Latest / Booked On Rock with Eric Senich / The Story Behind ABBA's 1975 Breakthrough Album [Episode 349]

Transcript

The Story Behind ABBA's 1975 Breakthrough Album [Episode 349] · Booked On Rock with Eric Senich

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  Speaker 1: The story behind ABBA's breakthrough album from nineteen seventy five.
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  Speaker 1: That's next with author Joe Matterra. We're totally booked rock
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  Speaker 1: and roll.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, I'll leave you. You're reading. Little Hands says
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  Speaker 2: it's time to rock and roll, Rock, roll out.
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  Speaker 1: I totally booked. Welcome back to book rock the podcast
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  Speaker 1: for those about to read and rock. Excited to have
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  Speaker 1: this author back on the show. He's not just an author,
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  Speaker 1: he is a musician as well, Joe Mattera. He's released
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  Speaker 1: a brand new book, The Making of Abba, the story
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  Speaker 1: behind the band's nineteen seventy five breakthrough album. Joe, welcome back.
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  Speaker 1: Great to see you again.
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  Speaker 2: You too, very nice to be back. Thank you for
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  Speaker 2: inviting me.
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  Speaker 1: Oh, it's always great to have you on. And I
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  Speaker 1: got to tell you the last time you were on,
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  Speaker 1: I had you, which was a louder than words. I
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  Speaker 1: had John for you.
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  Speaker 2: Aladden words book. That's correct. Couple of years ago.
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  Speaker 1: I think it was you turned me onto the Brian
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  Speaker 1: Adams album that I had overlooked so many, overlook Into
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  Speaker 1: the Fire, Into the Fire, that's right. I overlooked that
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  Speaker 1: album like so many because they didn't have like the
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  Speaker 1: huge hit single on there and to this day I
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  Speaker 1: listened to it on a regular basis because of what
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  Speaker 1: you suggested to me doing that interview. So I thought
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  Speaker 1: to let you know that.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, thank you. I'm glad. I mean I always write about,
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  Speaker 2: you know, things I really love and passionate about, you know,
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  Speaker 2: and being a musician, I I, you know, listen to
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  Speaker 2: things in I suppose have different years, and so I
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  Speaker 2: just try and express that in my writing. And you know,
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  Speaker 2: for people like yourself, if you pick up the album
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  Speaker 2: again and rediscover and go well, I really never thought
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  Speaker 2: this was this this good, so that means my job's done.
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  Speaker 2: So I mean, that album is such an underrated album,
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  Speaker 2: you know. And I do state in my book that,
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  Speaker 2: you know, Native Son, the soilo that Keith Scott does
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  Speaker 2: on it is probably one of the greatest guitar solos
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  Speaker 2: in my opinion, of all time. Now remember that Stairway
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: to Heaven and you know Free and yes, they are
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  Speaker 2: great solos, but I think Keith is very underwriter as
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  Speaker 2: a guitar player.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, Heat of the Night, Into the Fire, Native Son,
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  Speaker 1: only the Strong Survive Remembrance Day is one that I
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  Speaker 1: constantly play. Heart's on Fire. Those are the highlights there
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  Speaker 1: you go.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, asolutely the right album.
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  Speaker 1: That's the power of an author, right, you can get
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  Speaker 1: people on good to hear that, which leads me to
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  Speaker 1: what I'm about to tell you now about this book. Okay,
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  Speaker 1: because it's Abba and I'm sure there are people that
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  Speaker 1: are listening and watching saying, ab is this rock and roll? Right?
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  Speaker 1: And you have given me a whole new appreciation for
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  Speaker 1: this group. You said you've gotten that feedback from people.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, I have, absolutely, It's it's the same thing. And
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  Speaker 2: people who have read the books so far have rediscovered
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  Speaker 2: this album and realized that the gold that's in it,
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  Speaker 2: the musical gold. I mean that is I mean, Appa
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  Speaker 2: was just absolutely fantastic as musicians themselves. I Mean the
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  Speaker 2: thing about the perception of Abber is of people think
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  Speaker 2: they were just like this group that were brought together
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  Speaker 2: and had all these hits. But you go back into history,
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  Speaker 2: they all were individually successful before they became a group.
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  Speaker 2: You know, Benny Anderson was the keyboard player in the
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  Speaker 2: Heap Stars, which was one of the biggest bands in Sweden,
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  Speaker 2: more popular than the Beatles at that time in the sixties,
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  Speaker 2: you know. So, and then you had Jawn Varus who
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  Speaker 2: was so born I've Gone Blanket, who was part of
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  Speaker 2: the Nanny Singers, you know, a folk rock group in Sweden.
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  Speaker 2: So they were very, very successful and same as the Girls,
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  Speaker 2: they were successful in their own rights. So but this album,
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  Speaker 2: the nine to seventy five album, that the third album
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  Speaker 2: which has Mama Mia sos, I Do I Do, I Do,
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  Speaker 2: I Do I Do? All those songs, they are just
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  Speaker 2: absolutely gold.
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  Speaker 1: They are. And you say that without this album, you
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  Speaker 1: wouldn't have that next album, Arrival, which is the biggest
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  Speaker 1: selling album by the group, but it may not have
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  Speaker 1: reached the career heights it achieved if not for this one.
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  Speaker 2: That's right. So this one, I've been the third album.
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  Speaker 2: On their first two albums, Abba was sort of still
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  Speaker 2: trying to find this sound. You know, you could hear it,
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  Speaker 2: you know, but they were sort of still experimenting. This
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  Speaker 2: third album was where it really they e stood into stone,
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  Speaker 2: they found their voice, they found the template for what
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  Speaker 2: came afterwards. So it really set things up for Arrival,
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  Speaker 2: which is interesting they call it arrival because they had
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  Speaker 2: arrived by then. But this album was also the one
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  Speaker 2: that broke them through internationally because, for example, in Australia,
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  Speaker 2: they were we had aber Mana here. I mean because
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  Speaker 2: of this album. You know, Mum and Meal was on
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  Speaker 2: the charts for like fourteen weeks at number one. You
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  Speaker 2: had Sos at number one. It was just I mean
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  Speaker 2: a whole year. I mean, the album was on the
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  Speaker 2: charts for like sixty five weeks in Australia. And then
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  Speaker 2: because of the success in Australia, they released in England.
