Arrival (composition)
"Arrival" is a 1976 composition by Swedish pop group ABBA from their album Arrival. It is an instrumental piece, mainly the brainchild of member Benny Andersson. The most widely heard cover versions are ones by French singer Michèle Torr released under the title "J'aime", British musician Mike Oldfield on his album QE2, the singing duo Daniel Balavoine and Anni-Frid Lyngstad creating a French-language song titled "Belle", and the duo Frida and BA Robertson, as part of the UK musical Abbacadabra, performing an English-language version titled "Time".
The original Abba version is played as walk-on music for English rock band The Darkness (band).
Background
"Arrival" was the second and last composition from the group not to contain lyrics, following "Intermezzo No. 1" the previous year. As with "Intermezzo No. 1", the choral tune, heavily influenced by traditional Swedish folk music, was written by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus. It was recorded on 30 August 1976 at Stockholm's Metronome Studio. The title of the album, Arrival, gave the instrumental its name, rather than vice versa. It was also one of the last tracks to be recorded for the album before its release on 11 October 1976.Cover versions
Mike Oldfield version
In 1980, Mike Oldfield recorded a cover version of the song for his album QE2. The artwork for Oldfield's single is a recreation of ABBA's Arrival album artwork, depicting the artist flying in a Bell 47G helicopter ; the "K" in "MIKE" is likewise mirrored as a nod to ABBA's ambigram logo.Track listing
- "Arrival" – 2:46
- "Polka" – 3:34
Personnel (Oldfield version)
- Mike Oldfield – electric guitars, African drums, Celtic harp, bass guitar, mandolin, Spanish guitar, synthesizers, vocoder, Aboriginal rhythm sticks, vocals
- David Hentschel – synthesizers, drums, vocals
- Maggie Reilly – vocals
- David Bedford – arranger
- Dick Studt – leader
- English Chorale – choir