Arrival (ABBA album)

Arrival
Studio album by ABBA
Released	11 October 1976 (Sweden) 5 January 1977 (US)
Recorded	4 August 1975 – 18 September 1976
Genre	Pop, euro disco
Length	33:16
Label	Polar Atlantic (US original release)
Producer	Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus
ABBA chronology
ABBA (1975) Arrival (1976) The Album (1977)
Alternative cover
French edition using the inner sleeve image

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	link
Robert Christgau	C
Rolling Stone	favorable link

Arrival is the fourth studio album by the Swedish pop group ABBA. It was originally released in Sweden on 11 October 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.

Track listing

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
Total length:		33:16

Cassette release

Side one

1. "When I Kissed the Teacher" (Andersson, Ulvaeus) – 2:58
2. "Dancing Queen" (Andersson, Stig Anderson, Ulvaeus) – 3:47
3. "Dum Dum Diddle" (Andersson, Ulvaeus) – 2:50
4. "My Love, My Life" (Andersson, Anderson, Ulvaeus) – 3:50
5. "Tiger" (Andersson, Ulvaeus) – 2:54

Side two

1. "Money, Money, Money" (Andersson, Ulvaeus) – 3:02
2. "That's Me" (Andersson, Anderson, Ulvaeus) – 3:14
3. "Why Did It Have to Be Me?" (Andersson, Ulvaeus) – 3:19
4. "Knowing Me, Knowing You" (Andersson, Anderson, Ulvaeus) – 3:55
5. "Arrival" (Instrumental) (Andersson, Ulvaeus) – 2:58

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.^{[citation needed]}

CD re-issues, bonus tracks

Arrival was remastered and reissued in 1997 with one bonus track:

11. "Fernando" (Andersson, Anderson, Ulvaeus) – 4:12

"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:

12. "Happy Hawaii" (Andersson, Anderson, Ulvaeus) – 4:25
    • Early version of "Why Did It Have to Be Me?".

Arrival was remastered and reissued again in 2005 as part of The Complete Studio Recordings box set with several bonus tracks:

11. "Fernando" (Andersson, Anderson, Ulvaeus) – 4:14
12. "Happy Hawaii" (Andersson, Anderson, Ulvaeus) – 4:25
    • B-side of "Knowing Me, Knowing You". Early version of "Why Did It Have to Be Me?".
13. "La Reina Del Baile" (Andersson, Anderson, Ulvaeus, Buddy McCluskey, Mary McCluskey) – 4:03
    • Spanish version of "Dancing Queen". When the track was first released in 1980, the Spanish title was "Reina Danzante".
14. "Conociéndome, Conociéndote" (Andersson, Anderson, Ulvaeus, McCluskey, McCluskey) – 4:04
    • Spanish version of "Knowing Me, Knowing You".
15. "Fernando (Spanish Version)" (Andersson, Anderson, Ulvaeus, McCluskey, McCluskey) – 4:17

Tracks 13–15, vocals recorded January 1980. These three songs are from the album Gracias Por La Música (Septima SRLM 1, 23 June 1980).

Arrival was reissued again in 2006 (16 October) 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:

1. ABBA-DABBA-DOOO! One hour Television Special. Includes interviews to the group, the official "Dancing Queen" promo clip, the English version of "Waterloo" at the Eurovision contest, and seven videos of the songs:
   1. "Knowing Me, Knowing You" (filmed song)
   2. "When I Kissed the Teacher" (filmed song, includes an early mix of the song different to the one of the album)
   3. "Dum Dum Diddle" (live performance at television studios of Sveriges Radio)
   4. "My Love, My Life" (filmed song featuring only Agnetha)
   5. "Money, Money, Money" (playback performance at television studios of Sveriges Radio)
   6. "Tiger" (filmed song)
   7. "Why Did It Have to Be Me?" (live performance at television studios of Sveriges Radio)
2. "Dancing Queen" (Musikladen)
3. "Fernando" (BBC – Top of the Pops), an alternate version with live vocals over prerrecorded sound
4. "Happy Hawaii" (Cartoon of ABBA)
5. "Dancing Queen" (Recording Session), includes every bit available of the recording sessions with the "lost verse" of the song.
6. ABBA in London (November 1976)
7. ABBA's 1976 Success (News Report, Sweden)
8. Arrival TV Commercial I – (UK)
9. Arrival TV Commercial II – (UK)
10. International Sleeve Gallery

