Arrival

Over and above that, tho' there is the music, which is just wonderful. "Dum Dum Diddle", "My Love, My Life", "Why Did It Have To be Me" & "That's Me" are all my favourites. Not to belittle the singles at all, I just especially like these tracks.

"Money . . ." & "Knowing me . . ." & "Dancing Queen" are all well known, and are quite frankly up there with the best of the 2 B's songwriting. "Fernando" isn't a bonus track per se (although never actually appearing on the album originally) as it was a single and has subsequently appeared on numerous compilations starting way back on the first Greatest Hits package.

A fine album, tho'. Abba at their topmost best(!)


My favorite Abba album   January 27, 2003
Peter Durward Harris (Leicester England)
23 out of 27 found this review helpful

I originally bought this on LP, replaced it with a CD, and then replaced that CD when a re-mastered version was released with Fernando added as a bonus track, as well as much-improved sound quality. I decided not to bother with this, the most recent version, a digipack featuring Fernando and an additional bonus track, Happy Hawaii. I have not heard that song, but it uses the tune of Why did it have to be me? and first appeared as the B-side of Knowing me knowing you. It seems that Benny and Bjorn tried two completely different sets of lyrics, but When I kissed the teacher is a great opening song that demonstrates the high standard of the album.

The most famous song here is Dancing queen, which provided Abba with their only number one hit in America. It was also number one in Britain and many other countries. Fernando and Knowing me knowing me were also British number ones, while Money money money peaked at number three in December 1976.

Fernando was never released on any original Abba album, although it was included in many Abba compilations. It was released as a single in the spring of 1976 and its wonderful images and brilliant melody ensured that it was a huge hit in many countries, though it did not provide Abba with their American breakthrough. I wonder what might have happened if it had been released in America after Dancing queen.

Among the less well known tracks, Bjorn sings some lines on Why did it have to be me, while Tiger was tipped by some critics as a possible single. My love my life is a lovely reflective song. Arrival, the title track, is essentially an instrumental with the ladies singing la la la - but it works superbly, with a nice Celtic flavor.

Abba was - and still is - my favorite pop group. This was my favorite album of theirs even without Fernando, which I always thought should have been part of the album anyway.


ABBA's BEST   April 28, 2004
MBC (Rijeka, Croatia)
8 out of 11 found this review helpful

This was their first UK #1 album if you don't count greatest hits 1package. It also marks the very peak of their incredible career and itcontains 10 beautiful songs that sound even better with each new editionof this CD. Dancing Queen, Knowing Me and Money 3 were the obvious choicesfor hit singles and not many albums can claim three songs that areinstantly familiar all around the world. The only mistake was Dum DumDiddle, mainly for its incredibly stupid lyrics (dum dum diddle, to beyour fiddle, to be so near ya and not just hear ya?!). My favorite tracks(you always have to exclude the obvious ones) are Tiger, incredible powersong with Agnetha shouting (you won't here this on My Colouring Book!), MyLove My Life where Agnetha sings the most moving ballad of their career,That's Me (now this one grows on you every single time you listen to it)and Why Did It Have To Be Me (or even better, Happy Hawaii) with a greatbeat. Now that it contains additional songs like the all-importantFernando, this album is a must have AFTER you buy the GOLD and MORE GOLDcompilation. And let's not forget the title track - Arrival. This songreally ends the album perfectly although it totally doesn't belong there.This song is so good that Frida did two cover versions and apparently,Agnetha knows the lyrics to it. OK, I guess I forgot When I Kissed aTeacher. Well, I suggest you buy the Definitive Collection on DVD beacusethis is the video where Agnetha is kissing her teacher and Frida's runningdown the stairs.Otherwise, a silly song butyou'll hum it in seconds. POP PERFECT!


Arrival   September 29, 2008
R. J. Hingston (Devon, UK)
Arrival is in many people's opinion Abba's finest moment. Certainly an album containing 'Knowing Me-Knowing You', 'Money Money Money' and 'Dancing Queen' has to be a contender for Abba's greatest album.
Apart from these classic three singles, there are several other noteworthy tracks on this classic album. Had this album been released in the 80s there would have probably been even more classic hits lifted from this collection. A strong contender for fourth single would have been 'My Love My Life' beautifully sung by Agnetha. This album also contains one of Agnetha's favourite tracks 'That's Me'. Closing the album is the title track 'Arrival' which was later covered by Mike Oldfield and became a hit for him.
An album truly deserving of the title 'Classic'.