Ring Ring (album)

Ring Ring
Studio album by Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid
Released 26 March 1973
Recorded 29 March 1972–15 March 1973
Studio Metronome, Europafilm and KMH Studio, Stockholm[1]
Genre
Length 35:43
Label Polar
Producer
Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid chronology
Ring Ring
(1973)		 Waterloo
(1974)Waterloo1974
Singles from Ring Ring
  1. "People Need Love"
    Released: 1 June 1972
  2. "He Is Your Brother"
    Released: 1 November 1972
  3. "Ring Ring (Bara Du Slog En Signal)"
    Released: 14 February 1973
  4. "Ring Ring (English version)"
    Released: 19 February 1973
  5. "Love Isn't Easy (But It Sure Is Hard Enough)"
    Released: June 1973
  6. "Nina, Pretty Ballerina"
    Released: October or December 1973
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[3]
Blender[4]

Ring Ring is the debut studio album by the Swedish group credited to Björn Benny & Agnetha Frida, who later became the pop group ABBA. It was released in Scandinavia and a limited number of other territories, including Germany, Australia, South Africa and Mexico, on 26 March 1973 through Polar Music.[5] The album was a chart-topping album in Belgium, and a big success in the Netherlands, Norway and South Africa.[6]

The album was re-released in Australasia in 1975, but was not released in the United Kingdom until 1992, and the United States until 1995.

Overview

When the first song "People Need Love" was recorded in the spring of 1972, the group was just one of many projects the four members were involved in. Only after the title track, "Ring Ring" became a hit, did the four decide to go on working together as a permanent group.[7] The original 1973 Polar version of the album opens with "Ring Ring (Bara du slog en signal)", the Swedish version of the track, and places the English-language version as track four on side two.

The track "She's My Kind of Girl", included on the international editions, is in fact a song by Björn & Benny which dates back to 1969, which was a hit in Japan, and had also been included on the b-side of the English version of the "Ring Ring" single in Scandinavia. Ring Ring also features a song co-written by Agnetha Fältskog. Although she had composed much of her Swedish solo output, the song "Disillusion", for which she wrote the music, is the only song released on an ABBA album to feature a songwriting contribution from her.

Ring Ring was first released on CD in Sweden in 1988; a West German CD release followed in 1990 (later released internationally). The album has been reissued in digitally remastered form three times; first in 1997, then in 2001 and again in 2005 as part of The Complete Studio Recordings box set.

Track listing

All tracks written by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus except where noted.

Scandinavian edition
Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Ring Ring (Bara Du Slog En Signal)"
3:04
2."Another Town, Another Train" 3:12
3."Disillusion"
3:04
4."People Need Love" 2:46
5."I Saw It in the Mirror" 2:34
6."Nina, Pretty Ballerina" 2:51
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Love Isn't Easy (But It Sure Is Hard Enough)" 2:53
2."Me and Bobby and Bobby's Brother" 2:50
3."He Is Your Brother" 3:18
4."Ring Ring" (English version)
3:03
5."I Am Just a Girl"
  • Andersson
  • Anderson
  • Ulvaeus
3:01
6."Rock'n Roll Band" 3:09
Total length:35:43

Notes

  • All reissues above uses the international edition tracklisting.

Personnel

Additional musicians

Production

  • Benny Andersson; Björn Ulvaeus – producers, arrangers
  • Michael B. Tretow – engineer
  • Björn Almstedt; Lennart Karlsmyr; Rune Persson – assistant engineers
  • Sven-Olof Walldoff – string arrangements on "I Am Just a Girl"[9]
  • Lars Falck; Bengt H. Malmqvist – photography
  • Peter Wiking – original album design
  • Jon Astley; Tim Young; Michael B. Tretow – remastering for the 1997 remasters
  • Jon Astley; Michael B. Tretow – remastering for the 2001 remasters
  • Henrik Jonsson – remastering for The Complete Studio Recordings box set

Charts

Year Chart/Country Position
1973 Sweden 2[10]
Norway 2
1974 Denmark 3
1976 Australia 10

Certifications and sales

Region CertificationCertified units/Sales
Australia (ARIA)[11] 3× Platinum 210,000^
Norway (IFPI Norway)[12] 10,000[13]
Sweden (GLF)[14] 116,627[15]

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone

References

  1. ↑ Scott, Robert (2002) 'ABBA: Thank You for the Music - The Stories Behind Every Song', Carlton Books Limited: Great Britain, p. 22
  2. ↑
  3. ↑ AllMusic
  4. ↑ Blender Magazine
  5. ↑ Ring Ring at AllMusic
  6. ↑ Scott, Robert (2002) 'ABBA: Thank You for the Music - The Stories Behind Every Song', Carlton Books Limited: Great Britain, p. 24
  7. ↑ Rees, Dafydd; Crampton, Luke (1991). Guinness Book of Rock Stars. Enfield: Guinness Publishing Ltd. pp. 1–2. ISBN 0-85112-971-4.
  8. ↑ http://www.abbaomnibus.net/songs/whosings.htm
  9. ↑ Scott, Robert (2002) 'ABBA: Thank You for the Music – The Stories Behind Every Song', Carlton Books Limited: Great Britain, p.
  10. ↑ "ABBA: The Worldwide Chart Page". home.zipworld.com.au. Retrieved 2017-04-17.
  11. ↑ NO certyear WAS PROVIDED for AUSTRALIAN CERTIFICATION.
  12. ↑ "Norwegian album certifications – ABBA – Ring Ring" (in Norwegian). IFPI Norway.
  13. ↑ Hultin, Randi (8 September 1979). "Abba The World". Billboard. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  14. ↑ NO certyear WAS PROVIDED for SWEDISH CERTIFICATION.
  15. ↑ Schulman, Leif (8 September 1979). "Abba The World". Billboard. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
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