Customer Reviews

Greatest Hits: 30th Anniversary

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Let me first say that the packaging of this 30th anniversary disc is why you want it. Released in 1975, this was ABBA's biggest selling album. The odd part is that here in the States, these aren't ABBA's Greatest Hits! But around the rest of the world these were all early hits for the band.
The album is released using the original artwork used in Sweden. Most other countries used the inner shot of the group sitting on a park bench as the cover. I always liked the bizarre darwing better. Aside from the cover, the entire packaging has been designed to look like an LP. The sleeve is made of glossy hard cardboard, it is a gatefold cover like the original album. The coolest part is the CD itself, it sits inside a paper sleeve (just like an LP) and the front of the CD is black has grooves on it and the original Polar label in the center. The backside of the CD is also black, not the standard silver. Very cool they way this was put together.
The music on here has been reissued many times over the years and is readly available everywhere. The unique packageing is what makes this one for your collection.

This greatest hits collection was originally released in Sweden in 1975 with the bizarre artwork as approved by the members of ABBA. Alot of the tracks contained were only hits in Sweden, but they were all brilliant tracks nevertheless. A year later, the collection was released in United Kingdom with a different cover (ABBA sitting on a parkbench) and an additional track "Fernando" which, at the time, was roaring up the charts.

In Australia, where ABBA fever was VERY high, we got a completely different collection in 1976 called "Best of ABBA" which contained about 80% of the tracks from "Greatest Hits". The Aussie compilation contained some very interesting artwork itself, although is unlikely to ever be released on CD. It was No.1 on the album charts for ages, and the famous ABBA tour down under in 1977 ensured that the "Best Of" compilation stayed on the album charts.

As the other reviewer pointed out, GREATEST HITS is a must own ... it was an album which remained in UK charts for abolutely ages back in the 70's. The anniversary CD pays tribute to that fact by presenting it like an LP record with all the original artwork (as well as the parkbench picture for the UK fans). Even if you have all these songs scattered across your other ABBA CD's, buy it for the history. And while you are at it, check out the ABBA website and search for the artwork for the Australian compilation ("Best of" album)

ABBA ruled the 70's ....

In addition to the awesome album cover artwork this album captures the groups pre-disco era and has a much more innocent peppy tone to it than the career spanning ABBA Gold. A lot of American ABBA fans, like myself, don't know songs like "Honey, Honey", "I Do" or the mind numbingly infectious "Nina, Pretty Ballerina". Am I better off now that I know the chorus to that song? I don't know, but at any rate, this will round out any ABBA collection very well.

I bought this cd because I wanted to get the original greatest hits from the super swedes!If there is one down side to it,I would have to say that it is that the tracks are not arranged in the oiginal order from the 1977 release.OTHER THAN THAT,I LOVE THIS CD!All the songs that introduced me to the group are here plus one,hasta manana.I can't believe it has been thirty years since this group and record/cd was released!I...I feel kind'a old.Every song is here,s.o.s;fernando,honey honey,so long,waterloo,etc;etc.The front cover was kind'a diappointing but I read the review from another amazoner,so it was cool!Interesting to know this was suppose to be the original art cover for the 1977 album.You will love this cd and add it to your library and listen to it frequently(like I do).This is the ABBA cd to have to complete your collection!

I was thrilled to hear that this album would finally be released on CD, because it is undoubtedly one of THE classic albums of the seventies and ABBA's definitive breakthrough in the albums market. It became the second biggest-selling album of the seventies in the UK, only beaten by 'Bridge over troubled water' by Simon & Garfunkel. This CD version was long overdue. Actually, in my country we got a slightly different compilation back in 1976. That one omitted 'He is your brother' and 'Another town, another train', had a different running order and also a different (not fold-out) cover. I remember playing that album to pieces.
The artwork of this CD release is exceptionally well done, staying as close as possible to the vinyl version. This was how the album was released in Sweden, with 'Fernando' as the first track (in the UK it was the last track).
At the time, the album title was rather puzzling, since several of the tracks were from ABBA's first, internationally unreleased, album 'Ring Ring' and therefor completely unknown to an international audience. That didn't prevent the album from becoming one of ABBA's biggest worldwide sellers.
This album may not have all of ABBA's biggest hits (you would have to resort to 'ABBA Gold' for that), but for nostalgic reasons it is an essential addition to any serious CD collection.

I purchased this CD for my boyfriend for Christmas and he loves it! it was exactly what I was looking for.

THIS IS AN AWESOME FUN POP CD FOM THE WORLD'S BEST POP BAND!!!

MIKE F.

This CD has all the songs from the ABBA Greatest his released in the mid 70's prior to ARRIVAL being released. Primarily a nostalgia purchase. Uniquely valuable for that purpose

the CD Design and the songs are the same that the LP Original. Only for Fans and collections

I seldom admit this, but I'm an ABBA fan. It all began in the late 70's. I bought a compilation album called "ABBA's Greatest Hits." In my circles, listening to ABBA was considered uncool, but I secretly thought their songs were wonderful. What was it? Perhaps I enjoyed the beat-heavy, keyboard-dominated, dancehall arrangements. Maybe it was the blended female vocals. Plus, let's face it, the songs were brilliantly crafted pop music. Every song on the record was outstanding and could be so "catchy" that you'd have it in your head for hours thereafter. When I was in the right mood, the "ABBA's Greatest Hits" album provided wonderful uplifting music.

More recently, I noted that the movie "Mamma Mia" was playing at the local theaters and I just had to see it. In short, the movie was outstanding. In my theater the audience applauded at the conclusion of the film and I don't experience that very often. The movie was a musical, of course. The somewhat lightweight story line was woven around a collection of ABBA songs. "Mamma Mia," "Waterloo," "SOS," "Honey, Honey," "Dancing Queen," "Take a Chance on Me" and a host of others were interspersed in a tale of a wedding taking place on a Greek Isle. The story was touching in places, and the cast was excellent, but the main star of the movie was the ABBA music.

The cast did a reasonably good job of presenting the ABBA songs, difficult though that must have been. I grimaced at a few, but some were outstanding. A soundtrack from the movie is currently a best-selling CD. In evaluation, I'd say the movie music is rather good, but it just can't mark up to the real ABBA. If I wanted to listen to ABBA music, I'd much rather listen to a good ABBA compilation album rather than listen to the soundtrack album of this very fine movie. A variety of compilations are available, including the venerable "ABBA's Greatest Hits." The CD version contains exactly the same songs as my old vinyl record, but they have a slightly different order. It's a wonderful selection of ABBA songs and I highly recommend it.

Gary Peterson