Under Attack by ABBA

It’s been an interesting month for 1970s band reunions – first we had Fleetwood Mac drop Lindsey Buckingham, effectively becoming Fleetwood House and a Heartbreaker. And now ABBA have announced their first new music for 35 years, along with a tour as holograms. ABBA seemed like The Smiths or Hüsker Dü, a group that would always resist a reunion. Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus continued to work together after ABBA, most notably on the musical Chess, but the dynamics of a band with two divorced couples are obviously complicated.

It took me a long time to come around to ABBA – it may have been rockism, it may have been that the band were generally a little looked down on during my 1980s childhood after their cultural saturation of the 1970s. Or most likely, I realised that the band developed during their tenure – early hits like ‘Ring Ring’ and ‘I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do’ are underdeveloped compared to their later work. I don’t think the band hit their straps until 1976’s Arrival, and even that album has throwaways like ‘Dum Dum Diddle’ and ‘When I Kissed The Teacher’.

Even though the group were in commercial decline in the early 1980s, and their band relationships were difficult, their later work is among their most acclaimed – their final album, 1981’s The Visitors, was included in 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, and the unsuccessful 1982 single ‘Under Attack’ is one of my favourite lesser known ABBA tracks.

The group are planning to tour as holograms (or “abbatars”), and they’ve also recorded two new songs as part of their reunion.

Do you like ABBA or find them too sugary? Would you see a tour of ABBA holograms?

Don’t know how to take it, don’t know where to go
My resistance’s running low
And everyday the hold is getting tighter and it troubles me so
You know that I’m nobody’s fool

I’m nobody’s fool and yet it’s clear to me
I don’t have a strategy
It’s just like taking candy from a baby
And I think I must be

Under attack, I’m being taken
About to crack, defenses breaking
Won’t somebody see and save a heart?
Come and rescue me now ’cause I’m falling apart

Under attack, I’m taking cover
He saw my track, my chasing lover
Thinking nothing’s gonna stop him now
Should I want to, I’m not sure, I won’t know how

Now this is getting crazy, I should tell him so
Really let my anger show
‘Cause waiting at the answer to his questions is a definite blow
I’m kind of certain that’s the truth

Guess I’m kind of flattered but I’m scared as well
Something like a magic spell
I hardly dare to think of what could happen
Where I’d be if I fell

Under attack, I’m being taken
About to crack, defenses breaking
Won’t somebody see and save a heart?
Come and rescue me now ’cause I’m falling apart

Under attack, I’m taking cover
He saw my track, my chasing lover
Thinking nothing’s gonna stop him now
Should I want to, I’m not sure, I won’t know how

Under attack, I’m being taken
About to crack, defenses breaking
Won’t somebody see and save a heart?
Come and rescue me now ’cause I’m falling apart

Under attack, I’m taking cover
He saw my track, my chasing lover
Thinking nothing’s gonna stop him now
Should I want to, I’m not sure, I won’t know how

Under attack, I’m being taken
About to crack, defenses breaking
Won’t somebody see and save a heart?
Come and rescue me now ’cause I’m falling apart

21 Comments

  1. I like good pop music so yeah I like ABBA. Not everything they did, mind you, but generally speaking. (Cannot stand “Dancing Queen.” Rubbish.) But “Waterloo” is one of the great pop songs of all time. “SOS,” “I Do, I Do.” Love “Fernando.” The hologram thing seems dumb to me. But I think their more rabid fans will eat it up. I never really cared to see them or buy their stuff. Pure radio confection.

    • Do you think pure radio confection is a noble goal in its own right? I like Dancing Queen fine, I like them when they’re going for a sophisticated, sleek Euro-pop sound.

      • I don’t understand the ‘noble goal’ question. I’m sure that Abba’s intention was to sell records. My point is that there are bands – many bands and artists – that I have never bought anything by but still enjoy hearing them on the radio.

  2. Hey no, hey no, I would not go.
    Not me, and even if it was for free.
    For I am not an ABBA fan,
    I do not like the Swedish band.
    Particulars: They’re much too poppy
    Sometimes cute and sometimes soppy.
    Looking like Grandma and Dad
    Yet ABBAtars are just plain mad.

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Aphoristic Album Reviews is almost entirely written by one person. It features album reviews and blog posts across a growing spectrum of popular music.

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Graham Fyfe has been writing this website since his late teens. Now in his forties, he's been obsessively listening to albums for years. He works as a web editor and plays the piano.

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