Released: 1999 (GOD I'M OLD)
First Thoughts: I loved this album long before I knew a thing about ABBA. Together with Mamma Mia! The Movie, it's to credit for my ABBA standom.
Purchase: Don't even know anymore. 2001 or 2002, I think.
Playthrough: Mamma Mia was almost always my favorite, and it's easy to see why. It's like a goddamn party in my head when I listen to this song. The only bad thing about it is that it's a shame that they reached their pinnacle with their very first single, but considering that their output afterward was still amazing, that's not that bad.
Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! is also great, though I think the radio mix is better. Certainly a worthy adaptation, and probably better than the original.
Super Trouper is still a jam. The original is one of my favorite ABBA songs, and I love this version as well. It took me years (and hearing the Meryl Streep version) to understand the line "The sight of you will prove to me I'm still alive," though - the most sense I could ever make out of Marie singing "I'm still alive" was "and Sir Lyden."
One of Us is probably the least convincing song on here. It just doesn't suit the dancey production as well as the others, and the retention of the intro makes it sound very odd since the rest of the song basically sounds like a HiNRG mix of an Erasure song. It's not bad or anything - not AT ALL - it's just an 8/10 on an album of 10/10's.
Voulez-Vous is really faithful to the original, but updated to match the standards of the time. It's probably the closest they got to perfectly mimicking "the music of ABBA today," to use their tagline from the Mamma Mia single.
SOS is really interesting, because it takes a midtempo and turns it into a huge dance track - and unlike One of Us, it works fantastically well.
Dancing Queen has never been one of my favorite ABBA songs, not because the song itself is bad, but there's something about the original that I just don't like - the vocals, the instrumentation, the production... I'm not sure. But I like almost every cover of it (and ABBA's own live version). This one, though, is my second-favorite, behind only Sixpence None the Richer's version (which is INCREDIBLE). The video was really fun too, even for a 10-year-old who had never heard of The Breakfast Club.
Take a Chance on Me is one of the two most clubby tracks on here, and it's probably a large part of why I'm so fond of dance music today (as is the album as a whole, to be honest). I love the original - maybe my favorite ABBA uptempo, maybe second behind Waterloo - but this is incredibly good.
Lay All Your Love on Me is the other, and again I think it exceeds the original, largely because I'm not fond of the vocals nor the disco production on the ABBA version.
The Name of the Game is another one where I don't like the original but love the covers, though in this case I can't even rank them (A*Teens, Irma, Amanda Seyfried) because they're all so great. The A*Teens version is chillingly beautiful and has some of the best vocal arrangements on the album.
Our Last Summer is a great album closer. Although they manage the impressive feat of mangling French worse than Girls Aloud on "Je ne parle pas français" ("Eh-full Tower" hurts my ears every time I hear it), it sounds so bright, and perfectly bittersweet. My favorite version of the song, for sure.
Knowing Me, Knowing You is the Japanese bonus track, but it really deserved to be on the standard album. It's my favorite ABBA song (at the moment), and though they don't match the original, they really do it justice. Marie's vocals on it are really nice.
Verdict: Still one of the best albums I own. I don't know why I don't play it every single week, but when I do remember it, I hammer it, and I think that's a good indication of how amazing it is. 10/10.
Standout: The whole goddamn album, let's be real.
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