Ring Ring -ABBA***

Ring Ring (Swedish)/Another Town Another Train/Disillusion/People Need Love/I Saw It In The Mirror/Nina Pretty Ballerina/ Love Isn't Easy/Me & Bobby & Bobby's Brother/He Is Your Brother/Ring Ring/(English)I Am Just A Girl/Rock & Roll Band

Ring Ring was the debut album from the Swedish pop group Abba who would rule the British singles chart during the second half of the seventies. They had yet to find their winning formula here.

“Most of what's here is pleasantly upbeat Euro-pop, with unusually good playing and a lot of spirit, all showing mainstream American and British influences.”

“Ring Ring isn't Abba's finest moment, but then, very few debut albums are perfect. Usually, you can tell the band is trying to find their identity, and that's certainly true of this album. It's a little too folksy and light-hearted for my taste, but two songs make this album a must-listen: the title track, which ranks among their best tunes, and Disillusion, which is the only Abba song penned by Agnetha Fältskog and is a beautiful ballad.”

“Debut from the soon-to-be international superstars. Not only have Benny and Bjorn not found their songwriting magic yet but they also sing way too much. Don't worry, they start figuring out the winning formula by the next album. The title track Ring Ring is all you really need to know here.”

“The Abba debut isn't all that impressive, a lot of polish remains to be done to create something I'd listen to over and over. As a pop record it is good though.”

“The lyrics are twee and the instrumentation fairly simple, but it's so catchy and so melodious that it remains a charming listen for all who just want some undemanding pop.”

“Catchy, relentlessly cute and cheesy bubblegum pop that doesn't even give much of a hint to where they would be a couple years later. It's mediocre, but it's also very consistent and in the right mood, fun.”

“At the time known as Agnetha Bjorn Benny and Frida the group messed around with different techniques to find the perfect sound. A few songs such as Ring Ring showed that this rookie group could go far if they worked more on their melody. Definitely not a very good Abba album but still they were only just starting out.”