I admit, I’ve been a bit of an ABBA hater in the past. While we were dating, when my now wife named them among the bands she liked, I rolled my eyes and teased a bit. I’ve endured plenty of nights helping in the kitchen while she played their Pandora Station as she cooked.
But after visiting the ABBA Museum in Stockholm…well, I’m not sure I’d call myself a fan, but I’ve been far more convinced of their importance in pop music history—and especially in bringing Sweden to the international arts scene (which, as a metal fan, is a happy byproduct).
And while I have a couple ABBA records in my collection already, those LPs are bereft of their biggest hits. Not so on The Magic of ABBA. All the essential tracks are here—even if “Dancing Queen” skips something fierce. It’s still worth the ten dollars I paid for tracks like “SOS,” “Knowing Me, Knowing You,” “Take a Chance On Me,” and of course “Waterloo,” the track that brought them their first Eurovision win and launched them (and their homeland) into the international spotlight.

If you aren’t already convinced of ABBA’s importance, there’s not anything here to convince you otherwise. Their slick production and theatrical hamminess still rub me the wrong way when I’m in the wrong mood for it, and it’s not like they’re exactly writing deep stuff here. But if you’re not quite as cynical, this compilation serves as a great example of what made ABBA so celebrated in the first place.