Ring Ring (album)

Untitled

Ring Ring is the debut album by Swedish pop group ABBA, released in Scandinavia and a limited number of other territories, including West Germany, Australia, South Africa and Mexico, in 1973. The album was re-released in Australasia in 1975, but was not issued in the United Kingdom until 1992, and the United States until three years after. The re-release artwork for the album (see below) uses the name "ABBA", although at the time of the album's original release, the name ABBA had not yet been coined, and instead was awkwardly credited to "Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Frida". Ring Ring was first released on CD in Sweden in 1988; a West German CD release followed in 1990 (later released internationally). The album has been reissued in digitally remastered form three times; first in 1997, then in 2001 and again in 2005 as part of the The Complete Studio Recordings box set.

The original 1973 Polar Music version of the album opens with "Ring Ring (Bara Du Slog En Signal)", the Swedish version of the track, and places the English language version as track four on Side B.

The track "She's My Kind of Girl", included on the international editions, is in fact a song by Björn & Benny which dates back to 1969, which was a hit in Japan, and had also been included on the B side of the English version of "Ring Ring" in Scandinavia.

The album also features a song co-written by Agnetha Fältskog. Although she had composed much of her Swedish solo output, the song "Disillusion", for which she wrote the music, is the only song released on an ABBA album to feature a songwriting contribution from her.

Track listing

Side A:

1. "Ring Ring" (Andersson, Stig Anderson, Ulvaeus, Neil Sedaka, Phil Cody) – 3:06
2. "Another Town, Another Train" (Andersson, Ulvaeus) – 3:13
3. "Disillusion" (Fältskog, Ulvaeus) – 3:07
4. "People Need Love" (Andersson, Ulvaeus) – 2:46
5. "I Saw It in the Mirror" (Andersson, Ulvaeus) – 2:34
6. "Nina, Pretty Ballerina" (Andersson, Ulvaeus) – 2:53

Side B:

1. "Love Isn't Easy (But It Sure Is Hard Enough)" (Andersson, Ulvaeus) – 2:55
2. "Me and Bobby and Bobby's Brother" (Andersson, Ulvaeus) – 2:52
3. "He Is Your Brother" (Andersson, Ulvaeus) – 3:19
4. "She's My Kind of Girl" (Andersson, Ulvaeus) – 2:45
5. "I Am Just a Girl" (Andersson, Anderson, Ulvaeus) – 3:03
6. "Rock'n Roll Band" (Andersson, Ulvaeus) – 3:11

(P)1970(10)/1972(4,9)/1973(1-3,5-8,11-12) Polar Music International AB

CD re-issues, bonus tracks

Ring Ring was remastered and reissued in 1997 with the same track listing

Ring Ring was remastered and reissued in 2001 with three bonus tracks:

13. "Merry-Go-Round" (Andersson, Anderson, Ulvaeus) – 3:26
14. "Santa Rosa" (Andersson, Ulvaeus) – 3:01
15. "Ring Ring (Bara Du Slog En Signal)" (Andersson, Anderson, Ulvaeus) – 3:10

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

13. "Ring Ring (Bara Du Slog En Signal)" (Andersson, Anderson, Ulvaeus) – 3:08
14. "Åh, Vilka Tider" (Andersson, Anderson, Ulvaeus) – 2:33
    • B-side of "Ring Ring (Bara Du Slog En Signal)".
15. "Merry-Go-Round" (Andersson, Anderson, Ulvaeus) – 3:26
    • B-side of "People Need Love".
16. "Santa Rosa" (Andersson, Ulvaeus) – 3:01
    • B-side of "He Is Your Brother".
17. "Ring Ring" (Spanish version) (Andersson, Anderson, Ulvaeus, Doris Band) – 3:01
18. "Wer Im Wartesaal Der Liebe Steht" (Andersson, Ulvaeus, Fred Jay) – 3:21
    • German version of "Another Town, Another Train", B-side of "Ring Ring" (German version).
19. "Ring Ring" (German version) (Andersson, Anderson, Ulvaeus, Peter Lach) – 3:09

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

(P)1970(10)/1972(4,9)/1973(1-3,5-8,11-12,15) Polar Music International,AB.

Singles

1. "Another Town Another Train"/"Rock and Roll Band" (May 1972)
2. "People Need Love"/"Merry-Go-Round" (June 1972)
3. "He Is Your Brother"/"Santa Rosa" (November 1972)
4. "Ring Ring"/"Rock and Roll Band" (February 1973)
5. "Nina Pretty Ballerina"/"He Is Your Brother" (March 1973)
6. "Love Isn't Easy (But It Sure Is Hard Enough)"/"I Am Just a Girl" (June 1973)
7. "I Am Just a Girl"/"Ring Ring" (August 1973) (Japan only)
8. "Me and Bobby and Bobby's Brother"/"I Am Just a Girl" (1973) (Poland only)

" "Rock n Roll Band" (USA)

Personnel

ABBA

• Benny Andersson – piano, keyboards, vocals, mellotron
• Agnetha Fältskog – vocals
• Anni-Frid Lyngstad – vocals
• Björn Ulvaeus – acoustic guitar, guitar, vocals

Additional personnel

• Ola Brunkert – drums
• Rutger Gunnarsson – electric bass
• Roger Palm – drums
• Janne Schaffer – acoustic guitar, electric guitar
• Mike Watson – electric bass

Production

• Producers: Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus
• Engineer: Michael B. Tretow
• Assistant engineers: Björn Almstedt, Lennart Karlsmyr, Rune Persson
• String arrangements: Sven-Olof Walldoff
• Photography: Lars Falck, Bengt H. Malmqvist
• Original album design: Peter Wiking
• Remastered for the 1997 Remasters by Jon Astley and Tim Young with Michael B. Tretow
• Remastered for the 2001 Remasters by Jon Astley with Michael B. Tretow
• Remastered for the 2005 Complete Studio Recordings Box Set by Henrik Jonsson

External links

• Sites showing various 'Ring Ring' Releases [1], [2]