ABBA - "The Day Before You Came" b/w "The Day Before You Came" 7" vinyl single, Promo, 45 rpm, 1982 (Atlantic)

A song that haunts me from the very first time I've heard it.  I have always been attracted to the thought that Mr. Right or Ms. Right is just right around the corner, and by chance, they shall meet. It has a Nöel Coward approach of throwing the dice and seeing how life will come upon oneself.  The beauty of it is the passiveness of the singer, noting her day, which is very average, and something experienced every day.  Until the moment happens, and all of sudden the world changes.  Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus go into the pathos and the dreaded counting of one's existence in a day that's normal but full of dread.  An ABBA masterpiece.  

ABBA - "More Abba Gold"

ABBA – More ABBA Gold

CD, US 1993

Polydor

If ABBA's Gold the lightness, then More ABBA Gold is the poison leaked from that supposed happiness. On repeated listens, this can be the most depressing album ever. Or just a romantic mood about to fall over. Songs like The Day Before You Came list the hours before finding perhaps Mr. or Ms. Of one's life - but there is something so banal and depressing about it all.

The genius of Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus' music and words is that its music for the every person, but to acknowledge such romantic dreams and failure turns it into an operatic theater piece of sorts. Its beautiful and full of surface feelings, but if you dig underneath their image, you'll find a certain amount of despair. ABBA is so unique and one with its time. Essential pop that doesn't really speak for its era (the 70's) but in its own time-warp. ABBA reminds me of some outside artists who make up their own world and there is our world and then there's ABBA's world. 

ABBA - "Gold" CD Album

ABBA – Gold

CD Album, US

Polydor

ABBA is always fascinating because on the surface they're pure kitsch, but if you really listen to their music and words, there is a darkness that leaks out of the glitter. Over-the-top arrangements that seemed to be full of sugar, is actually quite spicy. “The Winner Takes It All,” “Fernando,” and “Knowing Me, Knowing You” has the tinge of darkness that makes one take a pause. So things don't seem to be a technicolor brilliance, but there is a sadness in their music that makes it into a hard grey color.

Gold is the ultimate greatest hits package from these two (at the time) married couples. One wonders if they see it as a memoir of sorts, or is it just song-writing done on a very professional manner. I suspect a bit of both.