ABBA - ABBA is their real masterpiece. A meld of Wendy Carlos Switched-on synthesis, FM radio and the true exuberence of humanity. "SOS" is the quintessential ABBA song. Once I was in Cincinnati to visit my friend Joe and we went to see his friend's band play a set of genius punked out covers in a combination bar/laundromat. We sat on washing machines duking out our band-recognition skills, "That is The Nerves" "No, it's The Zeroes" all night until they kicked into "SOS" and we were both stumped. A woman hanging in our crew had been watching us inflate our encyclopedic necksacks at each other all night and took great pleasure in saying "Umm...that is ABBA."
Stylistically this record is all over the map: a reggae tune, funk strut reduced to a low simmer, old time rock-n-roll and whatever the hell "Mama Mia" is, "Bang a Boomerang" is an asinine song that still manages to be completely awesome, but "SOS" shoots through it all like a comet.
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