Under attack - Abba

So I bought a lot of Abba singles at the record fair last week, but only one came from Japan - my favourite country for singles. And this was the last one from Abba: 'Under attack', released after their The first ten years compilation album. 

The sleeve of this single is gorgeous and much better than other versions that were released elsewhere in the world. It just shows that the love and care that Japanese record companies had for their releases.

My collection: 7" single no. 7888
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 15 November 2025
Tracks: 'Under attack' / 'You owe me one' 

Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A man after midnight) - Abba

When I saw this sleeve of 'Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!', I instantly knew there was something different about it, but I couldn't really put my finger on it. Initially I thought the photograph was cropped differently, but when I compared it to the other singles I own at home, I saw what was wrong with it: the photograph was mirrored! 

This version of the single comes from New Zealand. I don't have a lot of singles from that part of the world, and so it is quite nice to own one.

My collection: 7" single no. 7887
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 15 November 2025
Tracks: 'Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A man after midnight)' / 'The king has lost his crown'

Dancing queen - Abba

If the photograph on this sleeve looks familiar, it's because it also appeared on this Spanish sleeve of 'Honey, Honey'. But this single was released some time later, when Abba released 'Dancing queen'. 

The single was made in Hungary, and features 'Fernando' on the B-side. As far as I know only six Abba singles were made in Hungary. 

My collection: 7" single no. 7886
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 15 November 2025
Tracks: 'Dancing queen' / 'Fernando' 

Fernando - Abba

While I bought the Spanish single of 'Fernando' I also found the Italian version. And again, the sleeve came with a different design. Just like on the Spanish one the Abba logo has gone missing, and is replaced by a certain custom font. 

There is no info on how many copies were sold of this single in Italy, but it reached number 3 in the chart run by the oldest music industry publication Musica e dischi. 

My collection: 7" single no. 7885
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 15 November 2025
Tracks: 'Fernando' / 'Tropical loveland' 

Money, money, money - Abba

I've bought a few copies of this single. But we've had 'Money, money, money' and 'Money, money', but this Yugoslavian pressing changes the layout even more and adds the B-side title to the front sleeve as well. 

The single was released by Radio-Televizija Beograd, as usual in Yugoslavia at that time. Interestingly, the Polar logo still survives in the upper right corner of this sleeve. 

My collection: 7" single no. 7884
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 15 November 2025
Tracks: 'Money, money, money' / 'Crazy world' 

Fernando - Abba

Another Spanish Abba single comes with another variation of the sleeve for 'Fernando'. Just like on 'Mamma Mia' the recommendation 'No. 1 en Inglaterra' is featured on this sleeve. What else? The familiar 'Abba' logo has gone missing and the title 'Fernando' is repeated three times. It's a design that is imperfect in a way. 

On the back sleeve the lyrics of 'Fernando' are printed in full, which I think is a first for an Abba single. It's another nice item for my growing Abba collection.

My collection: 7" single no. 7883
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 15 November 2025
Tracks: 'Fernando' / 'Intermezzo no. 1'

Mamma Mia - Abba

In 1975 Abba released Greatest Hits with on the cover a caricature of the band. That version was only released in Scandinavia and Spain, with a photograph on the inside of the gatefold sleeve. In the UK that photograph was promoted to the front sleeve, and so the illustration didn't get a lot of exposure in much of Europe.

This Spanish single of 'Mamma Mia' uses the illustration and adds the recommendation 'No. 1 en Inglaterra'. It makes this single quite remarkable and an attractive item.

My collection: 7" single no. 7882
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 15 November 2025
Tracks: 'Mamma Mia' / 'Tropical loveland' 

Does your mother know - Abba

For some reason you wouldn't associate Abba with huge success in America, but a lot of singles were released there. It is, however, not easy to find American singles with picture covers for some reason. So I was happy to find this copy of 'Does your mother know' at the record fair last week. (That saves a lot of postage costs.)

The funny thing about this sleeve is the back cover, on which there is an advertisement for three albums 'also on Atlantic Records & Tapes'. The albums Greatest Hits, Arrival and The Album are pictured. 

My collection: 7" single no. 7881
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 15 November 2025
Tracks: 'Does your mother know' / 'Kisses of fire' 

Chiquitita - Abba

Once more I bought the single 'Chiquitita' by Abba, this time because it is the French pressing. The sleeve isn't significally different, at least, the front sleeve - the back sleeve is the typically understated 'infobox' that is typical for these French releases.

