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ABBA WELCOME ON THE FACE OF IT, YOU’D THINK THE ABBA STORY WAS ONE OF UNALLOYED SUCCESS – AN ALL-CONQUERING GLOBAL POP PHENOMENON WHO TRAMPLED ALL BEFORE THEM IN THEIR PATH. THE TRUE STORY, THOUGH, IS FAR n this edition of Classic Pop MORE COMPLICATED

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Presents, we’ll be delving into Presents, what has become one of the most fascinating narratives in modern music history. histor y. It’s all there, from the band’s early struggles to define their characteristic sound and forge an identity, to the setbacks that dogged their first forays into the limelight. Then there’s the almost unparalleled string of hit singles and albums – not for nothing has this quartet sold upwards of 300 million LPs. If they were somewhat taken for granted at the time, it’s only in retrospect that the sheer brilliance of their songwriting nous has become apparent – as you’ll discover on the following pages, the great and the good from the worlds of pop and rock have been lining up to sing their praises, whether it be Madonna, Kylie or Pete Waterman, to those from more unlikely quarters, such as Bono, Pete Townshend and Noel Gallagher. Adding to the spice, of course, is the unique dynamic of the band

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members themselves, who fell in love, married, then were pulled apart by the rigours of fame. Two couples in the same premier-league premier-leag ue pop group? Only Fleetwood Mac have a similar insight into such a perilous position. In recent times, of course, the ABBA brand has gone from strength to strength and Sweden’ Sweden’ss very own Fab Four are held up as a paradigm of pop perfection. Even theatreland and Hollywood proved impervious to their unique appeal. Innovators in the studio and on stage, fashion icons for a generation – ABBA led where many have followed since. Beyond the kitsch – which has always done them a disservice – there’s real heft and weight to the ABBA story. It’s not all sequins and Schlager music… Steve Harnell

Editor

C O N T R I B U T O R S

Simon Goddard

is an author, Contributing Editor to Q Magazine and and ecstatic owner of an Agnethaautographed copy of ABBA The Album. Album. His acclaimed 2013 Bowie book Ziggyology is out now in paperback.

Paul Lester

has been both Features Editor of Melody Maker and and Deputy Editor of Uncut . Since 2007, he has freelanced for the Guardian the Guardian,, The Sunday Times, Times, The Independent , MOJO , Classic Rock and and Classic Pop.

John Earls

edited Teletext’s music pages Planet Sound throughout the Noughties; he has also ‘done’ pop for the Sunday People, News Of The World and, and, currently, NME and the Daily Star . John also lectures in journalism.

Mark Lindores

grew up during the golden age of pop mags, devouring Smash Hits and Hits and Number One . Writing about the artists he used to read about for Classic for Classic Pop , Total Film Fi lm and and Mixmag Mixmag,, he is living the dream of his 15-year-old 15-year-ol d self. 3


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EDITOR Steve Harnell [email protected] ART EDITOR John Thackray [email protected] PRODUCTION EDITOR Owen Bailey CREATIVE DIRECTOR Jenny Cook [email protected] MANAGING EDITOR Gary Walker

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All content copyright of Anthem Publishing Ltd 2016, all rights reserved. While we make every effort to ensure that the factual content of Classic Pop magazine is correct, we cannot take any responsibility nor be held accountable for any factual errors printed. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or resold without prior consent of Anthem Publishing Ltd. Classic Pop recognises all copyrights contained within the issue. Where possible, we acknowledge the copyright holder.

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THEY HAD A DREAM 6 Long before they became a household fixture, here’s how Sweden’s musical equivalent of IKEA was slowly assembled ALBUM INSIGHT: RING RING 12 ABBA were searching for their future sound on this debut, which nonetheless contains plenty of hints of the genius to come ALBUM INSIGHT: WATERLOO 14 The title track is a classic; the rest is a work-in-progress on this second ABBA LP BRIGHTON ROCK 16 ABBA’s 1974 Eurovision Song Contest triumph was a launchpad for world domination and rescued the band from pop oblivion after a series of false starts

CLASSIC POP SUBSCRIPTIONS 22 Subscribe to Classic Pop magazine – save money and choose a free CD ALBUM INSIGHT: ABBA 24 With Mamma Mia and SOS , the ABBA we know and love was gradually coalescing THE AGONY OF THE ECSTASY 28 We have lift-off! ABBA’s incredible imperial phase between 1975 to 1980 is one of pop’s great success stories ALBUM INSIGHT: ARRIVAL 36 One of the all-time classic pop records, Arrival positively drips with joyful confidence and classy songwriting SUPER TROUPERS 40 ABBA loved the studio, but the whirlwind of their world tours was another matter entirely


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CONTENTS

120 ALBUM INSIGHT: THE ALBUM

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Classic tunes aplenty, as ABBA’s songwriting and production became more ambitious DVD INSIGHT: ABBA THE MOVIE 50

Shot in 1977 on the band’s Australian tour, ABBA The Movie offers a precious insight

ALBUM INSIGHT: THE VISITORS

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WHEN ALL IS SAID AND DONE

The members’ various post-ABBA solo careers

THE GALLERY

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SUBSCRIPTIONS

Some classic shots from the band’s history

ON AND ON AND ON!

ALBUM INSIGHT: VOULEZ-VOUZ 52

TOP 40 ABBA SIZZLERS!

ABBA immersed themselves in funk and disco and headed for the dancefloor with this glittering disco ball of an album

A chronological look at an astonishing legacy

A look at Mamma Mia! , one of the most successful musicals of all time

ALBUM INSIGHT: SUPER TROUPER

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A LITTLE RESPECT

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Paul Lester talks to Erasure’s Andy Bell about the band’s chart-topping ABBA-esque EP ABBA RELOADED

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Tinged with turmoil, but this sixth album still seemed part of a neverending success story

David Burke spins some covers of ABBA’s music from a diverse range of artists

BITTER SWEDE SYMPHONIES

THE WINNER FAKES IT ALL

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When the inevitable end came for the band, it was with more of a whimper than a bang

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ABBA’s swansong is an introspective personal album, filtered through the prism of great pop

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Even today, ABBA tribute acts continue to pack out concert venues around the world

THANK YOU FOR THE MUSEUM

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Join us for a guided tour of Stockholm’s ABBA The Museum visitor attraction ONCE MORE WITH FEELING

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Unfortunately for ABBA fans, a reunion remains as remote a prospect as ever CLASSIC POP MOMENTS

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When Kylie Minogue met Benny 5

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THEY HAD ABBA WEREN’T ALWAYS GLOBAL SUPERSTARS AND CHART REGULARS… INDEED, THEY HAD A LONG, LONG STRETCH BEFORE THEY WERE FAMOUS. HERE, WE DELVE INTO THE ORIGINS AND FORMATION OF SWEDEN’S BIGGEST-EVER MUSICAL EXPORT P A U L

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Björn with The Hootenanny Singers on German TV in 1966 Facing page: Pre-ABBA

