Besides the Swedish version, 'Ring Ring' was also recorded in English. Translation into English lyrics was helped by Neil Sedaka and his collaborator Phil Cody. On 10 January 1973, the song was recorded at the Metronome Studio in Stockholm. Studio engineer Michael B. Tretow, who later collaborated with Andersson and Ulvaeus on many singles and albums, had read a book about record producer Phil Spector (Richard Williams' book
Out of His Head: The Sound of Phil Spector), famed for his "Wall of Sound" treatment to the songs that he produced. While Spector used several musicians playing the same instruments in the same recording studio at the same time, such a technique would be far too expensive for the recording of 'Ring Ring'. Tretow's solution was to simply record the song's backing track twice in order to achieve an orchestral sound. Changing the speed of the tape between the overdubs, making the instruments marginally out of tune, increased the effect. This was unlike anything that had been done before in Swedish music.
The English version of 'Ring Ring' reached number 2 in the Swedish charts, just behind the Swedish version.
This edition features the original A- and B-side, but on a
picture disc. It's the fourth of five picture disc released at the same
time as a re-release of the album Ring Ring in 2023.
My collection: 7" single no. 7300
Found: Sounds, Delft, 31 August 2024
Tracks: 'Ring Ring' / 'She's my kind of girl'
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