this is an album of contrasts, in which abba showed undeniable sounds of absolute pop greatness that was to follow, it is still marred by a few poor bubblegum songs which are remnants of the group's early days; however, 'arrival' contains abba's two best songs; 'dancing queen' and 'knowing me, knowing you' are pop classics of contemporary music, the former, the group's most engaging song, a masterpiece of early disco, with sweeping strings, glissando piano, a tremendous bassline, and then those angelic vocals; and the melody, it simply defies words; 'knowing me, knowing you' is possibly abba's best constructed song, majestically produced, carefully yet seemingly effortlessly executed; besides the melody, the vocals, there is a melodramatic lyric, and that guitar solo, ranked by UK rock magazine MOJO among the 100 best of all time; 'dum dum diddle', unashamedly bubblegum, is so irresistible it becomes one of those guilty pleasures, and 'money money money', another signature abba song, among else rides on an awesome bassline and great guitar work; side two unfortunately brings several drops in quality, most notably 'why did it have to be me' and 'tiger', however, it is forgiven considering the rest