Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Despite d 1 nuuu 5 ui Voulez-Vous Abba (Atlantic) By Lehman Stiles Entertainment Editor Okay, so it's disco; so it's vapid and vaguely decadent; so it's hyped-up junior-high music. Abba's Voulez-Vous is one of the year's best albums, because Hpcnitp rtf thf? ahnvp it ic a fat chingly listenable, refreshingly exciting LP. Abba, of course, is the Swedish group who crafted their distinct iPAnnn c-r\\ inri f r\ n rJionn JUU1 v/pup OVUIIU IW ? UIOLU UCUl, therewith instantly attaining the status of supergroup. It's not really important who is actually in the group; since it uses mainly a studio approach, substituting | Album Review | i I overdubs for the messy image problems of a large group. No one can doubt that Abba knows of what they do. The hit single "Dancing Queen" is a disco archetype, a song still popular on thp Hisrn floors of thp ponntrv Th*? ~?. J . album art on Voulez-Vous fairly reeks of sleek European technoculture, a sort of disco fascism. Abba relies on an expansive, ecno-tuied sound to provide their style, and they have become masters at achieving it. They produce, essentially, top quality background music, the kind of songs that seem right at home coming from a car radio. None of + iTMiiMn rlr?rv? o f r\/\ /-?1 /-w /-v rt men uiiuiv uciuauua iw tiuac ct listen; that is part of the genius of the Abba sound. But at its most basic, the true appeal of this sound is hard to describe. It's Friday-afternoon r~ D 1A? I weic SPE Schlitz I Bud 12 IBlatz Pearl Li Cigaretl I i Co i I | I .HI. lisco beat, 14 - bum good music: a week is gone, a week is coming, we have the sense of motion and excitement without actually having to move. It's music that goes directly after a specific human response pattern, and it hits the mark every time. What makes the album so good is that Abba has lifted disco to a level where at times the disco beat isn't even necessary. All the excitement and rhythm and imagery are sustained, while the music escapes the banal disco beat, thus avoiding the monumental boredom inflicted by disco records. No matter how much you hate disco, you have to admire Abba for knowing how to make you love it. The album has easily nine hit singles on it, and to show how undisco this disco album is, each one can be described without being repetitious. The LP opens with "As Good as New," with a stately orchestral introduction that leaps playfully into straight disco. But by the time the chorus rolls around, the song has gained nuance and innovative arranging; born-again disco with a sunshine lyric. The title cut is frightening in its epitomization of disco culture; the only problem is that you cannot tell whether or not Abba really believes themselves when they sing, "Voulez-vous; take it now or leave it; now is all we get; nothing promised no regrets." This chorus, an epitaph for 70s culture, is sung with all the conviction of a revolutionary soldier reciting his radical creed. In "I Have a Dream," Abba tries to express a social consciousness that comes off as a cross between Tiny Tim and Mister Rogers. The cut is sumrisinelv. unrplpn iamOn AND I OW wa 1MB WS 11 I " I :oming 5 i Uli CIALS 12 oz. cans oz. bottles -- - ght es rner of Bio? 256-( L^l__ tingly bad, a Venus flytrap in a bed of roses. Amazingly enough, Abba even makes "Angeleyes" fresh and exciting, although the song uses a I-VI-IV-V chord progression, the basis for just about every 50s song. The Ivrirs on this nnp arp nar. ticularly empty, but with Abba the words and music are never as important as the Sound. The single "Does Your Mother Know" has been compared unfavorably with the Archies' "Sugar Sugar" by some reviewers. This may be slightly unfair, but the two songs do have a common aim, and there is a definite lack of Pop's DSWIN PARTY 5 ^ rtudent! ck to US $ 1.1 $1.? $1.1 $1.1 ?CAm nnrl I JOVI 8 0 u I iU I 3011 256-C Bp^ .,;y I Choklit Shoppe-type music these days anyway. The album's most distinctive cut is "Chiquitita," a vague ballad about a broken-hearted senorita done in Latin style - a situation O K/\i in/^ir*rt in An ? ? m V-* ? aiA/uuuiug in li v/iiico. no wim cvci) other track, this song is a long string of hooks; the arranging and production literally make the song. "Kisses of Fire" yanks the listener to attention with its pianissimo-fortissimo introduction. Again, the performance is done with far more fervor and energy than the subject deserves, but that is the whole point. Perhaps if they just sing, "Losing you is a nightmare, baby" E CELL/ SHOP ^ <u nil ry ;c Beer DO I :M. OV L.ll|U ?9 Chamj: ^ Kegs av 50 Party! Ctir imi uci i jh 5012 ;i^^ft:t4?S^lj'/ r- ' loudly enough, they think, it will sound important. Regardless of how good this album sounds, one feels energy being wasted here. Abba looks incredibly sleek and sophisticated on the cover, and their arrangements are catchy and r>rC!jtivo hi 11 thoir lwr>?r?o rvonb oil v? v,c?m t v, muv liiv.1i aj i ivo pav.iv au the punch of a Partridge Family Bside. Perhaps this is good, however. If Abba ever found substance within the disco culture they transfer so well to vinyl, they could take over the world, and then everyone would have to be as disco-perfect as they - and Lord deliver us from perfection. n iculty Wines - I lors - I >agn?s, I anddVil I Supp^s I I I