Abba
Waterloo

THE REVIEW

"Waterloo": Personally, before naming an album with such an ominous title, I would think twice, but when dealing with people like ABBA, the chances of running into an artistic debacle are decidedly limited, if not nonexistent. Still, "Waterloo" is somewhat a clay pot among iron pots within the Swedish quartet’s production, when compared to the delightful and never too underrated debut album "Ring Ring" and the subsequent "ABBA," "Arrival," and "The Album," which will launch them into the orbit of an overwhelming and unrepeatable success. Let me be clear, although it is a transitional album, "Waterloo" is still far from essential; it is an ABBA album, which means that entire fleets of supertankers loaded with the pseudo-musical flatulences of Katy Perry, Rihanna, and Justin Timberlake would not equal the value of a single copy, and that Benny and Bjorn’s compositional talent also emerges with dignity here, giving us some pearls of what some snobbishly call "bubblegum pop."

The standout tracks of "Waterloo" are the title track with its rhythmic easy rock and the light pop of the syrupy (but classy) "Honey, Honey", pieces that are not exactly excellent but in which the ABBA sound is immediately recognizable thanks to the almost perfect arrangements and the lively vocal interpretation of Frida and Agnetha. However, the album's overall level is somewhat marred by the faded reggae of "Sitting In The Palmtree", the staggering and almost cacophonous rock n' roll of "King Kong Song" and "Watch Out" (the latter particularly disappointing despite a beautiful almost hard rock opening riff), where the band begins to move away from the sweet, candy-like pop (in a good sense) of their early work to experiment with new sounds, which would be refined with much better results in the subsequent "ABBA" (just think of "Tropical Loveland" and "So Long"), and also by the lack of creative inspiration in pieces like the anonymous and filler tracks "Dance While The Music Still Goes On" and "Suzy-Hang-Around" or the mawkish "Gonna Sing You My Lovesong", which stands only thanks to Frida’s voice in the verses.

Up to this point, "Waterloo" does not even reach adequacy, but as I said, ABBA always has a rabbit to pull out of the hat to save the situation, such as the hypnotic and beguiling groove of "My Mama Said", where, seven years ahead of time, the sounds that would make "The Visitors" great emerge. There’s the carefree and innocent "What About Livingstone", where, by contrast, the contagious joy and innocence of "Ring Ring" reappear, and most importantly, the true gem, the evergreen of "Waterloo", the wonderful "Hasta Manana", a light, fresh, and airy ballad that becomes a masterpiece thanks to the nightingale-like voice of the divine Agnetha, here delivering the best performance of her career, worth alone the price of the album which nevertheless remains (along with "Voulez-Vous") the ugly duckling of ABBA’s discography, even though it is upon these still somewhat uncertain foundations that they will begin to build their well-deserved fortunes.