Search - Abbacadabra :: Abbasalute

Mamma Mia! Here they are again!

Jayson | Claremont, CA USA | 08/20/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"First of all, because this is an imported CD, it's very pricey. But if you got the money, get it! I feel very fortunate that I was in London this Summer where I got it for the average CD purchasing price. But regardless, after hearing it, I would have bought it whatever the cost.If you like ABBA, or even just like one song, (Probably "Mamma Mia" or "Dancing Queen" if you come from the "Muriel's Wedding", "Priscilla Queen of the Desert" generation of ABA lovers, like I was), it's really worth it.This album comes in 2 disks. The first one has seperate songs redone very, very well. I mean, the techno beats, slight tempo increases and powerful reorchestrations make the original ABBA recordings sound thin, slow, old fashioned and half as exciting. This version takes these songs you love and translates them to the year 2000.What comes across now, with the reorchestrations, is the physical manifestations of the emotional impact you imagined from the original songs. It's really just too fun to be true!Such as in "Mamma Mia", (my personal favorite and I don't get why everyone puts "Dancin Queen" above it...), the bridge of the song (the most exciting part) is used more liberally and the background vamp (repeating theme) is synthesized making is SO AMAZINGLY catchy that you'll find yourself falling asleep AND waking up humming it.Bottom line, it's ABBA, but it's better. It takes all of the original intent of the songs you once loved, or have just come to love, and makes it compatible and competetive with the music of today.If Abbacadabra (the actual musicians who redid these ABBA songs) were a group coming out today, with these songs, they would certainly be succesful.The only criticism I have is that the second disk, which is a medley of the songs redone as a club mix, isn't half as exciting as the first disk. Hence the reason I held back one star.The strong orchestrations which work so well in the seperate tracks are all toned down or ommited, creating a stale similarity to blend the songs together, and that results in a rather boring, droning on endlessly kind of feel, which they try to save desperately by inserting "Dancin Queen" at the beginning, middle AND end of the medley. If they'd just take back the second disk and replace it with a more daring up-to-date dance mix, it would be just as good as the other.But, the first disk IS, in my opinion, worth the purchase price. ~Jayson!"

TRACK LISTING

Steven Phagan | Palm Springs, CA USA | 04/28/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"1. Dancing Queen 7:14
2. Eagle 6:06
3. The Visitors (Crackin' Up) 8:42
4. Gimme, Gimme, Gimme 6:53
5. Knowing Me, Knowing You 6:40
6. Lay All Your Love On Me 7:09
7. The Winner Takes It All 7:42
8. The Day Before You Came 6:14
9. One Of Us 6:30"