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Ring Ring (album)

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Ring Ring is the first studio album to feature the Swedish foursome who would later become pop group ABBA. It was released in Scandinavia and a limited number of other territories, including Germany, Australia, South Africa and Mexico, on March 26, 1973 through Polar Music.[2] The album was a chart-topping album in Belgium, and a big success in the Netherlands, Norway and South Africa.[3]

The album was re-released in Australasia in 1975, but was not released in the United Kingdom until 1992, and the United States until three years later. 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".

Overview

When the first song "People Need Love" was recorded in the spring of 1972, the group was just one of many projects the four members were involved in. Only after the title track, "Ring Ring" became a hit, did the four decide to go on working together as a permanent group. The original 1973 Polar 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 two.

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 the "Ring Ring" single in Scandinavia. Ring Ring 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.

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.


Track listing[4]

All tracks are written by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, except where noted

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."Ring Ring" (B. Andersson, Stig Anderson, B. Ulvaeus, Neil Sedaka, Phil Cody)3:04
2."Another Town, Another Train"3:12
3."Disillusion" (Agnetha Fältskog, B. Ulvaeus)3:04
4."People Need Love"2:46
5."I Saw It in the Mirror"2:34
6."Nina, Pretty Ballerina"2:51
Side two
No.TitleLength
1."Love Isn't Easy (But It Sure Is Hard Enough)"2:53
2."Me and Bobby and Bobby's Brother"2:50
3."He Is Your Brother"3:18
4."She's My Kind of Girl"2:44
5."I Am Just a Girl" (B. Andersson, Stig Anderson, B. Ulvaeus)3:01
6."Rock'n Roll Band"3:09
Total length:36:09

CD version

No.TitleLength
1."Ring Ring" (B. Andersson, Stig Anderson, B. Ulvaeus, Neil Sedaka, Phil Cody)3:04
2."Another Town, Another Train"3:12
3."Disillusion" (Agnetha Fältskog, B. Ulvaeus)3:04
4."People Need Love"2:46
5."I Saw It in the Mirror"2:34
6."Nina, Pretty Ballerina"2:51
7."Love Isn't Easy (But It Sure Is Hard Enough)"2:53
8."Me and Bobby and Bobby's Brother"2:50
9."He Is Your Brother"3:18
10."She's My Kind of Girl"2:44
11."I Am Just a Girl" (B. Andersson, Stig Anderson, B. Ulvaeus)3:01
12."Rock'n Roll Band"3:09
Total length:36:09

Re-releases

1996 re-release

Ring Ring was remastered and reissued in 1996 with the same track listing

2001 re-release

Ring Ring was remastered and reissued in 2001 with three bonus tracks (all songs produced by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus):

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
13."Merry-Go-Round"Andersson, Anderson, Ulvaeus3:24
14."Santa Rosa"Andersson, Ulvaeus2:59
15."Ring Ring (Bara du slog en signal)" (Swedish version)Andersson, Anderson, Ulvaeus3:08

2005 re-release

Ring Ring was remastered and reissued again in 2005 as part of the The Complete Studio Recordings box set with several bonus tracks (all tracks were produced by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus):

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
13."Ring Ring (Bara du slog en signal)" (Swedish version)Andersson, Anderson, Ulvaeus3:08
14."Åh, vilka tider" (B-side of "Ring Ring (Bara du slog en signal)")Andersson, Anderson, Ulvaeus2:33
15."Merry-Go-Round" (B-side of "People Need Love")Andersson, Anderson, Ulvaeus3:36
16."Santa Rosa" (B-side of "He Is Your Brother")Andersson, Ulvaeus3:01
17."Ring Ring" (Spanish version)Andersson, Anderson, Ulvaeus, Doris Band3:01
18."Wer im Wartesaal der Liebe steht" (German version of "Another Town, Another Train", B-side of "Ring Ring" (German version))Andersson, Ulvaeus, Fred Jay3:21
19."Ring Ring" (German version)Andersson, Anderson, Ulvaeus, Peter Lach3:09

2008 re-release

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

2013 re-release

Remastered Ring Ring was reissued again in 2013 as Deluxe Edition with several "bonus tracks" and "extra bonus tracks - early versions". Also came with a bonus DVD.