Benny performing with the Hep Stars

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but most of her biggest hits were self-composed. She released four solo LPs between 1968 and 1971. Then, in 1972, the versatile performer won the role as Mary Magdalene in the Swedish production of the international hit musical Jesus Christ Superstar . Five years older than her female ABBA singing partner, Anni-Frid Lyngstad was born in Norway to a Norwegian mother and German soldier father. She was brought up in Sweden by her maternal grandmother, following her mother’s death aged just 21. Like Fältskog, she evinced an early propensity for music, getting a job as a dance band and schlager singer when she was 13, with the Evald Eks Orchestra. She teamed up with a jazz-based 15-piece ‘big band’, performing music by the likes of Glenn Miller, Duke Ellington and Count Basie, her singing style influenced by Ella Fitzgerald and Peggy Lee. In 1963, she formed her own band, the Anni-Frid Four, and in 1967, she won a national talent competition that led to a record contract with EMI Sweden and her first single for the company, En Ledig Dag (On Vacation). It was while performing the song on national TV that she encountered Fältskog for the first time. Lyngstad spent 1968 touring Sweden and the following year took part in the Swedish heats for the s e Eurovision Song Contest with the song Härlig Är Vår g a m I Jord (Our Earth Is Wonderful), finishing fourth. y t t e G So much for the girls. The boys weren’t exactly © sitting around idly on their hands in those pre-ABBA years either. Björn Kristian Ulvaeus (born 1945) made his name with Swedish folkies the West Bay t’s strange to imagine, but ABBA had a past, a Singers, a bunch of clean-cut band modelled on pre-history. They might have looked, on that fateful night in 1974 when Brighton hosted that year’s The Kingston Trio who changed their name to The Hootenanny Singers and became enormously popular Eurovision, like the quintessence of 70s Euro glam – Frida with her bizarre bubble perm, Agnetha in her in Scandinavia. Ulvaeus began penning Englishsatin blue pants and silver stack heels, Björn with his language songs for the group, and even enjoyed a sci-fi guitar and Benny with his, well, beard – yet they brief solo career at the same time. began life in the murky, monochrome 60s. It was while on the road with The Hootenanny Singers that he made the acquaintance of another Agnetha Åse Fältskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad were no simpering blonde and brunette mannequins young Swedish musician, Benny Andersson (born whose contribution to ABBA was purely decorative. 1946), who, after graduating from high school, had been invited to join the Hep Stars, a popular beat In fact, Fältskog took the opportunity early on to set the record straight. “The myth is that Frida and I were combo with a massive teenage-girl fanbase – not for nothing were they known as ‘the Swedish Beatles’. there as a front for Björn and Benny’s music,” she averred. “But the truth of the matter is that we were Andersson – a self-taught pianist with a wide-ranging the people that could bring over precisely what they love of traditional European music and American rock’n’roll – didn’t just play keyboards, he wrote couldn’t do with their previous bands.” And there was plenty of ‘previous’ – bands or many of the Hep Stars’ songs, including the hits No Response (No. 3 in 1965), Sunny Girl , Wedding and otherwise. Born in 1950, Fältskog showed an early proclivity for songwriting, penning her first tune aged Consolation, all No. 1s in 1966. six. By 1960, she was part of a musical trio, The Ulvaeus and Andersson discovered a mutual love of songwriting, one that they soon put into practice, Cambers, who played local concerts in Jönköping, Sweden. She left school at 15 to pursue a musical creating their first joint composition: a song entitled career, achieving some degree of notoriety in the Isn’t It Easy To Say , which they gave to the Hep press after writing a precocious little number – Jag Var Stars. There were further forays into the recording studio, and more joint compositi ons: Fröken Blåklint Så Kär (I Was So In Love) – about breaking up with (A Flower In My Garden), also recorded by the Hep her boyfriend. Within a year, she had signed a deal with CBS before, towards the end of 1967, issuing Stars, and 1968’s Ljuva Sextital (Sweet Sixties), which was submitted for the 1969 Swedish heats of Jag Var Så Kär as her debut solo single. It topped the Eurovision Song Contest but was rejected. It was the Swedish chart in January 1968 and sold more than 80,000 copies. She enjoyed continued success followed by 1969’s Speleman (Fiddler) for the Hep Stars. They closed the decade by recording their throughout the late 60s, with songs written for the Swedish preliminary of the Eurovision Song Contest, first single as a duo: She’s My Kind Of Girl , which and another – Zigenarvän – about falling in love with became a minor hit in Sweden. It was around this time, while filming a TV special a gypsy. There were further successes at the turn of the devoted to schlager music in March 1969, that Ulvaeus met Fältskog. Mere weeks earlier, Andersson decade, with the single Om Tårar Vore Guld (If Tears had met Lyngstad. And so four became two (pairs): Were Gold). She recorded covers of foreign hits and performed them on tours in Swedish folkparks, Björn and Agnetha married in July 1971, while Benny

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and Anna-Frid eventually tied the knot in 1978. The two couples soon found themselves working together in various permutations. As The Hootenanny Singers and the Hep Stars began to wind down in 1969, Andersson and Ulvaeus joined forces to record their first album, Lycka (Happiness), which included original songs sung by both Benny and Björn. Their other halves were often present in the recording studio, and sometimes added backing vocals, Fältskog even contributing to the writing. Lycka was, in many ways, the genesis of ABBA, although it was a more dour affair than the latter’s early bubblegum pop, with a stark brown cover and an overall seriousness of tone. Andersson, meanwhile, produced Lyngstad’s single Peter Pan in September 1969 – it was her first collaboration with Andersson and Ulvaeus, who wrote the song. Andersson proceeded to produce her 1971 debut album, Frida, and she had her first chart-topper with Min Egen Stad (My Own Town) , which also happened to feature all four future members of ABBA on backing vocals. Lyngstad had another Swedish No. 1 in 1972 with Man Vill Ju Leva Lite Dessemellan (One Wants To Live A Little From Time To Time) . But it was back in 1970 that the quartet made their first serious attempt to pool their talents in public. It was serious and yet simultaneously comical, because that was the year the two couples decided to holiday together in Cyprus. They gave an impromptu performance in front of UN soldiers stationed on the island. This gave them the idea to launch a cabaretstyle revue, under the delightful soubriquet Festfolket (Swedish for Party People).

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The first date for their first joint live sortie was 1 November 1970, in Gothenburg. In a posh restaurant, they delivered a series of skits and comic ditties, plus the occasional solo number, to virtual stony silence. On that first night, there were apparently just a few embarrassed couples seated at tables. By the end of the week, there were more people onstage than in the audience. Ulvaeus later cringed: “It was the lowest ebb of my career. Of all our careers. Terrible, terrible.”

The two couples went on holiday together to Cyprus, and gave an impromptu performance in front of UN soldiers stationed on the island. This gave them the idea to launch a cabaret-style revue, under the delightful soubriquet Festfolket (Swedish for Party People) The lukewarm reaction convinced them to momentarily shelve further collaborations, and each focused on individual projects again. Ulvaeus and Andersson had a No. 5 Swedish hit with Hej, Gamle Man (Hello, Old Man) , a song about an old Salvation Army soldier with a country and western tinge. But in 1971, the four conspicuously began adding vocals to each others’ recordings. That May, Fältskog, Andersson and Ulvaeus toured together while Lyngstad toured on her own. After 1970’s Lycka, two further singles credited to Björn & Benny were released in Sweden, each with considerable vocal contributions from their respective partners: Det Kan


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Anni-Frid and Agnetha sign copies of their third album, ABBA , in Copenhagen

Ingen Doktor Hjälpa (No Doctor Can Help With That) and Tänk Om Jorden Vore Ung (Imagine If The Earth Were Young). By mid-’71, the foursome was a regular attraction at Sweden’s folkparks. Andersson and Ulvaeus made several attempts to break into the mainstream international market via the Eurovision Song Contest. They had two entries rejected in 1971, but the following year their composition, Säg Det Med En Sång (Say It With A Song), sung by new arrival Lena Anderson, came in third and became a hit in Sweden. They had further success abroad when their single She’s My Kind Of Girl gave the (male) duo a Top 10 hit in Japan.

The foursome, still labouring under the unwieldy name of Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid, began to be referred to by their manager, in the hope that it would catch on, as ABBA – from the initials of their four first names (also a well-known fish-canning company in Sweden) Their first chart success as a four-piece, though, was 1972’s People Need Love , featuring vocals from Fältskog and Lyngstad and credited to Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid. A period stomper, it peaked at No. 17 in Sweden and saw them make their chart debut in the States. The four future ABBA-ites began work on their first album together in autumn 1972. Agnetha and Anna-Frid shared lead vocals on the track Nina, Pretty Ballerina, thereby introducing to the world that unique harmonised combination of soprano (Fältskog) and mezzo-soprano (Lyngstad). Elsewhere on the debut album – titled Ring Ring and recorded between March 1972 and March 1973 at Metronome, Europafilm and KMH Studios in Stockholm, Sweden – there were such Europop novelties as Love Isn’t Easy (But It Sure Is Hard 10

Enough) and Me And Bobby And Bobby’s Brother . But there were also early signs of Andersson and Ulvaeus’ pop savvy in the title track, while Fältskog’s composition Disillusion was an intimation of the melancholy, haunting ABBApop to come. The album – with its Spector-esque production – was well-received in Sweden and Ring Ring the single was a hit in many parts of Europe as well as South Africa. And yet the group, and manager Stig Anderson, were anxious to achieve wider recognition in Britain and America. Meanwhile, the foursome, still labouring under the unwieldy name of Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid, began to be referred to by their manager, in the hope that it would catch on, as ABBA – from the initials of their four first names (also a well-known fish-canning company in Sweden). A competition to find a name for the group ran in a Gothenburg newspaper and it was officially announced in the summer they’d be known as ABBA, having negotiated with the fish-canners for the rights. Perhaps viewing Ring Ring as the Eurovision winner that should have been (especially considering that English lyrics for the UK version of the song had been provided by none other than Neil Sedaka and Phil Cody), Stig Anderson encouraged the nascent ABBA to come up with another song, this time for the forthcoming 1974 contest. And so it was that ABBA found themselves, in late 1973, invited by Swedish television to contribute a song for the country’s pre-selection contest, Melodifestivalen 1974. With their relative ‘failure’ the year before, when Ring Ring had only reached third in the Melodifestivalen, they tentatively proffered a slew of new songs. From this selection, a thrilling, surging number with a euphoric chorus was chosen. Its title? Waterloo . ABBA won their national heats on Swedish television on 9 February 1974. Suddenly, they were heading for the Eurovision finals. Their next stop: Brighton.

