Voulez-Vous

by ABBA

Overview

That it took nearly a year to record Voulez-Vous is an indicator of the creative and personal constraints in which the four members of ABBA found themselves at the end of the '70s. Their sixth album coincided with the marital split between Agnetha Faeltskog and Bjoern Ulvaeus and the massively shifting currents in popular music, with disco, which had been on the wane, suddenly undergoing a renaissance thanks to the 1977 movie Saturday Night Fever. Thus, about half of Voulez-Vous shows the heavy influence of the Bee Gees from their megahit disco era. This is shown not just in the fact that the backing track for the title song was cut at Criteria Studios in Miami, where the Bee Gees had cut Main Course, Children of the World, and most of the rest of their disco-era music, but through the funky beat that ran through much of the material; yet the album still had a pair of soft, lyrical Europop-style ballads, "I Have a Dream" and "Chiquitita," both of which proved as popular as any of the more dance-oriented songs, and were reminders of Faeltskog's and Ulvaeus' roots, in particular, in popular folk music during the mid- to late '60s. Those two songs, plus "Angeleyes," "Does Your Mother Know," and the title cut, were all Top Five singles in England, although only "Chiquitita" and "Does Your Mother Know" were Top 40 hits in America, where the album's sales peaked at a modest 500,000 or so. ~ Bruce Eder

Product Details

Release Date:	06/17/2022
Label:	Universal
UPC:	0602508379918
Rank:	49261

Album Credits

Performance Credits

ABBA   Primary Artist
Paul Harris   Piano
Benny Andersson   Vocals,Keyboards,Synthesizer
Johan Stengard   Saxophone,Sax (Tenor)
Janne Schaffer   Guitar
Janne Kling   Wind
Bjoern Ulvaeus   Banjo,Guitar,Vocals,Lead Vocals
Arnold Paseiro   Bass
Nils Landgren   Trombone
Mike Watson   Bass
Anni-Frid Lyngstad   Vocals,Lead Vocals
Agnetha Faeltskog   Vocals,Lead Vocals
George Terry   Guitar
Frida   Vocals
Ish Ledesma   Guitar
Joe Galdo   Drums
Rutger Gunnarsson   Bass
Lars O. Carlsson   Sax (Tenor)
Andrew Eijas   Horn
Rolf Alex   Drums
Kajtek Wojciechowski   Saxophone,Sax (Tenor)
Malando Gassama   Percussion
Ola Brunkert   Drums
Roger Palm   Drums
Halldor Palsson   Saxophone,Sax (Tenor)
Jan Risberg   Oboe
Ake Sundqvist   Percussion
Lars Carlsson   Horn
Christer Danielsson   Trombone (Bass)
Lasse Wellander   Guitar

Technical Credits

Benny Andersson   Arranger,Composer,Producer
Bjoern Ulvaeus   Arranger,Composer,Producer
Michael B. Tretow   Engineer
Anni-Frid Lyngstad   Composer
Agnetha Faeltskog   Composer
Rutger Gunnarsson   Arranger,String Arrangements
Anders Eljas   Arranger,Horn Arrangements,String Arrangements
Rune Soderqvist   Design
Ola Lager   Photography