March 28, 1977 Retriever Page 10 The Appealing Abba Arrives With New Album I By Glenn Isaacson Abba is the hottest musical act in the wor}d today. Last year, record buyers in · England put their greatest hits album at the top of the charts for three months. A couple of months ago, their latest album Arrival and the single from it "Dancing Queen" simultaneously shot to Number One on the British charts within three weeks of their release. "Dancing Queen" did likewise in America, although it took a little longer. In their native Sweden, one out of every four households owns at least one Abba album. They do just as well in other . ~ountries in Europe, and in Austra1ha, Asia, and the Ear East. America has been slowest to catch on to Abba. Although they have been well­ represented on our charts with sparkling confections like "Waterloo," "S.O.S.," "Mamma Mia," and "Fernando," they've never really established a strong identity as an individual artist here, probably 'because there's been so mueh time bet­ ween their hit singles. Abba does a special brand of pop-rock music Lhat a lot of people though died with the disbanding of the Grass Roots. Or even earlier, with the demise of groups like the Ronettes and the Crystals ~ in the mid­ Sixties. That kind of music was charac­ terized by big, full-sounding production, lots of horns and strings, bright melody lines with strong, danceable rock beats, tight, layered vocal harmonies, and in­ nocuous, naive lyrics that romanticized teenage life and extolled a style of American teenage living that doesn't exist today and probably never did. But Abba is doing that kind of music and getting away with it. They're more than getting away with it, they're thriving off of it. People everywhere are eating it all up. The lyrics to their songs, although clever, are almost devoid of any significant emotional content. But I guess because their melodies and overall sound are so irresistable, nobody cares about the lyrics anyway. · '1a Sweden's Finest Who is Abba appealing to? Kids like them, of course, but I know plenty of adults the coming months. "When I Kissed The your heart. Already a huge hit in England, album from these delightful Swedish who like their songs, too. People my age (a Teacher" is an upbeat, infectious number this will be their next single here in oddballs. Don't try to explain Abba; just tender 19) like them too. I like them. I about a young teenage girl who suddenly America. It should be their biggest yet. listen, sing, dance, and dream right along kisses her geometry teacher in the middle don't know too many people who don't like Arrival is another delightful oddball wi~h them. them They're so harmless and inoffensive, of class one day. It's another innocuous not to mention cute. dreamy story song, but the singers Abba consists of two girls and two guys, manage to inject some very adult sexiness one person represented by each letter in into the words "I want a hung" at the end their name. The girls sing and look pretty. of the song. Revue Reviewed The guys play the instruments, sing "Dum Dum Diddle" is another catchy song about a guy who's more interested in background, produce and arrange their · By Bruce Lloyd albums, and write every single one of the playing his fiddle than in the female singer of the song (stupid fellow). "Why Did It Two of my favorite activities in ensure a relaxed audience. The theatre great songs Abba has done, is doing, and itself is not very fancy. but the space had will do. (Their publisher is appropriately Have To Be Me" is an exception to their Baltimore are; partying in Fell's Point, generally unexceptional lyrics, the idea and going to see good theatre.Last week been arranged to include small tables with named Countless Songs.) canrUe light and baskets of pretzels. The Arrival is Abba's fourth album released being: I understand that you had to fall in end I combined both by attending the love, but why did it have to be me? Vagabond Player's' production of Berlin stage area actually surrounded the in the United States. Like the other three, audience, which did cause almost un­ To Broadway With Kurt Weill at their it is a collection of great potrrock songs "Tiger" is a driving rocker that could bearable problems with the sightlines, but that have nothing to do with each other-­ easily be a smash hit. One line in this song theatre on South Broadway. I must confess a bias against tevue-type performances, F. S~.:ott Black's sly staging kept the action Abba is, after all, a singles group, and makes the apparent harmlessness of their consistently in front of most of the but this conglomeration of song and dance that's just what their albums are: lyrics suspect: "I am the tiger, and if I audience. The only really important part was so excellently executed that it went a collections of hit and potential hit songs. meet you, what if I eat you ... " of the show I had trouble seeing was the long way to change my mind. Arrival is chock full of hits. "Dancing Finally, we come to "Knowing Me, slides that accompanied the narration The show consists of the highlights of Queen'' is their recent smash and their Knowing You," a song which is the single, ·between the song and dance numbers, but Kurt Weill's contributions as composer to first disco-type song. Not many people most beautiful piece of music this group the overall effect of the revue did not hinge the theatre and film. and traces the history know this, but this song is basically just a has ~me. A breathtakingly gorgeous . on the slide projections. "disco-fied reworking of an earlier song of both the man and his work from pre-war melody is lovingly encased in a truly in­ The cast of four singer-dancers and one they did called "Nina, Pretty Ballerina" Ge~many to th~ United States, providing a spired and varied arrangement. The lead narrator did such fine ensemble per- that appeared on their Greatest Hits dehfhtful evenmg of entertainment along singing is soft and sensuous. The . formances that one number slid right into album. Now you can go tell all . your the way. - background vocal harmonies are complex, another so that the audience never had a friends. The .v~ry first aspect of the production weaving in and around each other and the chance to feel a break in the continuity of that stole my attention was the cabaret There are many other great tunes on this melody line. The song is midtempo but has the show. Not only did the members of the like atomosophere that had been set up to LP that you'll be hearing on the radio in a strong beat that moves right along with audience have fun with this show. but it was obvious that the cast members themselves were having the time of their lives. One number exploring the question How TO Survive As An Undergrad of how to identify the typical American had mem~rs of the audience clapping to applicable, and.will lessen the frustration By Kathleen Warnock There are eight main chapters with such the beat of the song along with the cast. that everyone invariably encounters headings and sub-headings as: "Survival This show provided a perfectly relaxed when trying to acquire a decent education Surviving the Undergraduate Jungle (1976 101," "How To Take A Exain On A Book and enjoyable evening, and for a student al a modern college. There are tips and Grove Press, 166 pp. paperback $3.95) by You Never Read," and "If You Feel You ticket price of two dollars it can't be beat. Kathy Crafts and Brenda Hauther. Really Must: Your Own Paper." shor~cuts about choosing classes, doing reqmred reading and other such man­ After show I suggest you plan to go out and Courtesy of UMBC Book Center Ways of taking tests are the subject of a dance somewhere, as we did, because I'm datory tasks which plague students whole chapter, including a section on how sure you'll be in the mood. to write a lot on essay tests. A caution: everywhere. It's downright refreshing to come across Some of the book, while instructive, is There was some question as to how long some of the methods suggested in the book Berlin To Broadway With Kurt Weill will a realistic handbook to college, like this also extremely funny. One chapter, about seem rather far-fetched. An English major be playing at the theatre in Fell's Point so book. The book was written by two sur­ here on campus told me that you would the types of professors is bubbling with vivors of the four year jungle of Columbia humorous witticisms, and while the reader I ~uggesl you call before making a spe~ial probably get a lousy grade if you turned in tnp down there. The Vagabond theatre is University, Kathy Crafts and Brenda laughs, he is comparing his teachers with papers or tests to an English professor, open Thursday and Friday evenings Hauther. Naturally, there are some dif­ done by the "instant" method. The English the ones in the book. ferences between a college like Columbia With this book, some study, and a fair