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A L B U M

INSIGHT RING RING 1 9 7 3

BROUGHT TOGETHER BY EUROVISION, ABBA WEREN’T EVEN ABBA WHEN THEY RELEASED THEIR DEBUT – A GENRE-CROSSING CURIOSITY THAT NONETHELESS OFFERS HINTS OF WHAT LAY AHEAD… W Y N D H A M

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very day in the morning on her way to the office, you can see as she catches a train,” the ladies sing. “Just a face among a million faces, just another woman with no name.” Anyone hearing this song upon its release would, in fact, have known the singers: their names were printed on the cover, in the kind of typeface beloved of the era, against a photo like one you’d post on Facebook “ after going through your parents’ cupboards. But, nonetheless, with their centre partings and everyday grins, each might indeed be “not the girl you’d remember, but she’s still something special”, and even if you didn’t immediately recognise their extraordinary talent: “If you knew her I am sure you’d agree, ’cause I know she’s got a little secret.” And that secret, the one that makes her so special? Well, that’s easy: “Friday evening she turns out to be… Nina, pretty ballerina.” It’s a transformation that ABBA were yet to mirror, but the metaphor was nonetheless clairvoyant. Originally credited to Björn Benny & Agnetha Frida, Ring Ring (from which those lyrics come), came about after songwriters Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus – known imaginatively as Benny & Björn, and already successful within their homeland – invited their respective partners to record a one-off single on which they’d be given equal credit. Though People Need Love , the resulting release wasn’t the most promising start to their career, it sounded like a distant cousin of the ABBA we’d come to love. Beginning with a crunching guitar chord, that inauspicious seven-inch – which immediately leapt into a well-intentioned but banal chorus that observes how “People need hope, people need loving/People need trust from a fellow man” – was much like its cover, which showed them in the kind of bandstand pavilion in which they often played. It was

THE DETAILS

also like the line that soon followed: “Women always knew that it takes a man to get matrimonial harmony”. In other words, it was a slightly clumsy product of its time, reminding one uncomfortably of how The Wurzels would soon get to No. 1 parodying Melanie’s dreadful Brand New Key , and how

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TRACKLISTING

1. Ring Ring (Bara Du Slog En Signal) (Swedish version) 2. Another Town, Another Train 3. Disillusion 4. People Need Love 5. I Saw It In The Mirror 6. Nina, Pretty Ballerina 7. Love Isn’t Easy (But It Sure Is Hard Enough) 8. Me And Bobby And Bobby’s Brother 9. He Is Your Brother 10. Ring Ring (English version) 11. I Am Just A Girl 12. Rock ’N’ Roll Band its exuberant, unforgettable chorus. Best of all are its production, a low-budget but rewarding attempt to mimic Phil Spector’s Wall Of Sound, and that short but memorable bridge – “And I sit all alone impatiently/Won’t you please understand the need in me?” – which hints at their impending, supernatural

[The song] Ring Ring, which boasts lyrical input by Neil Sedaka and his writing partner Phil Cody, still stands as one of ABBA’s masterstrokes – from its effervescent opening to its exuberant and unforgettable chorus Eurovision once represented the height of pop music’s ambitions. It did, however, boast a melody that burrowed its way into your skull. It was actually Eurovision that provided added incentive for the quartet to continue after what turned out to be a Top 20 hit. Andersson and Ulvaeus were invited to pitch for Sweden’s 1973 entry, and Ring Ring – with lyrical input by Neil Sedaka and writing partner Phil Cody – was the outcome. It still stands as one of ABBA’s masterstrokes, from its effervescent opening, which carves a circle in the air appropriate to the title, to

combination of exhilaration and despondency. Sadly, most of Ring Ring – only released in the UK almost 20 years later – promises “something special”, but little more. Another Town, Another Train is elegantly constructed, more so than its lyrics about a restless lover – “You and I had a groovy time/But I told you somewhere down the line/You would have to find me gone” – and its flutes add a certain soft-focus sophistication. Disillusion – ABBA’s only studio recording to feature a writing credit for Agnetha Fältskog – is an insipid ballad, but its intriguing

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PERSONNEL

Benny Andersson Keyboards, vocals, backing vocals Agnetha Fältskog Vocals, backing vocals Anni-Frid Lyngstad Vocals, backing vocals Björn Ulvaeus Acoustic guitar, electric guitar, vocals ADDITIONAL MUSICIANS

Ola Brunkert Drums Rutger Gunnarsson Electric bass Roger Palm Drums Janne Schaffer Acoustic guitar, electric guitar Mike Watson Electric bass PRODUCTION

Benny Andersson; Björn Ulvaeus Producers, arrangers

melodic twists suggest a fondness for the then-recently reunited Bee Gees, as does I Saw It In The Mirror . Love Isn’t Easy (But It Sure Is Hard Enough), meanwhile, leans gently on country rock, but offers glimpses of their soon-to-be trademark, unexpectedly soaring melodic moments, and the admirably complex He Is Your Brother showcases inventive guitar licks. Nevertheless, Me And Bobby And Bobby’s Brother and the bittersweet candyfloss of I Am Just A Girl sound exactly like the kind of songs Eurovision would rightly reject, while the 60s Carnaby Street flavourings of She’s My Kind Of Girl and the soft-rock posturing of Rock ’N’ Roll Band seem strangely out of place. Fortunately, buried halfway into the album is another hint of the genius to come, our once anonymous office girl, Nina, Pretty Ballerina. Saccharine – but irresistibly so – the song boasts all the qualities of its protagonist and looks into a future where, like her, the band, too, would be “the queen of the dancing floor”. Ring Ring was to remain a secret for a long time outside Sweden, but the same could not be said of ABBA, nor their debut’s few – but vital – future classics. 13

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INSIGHT WATERLOO 1 9 7 4

ITS TITLE TRACK STANDS AS A POP MASTERPIECE, AND THE RATIO OF KILLER TO FILLER HAS IMPROVED, BUT ABBA’S SECOND ALBUM IS STILL AS PREPOSTEROUS AS IT IS PLEASING… W Y N D H A M

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BBA may have Anni-Frid Lyngstad TRACKLISTING been connoisseurs 1. Waterloo (English version) Vocals of outstanding Björn Ulvaeus melodies, but their Acoustic guitar, electric guitar, vocals 2. Sitting In The Palmtree lyrics – despite input from 3. King Kong Song ADDITIONAL manager Stig Anderson, a MUSICIANS prolific songwriter himself 4. Hasta Mañana Ola Brunkert – sometimes left something 5. My Mama Said Drums to be desired. Their second Christer Eklund – Tenor saxophone album is a goldmine of 6. Dance (While The Music on Waterloo linguistic misdemeanours, Still Goes On) Malando Gassama with evidence right off the Percussion, conga on Sitting In 7. Honey Honey bat: Waterloo may begin with The Palmtree that thrillingly simple, instantly 8. Watch Out Rutger Gunnarsson – Bass recognisable riff, but those Per Sahlberg – Bass on Dance (While 9. What About Livingston? opening lyrics – “My My/ The Music Still Goes On) 10. Gonna Sing You At Waterloo Napoleon did Janne Schaffer – Guitar surrender/ Oh yeah/ And I My Lovesong Sven-Olof Walldoff have met my destiny in quite a String arrangement on Honey, Honey 11. Suzy-Hang-Around similar way” – are written in a John ‘Rabbit’ Bundrick – peculiar hybrid of archaic and PERSONNEL Keyboards on Dance (While The Music Still second-language English that Benny Andersson Goes On) (not credited on album) can’t help but make visions of Piano, keyboards, vocals, Moog PRODUCTION synthesiser, Mellotron, clavinet, lead people singing along that little Benny Andersson vocals on Suzy-Hang-Around bit more ridiculous. & Björn Ulvaeus Agnetha Fältskog Matters don’t improve as Producers Vocals the album proceeds: the wild rhymes of King Kong Song (“What a dreadful mighty killer/ A big black ape impersonations in the for 1973’s Eurovision Song the pleasure. Honey Honey , chorus, is less Alice Cooper wild gorilla”); the clumsily Contest in favour of Nova meanwhile – the album’s and more Rocky Horror – and second single – is so sweet rebellious vernacular of My And The Dolls – who finished Mama Said (“Ooh, my mama a poor 12th – Sweden at Hasta Mañana, the tune the and close to pastiche it could group rejected for Eurovision said, ‘Look at this, you haven’t selected ABBA the following have been recorded by a in favour of Waterloo ). done your bed’”); and the year, and Waterloo secured Japanese tribute girl group. downright creepy, romantic Fortunately, the album then the prize. Whether these are pigheadedness of Watch compensation for the rock Out (“Anywhere you go I’ll histrionics of stalker anthem Watch Out – another Rocky find you/ Watch out/ I’ll be There’s no wonder the title track Horror moment – and the staying close behind you”). That’s not to mention Sitting In unduly saccharine schlager of propelled them to international fame… The Palmtree , which concerns What About Livingstone? is But nonetheless, the album Waterloo a gentleman roosting with the questionable. Either way, coconuts while monitoring they’re easily forgotten, represents a band that aren’t quite playing his true love’s window – because the album’s finale is to their strengths, and who haven’t wholly so remarkable: Gonna Sing always a controversial You My Lovesong, a heartfelt seduction method – and the identified their sound charmingly literal What if morally questionable plea About Livingstone , which for a man to abandon his uses the explorer’s deeds to partner in favour of the song’s justify space travel. delivers three slices of near Nonetheless, Waterloo the protagonist, boasts a defiantly perfection. My Mama Said But then there’s the title album presents a band that uplifting chorus, while Suzy-Hang-Around – a rich, track. Sure, Waterloo seems may be lyrically laughable – aren’t quite playing to their to dwell, as a number how can anyone not snigger strengths, and who haven’t harpsichord-fuelled, baroque at “My mama said, ‘I know of ABBA’s songs do, on pop gem that’s so different to wholly identified their sound. now (hopefully) outmoded This is clear from the moment you’ve been out again with the rest of the album it could Fred’”? – but Janne Schaffer’s almost be Big Star – brings relationship structures – in the faux calypso sounds of this case a woman forced to jazzy guitar, and some Sitting In The Palmtree get things to an unexpectedly concede to the strength of her underway: though it’s blessed wonderfully funky basslines, psychedelic close. Its lyrics make this a precursor to the conquering man’s feelings – with their trademark hooks may focus bizarrely on the but there’s an irrefutable joy disco sound they’d explore and so sprightly it’s almost cruel rejection by older boys more fully later. Dance (While of a young girl in a school in that mid-chorus couplet weightless, the air of novelty (“So how could I ever playground, but – as we’ve holiday hit that envelopes it is The Music Still Goes On) refuse?/ I feel like I win when impossible to ignore. pushes the oddly lisping by now established – who’s males to the front, but a I lose”) that perfectly matches One could also level the here for the words? We’re the song’s breathless, racing glorious melancholy emerges ‘gimmick’ accusation at King here for the sentiment, and each time the ladies get to pace. No wonder it propelled Kong Song – once known ABBA were getting closer and them to international fame: the mic, and that hackneyed ever better at capturing and as Mr. Sex , this glam-pop having passed on Ring Ring key change merely prolongs number, with what sound like articulating that.

