Waterloo (album)

Untitled

Waterloo is Swedish pop group ABBA's second album, originally released in Sweden on 4 March 1974. The title track of the album won ABBA the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest. Waterloo 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 Complete Studio Recordings box set. It was also released as a special 30th Anniversary edition in 2004, celebrating 30 years of the group's victory in the Eurovision Song Contest.

The original 1974 Polar Music edition of the album opens with the Swedish version of the title track and closes with the English language version.

The American version of the album, released on Atlantic Records, closes with a 1974 remix of "Ring Ring".

In the UK/Ireland and several other European markets, the original 1973 version of "Ring Ring" was added as track 6 on side 2.

Waterloo reached the top spot in Sweden and Norway, charting highly in many other countries as well. In Germany it finally reached platinum status in 2004 thirty years after its release.

This was the group's first album in most countries outside Scandinavia.

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Rolling Stone	(Favorable)
Allmusic

Track listing

This album was originally distributed on vinyl record, which had two sides consisting of between 15 and 20 minutes of music per side. The songs on Side A were (in order):

1. "Waterloo" (Andersson, Stig Anderson, Ulvaeus) - 2:44
2. "Sitting in the Palmtree" (Andersson, Ulvaeus) - 3:37
3. "King Kong Song" (Andersson, Ulvaeus) - 3:11
4. "Hasta Mañana" (Andersson, Anderson, Ulvaeus) - 3:09
5. "My Mama Said" (Andersson, Ulvaeus) - 3:13
6. "Dance (While The Music Still Goes On)" (Andersson, Ulvaeus) – 3:12

The songs found on Side B were (in order):

1. "Honey, Honey" (Andersson, Anderson, Ulvaeus) – 2:55
2. "Watch Out" (Andersson, Ulvaeus) – 3:49
3. "What About Livingstone?" (Andersson, Ulvaeus) – 2:55
4. "Gonna Sing You My Lovesong" (Andersson, Ulvaeus) – 3:41
5. "Suzy-Hang-Around" (Andersson, Ulvaeus) – 3:10

(P) 1974 Polar Music International AB

CD re-issues, bonus tracks

Waterloo was remastered and reissued in 1997 with the same track listing as the original vinyl records. Note that the original Polydor CD issued in 1990 swapped the tracks "Watch Out" and "What About Livingstone?". The 1997 remaster followed this anomaly.

Waterloo was remastered and reissued in 2001 with three bonus tracks not found in previous releases. These new tracks were (in order on disk):

12. "Ring Ring" (1974 remix, single version) (Andersson, Anderson, Ulvaeus, Sedaka, Cody) - 3:06
13. "Waterloo" (Swedish version) (Andersson, Anderson, Ulvaeus) - 2:45
14. "Honey, Honey" (Swedish version) (Andersson, Anderson, Ulvaeus) - 2:59

Waterloo - 30th Anniversary Edition contained several bonus tracks and a bonus DVD that included the following tracks (in order on disk):

12. "Ring, Ring" (U.S. remix 1974) (Andersson, Anderson, Ulvaeus, Neil Sedaka, Phil Cody) - 3:06
13. "Waterloo" (Swedish version) (Andersson, Anderson, Ulvaeus) - 2:45
14. "Honey, Honey" (Swedish version) (Andersson, Anderson, Ulvaeus) 2:59
15. "Waterloo" (German version) (Andersson, Anderson, Ulvaeus, Gerd Müller-Schwanke) 2:44
16. "Waterloo" (French version) (Andersson, Anderson, Ulvaeus, Alain Boublil) 2:42

• Bonus DVD contents included the following video tracks (in order on disk):

1. "Waterloo" (Eurovison Song Contest, BBC) 3:56
2. "Waterloo" (Melodifestivalen SVT) 2:56
3. "Honey, Honey" (Star Parade, ZDF) 3:19
4. "Hasta Mañana" (Señoras Y Señores, RTVE) 3:05

Waterloo was remastered and reissued again in 2005 as part of the The Complete Studio Recordings box set with several bonus tracks, including (in order on disk):

12. "Ring, Ring" (U.S. remix 1974) (Andersson, Anderson, Ulvaeus, Neil Sedaka, Phil Cody) – 3:06
13. "Waterloo" (Swedish version) (Andersson, Anderson, Ulvaeus) – 2:45
14. "Honey, Honey" (Swedish version) (Andersson, Anderson, Ulvaeus) – 2:59
15. "Waterloo" (German version) (Andersson, Anderson, Ulvaeus, Gerd Müller-Schwanke) – 2:44
16. "Hasta Mañana" (Spanish version) (Andersson, Anderson, Ulvaeus, Buddy McCluskey, Mary McCluskey) – 3:09
17. "Ring Ring" (1974 remix, Single version) (Andersson, Anderson, Ulvaeus, Sedaka, Cody) – 3:10
18. "Waterloo" (French version) (Andersson, Anderson, Ulvaeus, Alain Boublil) – 2:42

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

Singles

This album contained three singles:

1. "Waterloo"/"Watch Out" (March 1974)
2. "Honey Honey"/"King Kong Song" (April 1974 )
3. "Hasta Mañana"/"Watch Out" (October 1974)

Personnel

ABBA

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

Additional personnel

• Ola Brunkert – drums
• Christer Eklund – saxophone
• Malando Gassama – percussion, conga
• Rutger Gunnarsson – bass
• Per Sahlberg – bass
• Janne Schaffer – guitar
• Sven-Olof Walldoff – strings

Production

• Producers: Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus
• Engineer: Michael B. Tretow
• Photography: Ola Lager
• Original album design: Ron Spaulding
• 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

Charts

Album

Year	Chart/Country	Position
1974	UK Album Chart	28
	The Billboard 200	145
	Norway	1
	Germany Album Chart	6
	Sweden	1
1976	Australia	18
	New Zealand	38

Singles - Europe

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1974	"Waterloo"	UK Singles Chart	1
	"Ring Ring (1974 Remix)"		32
	"Waterloo"	Norway's Singles Chart	1

Singles - North America

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1974	"Waterloo"	Billboard Hot 100 - USA	6
		RPM Top Singles Chart - Canada	7
	"Honey, Honey"	Billboard Hot 100	27
		Billboard Easy Listening (AC) Chart	27
		RPM Top Singles Chart	18
		RPM Pop Music Playlist	8