ABBA or The Carpenters?
 

I'm going with ABBA.

The Carpenters can build you a good cabinet or fix your door, so I'm going with them.

Comparing the two ... Carpenters are better at depressing song, and ABBA are better at cheerful songs. ABBA had top notch studio musicians, but Karen could hold her own on the drums (in early days, before she took center stage). I honestly feel that Karen had the better voice among them. Both groups utilize overdubbing. Anna and Frida's were a lot of times overdubbed during the verse to give a full chorusy effect. Karen sang with very little echo/reverb, and the Carpenters used overdubbing for backing vocals. But you can always hear Karen natural voice with little or no effects, and she has one of the best voices in music.

I'm not crazy about either one. :p:

Yes you are.

The Carpenters are considerably better.

I voted Abba because I actually know some of their songs. Probably should know some Carpenter's but I'm blank.

Why not? How can you resists Karen's critically acclaimed voice? Both bands lead the charts in the 70s. What an amazing decade for music. Besides the 2000s what other decade can you find Acid Folk and Post Punk? ...but the 70s!

Both extremely well-produced, second to none.
Abba's songs were much better compositions and I prefer cheese to sugar, so yes it's Abba for this listener.

As Neapolitan says, Karen Carpenter had a great voice, and afaik most Carpenter songs were about everyday matters like love, etc

ABBA on the other hand have several counts against them imo. Firstly, a friend of mine liked them so I heard them much more often than I would've liked. Secondly they were unremittingly cheerful, and thirdly, they must've run out of things to say about Sweden, because lyrically they ventured into territory in which they were hopelessly unconvincing, e.g. Fernando:-

To hear them singing about fighting for freedom by the banks of the Rio Grande is just laughable to me. And while they did write another song that was about the altogether grittier and more honest topic of tour burn-out in Glasgow, the song is so upbeat that the angst might pass you by: this happy little gem, for instance, (which repeats about five times in the song) is something you can quickly tire of:-

So, yeah, Carpenters, with their wistful ballads, are suddenly looking pretty good. More plaintive, less pop - good for you, Karen!