THE DETAILS

15

BRIGHTON

ROCK WITH THEIR FUTURE ON THE LINE, THE 1974 EUROVISION SONG CONTEST WAS MAKE OR BREAK FOR ABBA. SIMON GODDARD LOOKS AT HOW THEIR WINNING SONG, WATERLOO , AT THE UK-STAGED EVENT RESCUED THEM FROM POP OBLIVION X X X X X X X X X X X X

16


Swedes have a saying. “Smaken är som baken: delad.” Taste is like the backside: divided. A proverb proven on a national scale on 10 February 1973, the night of the annual televised Melodifestivalen, when Sweden got to choose its contender for that year’s Eurovision Song Contest from a shortlist of 10. On one side, the judging panel of regional critics, between them picking male duo Malta and their ballad You’re Summer – with its bizarre likening of a

THE

lover’s bosom to “swallows in nesting”; on the other, the Swedish public, who much preferred the tune which finished third: a song about a telephone with a catchy doo-wop-ish riff not unlike Elvis’ Don’t Be Cruel , played by a dicky-bowed guitarist and pianist and their respective trilling other halves; one a demure redhead in a fetching mustard-yellow two-piece; the other, a conspicuously pregnant silvery blonde seemingly moments from breaking water. 17

D U E AR V O I D V I B S O I O W NI E

ABBA’s incredibly 70s costumes for Waterloo , designed by Inger Svenneke


e e l b k a a r t e o n t e e v t e o v h t c f i l o b n u o p y r i t a t o a s r n i b o h e w s l e ’ c o n o o i l y i r r t t e a t e s a p r e m v W i s o n ’ c n a e a b h t h t b n 0 A i 5 – g e t s n h t e o t s t – n o s 5 C e 0 b f 0 g o 2 n o e n S d I a n l P i o o U s c i _ c P v o a O r u e P E h t

18

no longer a matter of national pride, nor musical Two months later, come the 1973 Eurovision finals excellence. This was their entire future at stake on one in Luxembourg on 7 April, the folly of the Swedish judges’ selection was writ large. It wasn’t just the three-minute pop song. This was WAR . 10 months, one birth (Agnetha and Björn’s disappointment that Malta (renamed Nova for the contest to avoid confusion with the island republic) daughter, Linda) and an official name-change later, in December 1973, ABBA were working on came fifth. There was the added humiliation of that the follow-up album to Ring Ring at Stockholm’s week’s Kvällstoppen, Sweden’s national pop chart, which then mixed albums and singles together. At Metronome Studios when they received the invitation they’d been waiting for. An offer to, once again, No. 1: the snubbed telephone song. At No. 2: the submit a song for next year’s Melodifestivalen and same snubbed telephone song sung in English. And at No. 3: its eponymous parent album. In terms of potentially qualify for the 1974 Eurovision finals. In terms of vibrant melodic pop, Björn and Benny’s musical taste, the judges had, indeed, made an arse of it as the record-buying public so harshly reminded best plan of attack was a tune which, not unlike Ring Ring, gazed fondly them: if only they’d across the North chosen Ring Ring by ‘Björn & Benny, to the stomp BJÖRN AND BENNY GAZED FONDLY Sea and glitter of Agnetha & Frida’ For the band British glam, which ACROSS THE NORTH SEA TO THE was then in its soon to be rebranded ABBA, STOMP AND GLITTER OF BRITISH GLAM dying twilight with it was a bittersweet the super-yobbery of Slade and the revenge. While Ring Ring turned the nascent alliance – all veterans sleigh-bell boogie of Wizzard. With lyrics then the responsibility of manager Stig of Swedish folk and rock’n’roll – into stars at home, it Anderson, his original title choice to fit its three-note missed its main objective. The endgame was always Eurovision. Not for the prestige of being the first chorus hook was to steal that of The Beatles’ earlier Honey Pie from 1968. Until, as ABBA-lore has it, act to bring the trophy home to Sweden, but for the he randomly stumbled upon a better alternative bigger prize of international exposure, a chance to browsing through a book of old proverbs and famous be seen and heard by millions of TV viewers outside quotations: “Wat-er-loo.” Scandinavia. For a foreign band such as ABBA in 1973, being part of the Eurovision Song Contest was It’s nevertheless tempting to wonder if other contemporary early 70s influences helped steer exactly like being on The X Factor . A fast-track means Anderson’s pen towards the Belgian battlefields to an end to become, just maybe, the biggest pop group in the world. And with Ring Ring, they’d been of 1815: the 1970 blockbuster Waterloo Dino De Laurentiis’ dramatisation starring Rod Steiger as swindled at the first hurdle. But the Swedes have another saying. “Av skadan Bonaparte; or possibly The Bee Gees, who had already beaten the Swedes to making unlikely poetic blir man vis.” Injury makes you wise. With the public pop themed around Napoleonic warfare on 1971’s firmly behind them there was nothing to stop ABBA trying again. Only the next time, they’d plan, prepare Trafalgar album and its closing powerhouse ballad, Walking Back To Waterloo . and execute with military precision. For this was


April Fool’s Day, 1974 – the Rolls Royce of Euro pop perched on the bonnet of a classy automobile

19

E U R O V I S I O N

“I WAS DEFEATED!” HOW THE RUNNERS-UP OF ’74 FARED AFTER EUROVISION GIGLIOA CINQUETTI

OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN

Italy’s first Eurovision winner at the age of 17 with 1964’sNon Ho L’Eta (I’m Not Old Enough) , Cinquetti was a favourite to win again 10 years later, only for ABBA to knock her into second place. For political reasons, her entry Si (Yes) was censored in her native Italy, where viewers were prohibited from seeing her performance for fear its sentiment would affect the “yes” vote in their referendum on legalising divorce. Swapping singing for broadcasting, she later returned as Eurovision co-host in 1991 and today anchors a current affairs show on Italian TV.

The Cambridge-born, Australia-raised chart star with several UK hits to her name was favourite to follow Sandie Shaw and Lulu to a third British Euro-victory, only to reach joint fourth. Her public criticism of Long Live Love led to a media backlash, her career not recovering in the UK until 1977’s Top 10 Sam before the killer combination of the Rydell High Shake Shack and a sew-in pair of black skintight pedal-pushers made hers the most-celebrated rear in 70s pop after Agnetha’s. Still touring today, in 2013 she sang Long Live Love “for fun” during her show at Brighton Centre.