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  Speaker 2: They opened up and they hit there. I mean, they
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  Speaker 2: by Him and Rhaps It was number one at the
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  Speaker 2: end of nineteen seventy five and they got knocked off
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  Speaker 2: by ABBA's Mamma Mia. You know, so they just started
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  Speaker 2: go on everywhere. And then in nineteen seventy six, you know,
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  Speaker 2: after this album had been released, they released the single
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  Speaker 2: Dancing Queen, which appeared on the next album, and they
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  Speaker 2: gave them their very first American number one hit. So
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  Speaker 2: it was really this album really set things up for
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  Speaker 2: the whole band.
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  Speaker 1: This is not only the first ever book dedicated to
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  Speaker 1: this album, it's the first ever book dedicated to an
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  Speaker 1: individual Alba album period.
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  Speaker 2: That's right. Yes, there's there's been so many other books
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  Speaker 2: out there, and you know, there's I think there's also
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  Speaker 2: one that sort of goes through all the sort of
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  Speaker 2: songs and the albums, but nothing as forensic as mine.
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  Speaker 2: And also what's unique about my book is it comes
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  Speaker 2: from the perspective of a musicians. So I described the
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  Speaker 2: making of the album. I spoke to all the remaining
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  Speaker 2: musicians who played on that album beyond also kindly answered
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  Speaker 2: some questions for me about that album, So you know,
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  Speaker 2: it's got a lot of input from stuff that are
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  Speaker 2: from the people involved, and also in mation that even
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  Speaker 2: Abba fans have said to me, they never knew that
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  Speaker 2: I dug up, you know, So it's it's been. It
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  Speaker 2: was a really great journey to sort of put this
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  Speaker 2: whole book together.
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  Speaker 1: And you approach it from a musician standpoint as well,
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  Speaker 1: which makes it very interesting for somebody like myself who
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  Speaker 1: loves to get into the nuts and bolts of how
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  Speaker 1: these songs come together. When Abba was inducted into the
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  Speaker 1: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in twenty ten, there
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  Speaker 1: were those who questioned it. But I wonder what people
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  Speaker 1: are thinking about AB and now in recent years have
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  Speaker 1: the opinions changed, because like on this album, Hey, Hey, Helen,
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  Speaker 1: rock me so long? Those are rockers.
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  Speaker 2: Oh absolutely, I think you know, when they had the
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  Speaker 2: resurgence in the nineties and ever since then, I mean,
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  Speaker 2: there's there's a new generation of you know, fans who
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  Speaker 2: you know, weren't even born, who I've never discovered, you know,
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  Speaker 2: rediscovered ABBA. And look, they do belong in the rock
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  Speaker 2: and hole of fame because you know, the music is
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  Speaker 2: at the core of it. It is rock and roll.
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  Speaker 2: It is I mean, it's pop music, but it's still
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  Speaker 2: rock and roll. I mean, like you mentioned rock Me
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  Speaker 2: you know, hey, hey Helen. I mean, those are rockers
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  Speaker 2: on those albums, you know. And then later on, even
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  Speaker 2: though the symth and the piano was very much a
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  Speaker 2: dominant part of their sound, Abba, I mean, and the
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  Speaker 2: influence I mean, I talk about that in my book
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  Speaker 2: about heavy metal bands, hard rock bands, punk bands or
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  Speaker 2: now acknowledged the influence of Abber onto their music. You know,
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  Speaker 2: one of the most surprising things that will surprise people
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  Speaker 2: is the Sex Pistols were massive fans of ABBA. Now,
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  Speaker 2: back in the day, they would have never admitted that,
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  Speaker 2: you know, and there's old interviews where Johnny Rotten has
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  Speaker 2: stated that, you know, ABBA were crap, But now years later,
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  Speaker 2: Steve Jones, Glenn Mattlock, they all acknowledged how they were
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  Speaker 2: fans of Abba and they were listening. I mean, Glenn
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  Speaker 2: Mattlock wrote pretty Vacant after listening to SOS. He said
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  Speaker 2: he was inspired by listening to SOS, you know, and
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  Speaker 2: Sid Vicious massive fan of Abba. I mean, there's a
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  Speaker 2: whole story of the sex Pistols going to Scandinavi before
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  Speaker 2: tour and Abba at the airport and they happened to
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  Speaker 2: see Abba, and Sid Vicious saw them and ran across
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  Speaker 2: and gos aba, I love Abba, you know. And Abba
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  Speaker 2: looked at them and they go, what's going on in
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  Speaker 2: all the securities came in and separated them. But that's
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  Speaker 2: how much love the head film. So you would never
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  Speaker 2: never admit that back in the day if you're a
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  Speaker 2: punk rocker, but now they do.
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  Speaker 1: How about that. Let's get into a little bit more
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  Speaker 1: about where the group is at heading into this album.
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  Speaker 1: They released Ring Ring in seventy three, Waterloo and seventy four.
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  Speaker 1: There's a diverse range of styles on this album, and
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  Speaker 1: you say the reason is because they were still struggling
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  Speaker 1: to find their identity at this point, so they're looking
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  Speaker 1: to find out which direction they're going to go we're
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  Speaker 1: and see what sticks and what doesn't.
