The year of 2023 sees the 50th anniversary of ABBA’s debut album, Ring Ring. It is an important album in the amazing history of the group, as it shows us their birth: the fascinating start of their journey, finding out who they are and where their strengths lie.
Reaching record shops in Sweden on 26 March 1973, Ring Ring offered a wealth of great pop tunes. There was, for instance, ‘People Need Love’, the very first ABBA single, and ‘He Is Your Brother’, a popular number on ABBA’s 1977 tour of Europe and Australia. Crucially, on the title track the ABBA sound was born, as the group discovered how attractive the sound of multi-layered vocals was, and how exciting a song could be if you made use of all the possibilities of the recording studio.
The public responded well to ‘Ring Ring’ – the song and the album. Famously, for two consecutive weeks in April 1973, the Swedish ‘Ring Ring’ single was at number one, the English-language version at number two, and the Ring Ring album at number three on the combined singles-and-albums chart used in Sweden at the time. Record-buyers had fallen head over heels in love with this brand new group. And ABBA’s sense of joy in trying different song styles and thrilling studio trickery can still be felt today, half a century later.
The Ring Ring album was originally credited to Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Frida – the name ABBA didn’t quite exist yet. The group itself almost didn’t exist, as the two ladies were still pursuing solo careers, and the two men were busy with many different projects when the album was recorded. But its huge success sealed the deal: from now on they would be ABBA.
To celebrate this milestone, the LP ‘Ring Ring’ and its singles will be available for pre-order on the following formats on March 23rd and released on May 19th:
- 2LP 45 RPM remastered at Abbey Road Studios in a gatefold sleeve featuring obi-strip and certificate of authenticity.
- 5×7″ Colour Singles Box Set (D2C Exclusive)
- Individual 7″ Picture Discs:
- He Is Your Brother / Santa Rosa
- People Need Love / Merry-Go-Round
- Ring Ring (English) / She’s My Kind of Girl
- Ring Ring (Swedish), Åh, vilka tider
- Love Isn’t Easy (But It Sure Is Hard Enough / I Am Just A Girl)
