Reception
Ken Tucker of Rolling Stone panned the album upon its release, calling it "Muzak mesmerizing in its modality", and stated, "By reducing their already vapid lyrics to utter irrelevance, lead singers Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Agnetha Fältskog are liberated to matter on in their shrill voices without regard to emotion or expression, and the language barrier is broken." In his consumer guide for The Village Voice, Robert Christgau gave the album a C rating, indicating "a record of clear professionalism or barely discernible inspiration, but not both."
In a review upon the album's 2001 reissue by Universal Records, Allmusic editor Bruce Eder found the material "brilliant" and complimented the reissue's "upgraded sound", as well as "those dramatic musical effects that this group played for maximum effect, which gave their music a raw power that their detractors usually overlooked; in the new edition, it's impossible to ignore." In The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004), music journalist Arion Berger gave Arrival four out of five stars and recommended its Universal reissue for consumers.
Read more about this topic: Arrival (ABBA album)
Famous quotes containing the word reception:
“Aesthetic emotion puts man in a state favorable to the reception of erotic emotion.... Art is the accomplice of love. Take love away and there is no longer art.”
—Rémy De Gourmont (1858–1915)
“I gave a speech in Omaha. After the speech I went to a reception elsewhere in town. A sweet old lady came up to me, put her gloved hand in mine, and said, “I hear you spoke here tonight.” “Oh, it was nothing,” I replied modestly. “Yes,” the little old lady nodded, “that’s what I heard.””
—Gerald R. Ford (b. 1913)
“He’s leaving Germany by special request of the Nazi government. First he sends a dispatch about Danzig and how 10,000 German tourists are pouring into the city every day with butterfly nets in their hands and submachine guns in their knapsacks. They warn him right then. What does he do next? Goes to a reception at von Ribbentropf’s and keeps yelling for gefilte fish!”
—Billy Wilder (b. 1906)