Ring Ring (album)

Ring Ring is the debut studio album by ABBA, originally credited to Björn Benny & Agnetha Frida. It was released by Polar Music in a limited number of territories including Scandinavia, Germany, Australia, South Africa and Mexico on March 26 1973. The album topped the Belgian charts and was a big success in the Netherlands, Norway and South Africa.

The album was re-released in Australasia in 1975, but was not released in the United Kingdom until 1992 and and in the United States until 1995.

Overview

When the first song from the album, People Need Love was recorded in the spring of 1972, the group was just one of many projects the four members were involved in. Only after the title track, Ring Ring became a hit, did the four decide to go on working together as a permanent group. The original 1973 Polar version of the album opens with Ring Ring (Bara du slog en signal), the Swedish version of the track, and places the English-language version as track four on side two.

The track She's My Kind of Girl, included on the international editions, is in fact a song by Björn & Benny which dates back to 1969, which was a hit in Japan, and had also been included on the b-side of the English version of the Ring Ring single in Scandinavia. Ring Ring also features a song co-written by Agnetha Fältskog. Although she had composed much of her Swedish solo output, the song Disillusion, for which she wrote the music, is the only song released on an ABBA album to feature a songwriting contribution from her.

Ring Ring was first released on CD in Sweden in 1988; a West German CD release followed in 1990 (later released internationally). The album has been reissued in digitally remastered form three times; first in 1997, then in 2001 and again in 2005 as part of The Complete Studio Recordings box set.

Track listing

Scandinavian edition

Side one

No.	Title	Composers	Length
1	Ring Ring (Bara Du Slog En Signal)	Benny Andersson, Stig Anderson, Björn Ulvaeus	3:04
2	Another Town, Another Train	Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus	3:12
3	Disillusion	Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus	3:04
4	People Need Love	Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus	2:46
5	I Saw It in the Mirror	Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus	2:34
6	Nina, Pretty Ballerina	Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus	2:51

Side two

No.	Title	Composers	Length
1	Love Isn't Easy (But It Sure Is Hard Enough)	Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus	2:53
2	Me and Bobby and Bobby's Brother	Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus	2:50
3	He Is Your Brother	Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus	3:18
4	Ring Ring	Benny Andersson, Stig Anderson, Björn Ulvaeus, Neil Sedaka, Phil Cody	3:03
5	I Am Just a Girl	Benny Andersson, Stig Anderson, Björn Ulvaeus	3:01
6	Rock'n Roll Band	Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus	3:09
		Total Length	35:43

International edition

Side one

No.	Title	Composers	Length
1	Ring Ring	Benny Andersson, Stig Anderson, Björn Ulvaeus, Neil Sedaka, Phil Cody	3:04
2	Another Town, Another Train	Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus	3:12
3	Disillusion	Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus	3:04
4	People Need Love	Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus	2:46
5	I Saw It in the Mirror	Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus	2:34
6	Nina, Pretty Ballerina	Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus	2:51

Side two

No.	Title	Composers	Length
1	Love Isn't Easy (But It Sure Is Hard Enough)	Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus	2:53
2	Me and Bobby and Bobby's Brother	Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus	2:50
3	He Is Your Brother	Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus	3:18
4	She's My Kind of Girl	Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus	3:03
5	I Am Just a Girl	Benny Andersson, Stig Anderson, Björn Ulvaeus	3:01
6	Rock'n Roll Band	Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus	3:09
		Total Length	35:19

2001 CD edition

Bonus tracks - uses international edition tracks

No.	Title	Composers	Length
13	Merry-Go-Round	Benny Andersson, Stig Anderson, Björn Ulvaeus	3:24
14	Santa Rosa	Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus	2:59
15	Ring Ring (Bara du slog en signal)	Benny Andersson, Stig Anderson, Björn Ulvaeus	3:08
		Total Length	44:50

The Complete Studio Recordings

Bonus tracks - uses international edition tracks

No.	Title	Composers	Length
13	Ring Ring (Bara du slog en signal)	Benny Andersson, Stig Anderson, Björn Ulvaeus	3:08
14	Åh, vilka tider	Benny Andersson, Stig Anderson, Björn Ulvaeus	2:33
15	Merry-Go-Round	Benny Andersson, Stig Anderson, Björn Ulvaeus	3:36
16	Santa Rosa	Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus	3:01
17	Ring Ring (Spanish version)	Benny Andersson, Stig Anderson, Björn Ulvaeus, Doris Band	3:01
18	Wer im Wartesaal der Liebe steht	Benny Andersson, Stig Anderson, Björn Ulvaeus, Fred Jay	3:21
19	Ring Ring (German version)	Benny Andersson, Stig Anderson, Björn Ulvaeus, Peter Lach	3:09
		Total Length	57:08

2013 deluxe edition

Bonus tracks - uses international edition tracks

No.	Title	Composers	Length
13	Ring Ring (Bara du slog en signal)	Benny Andersson, Stig Anderson, Björn Ulvaeus	3:08
14	Merry-Go-Round	Benny Andersson, Stig Anderson, Björn Ulvaeus	3:36
15	Santa Rosa	Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus	3:01
16	Ring Ring (Spanish version)	Benny Andersson, Stig Anderson, Björn Ulvaeus, Doris Band	3:01
17	Wer im Wartesaal der Liebe steht	Benny Andersson, Stig Anderson, Björn Ulvaeus, Fred Jay	3:21
18	Ring Ring (German version)	Benny Andersson, Stig Anderson, Björn Ulvaeus, Peter Lach	3:09
19	En hälsning till våra parkarrangörer	Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus	2:27
20	Hej gamle man!	Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus	3:21
21	There's a Little Man	Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus	2:45
22	I Saw It in the Mirror	Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus	2:20
23	Jag är blott en man	Benny Andersson, Stig Anderson, Björn Ulvaeus	3:04
24	Man vill ju leva lite dessemellan	Vittorio Tariciotti, Marcello Marrocchi, Franca Evangelista, Stig Anderson	2:53
25	Välkommen till världen	Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus	3:19
		Total Length	1:14:44

2013 deluxe edition DVD

No.	Title	Length
1	People Need Love
2	Ring Ring
3	Ring Ring Revealed
4	International Sleeve Gallery

Credits

• Vocals - Agnetha Fältskog, Anni-Frid Lyngstad

• Piano, keyboards, mellotron, vocals - Benny Andersson

• Acousitc guitar, guitar, vocals - Björn Ulvaeus

Addititional musicians

• Drums - Ola Brunkert, Roger Palm
• Electric bass - Rutger Gunnarsson, Mike Watson
• Acoustic guitar, electric guitar - Jane Schaffer

Production

• Producers, arrangers - Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson
• Engineer - Michael Tretow
• Assistant engineers - Björn Almstedt, Lennart Karlsmyr, Rune Persson
• String arrangements for I Am Just a Girl - Sven-Olof Walldoff
• Photography - Lars Falck, Bengt Malmqvist
• Original album design - Peter Wiking
• 1997 remastering - Jon Astley, Tim Young, Michael Tretow
• 2001 remastering - Jon Astley, Michael Tretow
• The Complete Studio Recordings remastering - Henrik Jonsson

Charts

Year	Country	Position
1973	Sweden	2
	Norway	2
1974	Denmark	3
1976	Australia	10

Certifications and sales

Region	Certification	Certified units/Sales
Norway	-	10,000
Sweden	-	116,627

See also

Ring Ring on Wikipedia

Ring Ring on Discogs