abba | theINFP

Dreaming last night, I walked through a door into a white painted room. I noticed an ABBA Studios sign on the left hand wall. Turning to look at the sign I realised band members, Björn, Benny, Frida and Agnetha were sitting casually underneath on separate pieces of furniture. While retrieving a mobile phone from my right hip pocket, so that I could take a picture, the artists moved away.
In my mind I could hear the haunting sound of a flute playing the track, Eagle. This song has been with me for almost 40 years, being one of my favourites on ABBA: The Album, released in the UK in 1978. Listening to Eagle always gives flight to the endless possibilities available to me, through my thoughts. The story of my connection with this album is described in Thank you for the music.

Artwork information from Wikipedia

Polar’s official cover featured an entirely white background, and is the basis for current CD versions. However, Epic Records’ original UK release of the LP featured a blue background on the front cover, fading to white at the bottom. It also featured a gatefold sleeve. The back cover was altered, incorporating a similar photo of ABBA to that used elsewhere in the world for the inner sleeve, and referencing tracks included in ABBA: The Movie. The inner gatefold was designed to look like an air mail envelope, similar to the style later used for Gracias Por La Música and even had a photo of ABBA incorporated into a stamp in the corner.

When I was at secondary school it was totally uncool to listen to, let alone like ABBA. I spent many hours alone in my bedroom listening to music that transported me to far away places. It’s funny how things turned out for the shy boy from Birmingham. Who would have thought he would move to Australia 20 years after buying ABBA: The Album. It features music from the documentary film of ABBA’s Australian tour, ABBA: The Movie.

We used our father’s redundancy money to go on our first overseas trip by aeroplane to Jersey in the Channel Islands. It was 1978, my parents, two brothers and I stayed full board for ten days at the Golden Sands Hotel. This is my first memory of live entertainment. I remember the soulful sound of a young woman in the bar, singing and strumming the guitar, while disco music pulsated from the ballroom.

I look back with embarrassment at a naive 14 year old proudly taking his brand new vinyl album down to the ballroom because the DJ had not played any ABBA. Thankfully one of the tracks was played and this holiday was filed away in the recesses of my mind as a happy memory.

I was filled with nostalgia as I read that last weekend was the 50th anniversary of the musical duo of Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson joining force and the first time in 30 years the group had performed together.

I now say with pride that I was and still am an ABBA fan, thank you for the music!

Do you have a happy ABBA memory you would like to share?