Product Description

SUPER TROUPER is ABBA's seventh--and next to last--studio album, and one of their most artistically satisfying. The album's chart-topping singles include the propulsive title track, "Lay All Your Love On Me" and the bittersweet anthem "TheWinner Takes It All", which many rank with "Dancing Queen" and "S.O.S". as one of the Swedish foursome's masterpieces. The rest of the album continues the more reflective, adult themes explored by its predecessors, VOULEZ-VOUZ and THE ALBUM. It's difficult to separate the downcast melancholy of songs like "Our Last Summer" and "The Way Old Friends Do"--recorded live at the same performance heard on ABBA LIVE in 1986--from the time period's gossip reports of the breakup of the band's two marriages. Even with such considerations aside,SUPER TROUPER is one of ABBA's finest releases.

Track Listing

1. Super Trouper
2. The Winner Takes It All
3. On And On And On
4. Andante, Andante
5. Me And I
6. Happy New Year
7. Our Last Summer
8. The Piper
9. Lay All Your Love On Me
10. The Way Old Friends Do
11. Elaine
12. Put On Your White Sombrero

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #258 in Music
• Released on: 2002-03-01
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Running time: 50 minutes

Customer Reviews

Not quite up to the standard of The Winner Takes It All
The first single from this album, The Winner Takes It All, is considered one of the group's best songs. It returned them to the top of the UK singles charts after an absence of two and a half years and six near-misses. The album itself, coming on the back of Abba's immensely successful 1979 tour, was a massive hit and broke records in advanced orders.

However, the rest of the album just doesn't live up to the promise of the first single. A new maturity was evident, with lyrics becoming more personal, but there are more fillers than classics here. I'm not a fan of the dreadful title track, despite the fact it was their last UK Number 1. Me and I and The Way Old Friends Do are also not up to Abba's high standards. Other than The Winner Takes It All, only Lay All Your Love On Me, and perhaps a couple of others, really stand out.

In fact, the two bonus tracks are better than some of the main album. Elaine was originally just a b-side, while Put On Your White Sumbrero (featuring a classic moment where Frida is on lead vocals and is joined by Agnetha swooping in on the last chorus) was left off the original album in favour of the title track. The story is that the album's title was already there, but there was no title track and they hastily wrote one at the last minute. They should have left Sumbrero on and not bothered, although it's doubtful whether Sumbrero would have been a big hit.

It was clear that Abba were on the journey towards the end. That they managed another album after this - and that that album was better than might have been expected after Super Trouper - is testament to Abba's greatness.

Sweet and Sour Smorgasbord
Top quality stuff which nonetheless sounded the death knell for the Swedish superstars. Signs that the wheels were beginning to work loose on the Abba charabanc are all too evident on this, their seventh and finest album. In the midst of the standard, disco-flavoured candy floss ("Lay All Your Love On Me" and "On And On And On") is a sizeable contingent of more profound songs that feature the band taking stock of their changing marital fortunes, none more so than the bitter lament "The Winner Takes It All", a stirring elegy that is the album's defining moment. There's something almost symbolic about the reflective gem "Our Last Summer" and the ironically titled "Happy New Year"; with the sun clearly starting to set on the band's halcyon days, the future wasn't looking at all bright, but at least they were determined to go down gloriously. Not as bleak as "The Visitors" album which would finally ring down the curtain - the title track and "The Piper" make for two irresistibly upbeat fillips - but "Super Trouper" shows the long shadows creeping ever more darkly over the Abba landscape, even if the heartening finale "The Way Old Friends Do" leaves a temporary mood of optimism. Anyone who has ever dismissed this Scandinavian outfit as an over-glitzy Eurovision stunt, as I originally did, should at least give this collection a fair hearing. In an age when several styles of music were easily definable (rock, reggae, soul etc.), this was mainstream middle-of-the-road at its very best. Put more succinctly, "Super Trouper" is a poignant diamond, and ranks among the greatest pop music albums ever created, if not the greatest of them all.

Super comeback to #1 heights for ABBA
Somebody once said that ABBA were never an albums act, that their strength was their singles. Of course, that is not even remotely true because ABBA has 9 #1 albums and the GOLD compilation is one of the top 10 albums in the UK (ever) according to its weeks on chart. Anyway, ABBA was as strong as ever at the crack of the 80s although they waited for a #1 single for quite some time back then. That all changed (to everybody's surprise when Super Trouper was released beacuse the first two tracks (you know everything about them) went #1 (the last two in their carreer).
The only weakness in ABBA albums would be the fact that they almost never represent a storyline but merely an album with around 10 songs they chose were musically right. For example, Super Trouper should be a cheerful album, but it actually goes cheerful/sad/very dance/slow/cheerful/nostalgic/nostalgic/cheerful/dance/nostalgic. Not a pattern, anyway. However, this album is worth listening especially when you discover the bonus tracks (I own the first CD issue without them). Put On Your White Sombrero is an excellent showcase of Agnetha's talent and Elaine is ABBA's more mature and sophisticated upbeat attempt.
Other than tracks #1 and #2, Lay All Your Love On Me was also a single, a 12 inch which surprisingly did make top 10 which was quite rare (or so I heard) in the 70s. On and On and On is another favorite dance song with quite interesting lyrics and accompanied with a video (I think it was intended for Japanese market, not quite sure) and a mysterious extra verse than was deleted from the final version.
Andante, Andante is a very slow song sung by Frida and it takes forever to love it. Me and I is silly, but enjoyable, Happy New Year is excellent (they made a video for this one, too and it was released as a single a few years ago) nostalgic song, Our Last Summer is a romantic, nostalgic song with Paris in mind. The Piper is a bouncy, happy song with Scotish instrumental motive (+strange latin lyrics from the girls). The Way Old Friends Do is one of their best live performances which sounded so good to Björn and Benny that they decided to put it as a nice finish to the album. Also included on More Gold.
All in all, one of ABBA's finest albums but maybe not as enjoyable as Arrival or the Visitors.