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  Speaker 2: That's right, Yeah, on the first two albums, very much
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  Speaker 2: so on this one out. I mean the amount of
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  Speaker 2: styles on this is just fantastic in the sense that
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  Speaker 2: no matter what they put the hand to, they really
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  Speaker 2: made it Abena that I caught it in the book,
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  Speaker 2: you know, really the sound. You can hear the sound
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  Speaker 2: of Abba. I mean, you know some other band, what
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  Speaker 2: they do, a jazz number or something, and it wouldn't
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  Speaker 2: probably sound like them, mean a sort of thing, but
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  Speaker 2: Abba really made it sound like Abba. So there's a
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  Speaker 2: diverse range of styles, which is also really interesting because
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  Speaker 2: it because of the different styles of music, they attracted
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  Speaker 2: a wide range of an audience. Everybody from the age
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  Speaker 2: of six to eighty six loved Abba. I mean my
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  Speaker 2: grandmother loved Abba. When this album came out. I loved
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  Speaker 2: it as a ten year old. You know, my older
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  Speaker 2: older friends answers I love the too. So it's really
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  Speaker 2: a wide range. You know.
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: Interesting technique employed regarding the vocals engineer Michael Tretau, I
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: think is the pronunciation okay, very creative. He comes up
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  Speaker 1: with some great ideas. Can you talk about how he
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: alters the speed of each vocal track and why he
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: does that.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, So Michael was very integral to the sound of ABBA.
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  Speaker 2: So he was like the fifth fifth solent member of
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  Speaker 2: ABBA because what he did in the studio was just incredible.
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  Speaker 2: One of the things was he would use a technique
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  Speaker 2: called very speed. And what that is is on the
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  Speaker 2: old tape machines, you could slow down the tape, you know,
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  Speaker 2: like he would only slow down, like say, from maybe
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  Speaker 2: like zero point five percent, and he would record so
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  Speaker 2: one track of vocals and then he will basically get
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  Speaker 2: it back up back to speed and it would be
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  Speaker 2: at the sort of just slightly in a bit higher,
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  Speaker 2: and then he would record another track of vocals and
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  Speaker 2: do the same thing and then then maybe change it
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  Speaker 2: to a different speed. So what you have is a
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  Speaker 2: layer of vocals which sound like a choir, which is
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  Speaker 2: absolutely fantastic, you know. I mean he was very much
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  Speaker 2: inspired by the Phil Spector's Wall of Sound. I mean
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  Speaker 2: he really was inspired by then he took it to
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  Speaker 2: the next level. So that was really integral. I mean,
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: even the guitars on that. If you listen to the
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: album on headphones, you would here the over the layering
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: of the guitars. You hear like, you know, one guitar
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  Speaker 2: on the left hand side, one on the right end side,
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: and then the lighting of the vocals, and then even
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: the keyboards. I mean there's multi layer keyboards, which gives
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: you this massive sound. But it don't have to do
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: with you know, we just slightly move in the type
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  Speaker 2: of bit which Gloud that little spice to sort of shine,
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  Speaker 2: because if he did it all at the same sort
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  Speaker 2: of frequency, it would sort of get a bit muddy.
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  Speaker 2: But by doing it that way, it really really breathed
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  Speaker 2: into the music.
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  Speaker 1: Some amazing production. Eleven tracks on the album, seven released
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  Speaker 1: as singles, three of them hits sos I Do, I Do,
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  Speaker 1: I Do, I Do, I Do, and Mama Mia. The
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  Speaker 1: other four singles are so Long I've Been Waiting for You,
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  Speaker 1: Bang a Boomerang, and Rock Me. Mama Mia is the
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  Speaker 1: opening track on this album. You write quote for those
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: who like delving deeper into a song's sonics, Mama Mia
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: is home to a fascinating tidbit. This is more of
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: the stuff I love tell us about the echo chambers
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: and its effect on the song's revert which you have
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: to listen to it the headphones to really that's right.
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: Yes, mommy, if you listen very carefully, so put your
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: headphones on, and this you can't really hear it when
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: you listen just to like on the normal saysteria or whatever.
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: You need to put your headphones on and you've listen
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  Speaker 2: very carefully. On the left hand side of the vocals,
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: you can hear this long sort of just delay sound
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: on the vocal which is amazing, which gives it this
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: air again. I mean, it was all part of the
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: studio sound. I mean they were very particular in the
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: way that they recorded things. I mean back then, I
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: mean the technology wasn't what we have today, which you know,
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: you can sort of bring up a plug in and
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: give you a reverb. But back then you had to
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: really sort of use your ingenious I suppose ideas to
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: come up with things. And they used it, you know,
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  Speaker 2: in the room the way the room was set up,
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: just in the studio and put the mic, how the
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: Michael's mic to the vocals. You can really hear it.
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: I mean you got to listen very carefully and you'll
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: hear that in the verse. How the delay of the echo,
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: it just happens.
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Pop the headphones on with the earbuds, you'll hear it.
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: Mama Mia ended Queen's nine week rue at the time
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: the UK chart Bohemian Rhapsody knocked that off in January
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: of seventy six. I have to believe Freddy Mercury was
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: a fan of Arbor.
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I would say so. I mean, looking a lot
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: of like I said, a lot of bands have come
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: out forward now and said that they were fans of AB,
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: and Freddy was too. I mean it's I mean, if
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: you listen to Mahim Rhapsody, I mean you can hear
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: that sort of technique happening, you know. I mean, even
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: tend to to see I'm not in love. They use
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: that sort of vocal sort of technique too, but Abba
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: was sort of, you know, use it in such a
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: unique way, you know. I mean, don't get me wrong,
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: Queen did their vocals in the unique way too, but
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: it's just just individual touch to it. I mean, it's
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: just just really incredible. I mean, you know, this is
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: fifty years ago. I mean, the technology again wasn't what
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: we've got today.
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: Absolutely second track. Hey, hey, Helen regarded as filler and
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: I'm so glad that you disagree. I really like this song.
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: I'm a fan of all the songs on this album
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: that have that rock edge to it, and this is
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: one of them. Talk about why you're a fan of
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: the song and you make a comparison to Judas Priests
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: Living after Midnight, That's right, yeah, because.
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: If you if you listen to it, I mean, hey, hey, Allen,
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: I really love that. I mean, it's it's a rocker.
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: You know, it's it's I mean, you listen to a
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: drum beat and and and the and the and the guitars.
