Star Ratings for Ring Ring (album)

Nowhere near as good as later albums sonically but actually most of it is quite listenable simple recordings. Less high quality recordings than Waterloo but a better average. It is because it is largely different to their latter work that makes it appealing. She's My kind of girl is 60's with a Spector sound, I am Just a girl has quite French chanteuse style sound akin to Manhatta Transer's Chanson D'Amour. Love isn't easy is straight out of the 60s and Echoes Chirpy Chirpy Cheep from 1970. Me and Bobby's Brother tries to be folksy, People Need love a bit of a hippie anthem with yodeling, Another town country reflective. Plenty of nice recordings with one that is excellent - Ring Ring. The only recording I really don't like is I Saw It in the Mirror and am not keen on Rock'n Roll Band.

As a 60s fan it has to be at least 3 stars. By comparison the Waterloo album I would only give 2 or 2.5 as there are only three recordings I enjoy (Waterloo, Honey Honey, Dance While the music still goes on). I am more inclined to listen to Ring Ring in its entirety than Voulez-Vous (particularly side 2) but it comes down to personal taste. In terms of style this album is all over the place and within songs there are attemps to blend styles and funnily enough some of it works well. I like it, relatively simple without too much wall of sound.

The Ring Ring album was given to me on my 12th birthday in 1976, so back then and being hungry for 'new' ABBA material it was a fantastic present. Australian TV had played the single video of Ring Ring a lot by then and I remember when I first played the album I was not happy to hear the version of Ring Ring that was on it (which was not the single version) so I had to go and buy the single remix - which is the version I still prefer to this day. Of course our Aussie lps had the nice blue cover treatment as well :-)

Ring Ring Album - I'll say 2.5 stars

1. Ring Ring - still love it - in my top 15 (single remix anyway)
2. He Is Your Brother - great in 'ABBA - The Movie'
3. Nina, Pretty Ballerina - classic in the HHH style perhaps
4. Another Town, Another Train - choruses make this one
5. Rock‘n Roll Band - heavy !
6. Disillusion - pretty ballad
7. Love Isn’t Easy (But It Sure Is Hard Enough) - title is too long
8. People Need Love - ok for a first effort
9. She’s My Kind Of Girl - always bugged me that the 'just' is left out of the title
10. Me And Bobby And Bobby’s Brother - title is too long
11. I Am Just A Girl - nope, not a fave
12. I Saw It In The Mirror - the worst of ABBA !

For me, the album is a lot of stabbing in the dark: throwing pasta at the wall to see if it's cooked. There are some decent songs, very much of their time and I wonder how I might have approached this album if I'd been a young adult at the time. Any affection I have for it is hooked principally on the title track, which I loved when I first heard it in 1974, but I guess I'm also giving it a pass that a non-fan might not even consider.

1. Ring, Ring - great pop track that makes me wonder how the group's history might have played out if ABBA had represented Sweden in 1973.
2. He Is Your Brother
3. Another Town, Another Train
4. Disillusion - I think this song deserves a bit of reappraisal.
5. Nina, Pretty Ballerina

- I reckon that almost anything from this point on might have struggled to attain B-side status even a year later.

6. I Saw It In The Mirror
7. People Need Love
8. Love Isn't Easy (But It Sure Is Hard Enough)
9. She's My Kind Of Girl - can't help seeing this as something from the Lycka cutting-room floor.
10.Me And Bobby And Bobby's Brother - one of those moments where the singer does more for a flimsy song than it warrants.
11. Rock'n'Roll Band
12. I Am Just A Girl - over-sugared, sexist, musical porridge. This would have been a great soundtrack for a horror movie set in a lift.

After failing to win Eurovision in 1973 with " Ring Ring " ABBA finally achieved triumph and success the following year with the mighty " Waterloo ". With their very first studio album I think the band were trying to experiment with different genres and trends in music at the time. It must have been a difficult time for them.

Here is my ranking,

12. I Saw It In The Mirror Very bland.
11. She's My Kind Of Girl Another weak song.
10. Rock'n'Roll Band Unexcitable.
9. Me And Bobby And Bobby's Brother A very mediocre track.
8. People Need Love Although not a favourite of mine. This was ABBA's very first single. A jolly ditty with the unmistakable yodelling finale.
7. Love Isn't Easy ( But Is Sure It's Hard Enough ) Very pleasant but doesn't move me in any way.
6. I Am Just A Girl Pleasant with its " cocktail lounge " ambience.


5. Another Town Another Train One of the better songs. Wistfully catchy.
4. He Is Your Brother Infectious and harmonious with soaring male and female vocals.
3. Disillusion A sentimentally plaintive vocal from Agnetha showcases her hidden talent. Not bad at all.
2. Nina Pretty Ballerina This is more like ABBA. Lovely lilting joint vocals from the ladies.
1. Ring Ring An early ABBA earworm. Rocky and bouncy, full of attitude it glides above the rest. A pity it wasn't a bigger hit in the UK.

So there you have my review of ABBA's first album. The best is yet to come !

An interesting "what if" question posed by Hometime, what if Ring Ring represented Sweden in Eurovision.

I prefer this to Waterloo - as many fans on various forums over the years serm to as well.

If it won Eurovision in 1973, I sm not sure it would have been a huge hit in the UK (#1) Australia (#4) or America (#6). Actually writing this now, sure it wouldn't have been.

There would have been more of a struggle with a follow up hit. (Honey Honey, follow up to Waterloo was only big in the German speaking countries and only modest elsewhere chartwise.

Anything from Ring Ring would have flopped everywhere.

Things happen for a reason. But the song is better than Waterloo.

I was talking about the songs Ring Ring vs Waterloo where I prefer RR. Om the album front I prefer Waterloo.

Ring Ring (song) is the only really good song on the album and I only like 3 or 4 more.