Bjorn, Benny, Agnetha & Frida
Ring Ring

"Every day in the morning on her way to the office
 You can see as she catches a train
 Just a face among a million faces
 Just another woman with no name
 not the girl you'd remember but she's still something special
 If you knew her I am sure you'd agree
 cause I know she's got a little secret

Friday evening she turns out to be..."

                                  "Nina, Pretty Ballerina"

The debut of a group with a somewhat too long name goes unnoticed or almost in 1972.

The four, three Swedes and one Norwegian, sing "People Need Love" and tackle English for the first time. The results are not very thrilling, but the group understands that the world has been orphaned for too long of a great pop band and that perhaps their timid attempt to break through with a catchy and well-meaning song is not all to be discarded.

In reality, we are not talking about just any group but a supergroup born in 1970 that unites some of the standout figures of the Scandinavian scene, musicians Benny Andersson (keyboards and synth), Biorn Ulveus (guitar) and from 1972 the voices of Agnetha Fältskog (a real star of Swedish music) and the Norwegian Anni-Frid Lyngstad (jazz singer).

"Ring Ring" is the debut work and presents itself as a record in which there are no lack of pleasant surprises but is still a raw combination of a style that will explosively mature with "Waterloo" in '74 and will conquer the world with "ABBA" ('75). The singing is still heavily relied upon Ulveus, the two girls divide a few solo moments, the pleasant "Nina, Pretty Ballerina", by Frida, and the Beatles-like "Dissilussion", the only song written by Agnetha in the band's history. "Ring Ring" is the first single trying to make it big in Europe; it succeeds in the Nordic markets but is still far from future successes. The musical style of the four still heavily cites beat, folk, and a hint of rock'n'roll ("Rock'n Roll Band"), the production is very attentive and already shows all the interest of the Andersson-Ulveus duo towards Spector's "Wall Of Sound".

After the release of "Ring Ring" it was decided to shorten the name, opting for the acronym "ABBA"; with the participation and victory at the Eurofestival in 1974 and the release of the second LP "Waterloo" another golden story will begin.