ABBA - Six Albums on Discomate Discs (1976-1981) [1984, Japanese 1st press]

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ABBA - Six Albums on Discomate Discs (1976-1981) [1984, Japanese 1st press]

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They may have been released later than the first European Abba CDs but the group’s earliest Japanese CD releases are much rarer and more sought after than even the coveted West German redface Polydor CDs. The six titles released by Abba’s then Japanese licencee, Discomate, in early 1984 [The Visitors and Super Trouper have 1983 copyright dates] remained in circulation for a relatively brief period of time before being supplanted by Polydor’s P33P series three years later. By this time, Discomate had either lost its Abba licence or gone bust, depending on what version of events you believe. In any case, the CDs seem to have sold relatively poorly and are rarely seen for sale within the collector’s market – when they do, they generally fetch astronomical amounts by the standards of Abba CDs.

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ABBA - Six Albums on Discomate Discs (1976-1981) [1984, Japanese 1st press]

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ABBA - Six Albums on Discomate Discs (1976-1981) [1984, Japanese 1st press]

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Arrival is the fourth studio album by the Swedish pop group ABBA. It was originally released in Sweden on 11 October 1976 by Polar Records. Recording sessions began in August 1975 and continued until September 1976 at Metronome and Glen studios in Stockholm, Sweden. It became ABBA's most successful album to date, producing three of their biggest hits: "Dancing Queen", "Money, Money, Money" and "Knowing Me, Knowing You". Upon its original 1976 release, "Fernando", released as a single earlier the same year, did not appear on Arrival, but it was included on the South African, Australian, and New Zealand versions. Arrival was the best-selling album of 1977 in the United Kingdom and was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America.

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ABBA - Six Albums on Discomate Discs (1976-1981) [1984, Japanese 1st press]

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ABBA - Six Albums on Discomate Discs (1976-1981) [1984, Japanese 1st press]

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ABBA: The Album is the fifth studio album by the Swedish pop group ABBA. It was released in Scandinavia on 12 December 1977 through Polar Music, but due to the massive pre-orders the UK pressing plants were not able to press sufficient copies before Christmas 1977 and so it was not released in the UK until January 1978. The album was released in conjunction with ABBA: The Movie, with several of the songs featured in the film. The album contained two UK number-one singles, "Take a Chance on Me" and "The Name of the Game", as well as European hits "Eagle" and "Thank You for the Music".

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ABBA - Six Albums on Discomate Discs (1976-1981) [1984, Japanese 1st press]

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ABBA - Six Albums on Discomate Discs (1976-1981) [1984, Japanese 1st press]

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Voulez-Vous is the sixth studio album by Swedish group ABBA, released in 1979. It was the first ABBA album to be recorded at Polar Studios in Stockholm, and the only ABBA album to include a studio recording made outside Sweden. Some of the songs were secretly written and demoed at Compass Point Studios in Nassau, Bahamas, and the title track was recorded at Criteria Studios in Miami. was first released on CD in 1984. The album has been digitally remastered and reissued four times; first in 1997, then in 2001 and in 2005 as part of the The Complete Studio Recordings box set, and yet again in 2010 for the Voulez-Vous Deluxe Edition.

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ABBA - Six Albums on Discomate Discs (1976-1981) [1984, Japanese 1st press]

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ABBA - Six Albums on Discomate Discs (1976-1981) [1984, Japanese 1st press]

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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.

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ABBA - Six Albums on Discomate Discs (1976-1981) [1984, Japanese 1st press]

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ABBA - Six Albums on Discomate Discs (1976-1981) [1984, Japanese 1st press]

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Super Trouper is the seventh studio album by Swedish pop group ABBA, first released in 1980. It features the #1 singles "The Winner Takes It All" and "Super Trouper". The album became the biggest-selling of 1980 in the UK.

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ABBA - Six Albums on Discomate Discs (1976-1981) [1984, Japanese 1st press]

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ABBA - Six Albums on Discomate Discs (1976-1981) [1984, Japanese 1st press]

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The Visitors is the eighth and final studio album by Swedish pop group ABBA, released on 30 November 1981. With The Visitors, ABBA took several steps away from the "lighter" pop music they had recorded previously and the album is often regarded as a more complex and mature effort. The opening track, "The Visitors", with its ominous synthesizer sounds and the distinctive lead vocal by Frida, announced a change in musical style. With Benny and Frida going their separate ways, the pain of splitting up was explored yet again in "When All Is Said and Done". The major hit single on the album, "One of Us" also depicted the end of a love story. Elsewhere there were current Cold War themes - highly topical at the time - and further songs of isolation and regret. The Visitors album was one of the first records ever to be recorded and mixed digitally, and was the first in history to be released on the new CD format in 1982 on Atlantic.

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ABBA - Six Albums on Discomate Discs (1976-1981) [1984, Japanese 1st press]

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