A beautiful collection

ABBA's music has been the soundtrack to my life! I love that "someone" thought to make an anthology of their love songs. The songs tell of different kids of love; romantic, child/parent, friendship and the end of a love too. God, how sad is "The Winner Takes It All"?....
While I cherish this album, I gave it a four because I think some important ABBA love songs were forgotten. Also, I don't like "Eagle" and it made it on the CD. Oh well.

ABBA Were Balladeers, Too... and First-Rate! (4.5 stars)

Yes, ABBA is not only "Waterloo", "Mamma Mia", or "Take a Chance on Me". Don't get me wrong, I like these songs, but ABBA's true artistry was even better expressed in slower numbers. Really, if I had to choose one ABBA CD to take with me to a desert island, it would be this one.

There are some of my ABBA top favourites ever, including "Chiquitita", "I Have a Dream", "Andante Andante", "Our Last Summer" and "My Love, My Life". From the chartbreakers, "The Name of the Game" is flawless.

Interestingly, "Love Stories" does not include the biggest ABBA hit, the ubiquitous "Dancing Queen", for obvious reasons. The collection can easily do without it, though. Apart from the lyrics, the booklet contains excellent liner notes by John Tobler, who is not afraid to compare ABBA with the Beatles. Neither am I.

Some call ABBA a 'guilty pleasure'. Why it should be 'guilty' is beyond me. This is good music in the first place. A great compilation.

Interesting compilation

The first seven tracks on this compilation were all released as singles in the UK. Of these, the first five tracks all made the top two in the UK and One of us, their last major international hit, made number three. Among those six, I've never been keen on Chiquitita but the other five are pure magic and very different from each other.

The day before you came, very touching and one of my favorite Abba songs, was their last new single. The UK singles buyers had lost interest in Abba by the time it came out but I wonder what it might have done if it had been available a few years earlier.

The remainder of this collection features a selection of album tracks, some of which were considered for singles release. Eagle was released in some countries as a single but not in the UK. One man one woman, My love my life, Our last summer and The way old friends do are outstanding.

This is not a hits collection and was never meant to be, but it is a fascinating compilation.