Music Review: Benny Andersson, Piano

As most people of a certain age will know, Benny Andersson was one quarter of ABBA - one of the most enduringly successful pop groups of all time. Crucially, he wrote or co-wrote most of ABBA's hits, but since they parted over 35 years ago, he has concentrated on writing musicals, including the West End smash Chess. The 22 tracks on this career retrospective cover all bases of the 70-year-old's career, which started in the early 1960s, but there'll be some disappointment that relatively few of the hits he created for ABBA are present.

Recorded on his island studio outside Stockholm, as the album title suggests, these are all piano instrumentals - probably a wise move, given the absence of his former bandmates' harmonies. On one level, the new version of 'Thank You For The Music' - as gorgeous a melody as Andersson ever wrote - comes across as hotel lobby muzak. But Andersson plays it exquisitely, and alongside the plaintive strains of 'You And I' and the evocative 'Stockholm By Night', it's a standout moment of Piano.

The rest, unfortunately, comes across like one of those Phil Coulter Classic Tranquillity albums. Still, there are enough moments of mellow gold to make this a worthwhile collection.

7/10. OUT NOW