MOUTH & MACNEAL

ABBA’s Eurovision nemeses were the Dutch duo who’d already enjoyed international success with 1972’sHow Do You Do . It wasn’t Maggie MacNeal, but her boorish bear-sized partner Willem ‘Mouth’ Duyn, who made enemies of the placid Swedes at a party in Brighton on the eve of the contest, boasting he was going to win before manhandling Agnetha. Critics further blamed Duyn’s irritating clownish performance on the night as the reason they came third. MacNeal returned to represent the Netherlands as a solo artist in 1990, coming fifth. Sadly, Duyn died of a heart attack in 2004, at the age of 67.

es a g m I y e tt G ©

“MY, MY!”: THE HIT VS THE HISTORY How factually accurate is ABBA’s Waterloo ? Not very, according to pedants and scholars of the famous battle of 18 June 1815. Contrary to its opening line, Napoleon didn’t “surrender” to the British until a month after Waterloo, while trying to flee to America. More damaging still to ABBA’s handling of the facts are territorial claims the battle itself was misnamed.

While The Duke Of Wellington did indeed file his post-match report from the Belgian town of Waterloo, the real bloodbath took place a few miles away, near a completely different village. It was a blessing that nobody told ABBA in 1974, however, else they may have risked ‘nil points’ with the clumsily titled abomination Braine-l’Alleude .


Whatever Anderson’s muse, as a title, Waterloo not only supplied a playful lyrical metaphor for romantic conquest, but also increased his charges’ sense of purpose – their assault on Eurovision now a literal one of historically epic proportions. Without considering, as one sneering critic put it, the gall of a pop song “about how 40,000 people died”, the nerve to pick a tune which, in its headbanging rhythmic punch, upset all established Eurovision conventions of easy listening, wasn’t lost on ABBA. As a cautious Plan B, they’d considered entering the infinitely safer Hasta Mañana. “We took a chance, knowing [Waterloo ] was going to be different from all the others,” Björn later admitted. “It was riskier.” Anderson, too, was prepared to stake his life on the song. “You can kill me afterwards,” he promised them, “if it all goes wrong.” While the men bunkered in the studio drilling the music into a Spectorish thump of double-tracked instruments, even thickening the tape reels with additional sellotape to lend the backing its magical glam ‘wobble’, it was the fashionable Frida, a former trainee seamstress, who found them the perfect battle dress in the window of Green Clouds & Blue Grass, a Stockholm clothing boutique run by young designer Inger Svenneke. “A jacket with chains and sequins,” Frida recalled. “It looked really butch.” After taking Agnetha to Svenneke’s shop for a first approval, Frida then showed Björn and Benny who had to agree the kitsch blouson complemented their new sound: sparkly, colourful, futuristic and ever so slightly camp. Commissioned to create four bespoke Waterloo costumes, Svenneke kitted them in a similar vein: silver wrestling boots, fluted flaps, chains, epaulettes, a star-spangled knitted skull cap and the sexiest pair of blue satin knickerbockers in the histor y of cloth. As Björn later reflected, if nothing else, the public would have to remember ABBA for their wardrobe. “Even if we finished ninth.” Almost a year to the day of their previous rejection, on 9 February, ABBA unveiled Waterloo in all its glam-jive pomp and sequined splendour at the 1974 Melodifestivalen. Bounding on stage after a Cilla Black-lookalike chirruping about the speaking clock (“Ticke-ticke-tack!”), in absurd sight and astonishing sound, they not only obliterated but antiquated all tired and trivial competition, from first phonetic “Yoo, yoo!” (its original Swedish “My, my!”) to last platformheeled boot shake. Winning by a landslide, just shy of a 100 point margin, the Swedish flag was now theirs to flap at the Eurovision finals – something of an inconvenience to the secretly pessimistic Björn, who’d foolishly bet one of their backing singers they’d lose, offering up his Svenneke silver boots as a wager. We have the strapped Luxembourg economy to thank for the fact that ABBA’s Eurovision showdown took place in Britain. Consecutive winners two years in a row, after Luxembourg hosted in 1973, they declined the honour to stage it again for financial reasons. As a substitute, Sir Charles Curran, then President of the European Broadcasting Union and Director General of the BBC, suggested the UK, already proven hosts, choosing the Brighton Dome as a scenic change from London. Of the 17 finalists, Britain were joint bookies’ favourites with Anglo-Aussie golden girl Olivia Newton-John; hers the burden of Long Live Love ,

E A R L Y

1 9 7 0 s


to split. First on the ’phone was Finland, giving half a happy-clapping propaganda anthem for the Salvation Army set to a dismal oompah. The their marks to neighbouring Sweden, handing ABBA an immediate five-point advantage. Though Italy, the Netherlands were also tipped for victory with I See Netherlands and the UK sometimes looked in danger A Star by Mouth & MacNeal. Elsewhere on the bill was Monaco’s answer to Des O’Connor, a tuxedoed of overtaking, ABBA never dropped their lead despite five countries not awarding them anything (shamefully, Spaniard with sideburns the size of the Costa del Britain included). Whether they owed it to the quality Sol; a Belgian crooner with equilateral collars big enough to trouble air-traffic control; a sad Yugoslavian and power of their music or those mesmerising knickerbockers, it was mission accomplished: ABBA tune played by five hairy men in Showaddywaddy’s hand-me-downs and many a coiffured lungsmith in a were Eurovision winners. Or rather Waterloo was. The grand prix being for frumpy frock – Olivia’s fire-hazard nightie included. the song, not the singers, technically, it was Björn, In a week when Slade and The Glitter Band were rubbing bovver boots in the UK Top 10, ABBA were Benny and Stig Anderson’s night – or should’ve been, had the presentation not dissolved into farce. the only Eurovision act looking and sounding like they belonged in 1974: Björn sporting a new spiky The following Wednesday, 10 April, the triumphant quartet prestarburst guitar for recorded their the occasion, while WHETHER THEY OWED IT TO THEIR Agnetha swapped debut Top Of The Pops, Agnetha the black knee MUSIC OR THOSE MESMERISING boots she’d worn battling a cold which almost at Melodifestivalen KNICKERBOCKERS, ABBA WERE jeopardised their for matching space-rocket silver appearance when EUROVISION WINNERS Musicians’ Union models. Even orchestra conductor Sven-Olof Walldoff entered the rules stipulated she wasn’t allowed to mime. By the first week of May, Waterloo was UK No. 1, a feat spirit of high camp, taking to the podium dressed as they’d repeat in nine other countries. “The world was Napoleon. Against the chicken-in-a-basket cabaret couture of their rivals, ABBA may as well have been opened to us,” Björn told Billboard magazine 25 years later. that year’s entry from Betelgeuse. For the intrusive On 6 April 1974, the world prised apart for cameramen and BBC commentator David Vine, it was definitely all about one alien – “The blonde Viking.” ABBA. But though they’d won the battle, the war to conquer 70s pop was a different story. Their initial By the first chorus, the screen was flashing reverse angles of Agnetha’s wriggling gluteus maximus. “If UK follow-up singles, a remixed Ring Ring and So Long, both flopped. Desperation finally set in when all the judges were men, which they’re not, I’m sure August 1975’s I Do I Do I Do I Do I Do peaked at a they’d get a lot of votes,” nudge-nudged Vine to the chuckles of feminists nowhere. miserable No. 38. “A very difficult period,” mourned Björn. “Everyone Drawing the eighth slot in the bill, after an ecstatic reception inside the Brighton Dome, ABBA had to had decided we were a one-hit wonder because we came from Eurovision.” One year after the conquest wait a long, nervous hour before host Katie Boyle, of Waterloo , ABBA now faced permanent defeat. It looking unnervingly like Margaret Thatcher in a feathery nightgown, began calling in the votes, each was going to take a very special distress signal to save them… country with 10 points to cast, however they chose

ABBA and some of their fellow 1974 Eurovision contestants, plus limelight-hogging Womble (centre)

s r e t i e r g w - d a o t s c r u s a n i o h g y , t d i n e r k a l u r c a r u w C e , s s s t i u e u l o s r l a r a e h e n C r n r z i i e d v l S s o a ’ n m a r b e o e t o f B n e k s i , h t n n a o m h t s r o r n e f e d e n n s o A i l e l g a b i t d o S e t e e m l i s r h i e h h W t w o P c e l U l n _ o e P c r O o e P t w

21


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A L B U M

INSIGHT ABBA 1 9 7 5

LYRICALLY DUBIOUS, MUSICALLY MUDDLED, ABBA’S THIRD ALBUM STILL PROVIDED THE GLOBAL BREAKTHROUGH HIT WHICH, TO THIS DAY, FLIES THE FLAG FOR THE SWEDISH QUARTET… W Y N D H A M