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: It does remind you of Judas Priest, you know, And
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: so I would say that Judas Priest probably listened to
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: it to the album too. So but hey, hey, Helen,
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: it's a great rocker. I think it's very underrated as
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: a track. I mean a lot of people have said,
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: you know, it was just a bit of a filler,
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: but nothing on his album as a fell As far
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: as I'm concerned, I think every single track is his
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: single material. I mean you mentioned that I write about
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: seven singles released now, Abba were the first band to
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: release seven singles from one album compared before Michael Jackson
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: did it. You know, like.
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: That's right, yes, seven single formula.
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: The absolutely so and look the whole album, every track
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: was actually released as a single somewhere around the world.
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: So that's incredible. I mean, and I say one single
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: wasn't released in the US. It was released somewhere ESA,
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: in Poland or whatever. So it was incredible to have
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: every single song on that album released as a single somewhere.
• 15:13
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• 15:15
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• 15:19
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• 15:46
  Speaker 1: at Booked on Rock. Thanks again for listening. Now back
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: to the show. Let's get into the lineup on this album.
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: Who do we have?
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: Basically, I had a cool lineup of musicians. They had
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: the main guitar players, well, one of the main guitar
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: players was Jarn Shaffer, and Yarn Shaffer played on every
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: album of Theirs. And Yarn's probably better known in the
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: US as he did an album called e Mill back
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: in I think it was about seventy eight seventy seven,
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: and they had the first sort of line up where
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: all the boys from Toto played on it, so he
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: sort of has a connection with that. But Yarn is
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: the most recorded guitar player in Sweden. He's the equivalent
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: to Steve Lucatho in the US. He's played on all
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: the Swedish hits over the last forty to fifty years.
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: So Yarn was one of the core guitar players.
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: Played with Bob Marley, it says here.
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yes, he played bub That's right, Bob Marley. He's
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: also played Jimmy Cliff. He played his band, his early
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: band in the late sixties. What's fascinating was they supported
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: Pink Floyd in Sweden in the late sixties. You know, yeah, absolutely,
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: So there's some great stories there about Yarn Shaffer. I mean,
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: I've actually done a story on Yarn for Guitar Playing magazine.
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: A couple of years ago. If people look it up online,
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: you'll be able to read the whole sort of story
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: behind Yard. But they did have a call group of
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: musicians where they would just call them in. I mean
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: they all they weren't sort of how can I say,
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: they were free to sort of still record of other bands,
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: but when Abbot were in studio, because ABA had to
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: record this album in sort of different different spurts you
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: could say, because Bjorn and Benny were part of the
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: Polo Records in house production teams, so they would work
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: on other artists too at the same time, so they
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: had to find time when there's studio wasn't being used
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: to do their stuff on ABBA, which is why it took.
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: Like this album started in August nineteen seventy four and
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: it was finished in March nineteen seventy five, so you know,
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: it's roughly nine months. So they had to do and
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: they worked from like nine to five. They would do
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: like three hours, have a break, have lunch, to do
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: another three hours, and then the studio musicians will go
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: home and then Benny and Billen will stay back with
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: Uncle and start working on the track. You know, and
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: the music was all once I had all the music down,
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: it was all back in track. There's no lyrics. There's
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: only like dummy lyrics where you know, Biorn might be
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: saying something like la la la la, and that was it.
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: So once the music was all done, which is fascinating,
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: Bjorn will take it home and start writing lyrics, you know.
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: And so it's fascinating how they operated in that sense.
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: Okay, Yeah, so we got yon two more guitarist, right,
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: Finn Finn.
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: Finn's another one, yes, that's right. It's hard to pronounce
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: some of these Swedish names, so that's why I'm sticking
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: to the first name. Yeah. The other one was Lasse,
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: who was also later on used a lot more on Arrival.
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: Then the bass play was Rutger, as well as Mike
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: Watson who played on s OS if I remember now,
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: Mama Mia. Then there was the drummer, which was Roger
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: as well as.
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: All the Brunkards that's right, yeah, okay, Roger Palm and
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: all the Brunkards Okay, that's right.
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: Yes, And so they were the core musicians. They would
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: just come together in the studio and Benny would be
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: on the piano, be on his acoustic guitar, and they
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: would just jam out and just come up with ideas
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: and when I heard something, they go, right, this is
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: it and they will get it spot on. They would
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: basically not be happy with a song unless it was
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: one hundred percent how they wanted. I mean nothing on
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: their albums is subpart I mean basically the music they
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: recorded they would basically throw out and redo it again
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: because they were so particular about wanting the music to
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: be perfect, which is why it's timeless. You know, it
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: was really crafted so well.
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: And then the famous lineup you.
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: Have Anita, Frida, yes.
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah, is it any for how do you pronounce?
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: And fred We just call it like Freda.
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: Because that's what I know it as because she did
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: a great album solo album with Phil Collins on drums.
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: That's right, great album, but absolutely rocking album.
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: Jorn and Benny Anderson Jorn os ol.
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: Veas, that's right. Yes. It's the thing about Swedish language,
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: it's so hard to pronounce in English lot, so I
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: just try and stick to the first names.
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: It's easy, right, Yeah, So we kind of lay the
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: groundwork there. These are the musicians who are putting this altogether.
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: So okay, we talked about mom and me. We talked
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: about Hey, Hey, Helen, Track three Tropic Loveland, you know,
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: the sonic arrangement of the song being interesting in terms
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: of the synthesizer parts here.
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: Absolutely how we sort of layer it, you know, like
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: I had one sympthesizer part on a left speaker, one
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: on the right speaker, and then had the blending of
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: them together and the developed again that wall of sound.
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: It's just it's just really incredible. I mean, they put
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: a lot of thought into how they ranged stuff, you know,
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: and how that produced it. They just sort of just
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: go in there and just started playing around. I really
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: thought things out, which was just incredible the way their
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: approach to it.
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: One of the rockers that we didn't mention who was
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: a fan, Pete Townsend. He says, he says, this next
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: track is quote the best pop song ever written. And
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: he's talking about SS And you say that it is
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: textbook on how to write the perfect pop song, and
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: you come at this from a musician's standpoint, talk about
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: why this is a masterclass in the craft of songwriting.
