Gold: Greatest Hits  – Abba – 1992

First listen?: No

I have been dreading the top end of this list, mainly because I needed to find 400 words to say how I feel about Gold: Greatest Hits. After a run of classic full length albums we have the definitive hits collection from one of the all time best pop acts. Abba are incredible, like I even needed to tell you that anyway. Heartbreaking, danceable, catchy, emotive and damn fun to listen to, these songs are the high standard that pop has been held to ever since. The writing here is second to none, Benny and Bjorn’s focus on melody allows every song to be a ‘moment’ which Agnetha and Anni-Frid take to this raw emotional place time and time again. Take a song like The Winner Takes It All for instance, at its core, that song is incredibly simple, but the confidence in the song itself makes it become an incredible performance from the whole group. The most amazing thing about Gold: Greatest Hits is that over its 19 tracks not a single one sees a drop in this high quality. Knowing Me, Knowing You, Fernando, S.O.S., Take A Chance On Me, Voulez-Vous; I could list every song on the tracklist before I found one that wasn’t pop gold. The tracklist itself is genius. I really don’t enjoy Greatest Hits albums that simply place the tracks in chronological order, but here the songs compliment each other perfectly. Every new intro has you say ‘Oh I love this one’, a sign of a truly great set of hits. This is a record that opens with Dancing Queen and ends on Waterloo, incredible classics that bookend the greatest of all the Greatest Hits for me. Its place on this list is obvious, but it appears way ahead in the top 3 down to a little musical called Mamma Mia. The stage and film versions of Mamma Mia broke records across the globe-people really do love Abba songs-and it’s telling that the songs remain as relevant in 2015 as they were in the 70s and 80s. You can’t put a great pop song down and Abba bring together 19 of the all time best on Gold: Greatest Hits. Nothing less than pop perfection.

Rating: 10/10

Will I listen again?: Yes. I will always be listening to Abba.

Best Track: Choosing is so difficult. I’ve always loved Lay All Your Love On Me and Waterloo. Or maybe Dancing Queen, or Mamma Mia, or Knowing Me, Knowing You. In the end I’m going for Take A Chance On Me before I change my mind again. (Also WHAT A VIDEO)