24

W A L L A C E

A B B A

I

f you’re of a certain age, you’ll remember how, at the height of ABBA’s fame, there were only two choices: you either loved or hated them. Dewy eyed nostalgia was still at least a decade away, there was little question of them being ‘kitsch’, and musicologists were yet to rescue them from tastemakers’ disapproval with unsolicited academic endorsements. There was no middle ground, and none of this ‘guilty pleasure’ nonsense. You made your choice and you stuck with it. None of this, however, applied in the spring of 1975, when their third, eponymous album hit the shelves. As an entity, it largely failed to elicit such powerful reactions, but then again, ABBA were still little more than one-hit Waterloo wonders. Honey Honey might have scraped the American Top 30 a year earlier, but it was deemed unworthy of release in the UK – a version was instead released by Sweet Dreams, which reached No. 10 – and its substitute single, Ring Ring, barely grazed the British charts. Indeed, a European tour in the winter of 1974 saw empty seats, and even cancelled shows. ABBA definitely helped change this – it certainly consolidated their position in Scandinavia and delivered two big hit singles in the UK – but America continued to remain out of reach. Even Britain was unconvinced, with the album stalling at No. 13. Listening to it now, 41 years on, it’s easy to see why. No amount of repackaging, remastering, re-evaluation and rehabilitation can change the fact that, amongst the 11 songs on the original album, the songwriting chops for which the band would later be recognised frequently fail to deliver the goods. There are, undeniably, tracks whose brilliance is immediate, but the future winners still weren’t ready to take it all. For the moment, let’s focus on the positive. Long before Mamma Mia was a movie of a musical, it was ABBA’s

A L B U M

I N S I G H T


The band backstage at a gig in Copenhagen in January 1975

opening tune – and their first truly worldwide hit – whose introduction remains, to this day, one of the most instantly identifiable of all time. That marimba riff – the one that rises after the first notes, against one’s expectations, instead of falling – and the guitar line that soon accompanies it can’t help but

piece of songcraft as one can hope to hear. That only the piano and marimba are left as they break into the chorus is an even more dazzling stroke of inspiration. It makes the full band’s return 15 seconds later something almost akin to the legendary techno ‘drop’. It’s a moment so rapturous

Long before Mamma Mia was a movie of a musical, it was ABBA’s opening tune – and their first truly worldwide hit – whose introduction, with its rising marimba riff remains, to this day, one of the most instantly identifiable of all time provoke a surge of pleasure, as does the cheeky staccato figure that bounces into focus at the end of the verse’s first two lines. Furthermore, the manner in which the verse changes shape as it builds towards the song’s chorus – “Look at me now,” the ladies sing (and how could we not at this point?) – before slipping effortlessly into that third segment (“Just one look and I can hear a bell ring”) is, quite simply, as accomplished a

that it completely distracts from the fact the song is in fact seemingly about a helpless woman trapped in an unhealthy relationship: “When you go/ When you slam the door/ I think you know that/ You won’t be away too long/ You know that I’m not that strong”. A little more more optimistic is I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do , which finds its protagonist begging her lover to give a relationship together a shot. A

memorably woozy saxophone opens the song, and the bells that chime throughout the background – as though it had been recorded with Christmas in mind – are further indicators of the music’s tremendous attention to detail. Even more outstanding is the album’s other big hit, SOS . This, too, boasts an impressive introduction, its notes descending down the piano, a beat casually skipped at the end of the opening musical phrase. A genuinely magically constructed tune, it goes on to flaunt an aching melody, giddy rushes back up the keyboard at the end of the verses, an impeccable chorus and a compelling tonal shift therein. Once again, however, its lyrics are problematic, especially when filed along others to be found here of a similar nature. In fact, given lines like “When you’re gone/ How can I even try to go on?”, one really has to wonder whether there were any strong women around Ulvaeus and Andersson at all. Their female subjects are repeatedly depicted as weak and dependent, and, if 25

A L B U M

I N S I G H T

this accusation seems a little harsh, consider other lines on the album. The apparently anti-feminist Hey, Hey Helen piles on the guilt for a woman who’s walked out of a relationship: “Is it worth the pain to see the children cry/ Does it hurt when they ask for daddy?” (In its defence, there’s a positive, albeit muted, response to the question “Can you make it alone?/ Yes, you can”). Man In The Middle , meanwhile, presents a wealthy 50-year-old man whose companion is “only 17”, and the song suggests troublingly that this is morally acceptable since she’s a gold digger: “She doesn’t care, and she never will/ If he’s 95 she don’t give a damn/ Just as long as he pays the bill”. Fortunately, So Long offers a more progressive, contrasting outlook, with a woman who declares, “They say that money’s got a magic touch/ But not to me, it doesn’t mean that much/ You won’t have me tonight”. ABBA were still developing, evidence of which is to be found in many of the album’s remaining tracks. Take the funky Hey, Hey Helen, which offers a dramatic, carefully arranged chorus, a neat little drum solo, and some

26

A B B A

rousing backing vocals, but nonetheless feels like it was stitched to the rest of the song in the dark. Or try Bang-A- Boomerang, an ABBA-bynumbers track seemingly worth so little to the band that, on the album’s cassette

have diverted from its overly simplistic theme that, in affairs of the heart, one reaps what one sows. Rock Me , in addition, could be mistaken for Showaddywaddy, its punched piano borrowed

SOS was a song both John Lennon and

Pete Townshend have claimed as one of their favourites. Hell, even the Sex Pistols’ Glen Matlock would famously admit Pretty Vacant ’s opening riff was the result of him disfi guring its introduction release, it faded out, despite its melodic strengths, halfway through so that the tape could be flipped over and the song concluded. Maybe that was to soften the impact of a chorus whose sentiment was at best half-finished – “Like a bang, a boom-a-boomerang/ Dum-di-dum-dum-di-dum-didum-dum” – but more likely it was due to the fact that the song’s backing track was originally recorded for Eurovision wannabes Svenne & Lotta, whom it had only helped claim third place in the national heats a year earlier. Either way, it would barely

from a dingy bar, Ulvaeus’ snarling lyric as threatening as Noddy Holder’s at a tea-party performance, and I’ve Been Waiting For You is a sentimental, slow-paced, but merely functional number that’s easily forgotten before it’s even over. There’s also closing track So Long, which attempts to repeat the glampop trick that Waterloo pulled off but lacks its canny sleight of hand, and that’s not to mention Tropical Loveland . This lightweight reggae tune’s backing is barely sturdy enough to carry lyrics like “Wander along/ Beautiful

gardens full of flowers and songs/ Come to the sunshine, beaches and sand”. It seems specifically designed to drift from bar stereos during a Club 18-30 holiday, only to be tossed away with the cocktail fruit afterwards. Still, with Nixon’s impeachment fresh in people’s minds, and a continuing Cold War that had seen India joining the nuclear arms race a year earlier – not to mention the IRA’s recent bombings of the British mainland, and the contemporary rise of the National Front – perhaps people needed to believe “Life can be funny/ Happy and sunny”. But that can’t excuse the portentously titled Intermezzo No. 1, ABBA’s longest track and the album’s nadir. This lump of orchestral rock was conceived to showcase Andersson and Ulvaeus’ classical predilections, but its exaggerated strings and chugging guitars make one long for Hooked On Classics. Prog rock may have been at its height – Rick Wakeman released The Myths And Legends Of King Arthur And The Knights Of The Round Table the same month – but this bombastic instrumental displays an uncharacteristic lack of judgement. Nonetheless, it was still too early for anyone to hate ABBA justifiably. In fact, as its predecessor had done with its key singles, their third album served up opportunities to love them in Mamma Mia, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do and SOS , a song both John Lennon and Pete Townshend have claimed as one of their favourites. Even the Sex Pistols’ Glen Matlock would admit Pretty Vacant ’s opening riff was the result of him disfiguring its introduction. Everybody’s got to start somewhere, and though ABBA’s gestation was lengthier than perhaps one remembers, there were more than enough signs by this point of what they’d soon achieve.

