Greatest Hits Vol. 2 (ABBA album)

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Greatest Hits Vol. 2
ABBA - Greatest Hits Vol. 2 (Polar).jpg
Greatest hits album by ABBA
Released October 29, 1979 (1979-10-29)
Recorded October 1974-
August 1979
Genre Pop
Length 58:25
Label Polar (Sweden)
Epic (UK)
Atlantic (US)
Producer Benny Andersson & Björn Ulvaeus
ABBA chronology
Voulez-Vous
(1979)Voulez-Vous1979		 Greatest Hits Vol. 2
(1979)		 Gracias Por La Música
(1980)Gracias Por La Música1980
Singles from Greatest Hits Vol. 2
  1. "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)"
    Released: October 2, 1979
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic 2/5 stars [1]
Robert Christgau C[2]

Greatest Hits Vol. 2 is a compilation album by Swedish pop group ABBA, released in October 1979 to coincide with their tour of North America and Europe (taking place between September and November 1979). It was ABBA's second chart-topping album of the year, the first being Voulez-Vous, and contained the brand new single "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)", recorded in August 1979.

A round-up of ABBA’s hits since their first compilation album (released in 1975), the album exclusively included material recorded between the years 1976 and 1979 (albums Arrival, The Album and Voulez-Vous plus non-album single "Summer Night City") - with one exception, "Rock Me" from 1975 album ABBA, issued as a single and became a top 5 hit in Australia and New Zealand after the release of the band's first hits package Greatest Hits and also part of the setlist on the 1979 world tour.

"Angeleyes" was included primarily due to its success as a single in the UK, where it was the lead track of a double A-side with "Voulez-Vous". Elsewhere, "Voulez-Vous" had been the A-side in its own right but it was not included on the album. However, the track "I Wonder (Departure)" was not believed to have been released as a single anywhere, but was featured.

Greatest Hits Vol. 2 received massive commercial success in Japan, selling in excess of 920,000 units on the chart (it was the best-selling album by non-domestic artists at the time, until Michael Jackson's Thriller and the soundtrack of the motion picture Flashdance each sold over 1 million copies in the 1980s). It is certified Gold in the U.S.

Greatest Hits Vol. 2 was released on CD in 1982 by Polydor but was deleted from their ABBA CD range in 1992 when it was replaced with ABBA Gold. It was also released in the US by Atlantic Records in 1983 with the same mastering as the Polydor CD but was discontinued there in the late 1980s as well.

Track listing

All songs written by Benny Andersson & Björn Ulvaeus, except where noted.

Side A

  1. "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)" – 4:48
  2. "Knowing Me, Knowing You" (written by B. Andersson, S. Anderson, B. Ulvaeus) – 4:01
  3. "Take a Chance on Me" – 4:03
  4. "Money, Money, Money" – 3:05
  5. "Rock Me" – 3:05
  6. "Eagle" – 5:51
  7. "Angeleyes" – 4:20

Side B

  1. "Dancing Queen" (written by B. Andersson, S. Anderson, B. Ulvaeus) – 3:51
  2. "Does Your Mother Know" – 3:13
  3. "Chiquitita" – 5:26
  4. "Summer Night City" – 3:34
  5. "I Wonder (Departure)" (written by B. Andersson, S. Anderson, B. Ulvaeus) – 4:32
  6. "The Name of the Game" (written by B. Andersson, S. Anderson, B. Ulvaeus) – 4:52
  7. "Thank You for the Music" – 3:49

Singles

  1. "Summer Night City"/"Medley" (September 1978)
  2. "Gimme Gimme Gimme"/"The King Has Lost His Crown" (October 1979)

Personnel

ABBA

Additional personnel

  • Rolf Alex - drums
  • Ola Brunkert - drums
  • Lars Carlsson - horn
  • Christer Danielson - horn
  • Andrew Eijas - horn
  • Malando Gassama - percussion
  • Rutger Gunnarsson - bass
  • Gloria Lundell - harp
  • Roger Palm - drums
  • Halldor Palsson - saxophone
  • Janne Schaffer - guitar
  • Bengt Sundberg - horn
  • Åke Sundqvist - percussion
  • Mike Watson - bass
  • Lasse Wellander - guitar
  • Gunnar Wenneborg - horn
  • Kajtek Wojciechowski - saxophone

Production

  • Producers: Benny Andersson & Björn Ulvaeus
  • Arrangers: Benny Andersson & Björn Ulvaeus
  • Engineer: Michael B. Tretow

Charts

Chart (1979–81) Position Weeks
UK Albums Chart (top 100)[3] 1 63
Japanese Oricon Weekly CT Chart (top 100)[4] 1 57
Japanese Oricon Weekly LP Chart (top 100)[4] 2 51
Belgium 1
Canada 1
Finland 5
Spain 3
Switzerland 2
The Netherlands 4
Zimbabwe 2
West Germany 6
Austrian Albums Chart (top 20)[5] 2 34
New Zealand Albums Chart (top 50)[6] 3 14
Swedish Albums Chart (top 50)[7] 20 5
Norwegian VG-lista Albums Chart (top 40)[8] 25 4
United States Billboard 200 [9] 46 —
Preceded by
Tusk by Fleetwood Mac
Greatest Hits, Vol. 1 by Rod Stewart
 UK Albums Chart number one album
17 November 1979 - 1 December 1979
12 January 1980		 Succeeded by
Greatest Hits, Vol. 1 by Rod Stewart
Pretenders by The Pretenders

Certifications

Region Certification Sales/shipments
Finland (Musiikkituottajat)[10] gold 25,000[10]

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone
xunspecified figures based on certification alone

References

  1. ↑ http://www.allmusic.com/album/r38
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