1. Waterloo - the Swedish outtake - February
2. Waterloo - the single & the album
5. Promoting Waterloo - April-May
This very important year 1974 started with wonderings which song would be most suitable for the forthcoming song contest. After the failure in 1973 with "Ring Ring" the group decided to participate in the Swedish outtake to Eurovision Song Contest again hoping that they would win this time.
Finally it was decided that they would perform "Waterloo" even if "Hasta Mañana" was taken in consideration as a very good song for ESC. The only "problem" with "Hasta Manana" was that the song featured Agnetha singing lead vocal and it was important to present both girls as equally important singers in the group.
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On February 9, 1974 ABBA won in the Swedish outtake to the Eurovision Song Contest and it was of course celebrated by the ABBA team in Stikkans house in Nacka outside Stockholm. A big promotional campaign had been started by Stikkan Anderson who went on a promotional trip around Europe and paid visit at record companies which could be possible cooperation partners in the future.
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The "Waterloo" sessions
The new album was ready for release. The photo sessions had been already taken one month earlier at the Gripsholm castle in Mariefred (near Stockholm). (go.to/ABBA related places)
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The table session
Shot from this photo session was used by Polydor in 1975 & 1976 as a cover photo of the album "The Best of ABBA". There two alternative shots available from this session. Both photos were taken within 1-2 seconds and the differences are very slight.
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Can you hear the drums... session
Alternative photos of ABBA with drums were not used in a bigger scale by mass media in the world. One picture appeared in the official ABBA calender 1984, an alternative shots could be seen in some newspapers in Holland and a rare shot taken in the yard outside the castle was used on the back cover of the Swedish mini book "Mera pop" written in 1974 by Christer Borg - the same author who would write the first Swedish ABBA biography "Fenomenet ABBA" two years later.
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WATERLOO - the single (in Sweden)
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In Sweden there were released two versions of "Waterloo" - the Swedish language version backed by "Honey Honey" (in Swedish) and the English language version with one of the weakest tracks ever recorded by ABBA: "Watch Out" on the B-side. Both singles were very successful in Sweden reaching Top 3 on Toplistan.
Early photo sessions
Two early photo sessions from 1974. The photos were published all over the world as well as they appeared on several record covers as for instance the German SP "Honey Honey".
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The palm tree session
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Waterloo - the album
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The album "Waterloo" was released in Sweden on March 4, 1974. It contained 12 songs including Swedish and English versions of "Waterloo". The bonus track on the Epic and Polydor versions of the album was the 1973 hit "Ring Ring".
ABBA recorded in English from the very beginning of the group's existence and the only exceptions were the Swedish versions of "Waterloo" and "Honey Honey". The latter appeared only on the B-side of the Swedish single "Waterloo". Frida's and Agnetha's vocals dominated on this album even if Björn still had leads on some tracks. Even Benny contributed with lead vocal for the last time during the ABBA time on "Suzy Hang Around".
The cover picture was the same in all countries where album was released and only the design varied from country to country. In Great Britain the LP "Waterloo" was released in May 74 and entered the album chart on June 8th, 1974 where it stayed for only 2 weeks reaching #28. In USA Atlantic released "Waterloo" in July 1974. The album spent 8 weeks in Top 200 reaching #142.
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The Waterloo note book
The note book contained all songs from the album "Waterloo" with lyrics. Even Swedish lyrics to "Honey Honey" and "Hasta Mañana" were added. The interesting fact is that "Hasta Mañana" has been never recorded by ABBA in Swedish. The Swedish version of the song was released by the Polar singer Lena Andersson.
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ABBA in Swedish press - March
In March 1974 Swedish weekly "Veckorevyn" met ABBA in private and made an extended interview with the group. Lots of photos were taken in the area of Vallentuna where both couple lived. Lots of alternative shots from the photo sessions were published by various Swedish newspapers. The ABBA article in "Veckorevyn" was published at the beginning of April. More photo sessions were taken during the same period of time by different photographers. The foursome wore about the same clothes on all of the photos with some slight changes.
