“I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do” not
I grew up with the ABBA tunes my mother played while driving me to school everyday and though I’d never admit, I may have developed a mild fondness for their music. That’s why pale attempts at covers, like the god awful A-Teens, have really robbed me of any hope for the “Mamma Mia!” soundtrack. To my surprise, however, “Mamma Mia!” puts forth a fine if at times awkward sounding effort.
All the classics are intact including “Dancing Queen,” the titular “Mamma Mia!” and “Money Money Money.” Each song on the album tries to be faithful to the original and, for the most part, succeeds. There are, however, a few attempts at improvisation that sound extremely clumsy, the most obvious of which comes at the end of “Voulez-Vous.”
All of the singing done in “Mamma Mia!” is performed by the actual cast members. As such you cannot really expect too much in terms of vocal quality. Nevertheless, most of the cast members do a really good job, especially Amanda Seyfried as the protagonist Sophie. There are some exceptions, specifically with Dominic Cooper in “Lay all Your Love on Me.” The worst attempt at singing, I’m sorry to say, goes to Pierce Brosnan. On “S.O.S” his singing goes from comical to unbearable. Just more proof that actors and can’t be singers.
The “Mamma Mia!” soundtrack is definitely the best attempt at an ABBA cover to date; however, a few poor vocal performances and stylistic choices keep it from being great. Even still, I would have no problem recommending “Mamma Mia!” to any fans of the film or ABBA enthusiasts in general.