'Chiquitita' sold 150,000 copies in France, but the single only reached number 14 in the singles chart in that country. With just 50,000 copies that single reached number 1 in Ireland. 

My collection: 7" single no. 7880
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 15 November 2025
Tracks: 'Chiquitita' / 'Lovelight' 

Honey, Honey - Abba

I saw this single on display at the Abba Museum in Stockholm last year and I thought this sleeve was absolutely beautiful. Not even necessarily the photograph, but the layout was just very stylish. I actually blame the Abba Museum for igniting my recent obsession with different Abba pressings, which I've started collecting since then. 

Anyway, this is the Spanish pressing of 'Honey, Honey', which includes 'Hasta mañana' on the B-side. The single was released by Carnaby, the label to which Abba was signed at the time. The single was released in 1974, after their legendary Eurovision win with 'Waterloo'. 

My collection: 7" single no. 7879
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 15 November 2025
Tracks: 'Honey, Honey' / 'Hasta mañana' 

Super trouper - Abba

This sleeve of 'Super Trouper' may look familiar to you, but this is a really odd release. It couples the song not with 'The piper', as per usual on European releases, but with 'On and on and on', the song that famously was released on 12" singles only in Europe.

This single was made in Brazil, which might explain this strange coupling of tracks. It's this kind of exceptions that make an impression on me. The reasoning behind it will probably never be cleared up.

My collection: 7" single no. 7875
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 15 November 2025
Tracks: 'Super trouper' / 'On and on and on' 

Money, money, money - Abba

Although this French sleeve of 'Money, money, money' uses the same photographs as the Dutch one, it uses them far more effectively. I didn't notice it until now, but the Italian one mirrored those photographs, which I guess was a mistake on the part of the Italian record company. 

The songs remain the same, obviously. I remember 'Money, money, money' from my early childhood and I remember that Frida's low voice certainly made an impression. It remains a great moment in pop history.  

My collection: 7" single no. 7869
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 15 November 2025
Tracks: 'Money, money, money' / 'Crazy world'

The winner takes it all - Abba

The final Japanese Abba single for today is the monumental track 'The winner takes it all'. It should be fitting to end with this one, because it is truly one of the band's best. 

Ulvaeus denies the song is about his and Fältskog's divorce, saying the basis of the song 'is the experience of a divorce, but it's fiction. 'Cause one thing I can say is that there wasn't a winner or a loser in our case. A lot of people think it's straight out of reality, but it's not'. However, Ulvaeus admitted that the heartache of their breakup inspired the song, but noted that the words in the song should not be taken literally. He said: 'Neither Agnetha nor I were winners in our divorce.' 

My collection: 7" single no. 6163
Found: Discogs.com, received 6 October 2021
Tracks: 'The winner takes it all' / 'Elaine' 

Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A man after midnight) - Abba

'Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)' was written and composed by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, with the lead vocal sung by Agnetha Fältskog. Fältskog, as the narrator, weaves the image of a lonely woman who longs for a romantic relationship and views her loneliness as a forbidding darkness of night, even drawing parallels to how the happy endings of movie stars are so different from her existence. The melody line of the song was played on an ARP Odyssey synthesizer.

The song came about after Benny and Bjorn heard Donna Summer's hit 'Hot stuff', and upon hearing it, it inspired the riffs, melody and sentiment of the song with Agnetha yearning for 'a man after midnight' whilst Donna was in need of some 'hot stuff'.

My collection: 7" single no. 6155
Found: Discogs.com, received 6 October 2021
Tracks: 'Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A man after midnight)' / 'The king has lost his crown'

Chiquitita - Abba

'Chiquitita' proved to be one of Abba's bigger hits. It was featured in the Music for UNICEF Concert, broadcast worldwide from the United Nations General Assembly in 1979. As a direct result of this event, Abba donated 50% of all royalties from the song to UNICEF in recognition of the "International Year of the Child". In 2014, all ABBA members agreed on increasing their donation to 100% of all royalties from the song to UNICEF. As of 2021, the song's royalties had raised $4.8 million for the charity.

The Japanese sleeve only adds a few Japanese characters, which makes it less original when compared to earlier releases.