THE DETAILS TRACKLISTING

1. Mamma Mia 2. Hey, Hey Helen 3. Tropical Loveland 4. SOS 5. Man In The Middle 6. Bang-A-Boomerang 7. I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do 8. Rock Me 9. Intermezzo No.1 (Instrumental)


10. I’ve Been Waiting For You 11. So Long PERSONNEL

Benny Andersson Keyboards, vocals, backing vocals Agnetha Fältskog Vocals, backing vocals Anni-Frid Lyngstad Vocals, backing vocals Björn Ulvaeus Acoustic guitar, electric guitar, vocals ADDITIONAL MUSICIANS

Ulf Andersson Alto saxophone, tenor saxophone Ola Brunkert Drums Bruno Glenmark Trumpet

Rutger Gunnarsson Bass Roger Palm Drums Janne Schaffer Guitars Finn Sjöberg Guitars Björn Utvous Guitars Mike Watson Bass Lasse Wellander Guitars Uncredited Percussion PRODUCTION

Benny Andersson; Björn Ulvaeus Producers

ABBA in London in 1975. Mamma Mia would top the UK singles chart in January of the following year

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THE AGONY

OF THE ECSTASY ABBA’S IMPERIAL PHASE FROM 1975 TO 1980 SAW THEM BESTRIDE THE GLOBE LIKE A POP COLOSSUS. BUT SUCCESS CAME AT A PRICE… S I M O N

n o s t a W c i r E

©

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G O D D A R D


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Above, l to r: ABBA

strut their stuff on stage in Germany Bling, Bling – a detail from Björn’s ‘bolero’ jacket from 1978 The gold-andwhite theme that dominated ABBA’s costumes in 1977 The band on 1978’s Mike Yarwood Christmas Show

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B

jörn Ulvaeus doesn’t specify the date, only the location. A restaurant in New York City when, mid-dinner, he suddenly noticed the lanky 5ft 11ins streak of rock’n’roll attitude sporting the unmistakable beak of Pete Townshend striding purposefully towards his table. Björn hesitated, fork frozen, a split-second’s panic that the man who smashed guitars to smithereens for a living might be about to wreak similar carnage upon his person. Until, to his shock and relief, The Who guitarist merely extended a hand, announcing in awestruck tones that the Swede was responsible for “the best pop song ever written”. It was a song Townshend first heard on American radio, transported by its sound long before he realised it was ABBA, later evangelising to friends and family how it tapped “into whatever elemental musical self” all human beings possess. The s ame song that not only rescued ABBA from their postEurovision cul-de-sac but blew the fanfare announcing the imperial phase of the greatest pop group of their decade, if not of all time, had begun: a five-year reign from late 1975 to the close of 1980, in which ABBA created pop’s equivalent of the Louvre, masterpiece by peerless masterpiece. The first being 203 seconds of suicidal heartache, Satie-esque piano and a chorus tsunami of despair. A tune with all the drama of Beethoven, all the pathos of Sylvia Plath. Listening to it 40 years later, Townshend still has a valid point. Maybe SOS really is the best pop song ever written. The power of SOS , the single that returned ABBA to the UK Top 10 in October 1975, is the power of their genius unleashed: the moment they stopped pretending to be bubblegum glam and realised their true vocation as ambassadors of pain. In their unbroken run of 16 Top 10 hits from SOS to 1980’s Super Trouper lies a staggering catalogue of anguish, masochism, civil war, weeping children, envy, self-delusion, sexual frustration, depression, divorce, homesickness and the misery of stardom. Even

Dancing Queen, the Mona Lisa of ABBA’s Louvre, is a song about the lonely seeking temporary escape on the dancefloor, caught in the aching vacuum between the dream of wanting and the impossibility of having. If the secret of pop music is melancholy, then more than any other band in its history, ABBA cracked the code. And in their hands, sadness never sounded so sublime. Growing up in the 70s, if there was a copy of ABBA’s Greatest Hits in your home (and as the UK’s biggest-selling LP of 1976, it’s likely there was), there’s every chance your mum or dad would have

In their unbroken run of 16 Top 10 hits lies a catalogue of anguish, masochism, civil war, weeping children, envy, self-delusion, sexual frustration, depression, divorce, homesickness and the misery of stardom bought it. ABBA’s unique pan-generational appeal was a triumph of impossible contradictions, one which would never progress beyond the abandoned flipchart of today’s risk-averse corporate hell. A band of two couples hitting their 30s (Agnetha, the youngest, was 25 when SOS charted), three of them parents, one already a divorcee (Frida), writing, as Townshend also noted, about intense “middle-aged problems”. In spite of which, still a band so family-friendly as to be invited on the primetime Christmas Day edition of The Mike Yarwood Show , where some 20 million viewers watched them sing through gritted teeth about one of their own disintegrating marriages (If It Wasn’t For The Nights). Equally irresistible to children, they even turned up on Blue Peter , stroking Shep and – lord forgive them, for they knew not what they did – Jim’ll Fix It . But there was nothing especially ‘young’ about


ABBA. Their show costumes, deliberately garish to be tax-deductible ‘non daywear’, often amounted to the dazzle of Vegas-era Elvis buckled in Scandinavian translation, or Logan’s Run as recreated by Rainbow ’s Rod, Jane and Freddy. Yet off stage, in interviews and the majority of their pioneering pre-MTV promo videos, wandering through wintry landscapes with thousand-yard stares of inner trauma, they dressed like ordinary 1970s grown-ups. Leather, fur, woollens, cheesecloth blouses, denim shirts and medallions. The sort of grown-ups who took strolls along marinas and went for candlelit dinners before, you suspected, getting up to even more grown-up antics, not helped by the fact that bearded Benny could have been a model for the sketches of best-selling ‘domestic manual’ The Joy Of Sex. And, besides, they were Swedish: we all knew what that meant in the 1970s. But ABBA found their place at the forefront of 70s pop, selling millions across Europe, North America and especially Australia, not just because they were all things to all ages – daughter’s bedroom wallpaper, dad’s bedroom fantasy – but because there wasn’t another band on the planet like them. ABBA were much too weird and far too talented to mimic. Those that tried, most conspicuously 1976 UK Eurovision winners Brotherhood Of Man, a Butlins version of ABBA with none of the sex and even less of the sorrow, only showed imitation to be the feeblest form of flattery. “You cannot sing an ABBA song, it’s impossible,” raved über-fan and producer Pete Waterman. “The harmonies are so complicated, you can’t replicate it. At all . There’s probably 20 vocals on each harmony. They’d speed the tape up and slow it down to bring all the vocals tighter and tighter. The girls were telling me that took them up to three days. And you can tell.” The invasion first bugled by SOS was consolidated in January 1976 with Mamma Mia, officially ending the post-Waterloo doldrums with their second UK No. 1, symbolically knocking Queen’s Bohemian

ABBA ROAD

Beginning with 1978’s Summer Night City , the home of ABBA’s hits for the latter half of their career was Polar Studios, built upon their riches and named after their record label. Situated in the former ground-floor cinema of a disused sports complex in central Stockholm, it realised Björn and Benny’s dream of their own state-of-the-art workshop, a space to create music at their own pace, aided by the third wheel in ABBA productions, engineer Michael Tretow. Eager to show off its spacious live room and prized Harrison mixing desk, in September 1979 the studio took a starring role in the video for Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!… Between ABBA albums, its sacred vibes would be sullied by hoarier interlopers such as Led Zeppelin and Genesis, both making use of the Swedes’ absence to record the respective albums In Through The Out Door and Duke . After ABBA split, the studio opened its doors to a host of international acts, until a triple rent increase forced Polar to close its doors forever in 2004.

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T H E

A G O N Y

O F

T H E

E C S T A S Y


Above: Agnetha signing photos in Stockholm. By 1977, the singer was struggling to reconcile being both a celebrity and a mother of two Facing page: All smiles in 1977: but by this time, the relentless pressure of being internationally famous was beginning to take its toll

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Rhapsody off its tired perch in the process. Lyrically, it further demonstrated ABBA’s twisted genius. Not ‘boy meets girl’ or ‘boy loses girl’ but ‘unfaithful boy turns desperate girl into such a psychological mess she gladly allows herself to be used as his plaything knowing more abuse is round the corner’. That marimba sounds neurotic for a reason. Mamma Mia is, no pun intended, Stockholm syndrome made pop. Four months later, they were back at the top with Fernando , an improbable coup by Scandinavians singing in English about the Mexican Revolution (“How proud you were to fight for freedom in this land”) at a time when the UK government was embroiled in a ‘cod war’ with Iceland and the ongoing terrorist threat of the IRA. The real sound of Britain in 1976 may have been stirring in the garagelands of London punk, but as a tonic for a year of riots, bombs and droughts, ABBA were Britain’s preferred prescription. Just as they’d looked sideways to glam with Waterloo , the unstoppably innovative Björn and Benny were as keenly conscious not to fall out of step with the mid-70s disco boom. In response, their first spin of the glitterball was inspired by the rhythm of George McRae’s 1974 hit Rock Your Baby , albeit less funky in execution. But then ABBA’s odd Nordic assimilation of Afro-American R&B, where ‘the groove’ still allowed for Rachmaninoff piano runs, is half the joy of Dancing Queen. When Benny first played the backing music to Frida, she burst into tears. “Because it was so beautiful,” Frida explained. “It was one of those songs that goes straight into your heart.” Agnetha was no less dumbstruck. “When Frida and I recorded Dancing Queen, we stood not beside but in front of each other. We just felt… Oooooh! This is fan-tastic ! Goosebumps and… uh!” Its potency owed much to the melting of Agnetha’s soprano and Frida’s mezzo-soprano into an inseparable harmonic singularity, their voices fusing in the musical equivalent of divine light. No. 1 for

