Voulez Vous

Background

In early 1978, ABBA were at the peak of their success and having just completed promotion for their latest album and theatrical film release, thoughts were turned to the next album, which was planned to be released in time for Christmas. Sessions however proved to be difficult and after starting on 13 March 1978 with the ultimately unreleased track "Dr Claus von Hamlet", a number of compositions were demoed and rejected. Indeed, after six months, only two songs that would end up on the finished album ("The King Has Lost His Crown" and "Lovers (Live a Little Longer)") were completed.

During this time the group opened their own recording studios, Polar Studios in Stockholm, which were among the most advanced in the world at the time and would be where ABBA would work from here on. Among the songs attempted at this time were "Lovelight", which would go on to be a B-side to the "Chiquitita" single, "Dream World", which was a complete recording and eventually released in 1994 on a box set and later on re-issues of the Voulez-Vous album. Less finished were the tracks "Crying Over You", "Free as a Bumble Bee", "Rubber Ball Man/Under My Sun" and "Just a Notion" - the latter of these was to be included on the 2010 re-issue of Voulez-Vous, but for unknown reasons was scrapped.

By September 1978, ABBA had been silent in the charts for some months, and so a song from the sessions, "Summer Night City" was released as a single. Never happy with the finished song, members Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus regretted the release and lamented the fact that it peaked lower than previous singles in the worldwide charts, not being released at all in the US. They considered the UK to be their most important market, and there it had ended a run of No. 1 hits by stalling at No.5 - their smallest hit for three years. A full-length version was however still planned for the upcoming album, but ultimately never used. By this time, tensions were growing within the group due to the low productivity of the period, as member Agnetha Faltskog commented; "I can tell from the look in Björn's eyes when he gets home how the day's work has been. Many times the boys have been working for ten hours without coming up with one single note". Andersson talked to a reporter at the time saying; "The prospects are not good. It’s worse than ever...We have no idea when we’ll be finished". It became obvious that the album wouldn't be completed by the end of the year and the deadline was extended into 1979. In late 1978, further indication of internal struggles became widely known when it was announced that married couple Ulvaeus and Faltskog were to divorce. Rather than spelling the end for the group however, this freed up a lot of the tensions between the two and in late 1978, work suddenly took off apace for the album.

In October, two tracks were completed; "Angeleyes" and "If It Wasn't for the Nights". Although seen as an archetype ABBA track, the former of these was deemed dated by Andersson, labelling it "back to the sixties". The second track however featured an all-out contemporary vibe, being quite disco-orientated and considered the strongest song that had done for the album yet. It was intended to be not only the next single but also the song that ABBA would perform at the Music for UNICEF Concert in January 1979. This plan however changed when an even-better song came along in December, starting life as "In the Arms of Rosalita", "Chiquitita" was the song they performed. Although rather more schlager in style, Andersson considered it the best of their new songs, despite the feeling that it was very out of style with the rest of the acts performing that night. "It was pretty strange, but we felt it was the best song we had and that's why we chose it, however wrong it may have been", he said. In early 1979, "Chiquitita" became one of ABBA's biggest hits around the world, reaching No.1 in many countries, although just being clipped by Blondie's "Heart of Glass" in the UK at No. 2.

At the end of January, Andersson and Ulvaeus left Sweden and rented an apartment in the Bahamas where they felt they could get some inspiration by listening to American music and experiencing a whole different vibe to the rather conservative Stockholm. Two songs emerged from this time; "Voulez-Vous" and "Kisses of Fire". Excited by the former, they went to Criteria Studios in Miami to record the backing track with the disco band Foxy — the only time they recorded a song outside Sweden. On returning to Sweden to finish the songs, another song "Does Your Mother Know" was also recorded - a song that was to be the next single, and also the only mainstream release to feature Ulvaeus on lead vocals. The single peaked well, but not as highly as "Chiquitita", although did become the biggest hit from the album in the US.