My collection: 7" single no. 6153
Found: Discogs.com, received 6 October 2021
Tracks: 'Chiquitita' / 'Lovelight' 

Summer night city - Abba

While 'Summer night city' was recorded during sessions for the group's then-upcoming sixth studio album Voulez-Vous (1979), it was scrapped from the album. It was, however, included on the group's compilation album Greatest Hits Vol. 2, a year after its release. Both Andersson and Ulvaeus have shared dislike of the song, due to being unsatisfied with the final mix. 

A planned US release was cancelled, the second ABBA single to be shelved following 'Eagle', and charted poorly in Canada. The single was, however, released in Japan, and with the same sleeve as in most of Europe. Due to the fact that the group was going to tour in Japan at the time, the sleeve also proclaims 'Welcome ABBA'. It's a nice touch.

My collection: 7" single no. 6154
Found: Discogs.com, received 6 October 2021
Tracks: 'Summer night city' / 'Medley: Pick a bale of cotton * On top of old Smokey * Midnight special' 

Eagle / Thank you for the music - Abba

This double A-side single was also released as a double A-side single in Japan, with almost exactly the same sleeve - with some added Japanese on it, of course.

Personally I always preferred 'Eagle'. The song was written and composed by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus as a kind of tribute to a band that the two men admired at the time, the Eagles. The recording, which commenced on 1 June 1977, had the working titles of 'High, High' and 'The Eagle'. Ulvaeus said that with the lyrics, he was "trying to capture the sense of freedom and euphoria" that he got from reading Richard Bach's 1970 novella Jonathan Livingston Seagull.

My collection: 7" single no. 6151
Found: Discogs.com, received 6 October 2021
Tracks: 'Eagle' / 'Thank you for the music' 

Take a chance on me - Abba

Contrary to most of those earlier Abba singles, 'Take a chance on me' came with a similar sleeve to European ones in Japan. The only thing added were the Japanese characters and the fact that the lettering was transparent instead of white. Other than that, it was probably the start of the Japanese record company copying off the European sleeves from then on. 

The origin of the song sprang from Ulvaeus, a keen runner, who would repeat a 'tck-a-ch'-style rhythm to pace himself. This evolved into "take-a-chance" and the eventual lyrics. Roger Palm, the drummer on the track, described the song as "ABBA at their most energetic and forceful". 

My collection: 7" single no. 6159
Found: Discogs.com, received 6 October 2021
Tracks: 'Take a chance on me' / 'I'm a marionette' 

The name of the game - Abba

Yet another copy of 'The name of the game', this time from Japan. Originally, another track entitled 'Hole in Your Soul' was intended for release, but those plans were soon shelved. 'The Name of the Game' was released with a live version of 'I Wonder (Departure)' as the B-side. This B-side was one of several songs written for the mini-musical The Girl with the Golden Hair, written by Ulvaeus and Andersson and originally performed by ABBA on their 1977 world tour. 

The recording used on this single was recorded at Sydney Showground, Sydney, Australia on 3 or 4 March 1977. A studio recorded version of the song was included on ABBA: The Album. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6157
Found: Discogs.com, received 6 October 2021
Tracks: 'The name of the game' / 'I wonder (Departure)' 

Dancing queen - Abba

Abba (especially Benny Andersson) wanted to release 'Dancing Queen' as the follow-up single to 'Mamma Mia' but their manager, Stig Anderson, insisted that the more sedate and folksy 'Fernando' should be first, as he felt it would appeal to a broader audience and so was more likely to be a hit. Therefore, whilst 'Dancing Queen' premiered on both German and Japanese television during the spring of 1976, the song did not appear on vinyl until later that summer, having had its first live and domestic performance on 18 June 1976 during an all-star gala staged by Kjerstin Dellert at the Royal Swedish Opera (and shown on Swedish TV) in honour of King Carl XVI Gustaf and his bride-to-be, Silvia Sommerlath, who were married the next day.

The Japanese single came with a very different sleeve when compared to its European counterparts. Like most Japanese sleeves, it looks stylish and even after almost five decades the disc and sleeve are in pristine condition. The B-side is 'Tiger', instead of 'That's me'. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6152
Found: Discogs.com, received 6 October 2021
Tracks: 'Dancing queen' / 'Tiger'