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, I agree with Pete Townsend one hundred percent because
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: it is. It's a master craft in writing songwriting. I
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: think every musician should listen to the song because they
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: could learn something from it. First of all, it's got melody,
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: it's got the arrangement is just brilliant, over the layering
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: of parts again, the vocal sound, that the guitar sounds,
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: that there's a little lead part of the how many parts,
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: I mean, there's so much stuff to this song, I mean.
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: And it's catchy, I mean, no matter what I mean.
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: And the blending off the melancholy with the joyfulness.
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: I mean.
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: It goes from the verse which is sort of, you know, sad,
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: and it gets into the chorus which is uplifting. So
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: it's got everything that you need in the pop song.
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: You know. It's just brilliant.
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: It's amazing. And the success of the single this is
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: what You Have in the book Here reached number six
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: on the UK chart, kicked off a run of eighteen
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: consecutive top ten UK singles for the group. In Australia,
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: it was their third consecutive number one. The song is
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: also the honor of being the only song to chart
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: on the US, Australian and UK charts where both the
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: song's title and group name are Palin Jomes. They spelled
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: the same thing forwards and backwards.
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: That's right, absolutely, yeah, yeah, that's one of the sort
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: of tidbits that are in there.
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: That's cool. Track five, Man in the Middle, very typical
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: of the time, you say, specifically the mid seventies American
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: detective drama TV shows.
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, absolutely, yeah. I mean you listen to the
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: Clevernet on very much mid seventies sort of sound. I mean,
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: things like Rockford Files and you know, Stasking's very much
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: off its time, but again a brilliant track, you know,
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: Man in the Middle. You know, it's just absolutely really
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: really cool.
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: The last track on side bang a Boomerang, instantly infectious.
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: This song went through several changes during the writing process,
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: can you talk about that, that's right.
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: Yes, it's actually first given to Fenn and lot Latte,
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: who were sort of Eurovision sort of artists too that
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: will sort of Pilo Records artists, and they use that.
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: But then ab A re reuse the same backing track
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: as they play on it stair song, and they put
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: the girls vocals on it, and again it was just
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: a hit film. I mean, Australia did really well here.
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: You know, it's again it's very much sort of you
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: can hear it a little bit like the Eurovision stuff,
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: but again it's just a brilliant pop song, very catchy,
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: and the way they utilize the production again on that
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: is just brilliant.
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: Hey guys, we'll get back to the show, but first
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: I want to tell you about an exclusive deal for
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: book Done Rock listeners get fifteen percent off any purchase
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: old Glory dot com over three hundred thousand officially licensed
• 24:03
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• 24:15
  Speaker 1: old Glory dot Com make sure to use the promo code.
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: Booked on Rock also find a link in this episode
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: show notes, or just go to Booked on Rock dot
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: com and click on my deals. Joe Matterra is the
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: author of the Making of ab of the story behind
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: the band's nineteen seventy five breakthrough album We Go to
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: Side Too and the opening track I Do I Do,
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: I Do, I Do I Do and You write about
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: the saxophone playing and ascending phrase of triplets, which gives
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: the song a nostalgic feel. So We're going to go
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: back to your musical expertise here, explain what a triplet
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: is and how that influences the nostalgic feel to this song.
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: Okay, triplet is when you play three nights in the
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: beat of one, rather than down like one and two,
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: you go one and so it sort of gives you
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: sort of skipping field right and and I do I do,
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: I do? I do I do. It's the nostalgic feels
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: very much like the fifties you listened to. It's almost like,
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: you know, that old school Hollywood sort of feel to it.
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: And the other thing about the saxophone is ABBA on
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: this song. Really, I really believe they set the trend
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: for what fought I'd later in regards to Al Stewart
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: then used it on the Year of the Cat. Baker
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: Street used the sax you know, Jerry Rafferty. So, I mean,
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: I don't remember anything before here in Abba whether sax
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: was pretty much predominant in a pop song really so,
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: so I would say that they were the first in
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: that sense.
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: The next one rock me a t rex vibe on
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: this one, right, oh.
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, you can hear it rock and look it's simple
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: lyrics you know, it's almost like a nursery rhyme, which
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: is why you remember it, you know. But again, very
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: very t rexy, very glam rock, something that I would
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: say Twist's sister would have would have listened to in
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: regards to if you listen to their Twists the songs,
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: you can hear sort of that nursey rhyme, sort of
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: melody to it, you know. So I would say I
• 26:05
  Speaker 2: would say d Snyder listened to Abbatu.
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: Sure, but you see that the back to basics exterior
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: deceptively masks its complex musical elements.
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's it is. I mean, if you stripped everything
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: from Abba and you get to the to the to
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: the core of it, it's just very simple melody. It's
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: very very basic. But then when you're adding all these
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: all these other elements to it, and what they did
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: with the instruments, the waiter recorded it, the voices, how
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: they sit, it becomes complex, you know, it really becomes complex,
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: and you go, wow, how could you come up with this?
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: A rarity in the Abbat catalog is next side two,
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: track three, intermezzo number one. Talk about this one In
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: the star of the song, Bennie Anderson A nod to
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: his classical musical influences here very close.
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: It's very prog rocky stash if you like bands like
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: Emerson Lake and Palma Yes, Early, Yes, I mean it's
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: very much It's instrumental, the only instrumental ever recorded. I mean,
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: I did do another instrumental on the next but it's
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: got sort of some vocals, sort of in the harmony
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: sort of stuff. But this one here, it's all Benny.
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: It's a showcase on his piano plant. Absolutely brilliant musician,
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: I mean, very much classically inspired, because Benny comes from
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: the school of classical music. I mean throughout the whole
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: album and throughout all the catalog of Abba. If you
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: listen to his piano plant, it's very much classical elements,
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: and he was able to take those classical elements and
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: put them into pop music. And it's absolutely just as again,
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: a masterclass in how to how to do a brilliant instrumental.