By the end of March, the final two tracks were finished. These being the uptempo album opener "As Good as New" featuring Faltskog and the singalong-style "I Have a Dream" featuring Annifrid Lyngstad as well as a local children's choir.

At the end of April the album, titled Voulez-Vous, was finally ready for release and to emphasize the shift towards a disco sound, the album cover shot was taken at Alexandra's night club in Stockholm. The album, released on 23 April 1979 became a No.1 album all over Europe, including the UK, where it entered the charts at No.1 and remained there for a month. In the US, the album peaked within the top 20 at 19, but fared less-well in Australia where they had experienced major success in recent years, by peaking at No.5.

In the following months, ABBA released a number of other singles from the album. The title track was released as a double A-side with "Angel Eyes", while "I Have a Dream" was belatedly released in December 1979 following their recent world tour. The latter of these became one of the group's biggest-selling songs around the world. Also among these, a new song "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)" was released as a single in October and was later included as a bonus track on CD versions of this album.

Track listing

All tracks written by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus.

CD re-issues, bonus tracks

Voulez-Vous was remastered and reissued in 1997 with two bonus tracks:

1. "Summer Night City" – 3:34
2. "Lovelight" (Alternate Mix) – 3:18

Voulez-Vous was remastered and reissued again in 2001 with these bonus tracks:

1. "Summer Night City" – 3:34
2. "Lovelight" – 3:48
3. "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)" – 4:52

Voulez-Vous was remastered and reissued again in 2005 as part of the The Complete Studio Recordings box set with several bonus tracks:

1. "Summer Night City" – 3:36
2. "Lovelight" – 3:49
3. "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)" – 4:51
4. "Estoy Soñando" (Andersson, Ulvaeus, Buddy McCluskey, Mary McCluskey) – 4:40
5. Spanish version of "I Have a Dream". Released as a single in Spain and Latin America, 1979.
6. "Chiquitita" (Spanish Version) (Andersson, Ulvaeus, B. McCluskey, M. McCluskey) – 5:35
7. Released as a single in Spain and Latin America, 1979.
8. "¡Dame! ¡Dame! ¡Dame!" (Andersson, Ulvaeus, B. McCluskey, M. McCluskey) – 4:49
9. Spanish version of "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)".

Tracks 14–16 are from the album Gracias Por La Música (Septima SRLM 1, 23 June 1980).

Voulez-Vous was reissued once again in 2008 as part of the The Albums box set but without any bonus tracks.

Voulez-Vous has been remastered again and was issued as a Deluxe Edition in 2010. The bonus tracks were the following:

1. "Summer Night City" (Full-length version) – 4:18
2. "Lovelight" – 3:48
3. "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)" – 4:53
4. "Dream World" – 3:38
5. "Voulez-Vous" (Extended remix; 1979 US promo) – 6:10

Voulez-Vous Deluxe Edition was packed with a bonus DVD containg the following material::

1. ABBA in Switzerland (BBC television special)
   1. "Take a Chance on Me"
   2. "The King Has Lost His Crown"
   3. "The Name of the Game"
   4. "Mamma Mia"
   5. "Hole in Your Soul"
   6. "Kisses of Fire"
   7. "Lovers (Live a Little Longer)"
   8. "Chiquitita"
   9. "Does Your Mother Know"
   10. "Thank You for the Music"
2. "Chiquitita" (Music for UNICEF)
3. "I Have a Dream" (Extended promo)
4. "If It Wasn't for the Nights" (Mike Yarwood Christmas Show, BBC)
5. "Chiquitita" (Christmas Snowtime Special, BBC)
6. Björn & Benny Interview (Multi-Coloured Swap Shop, BBC)
7. Greatest Hits Vol. 2 Television Commercial I
8. Greatest Hits Vol. 2 Television Commercial II
9. International sleeve gallery

Personnel

Additional musicians

Production