Arrival was reissued once again in 2008 as part of The Albums box set but without any bonus tracks.

Singles

1. "Dancing Queen"/"That's Me" (August 1976)
2. "Money Money Money"/"Crazy World" (October 1976)
3. "Dum Dum Diddle"/"Tiger" (1976) (Argentina only)
4. "Knowing Me Knowing You"/"Happy Hawaii" (February 1977)
5. "That's Me"/"Money Money Money" (July 1977) (Japan only)

Non Album Tracks

• Funky Feet

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.

• Monsieur, Monsieur

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.

• National Song

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"

"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.

On 19 September 1976, ABBA performed the song live as part of the ABBA-dabba-dooo!! TV special.

In 1977, the song was released as a single in Argentina. The B-side was "Tiger", another track taken from Arrival. According to Carl Magnus Palm, "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. In her turn, Lyngstad described the track as "silly".

"When I Kissed the Teacher"

"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.

The song was included on the greatest hits album More ABBA Gold: More ABBA Hits and the video was included on The Definitive Collection.

"When I Kissed the Teacher" cover versions

• Belgian singer Ann Christy rendered the song in Dutch as "Toen ik de leraar kuste" in 1977.
• Indie Cincinnati music artist Fungobat (Mike Hagen) covered the song. It was included on his Greatest Hits Vol. 1 compilation, released through the Old 3C Records indie label.
• The San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus recorded a cover of the song for their 1997 album ExtrABBAganza!.
• Studio 99 released a version on their Studio 99 Perform a Tribute to ABBA, Vol. 2 album in 2006.
• Russian metal band Boney Nem recorded a cover of the song.

In popular culture

• ABBA perform parts of the song live in the film ABBA: The Movie (1977).

"Why Did It Have to Be Me?" and "Happy Hawaii"

"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.

Personnel

• Benny Andersson – synthesizer, piano, accordion, chimes, keyboards, marimba, vocals
• Agnetha Fältskog – vocals
• Anni-Frid Lyngstad – vocals
• Björn Ulvaeus – acoustic guitar, electric guitar, vocals

Additional musicians

• Ola Brunkert – drums, strings
• Lars Carlsson – saxophone
• Anders Dahl – strings
• Malando Gassama – percussion, rhythm
• Anders Glenmark – electric guitar
• Rutger Gunnarsson – bass
• Roger Palm – strings, drums
• Janne Schaffer – electric guitar
• Lasse Wellander – acoustic guitar, electric guitar

Production

• Benny Andersson; Björn Ulvaeus – producers
• Michael B. Tretow – engineer
• Benny Andersson; Björn Ulvaeus; Sven-Olof Walldoff – arrangers
• Rutger Gunnarsson – string arrangements
• Ola Lager; Rune Söderqvist – cover design
• Ola Lager – photography
• Jon Astley; Tim Young; Michael B. Tretow – remastering for the 1997 Remasters
• Jon Astley; Michael B. Tretow – remastering for the 2001 Remasters
• Henrik Jonsson – remastering for The Complete Studio Recordings box set

Charts

Album

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	1
	Billboard 200	20
2009	Finnish Albums Chart	24

UK Chart Position by Week

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.

Singles

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

References

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

External links

• http://www.abba4therecord.com/ ABBA discography (Arrival releases worldwide)
• Arrival at Discogs (list of releases)