopped buying DVDs a few years ago and similarly stopped CDs after Voyage. Haven’t bought a book for years. I don’t regret overdosing on Voyage vinyl (all 10 variants) but not sure I need much more physical media!

I wouldn’t put it past them to go with one-sided vinyl if they did do it for Voyage. Or they could just use album tracks as b-sides. That would use up eight of Voyage’s 10 tracks though. Most of the ABBA album and Voulez-Vous tracks appear on singles so they could just about get away with it.

Apparently Ian Cole says The Visitors half-speed etc will be with us by the end of the year. Not sure how he knows that or how accurate it is.

I'm with you on how boring the colour choices are for the vinyl, Alan . I wish their team would look at the fantastic range of colours being issued by other artists. The palette is truly extensive. I like the look of the box, though. 

Oddly, my favourite of the picture discs is the company sleeve one.

I keep forgetting how expensive these items are: €16 for a single picture disc; €90+ for the box set. If the rumours about The Visitors are right (fingers crossed), my piggy bank will be seeking counselling before long. All entirely unnecessary purchases, of course, so I can only moan about my own choices here.

Released on 19th May 2023

Ring Ring - 50th Anniversary

2023 marks the 50th anniversary of ABBA’s first album 'Ring Ring'. To celebrate, Universal Music are releasing the album on double half-speed mastered LP, a box set of 5 coloured vinyl singles, and 5 picture disc of singles from the album –

People Need Love/Merry-Go-Round
He Is Your Brother/Santa Rosa
Ring Ring (Bara du slog en signal)/Åh, Vilka Tider
Ring Ring [English version]/She’s My Kind Of Girl
Love Isn’t Easy (But It Sure Is Hard Enough)/I Am Just A Girl.

All the releases have appeared on Amazon UK 

I would have preferred the 2001 cover to have been used for the Ring Ring album as it looks much better

I wonder if the half speed master of The Visitors will be released later in the year

Interesting question! I guess I can imagine a half-speed LP being produced. I wonder how big a seller it might be, compared to the others? The Spanish/South American market is massive - I wonder how big the ABBA fanbase there is? I know that Chiquitita and Estoy Sonando were singles. Were there more? I can see sense in a well-produced package for the Spanish album.

Does it? Not sure I could agree with you there. The 2001 artwork has never been used for vinyl issues as far as I know, so I wouldn’t want them to start with this.

I’ve always liked the font they used for the titles of the original artwork. Plus they weren’t known as ABBA then so to place the 1976 ABBA logo onto a 1973 album has always jarred with me (and similar with Waterloo and ABBA).

The 2001 artwork was a vast improvement on the previous CD artwork, but that wasn’t too difficult. It worked at the time, but I find the standardisation of titles and tracklistings a bit boring now. Too much “one size fits all”. I get that younger fans that have only known the modern artwork might prefer it, but it’s nice to see the original font used for this. Especially the picture disc covers and coloured vinyl box.

Yeah, I like the original font, too. That big ampersand made a nice impact on the overall image. That said, I think the News Gothic font and the ABBA logo suited the Waterloo cover very well. That's one cover that was improved, IMO. The ABBA logo made too little impact on the ABBA album and Ring Ring.

The photo used for the sleeve of He Is Your Brother has less intense smiles and I think it would have worked better than the one used for the album cover.

I think I may once have seen the albums on vinyl using the 2001 artwork, though I’m not sure that was even in the UK. It was a brief issue, at a time when interest in vinyl was at its lowest point. All issues since have used the original artwork for all albums (albeit mostly dodgy scans).

I don’t think they’ll ever reissue the CDs (other than in boxed sets, like last year’s), but if they did I’d like to see the original artwork. For Ring Ring they could get round it by adding a hype sticker with the ABBA logo, and perhaps remove the individual names from Waterloo. And restore the correct fonts for the tracklistings. All pie in the sky though as the emphasis is firmly back on vinyl.