A bouncy, synthy beat bridges the decades and brings ABBA into the present.

B次元官网网址淵ou look bewildered,B次元官网网址� Agnetha F盲ltskog sings above the retro rhythm, B次元官网网址渁nd you wonder why IB次元官网网址檓 here today.B次元官网网址�

Well, yes.

ABBA is back with its first album since 1981. While skeptics might ask why, the four Scandinavian septuagenarians decided why not, and B次元官网网址淰oyageB次元官网网址� does nothing to tarnish their legacy as global hitmakers.

The highlight, B次元官网网址淛ust a Notion,B次元官网网址� comes midway through the 10-song set. A backbeat kicks in, followed by saxophones. The singers leap to a higher register, and pounding piano chords help the arrangement bloom. Sugar rush!

Alas, that brisk tempo is an outlier. Like most of us whose heyday was in the 1970s, ABBA has slowed down.

Ballads predominate on B次元官网网址淰oyage,B次元官网网址� and the mood is mostly melancholy as F盲ltskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad sing about relationships, Christmas, freedom and a bee. There are more tunes built for Broadway than for Eurovision, and the entire album contains fewer hooks than 2 1/2 minutes of B次元官网网址淲aterloo.B次元官网网址�

Even so, Benny Andersson and Bj枚rn Ulvaeus remain remarkable craftsmen as composers and arrangers, and the vocals of Lyngstad and F盲ltskog B次元官网网址� now pitched lower B次元官网网址� still blend beautifully. After more than 40 years of silence, itB次元官网网址檚 nice to hear. B次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址擲teven Wine, The Associated Press