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Liner
notes, part 3
NOTES ON THE CD BONUS TRACKS
When ‘Fernando’ was issued as a single in March 1976, the release of the Arrival album lay a full seven months in the future. In some countries, successful ABBA compilations had been issued at the end of 1975, too early to make the track a part of those packages. Consequently, ‘Fernando’ ended up a song looking for an album. In certain territories Greatest Hits albums were released a few months into 1976, meaning that ‘Fernando’ could be added to the track listing. In Australia and New Zealand the song was in fact included on Arrival, despite the many months having passed since its original single release. It was placed between ’Why Did It Have To Be Me’ and ’Tiger’ on side two of the original vinyl album.
‘Happy Hawaii’, the early version of ‘Why Did It Have To Be Me’, did not go completely to waste, being used as the B-side of the ’Knowing Me, Knowing You’ single, released in February 1977. A further three bonus tracks come in the shape of the Spanish versions of ‘Fernando’, ‘Dancing Queen’ and ‘Knowing Me, Knowing You’. New vocals were added to the original backing tracks in January 1980 and subsequently released on ABBA’s Spanish-language album Gracias Por La Música a few months later. The final bonus selection is Frida’s original Swedish language version of ‘Fernando’, from her 1975 album Frida ensam (“Frida Alone”).
NOTES ON THE DVD SELECTIONS
In addition to the amazing ABBA-dabba-dooo!! television special, the DVD included in this 30 th Anniversary Deluxe Edition of Arrival offers a number of rare selections.
DANCING QUEEN
The television special The Best Of Abba – Musikladen Extra was filmed by the West German broadcasting company NDR in Bremen on January 28–29, 1976. The special, which was first broadcast in West Germany on March 31, 1976, featured ABBA performing their biggest hits up until that time, plus a couple of album tracks. Significantly, it also featured the first recorded performance of ‘Dancing Queen’, more than six months before its single release.
FERNANDO
On April 6–7, 1976, ABBA were in London, taping an appearance on the BBC’s legendary Top Of The Pops programme. This performance of their current single, ‘Fernando’, was aired on April 8 and featured an alternate recording of the song, made in England to appease the British Musician's Union – it appears here as originally broadcast. The song is introduced by Noel Edmonds.
HAPPY HAWAII
This cartoon version of ‘Happy Hawaii’ was produced by the Reg Grundy Organisation in Australia. The cartoon project was instigated in 1976 and was meant to result in a series of 25-minute plot-driven films, featuring different ABBA songs. However, the project was ultimately shelved, but not before this rough cut of ‘Happy Hawaii’ had been assembled. It was apparently never screened anywhere at the time and is seen for the very first time on this Deluxe Edition of Arrival.
DANCING QUEEN RECORDING SESSION
In September 1975, Sveriges Radio produced a 30-minute documentary about Stig Anderson, entitled Mr Trendsetter. The programme, clearly biased against its controversial subject, was first broadcast in Sweden on December 3, 1975. By sheer luck, the production team accompanied Stig to the Metronome Studio, just as the vocals were recorded for what was to become ABBA’s most famous song: ‘Dancing Queen’. Although the studio scenes mainly functioned to illustrate the “cynical factory-process” in Stig and ABBA’s approach to music-making, today we must be thankful for the production team’s diligence, for these scenes remain the only film ever shot of ABBA working in the studio. The scenes from the recording studio were spread out over the entire documentary, but have been edited together here to provide the viewer with as much footage as possible from this unique glimpse into ABBA’s studio work. Also, it offers a rare chance to hear a verse that was subsequently edited out of the final version of ‘Dancing Queen’.
ABBA IN LONDON, NOVEMBER 1976
Young Nation – the youth segment of the BBC’s current affairs show, Nationwide – reports from ABBA’s spectacular promotional visit to London. On November 15 the group landed in helicopters – mirroring the Arrival sleeve – to attend a press reception. The subsequent interview at the BBC studios, conducted by Maggie Norden, was very much of its time, but offers an interesting discussion about Björn and Benny’s song writing methods. This episode of Young Nation was first broadcast in Great Britain on November 19, 1976.
ABBA’S 1976 SUCCESS – NEWS REPORT
This report from the Swedish news show Rapport was filmed on December 6, 1976, and aired on December 25. It shows ABBA and their proud manager Stig Anderson as they’re dealing with the extraordinary success generated by the Arrival album. Preparations are also underway for ABBA’s upcoming tour of Europe and Australia. Björn and Benny are seen performing an excerpt of ‘Thank You For The Music’, written especially for the tour – this news report was probably the very first public airing of that tune.
ARRIVAL – TELEVISION COMMERCIALS
These two commercials for the Arrival album seem to have aired in Great Britain in early 1977, judging by the reference to ‘Knowing Me, Knowing You’ as ABBA’s “latest chartbuster” (it was released as a single in February 1977).
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