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: We haven't talked enough about the group's vocals, so this
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: is a good excuse to do so. On the track
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: I've Been Waiting for You, this is a great to
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: Anita's vocals here amazing. We also get the harmonies with
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: Freda's high pitched vocals. Is this the best example of
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: the multi layered vocal sound of Arbor? Would you say?
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I would say this example. I mean, I think
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: all of them, I mean, Mum and Me is too,
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: but this one here because you actually hear it a
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: lot more. And yes, I mean Agnita was a soprano
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: and Frieda was a meta soprano, so their voices were
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: sort of like one was higher, one was slightly lower,
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: and when you blend them together, that was just a
• 28:11
  Speaker 2: perfect match. I mean, it's very rare to get two
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: singers who blended in so well as those two girls did.
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: Final track on the original release, Anyway is so Long.
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: I love this song. You're right quote So Long sounds
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: like a free train out of control. The first single
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: from the album, yet it didn't do too well on
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: the charts. Why was that? You think it sounded too
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: much like Waterloo?
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: That's right. Yeah, yeah, they released them because they were
• 28:33
  Speaker 2: still working on the album when they released as a
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: sort of a taste of what was to come, and
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: a lot of a lot of people sort of thought
• 28:41
  Speaker 2: it to sound too much like Waterloo, like you said,
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: you know, Eurovision stuff. So it didn't do too well,
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: but it's a great rocker. I mean, you know, later
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: on it sort of regained It's it's people likely again
• 28:54
  Speaker 2: when they got the albums of stuff, but it's I
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: think it's one of the really great rocking tracks of Abbat,
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: you know. I mean there's there some you see some
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: video clips of them performing this and the girls are
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: really getting into it, really dancing around to It's just
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: a great track.
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: First time I ever heard it was just because of
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: reading this book. Listen to all the tracks.
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: Oh wow, that's good.
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. The bonus tracks were on the twenty twelve
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: deluxe edition of the album. Tell us about those.
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: Yes, there's two bonus tracks. One's called crazy World, which
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: was you know, they decided to let it go and
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: they did revisit it again on the next album, but
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: again they just put it aside. So that's included on this.
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: That's one where Bjorn takes the lead vocal again. And
• 29:37
  Speaker 2: then the other one is a medley that they did.
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: It's sort of a it's a medley of pick a
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: bowl of Cotton on top of Old Smokey at Midnight. Special,
• 29:46
  Speaker 2: very rare where abbadone any covers. It's probably the only
• 29:50
  Speaker 2: place where they've ever recorded covers, and it's just sort
• 29:53
  Speaker 2: of a great way to sort of hear them playing.
• 29:57
  Speaker 2: I suppose they take on the on these covers. I mean,
• 29:59
  Speaker 2: it's just a medal. But and it goes back to
• 30:02
  Speaker 2: sort of I suppose, back to Bjorn's days of when
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: he was in the folk rock band hurting any singers,
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: So it's got that fuel to it. But again, great
• 30:10
  Speaker 2: bonus tracks on the album.
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: And then you get into the story behind the album's
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: front and back. Those photos tell us where these are taken.
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: And one member had to sit on a stack of
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: phone directories.
• 30:21
  Speaker 2: That's right, Yes, that's Beyorn. If you look at the
• 30:23
  Speaker 2: front cover, they're inside this rolls Royce and Bejorn is
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: just sitting there next to Agnita and he actually had
• 30:30
  Speaker 2: to sit, yeah, on top of in order to make
• 30:32
  Speaker 2: himself look tall because he actually he's actually quite short.
• 30:35
  Speaker 2: But yeah, the cover just represents it's not there's many
• 30:41
  Speaker 2: views on this, but at the time when Abba were
• 30:43
  Speaker 2: making this album, they weren't again, they weren't big stars.
• 30:47
  Speaker 2: They were still on their way to sort of trying
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: to become commercial successful, so they didn't have much money.
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: So this album is sort of a bit of a
• 30:53
  Speaker 2: take on, you know, the glamorous lifestyle that could be expected,
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: but also at the same time and there was a
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: leftist movement called prog as in pro doubleg, where anything
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: that was considered commercial was considered the enemy. So they
• 31:09
  Speaker 2: have to be a political sort of a movement and
• 31:11
  Speaker 2: ab but we're never into that. They went into that
• 31:13
  Speaker 2: making great music for mass audience, so that was sort
• 31:17
  Speaker 2: of like public enemy number one at that time. So
• 31:21
  Speaker 2: they sort of their play on you know, what's wrong
• 31:23
  Speaker 2: with being successful and being in a limousine and living
• 31:26
  Speaker 2: this high life. But they were nothing like that. I
• 31:29
  Speaker 2: mean at the time again, they were on their road
• 31:31
  Speaker 2: to doing that. But it's a great cover, really captures
• 31:34
  Speaker 2: the glamorous look of the band, and at the back
• 31:38
  Speaker 2: again they're in the hotel lobby, which I actually visited
• 31:41
  Speaker 2: when I was researching my book in Stockholm. Still there
• 31:44
  Speaker 2: but changed a lot. But yeah, it's just a great
• 31:49
  Speaker 2: image really.
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: So some statistics here on the album and its success.
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: It was released April twenty first, eighteen seventy five. That
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: was released in the UK six weeks on June seven,
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: and in the US almost four months later. On August
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: twenty eight. It climbed all the way to number one
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: in Australia, Sweden and Norway, number three New Zealand and
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: the Netherlands, number nine in Italy, number thirteen in the UK,
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: number fifty five in Canada, and after having debuted on
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: the US Bill War two hundred Albums chart at one
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: eighty nine on November fifteenth of nineteen seventy five, Would
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: only managed to reach number one seventy four in the US,
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: which is kind of surprising, or maybe not.
• 32:30
  Speaker 2: This surprise is absolutely because they became.
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: Huge here in the second half of the decade.