Bonus Tracks (all tracks were produced by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus):

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
13."Ring Ring (Bara du slog en signal)" (Swedish version)Andersson, Anderson, Ulvaeus3:08
14."Merry-Go-Round" (B-side of "People Need Love")Andersson, Anderson, Ulvaeus3:36
15."Santa Rosa" (B-side of "He Is Your Brother")Andersson, Ulvaeus3:01
16."Ring Ring" (Spanish version)Andersson, Anderson, Ulvaeus, Doris Band3:01
17."Wer im Wartesaal der Liebe steht" (German version of "Another Town, Another Train", B-side of "Ring Ring" (German version))Andersson, Ulvaeus, Fred Jay3:21
18."Ring Ring" (German version)Andersson, Anderson, Ulvaeus, Peter Lach3:09
19."En hälsning till våra parkarrangörer" (1973 promotional single for Sweden tour with excerpts of recent hits, previously unreleased)Andersson, Ulvaeus2:27

Extra Bonus Tracks - Early Versions (all tracks were produced by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus):

No.TitleWriter(s)Artist(s)Length
20."Hej gamle man!" (1970 single featuring Agnetha & Frida on backing vocals)Andersson, UlvaeusBjorn & Benny3:21
21."There's a Little Man" (A-side of a 1970 single featuring Agnetha on backing vocals)Andersson, UlvaeusBilly G-Son2:45
22."I Saw It in the Mirror" (B-side of the same 1970 single, original version of this Björn & Benny song)Andersson, UlvaeusBilly G-Son2:20
23."Jag är blott en man" ("I Am Just a Man", recorded in 1972 - swedish original version of "I Am Just a Girl")Andersson, Anderson, UlvaeusJarl Kulle3:04
24."Man vill ju leva lite dessemellan" (1972 Frida hit single featuring Björn, Benny & Agnetha on backing vocals)Vittorio Tariciotti, Marcello Marrocchi, Franca Evangelisti, Stig AndersonAnni-Frid Lyngstad2:53
25."Välkommen till världen" (1971 hit single featuring the four ABBA members on backing vocals)Andersson, UlvaeusLill-Babs3:19

Bonus DVD with the following clips:

No.TitleLength
1."People Need Love" (Vi i femman, SVT) 
2."Ring Ring" (Spotlight, ORF) 
3."Ring Ring Revealed" (Låtarna som förändrade musiken, UR) 
4."International Sleeve Gallery" 

Original Swedish tracklist from 1973

The Original vinyl release in Scandinavia did not include the track "She's My Kind of Girl", and featured the Swedish version of "Ring, Ring", in addition to the English version.

Side one

  1. "Ring Ring (Bara du slog en signal)" (Swedish version)
  2. "Another Town, Another Train"
  3. "Disillusion"
  4. "People Need Love"
  5. "I Saw It in the Mirror"
  6. "Nina, Pretty Ballerina"

Side two

  1. "Love Isn't Easy (But It Sure Is Hard Enough)"
  2. "Me and Bobby and Bobby's Brother"
  3. "He Is Your Brother"
  4. "Ring Ring" (English version)
  5. "I Am Just a Girl"
  6. "Rock'n Roll Band"

Singles

  1. "People Need Love"/"Merry-Go-Round" (June 1972)
  2. "He Is Your Brother"/"Santa Rosa" (November 1972)
  3. "Ring Ring"/"Rock'n Roll Band" (February 1973)
  4. "Nina, Pretty Ballerina"/"He Is Your Brother" (March 1973)
  5. "Another Town, Another Train"/"Rock'n Roll Band" (May 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)
  9. "Rock'n Roll Band" (USA)

Chart positions

Album

Year Chart/Country Position
1976 Belgium 1[3]
Norway 2
Sweden 2
Australia 10

Personnel

Additional musicians

Production

  • Benny Andersson; Björn Ulvaeus - producers, arrangers
  • Michael B. Tretow - engineer
  • Björn Almstedt; Lennart Karlsmyr; Rune Persson - assistant engineers
  • Sven-Olof Walldoff - string arrangements on "I Am Just a Girl"[5]
  • Lars Falck; Bengt H. Malmqvist - photography
  • Peter Wiking - original album design
  • 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

References

  1. ^ Scott, Robert (2002) 'ABBA: Thank You for the Music - The Stories Behind Every Song', Carlton Books Limited: Great Britain, p. 22
  2. ^ Ring Ring at AllMusic
  3. ^ a b Scott, Robert (2002) 'ABBA: Thank You for the Music - The Stories Behind Every Song', Carlton Books Limited: Great Britain, p. 24
  4. ^ http://www.abbasite.com/discography/album/ring-ring/
  5. ^ Scott, Robert (2002) 'ABBA: Thank You for the Music - The Stories Behind Every Song', Carlton Books Limited: Great Britain, p.
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