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ABBA arrived in Brighton on April 3 and started the rehearsals. The competition was held on Saturday April 6, 1974. ABBA and Stikkan stayed at the Grand Hotel.
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Nobody believed that ABBA would win. The competition was very hard. One of the competitors was Olivia Newton-John who was already a big name in the show business. But ABBA won with 24 points and it would become the real start for the group as a world pop stars.
Rehearsals
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The contest was held in the Brighton Dome.
The show
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The day after the victory ABBA met the press and the photographers. Thousands of photos were taken that day.
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ABBA in London
Lots of photos were taken London where ABBA arrived two days after the contest and stayed at the hotel Grosvenor House.
The pictures were taken on the Waterloo station, Hyde Park and other locations in London.
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For the first time ABBA appeared on the British TV show Top Of The Pops on April 11, singing live "Waterloo". The pressure was very hard. TOTP was one of the most important TV shows in Great Britain. The girls sang wrong in the second part of the song but the performance was good as a whole.
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German TV April 1974
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ABBA came to Germany directly from London for some TV performances. One of them was in "Die aktuelle Schaubude" on April 11.
Waterloo/Watch Out - the single in Europe
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The single "Waterloo"/"Watch Out" entered the German chart on April 29, 1974. It reached no 1 on June 10 and stayed on the top for 4 weeks. Totally "Waterloo" spent 25 weeks on the German chart. In USA the single was released on May 3, 1974 and it entered the single chart on June 1 where it stayed for 12 weeks reaching #6. In UK "Waterloo" entered the chart on April 20 and two weeks later it reached the top. In Austria "Waterloo" was released in April and it reached #2. Even in France the single was very successful reching #3. In Spain the single became #3, in Italy #14, in Belgium #1 and in Holland #2. The single released in France contained French language version of "Waterloo" b/w "Gonna Sing You My Lovesong".
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Holland, April 1974
ABBA promoted "Waterloo" in Holland with their participation in two pop shows: "The Eddy Becker Show" and "Top Pop" at the end of April.
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Honey Honey
A new single "Honey Honey"/"King Kong Song" was released in April in Scandinavia. In Europe the release came some months later. In USA in August 74 (chart entry on September 14, 10 weeks #27), Australia in October 74 (chart entry November 4, 19 weeks, #30).
Stikkan announced on April 16 that ABBA tour 74 was cancelled because of the lack of time. It caused strong reactions in the press.
Copenhagen April 24, 1974
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On April 24 ABBA had a press meeting at the disco Bonaparte in Copenhagen (Denmark).
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West Germany
ABBA came to West Germany at the beginning of May. They performed "Waterloo" in the TV show "James Last".
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Waterloo (German version)
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ABBA recorded the German version of "Waterloo" on March 15, 1974 for the future promotion in Germany, one of the most important countries for the group. A single containing the German version was released in Germany later in 1974 and the performance for German TV was recorded during their visit there.
The session
One of the 1974 photo sessions.
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Belgium - May 17th, 1974
In the middle of May during their promotional trip through Europe the group paid visit in Waterloo & Brussels in Belgium.
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Performance on Belgian TV RTB.
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Spain
On May 20, they paid a short promotional visit in Madrid where a TV special was made.
Bravo in Stockholm
Wolfgang Heilemann met ABBA in Holland and took several pictures for "Bravo". The pictures became famous all over the world. More sessions with ABBA for "Bravo" were taken in Stockholm later the same year (the pictures below).
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Top of the Pops
The group was back in the BBC show "Top of the Pops" and performed "Waterloo". The show was aired on May 2nd, 1974.
Waterloo - the album - more releases
The album entered the British album chart on June 8, 1974. It stayed there for only 2 weeks reaching #28. In USA "Waterloo" was not successful either. It entered the US chart in July 74 and reached #142.
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