• 32:34
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, yeah, I mean they went off the thing about that,
• 32:37
  Speaker 2: But was they during their whole life span that didn't
• 32:40
  Speaker 2: really do many tools, only did a few tools, you know,
• 32:42
  Speaker 2: so and when I came to America, they were doing
• 32:44
  Speaker 2: like two two week prim national tools. And then I
• 32:48
  Speaker 2: got back and keep working on the album and stuff.
• 32:50
  Speaker 2: So but yeah, look, I think it changed from when
• 32:53
  Speaker 2: I did Dancing Coin and the following year that's when
• 32:55
  Speaker 2: it all changed and sort of re reignited the interest
• 32:58
  Speaker 2: in the album. But yeah, it's surprising only went that
• 33:00
  Speaker 2: far in the US really.
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: And fifty years later, how do you view the album
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: in terms of Abba history and its placed in music history.
• 33:07
  Speaker 2: I view it as one of the most important albums
• 33:09
  Speaker 2: of their career. It set the stage for them to
• 33:12
  Speaker 2: become the superstars of the seventies as they as they did,
• 33:15
  Speaker 2: especially for the next album that really took them to
• 33:17
  Speaker 2: the next level. It's the album that solified the sound.
• 33:21
  Speaker 2: It's the album that really represents Abba as Abba did
• 33:26
  Speaker 2: become the sound, the signature sound. So I think anybody
• 33:30
  Speaker 2: listens to that album can hear so much of ABBA's future,
• 33:35
  Speaker 2: where they were heading, and really solify their sort of
• 33:38
  Speaker 2: standing as rule musicians.
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: The book Down Rock podcast as part of the Boneless
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: podcasting network. If you're a fan of classic rock and
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: classic film like I am, go to Boneless Dot Lovable
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: dot app to find over twenty great shows there that's
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: Boneless down Lovable Dot app, or just go to Book
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: down Rock. Pick on the logo. It'll take you right
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: to the Boneless podcasting network. It is what you want
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: to be Listen with confidence. The book is called The
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: Making of ob of the story behind the band's nineteen
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: seventy five breakthrough album. So it's out on January thirteenth,
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: you Saturday in the.
• 34:19
  Speaker 2: US, so it came out. It came out in the Sweden,
• 34:22
  Speaker 2: UK end of last year, and it did so well
• 34:25
  Speaker 2: that's sold out of its first print run, which is
• 34:27
  Speaker 2: absolutely fantastic. So the US, the Australia and the rest
• 34:33
  Speaker 2: of the world get the release on January the thirteenth.
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: So you could find it, I guess anywhere books are
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: sold right Amazon.
• 34:40
  Speaker 2: Anyway, books are sold in America, and it's through Simon
• 34:43
  Speaker 2: Schuster in America, but also on Amazon's the best place too.
• 34:46
  Speaker 2: Just got to any Amazon place and you can find
• 34:48
  Speaker 2: it wherever you are, but yeah, all bookstores. It's got
• 34:52
  Speaker 2: massive distribution everywhere. So and all the reviews. So if
• 34:56
  Speaker 2: I've been really, really positive and people have said the
• 34:58
  Speaker 2: same thing as you've said to me, they've gone back
• 35:01
  Speaker 2: to the album and listened to it and picked up
• 35:03
  Speaker 2: things that they didn't notice before.
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: It's changed my view of the group. Yeah. I've labeled
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: them disco and you know, you listen to the album,
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: you realize that this is not a pop disco group.
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: It's more than that.
• 35:18
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, Yeah. I mean, you know, it's like with any bands.
• 35:20
  Speaker 2: I mean, later on, you know, after arrive and they
• 35:23
  Speaker 2: got so big, there was a bit of a backlash,
• 35:25
  Speaker 2: specially in Australia, but that's part of, you know, of
• 35:28
  Speaker 2: any band's rise to the top, I suppose, but I
• 35:31
  Speaker 2: mean now, I mean, you know, fifty years later, their
• 35:33
  Speaker 2: stand is incredible. I mean I think it was the
• 35:35
  Speaker 2: other day I saw somewhere they've had the most increased
• 35:38
  Speaker 2: Spotify strands of any artist, you know, in the last year.
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: I think, Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised, wouldn't be surprised, still.
• 35:45
  Speaker 2: Still remaining as popular as ever before, you know. So
• 35:49
  Speaker 2: I'm glad that you know, the book's done what it's
• 35:51
  Speaker 2: done for you, Eric, and hopefully it does the same
• 35:53
  Speaker 2: thing for anybody else, you know, And the book is
• 35:55
  Speaker 2: not just aimed that Abba fans am that anybody who
• 35:58
  Speaker 2: loves music really because Evans, you know, they can pick
• 36:01
  Speaker 2: up things on that that I've described a lot more
• 36:03
  Speaker 2: in detail, because it's hard to remember every single thing
• 36:05
  Speaker 2: you wrote in the book without reading it, you know,
• 36:08
  Speaker 2: because I spent so much time on it. And but yeah,
• 36:12
  Speaker 2: there's a lot of technical detail which I've explained in
• 36:15
  Speaker 2: such easy, easy layman terns that anybody with that musical
• 36:19
  Speaker 2: knowledge can pick up.
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's great. It takes you inside the studio and
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: you get into how the album is made. Your website
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: before I want to ask you about this new album
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: that you just put together and put out recently. But
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: what's your website? We can find more about.
• 36:33
  Speaker 2: You Joematerira dot com.
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: It's m A T E r A. Joe Materia dot com.
• 36:39
  Speaker 2: Oh, they put me in Google and I come up
• 36:41
  Speaker 2: first on Google, so it's pretty easy to find.
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: Now. So let's talk about this a project that you
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: did with the corgis.
• 36:47
  Speaker 2: Yes, this one here?
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah, coffee in New York.
