The Hits From Coast To Coast (And Sweden And Greece)
The Hits From Coast To Coast (And Sweden And Greece)This isn't a post to tell you about the top 10 searches that bring readers to Steve On Broadway (SOB).
No, this is a post of pure vindication for my 35 years of being an avid ABBA fan. I'm thrilled that the movie soundtrack for "Mamma Mia!" has not only turned platinum, but it's also just climbed two big notches (thank you, Casey Kasem) to number one with a bullet on Billboard's 200 Album Chart!
Not a bad week in celebration for a Super Trouper Pop Grouper that never even made the top ten. According to Billboard:
ABBA has never had a top 10 album on the Billboard 200; the Swedish pop act's highest charting set is 1978's "The Album," which peaked at No. 14. However, the group is No. 1 on Top Pop Catalog albums with its greatest hits package "Gold," which jumps 37% to 33,000 copies.As I've noted time and again, the stage musical Mamma Mia! has been one of my truly guilty theatre pleasures ever since taking in the early days of the West End mounting back in September 1999. But that unabashed delight came from my years as an ABBA fan -- even being among the relatively few Americans who caught them during their 1979 “Voulez-Vous” tour.
With melodies almost as slick as the original tunes, the soundtrack is one sure-fire way to bring me out of a funk.
So, Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, I say thank you for the music, the songs I'm singing. Thanks for all the joy they're bringing. Who can live without it, I ask in all honesty. What would life be? Without a song or a dance what are we? So I say thank you for the music! For giving it to me.
Congratulations on finally reaching number one!
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Related Stories:
Hay Carumba! Mamma Mia! Is Fun! (July 31, 2008)
This Goes Out To All The Lovers (Of Theatre) (February 14, 2008)
A Matter Of Taste (March 16, 2007)
Thank You For The Music: Happy Anniversary, Mamma Mia! (October 18, 2006)
Labels: ABBA, Broadway, Film, London, Mamma Mia, Musical, Soundtrack
posted by Steve On Broadway (SOB) @ Wednesday, August 13, 2008
6 Comments:
I love this soundtrack! I was never a big ABBA fan but the music is great. It's so incredibly light and bouncy and catchy. I think I even like the movie soundtrack better than the London cast recording. Really, listening to it is just about the most fun you can have in the car while you're driving. ;-)
Now I'm looking forward to seeing "Mamma Mia!" on tour in January. It'll be the first show I've seen on Broadway, at the movies and on tour. A musical theatre trifecta!
Oh dear. But do you have the Russian cast album?
"Super trouper/beams are gonna blind me/but I won't feel blueeee/like I always dooo/'cause somewhere in the crowd there's youuuu"!
Yes'm, I'll admit it: I'm a closeted ABBA geek (no thanks to the Swedish tween group, the A*Teens, who made a fortune on their ABBA remakes). So I'm gonna put my pride aside and congratulate those involved with the soundtrack.
Haven't heard the film (or stage, or that matter) versions of their songs, but I bet they're just as catchy as the original.
By the way: "Thank You For the Music" is my mother's kareoke song. Just thought you'd find that random tidbit interesting?
I'm a "Voulez Vous" kinda girl myself, though it's probably the quasi-French lyrics...
Steve please reveal the top ten searches that lead readers to your sight?!?!
oooh steve please do tell us what the top ten searches are that lead people to this sight?!?! and when are we goin to get your review of wicked down under?? ive been checking the site and am desperate to read your view on one of my all time fave musicals
Kieron, You've asked for it, so look at my August 18 post.
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