• 36:51
  Speaker 2: That's right. Yeah, So it's a it's a collaboration. Now
• 36:53
  Speaker 2: I'm put up by an American label called Renaissance Records
• 36:56
  Speaker 2: to do a lot of great reissues, like they've done
• 37:00
  Speaker 2: Bad Finger, they've done Elo, been around for like thirty years,
• 37:05
  Speaker 2: fantastic work they do. So yeah, we signed to Renaissance
• 37:09
  Speaker 2: and put together this album. So what it is is
• 37:12
  Speaker 2: basically a bunch of Corgy's songs plus all our collaborations
• 37:16
  Speaker 2: we've done together, which I've co written and played lead
• 37:20
  Speaker 2: guitar on and sing on some of them. So there's
• 37:22
  Speaker 2: three of those songs as well as two of my
• 37:25
  Speaker 2: own songs that were only recently released as digital singles.
• 37:29
  Speaker 2: And then there's two songs by Al Steel, who's the
• 37:32
  Speaker 2: guitar playing Corgy So. And there's a twenty twenty five
• 37:36
  Speaker 2: version of Everybody's Going to Learn Sometime Redone, which is
• 37:40
  Speaker 2: absolutely brilliant on this album. So it's a great compilation
• 37:42
  Speaker 2: album and really again introduces the band to a whole
• 37:47
  Speaker 2: new audience, and anybody who hasn't heard of the Corgies
• 37:50
  Speaker 2: or my music or our music can.
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: Rediscover Everybody's Got to Learn Sometime. That would be the
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: one that if there's anybody that it's ever heard this
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: band's music, would be that song. It did really well,
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: came out in nineteen eighty, became a global hit, that's right.
• 38:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah, in America, I think it went to I can't
• 38:09
  Speaker 2: remember now, thinking.
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: That I'll look it up here, look it up, let's see.
• 38:15
  Speaker 2: I mean in the UK they had quite a few hits,
• 38:17
  Speaker 2: but in the US that's the one they've known for.
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, it was top twenty hit number eighteen.
• 38:22
  Speaker 2: Twenty, right, okay on the Billboard chart. That's right, yes,
• 38:25
  Speaker 2: So how did you team.
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: Up with the guys in the band, How did that
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: all come together.
• 38:29
  Speaker 2: It's interesting story behind that. I interviewed James Warren, the
• 38:34
  Speaker 2: main lead singer, bass player, songwriter of the band who's
• 38:37
  Speaker 2: been there since day one, right, the risinal member, probably
• 38:40
  Speaker 2: about four years ago now, four or five years ago,
• 38:42
  Speaker 2: and just an interview like what you're doing with for me?
• 38:44
  Speaker 2: And we just got the chatting. And asked me what
• 38:46
  Speaker 2: you know about my music? And I said, oh yeah,
• 38:49
  Speaker 2: And I said, oh, you know, you ever do any collaborations?
• 38:51
  Speaker 2: He goes, oh, you know, maybe sometimes, you know, And
• 38:53
  Speaker 2: I said, I've got a few ideas. Hecaues, oh, I
• 38:55
  Speaker 2: send them along. Anyway. I sent some tracks along and
• 38:59
  Speaker 2: he really loved them. He goes, we could work with this.
• 39:01
  Speaker 2: Let's do something together. So we did our first collaboration,
• 39:04
  Speaker 2: which was Always a Sunny Day, which is on this album,
• 39:07
  Speaker 2: and so I we co write that together. I played
• 39:12
  Speaker 2: the lead guitar on that and shared lead vocals. Did
• 39:15
  Speaker 2: so well that we did another one and another one,
• 39:19
  Speaker 2: and then I went off to the UK in twenty
• 39:23
  Speaker 2: twenty four and did a couple of shows with him,
• 39:25
  Speaker 2: which was our first time playing live. So so yes,
• 39:29
  Speaker 2: it's you know, and we're continually doing stuff. So we
• 39:31
  Speaker 2: got some new music coming again this year, but this
• 39:34
  Speaker 2: album is a good one to sort of introduce the
• 39:37
  Speaker 2: audience to us and check it out.
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's great. I love it. You sent it to
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: me and thank you for that, and it's fantastic, So
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: people can check that out. It's always great to have
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: you on, Joe. This is I think was your third
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: appearance on and love to have you back on again
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: down the road. I'm sure you got some plans ahead
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: for another book.
• 39:57
  Speaker 2: I hope I've actually, yeah, I've got a couple of
• 40:01
  Speaker 2: ideas or some new books. I'll be definitely write more
• 40:04
  Speaker 2: because I've really enjoyed doing the other stuff, and you know,
• 40:07
  Speaker 2: it's like anything else, you know. I sat there every
• 40:09
  Speaker 2: day listened to the music and you know, analyzing it all,
• 40:12
  Speaker 2: and it was just great fun, you know, and Nev
• 40:13
  Speaker 2: and I picked stuff up that I missed myself. So
• 40:17
  Speaker 2: so yeah, it's great fun. So I'm definitely gonna be
• 40:19
  Speaker 2: doing another one.
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: Cool. And you still write for websites magazines.
• 40:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I write well. My main outlet is Guitar Play
• 40:25
  Speaker 2: magazine and Guitar World. I write for those two outlets,
• 40:28
  Speaker 2: and I also write for Record Collector. I write for
• 40:31
  Speaker 2: Sound on Sound in the UK, I write for the
• 40:33
  Speaker 2: Guardian newspaper online, so you know, I'm fairly busy with
• 40:39
  Speaker 2: my writing, so you know, your music's you know, still
• 40:41
  Speaker 2: do music and it's obviously, but the writing is my
• 40:44
  Speaker 2: day job.
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: Really outstanding, all right, John, thanks again and all the
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: best with the book and the album and we look
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: forward to having you back on again in the future.
• 40:54
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much, Thanks for having me, and thanks
• 40:55
  Speaker 2: for all our listeners out there, and yeah, I really
• 40:57
  Speaker 2: appreciate the support. I'm glad that you enjoyed the book
• 41:00
  Speaker 2: and uh and.
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: The c date.
• 41:01
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much. M m m hm. That's it.
• 41:10
  Speaker 2: It's in the books.
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: H