six weeks in the late summer of ’76, Dancing Queen would even goosebump and uh! to the top of the US charts in April 1977. One year after SOS , ABBA were superstars on a global scale and the world demanded to see them in the flesh. In the spring of 1977, they obliged, touring Europe and Australia, the latter’s hysteria (not least for Agnetha’s posterior) vividly captured in ABBA: The Movie , a priceless timepiece of 70s pop culture and the band in their unified prime. In Britain, where they sold out two nights at London’s Royal Albert Hall, the number ones continued: Knowing Me, Knowing You, The Name Of The Game and the effervescent Take A Chance On Me , a rapturous Trojan horse masking the face-saving delusions of a bitterly rejected lover. The week the latter charted in early 1978, Margaret Thatcher complained Britain was being “swamped by people with a different culture.” She could just as easily have been discussing ABBA. But world domination came at a punishing price. Behind the perma-smiles of the greatest pop group on the planet, ABBA were still Agnetha, Björn, Benny and Anni-Frid. Four people, two couples, struggling to find equilibrium in the chaos between concert hall and living room. For Agnetha especially, the chasm between celebrity and domesticity, now a mother of two after the birth of her second child Peter Christian in December 1977, was irreconcilable. “Deep down, I was just a normal kid from Jönköping, but now I couldn’t go anywhere on my own,” she mourned in the aftermath of their Australian tour. “It felt like they [the fans] wanted to suck me in, and I’d never get free, like I was being crushed.” “When we came to Australia, they had so much ABBA all around,” Benny concurred of their suffocation by merchandising. “ABBA on pillows, ABBA on soaps, ABBA on everything. A little overexposure, maybe. When we got to Australia we felt that, boy, we shouldn’t have done this, because it was just like putting a needle in a balloon.” The only


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ABBA pose for a photoshoot in Paris in 1979 The band take a bow after their concert at Radio City Music Hall in New York on 2 October 1979

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way ABBA could survive this crisis was to allow their life to imitate their art. Love would have to be the loser. On Boxing Day 1978, the day after British TV viewers tuned in to see ABBA’s pre-recorded spot on the BBC’s Mike Yarwood Show , Agnetha moved out of her marital home with Björn, taking their two children with her. “We had developed in different ways,” she explained in 2013, “grown away from each other and our marriage is destroyed. But we had in common the success so, okay, we will go on, do our best, to give more music.” It had been a slow and tortured break-up throughout 1978, exacerbated by the strain of maintaining a happy public face and the coinciding stress of setting up their new studio [see panel]. In the circumstances, it was understandable their art should momentarily suffer on October’s Summer Night City , an insecure shadow-puppetry of The Bee Gees’ recent Travolta-moves which stalled at a lowly (for them) No.5 in the UK. The same month, just as Björn and Agnetha exhausted every avenue of counselling and threw in the towel, Benny and Frida were married and the soap-opera plot thickened. As four individuals, ABBA were now a split yin and yang of nuptial bliss and failure. Consummate professionals, the show went on. As far as the outside world was concerned, nothing had changed. Björn and Benny were still the studio alchemists meticulously crafting the gold, content with their place stage left and right (Björn’s Childlinetroubling lead on Does Your Mother Know a blessedly rare exception). Agnetha and Frida were still the voices, and iconic faces, of ABBA, either wholesome (Chiquitita) or flirtatious (Voulez-Vous) as the material demanded. But as songwriters Björn and Benny were now swimming in circles, treading familiar disco waters which, by the end of the 70s, were starting

to turn stagnant. As the charts of August ’79 fizzed with the hip-hop-ushering thrill of Chic’s Good Times, ABBA dropped Voulez-Vous, echoing the dated disco-lite of Marvin Hamlisch’s Bond score for The Spy Who Loved Me two years earlier. More worrying still, though both the Voulez-Vous album and the immaculate Greatest Hits Vol. 2 topped the UK album charts that year, none of their five singles of 1979 hit No.1; not even the spinster-on-heat howl of Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight), nor the contrastingly chaste coo of I Have A Dream. “Frida

and I were feeling so sorry for each other. People said we hated each other and it wasn’t like that. We helped each other, a lot…” A G N E T H A

To return to the top, they’d have to dig deeper – rediscover the quintessence of ABBA by facing the pain. The answer had been staring at them for the past year: the elephant in the studio called divorce. “Usually, it’s not a good idea to write when you’re drunk,” said Björn of The Winner Takes It All . “But it all came out on that one. By the time I wrote ‘The gods may throw the dice’, the bottle was empty.” Their eighth and penultimate No. 1 for two weeks in August 1980, The Winner Takes It All was their crowning glory, the song where ABBA proved themselves grand Swedish tragedians on a par with Greta Garbo and Ingmar Bergman. But musically, and emotionally, the bottle was emptying for ABBA, too. Unbeknownst to the band and their fans, they’d already played their last concert five months earlier in Tokyo, by which time, both couples had split. Benny and Frida had been together nine years: their

S(TEAL) O(UR) S(ONG) The diverse and endless influence of ABBA’s 1975 breakthrough

01

SEX PISTOLS

From NEVER MIND THE BOLLOCKS HERE’S THE SEX PISTOLS (1977)

Unbelievably, perhaps, one of the first bands to pay homage to ABBA were the originators of UK punk. According to bassist Glen M atlock, the iconic octave-skipping guitar riff of Pretty Vacant was inspired by SOS . Matlock’s replacement, Sid Vicious, was also a fan of the band, and once chased Agnetha and Frida through an airport in a failed effort to get an autograph.

02

THE WEDDING PRESENT

From GEORGE BEST (1987) s e g a m I y t t e G ©

marriage lasted all of 15 months in the spotlight. The chemistry reconfigured: ABBA were now a coalition of divorcees split into separate camps, the boys finding consolation in music, the girls in mutual support. “Frida and I were feeling so sorr y for each other,” said Agnetha. “People said we hated each other and it wasn’t like that. We helped each other, a lot.” There’d be one last pearl to ABBA’s string of nine UK No. 1s, an eleventh-hour addition to alreadynamed seventh album Super Trouper , set to become its title track. A symphony of sparkles, but as so often with ABBA, those reflecting in the tears of a clown, its backing “oo-pa-pas” the sonic bubbles from a well of loneliness, the narrative of tour fatigue and its imprisoning spotlight merely the aria of Agnetha’s reality: “Facing 20,000 of your friends/How can anyone feel so loney?” The welterweight poignancy of Super Trouper was that, six years after Waterloo , it told the truth of ABBA. A studio band forced on the road by unimaginable success who ultimately couldn’t cope with the strain. If its thesis needed any reassurance that fame is hell, there were plenty of omens around them that winter. Hitting the top of the charts in late November 1980, it was the UK’s number one the day John Lennon was shot. The same month, ABBA cancelled a promo trip to Germany after receiving kidnap threats to Björn and Agnetha’s children. Speaking to Dutch TV that Christmas, Björn’s smiling poker face insisted “What we need now is to look at the future in a positive way.” He wouldn’t be able to kid himself for much longer. All that remained was the protracted denouement: two years in which they’d still manage to fur ther push pop to its outer emotional limits, saving at least one last ace of Gothic psychodrama up their sleeve before the death knell (The Day Before You Came ). But by the close of 1980, their Louvre had been fully furnis hed, their legacy assured.

A more obvious steal than the Sex Pistols formed the basis of My Favourite Dress , a cult favourite by Leeds indie band The Wedding Present, which reached No.6 in fellow ABBA apostle John Peel’s Festive 50 of 198 7. Its outro is transparently the “now you’re gone” ascent of SOS reintepreted on frantic, jangly guitars.

03

GIRLS ALOUD

Sweet inspiration…

Asked back in 2005 to name their favourite ABBA song, the quintet that had been assembled via ITV’s Pop Stars talent show opted for Dancing Queen . However, much like Pete Townshend, Brian Higgins, the Xenomania mastermind behind the writing and production of their albums considered SOS “the benchmark” of pop perfection. “That was the standard we aspired to reach, melodically.”

04

PORTISHEAD

From HIGH-RISE (OST) (2015)

Originally recorded for the 2015 soundtrack of JG Ballard’s dystopian drama High-Rise , the Bristol trio’s grim, John Carpenter-esque X-ray of SOS received wider attention in June 2016 when it was recast as a tribute video to murdered Labour MP Jo Cox, itself a testament to the song’s haunting power. The video ends with a quote from the murdered MP’s maiden speech in Parliament.

05

MAD CADDIES

From THE HOLIDAY HAS BEEN CANCELLED (2000)

Californian ska-punk rockers Mad Caddies released this shapeshifting cover of the ABBA classic on their 2000 EP,The Holiday Has Been Cancelled . Veering from menacing Millennial rock-guitar chug to soaring counterpoint brass in the chorus, it’s a reflection of both the Caddies’ wide-ranging influences and a demonstration of just how far a great song can stretch across genres. 35

A L B U M

INSIGHT ARRIVAL 1 9 7 6

TRANSFORMED INTO A SLICK HIT-MAKING MACHINE, ARRIVAL FINDS ABBA AT THE PEAK OF THEIR POWERS ACROSS A LANDMARK ALBUM THAT CAN BE SEEN AS A BENCHMARK FOR GREAT POP… M A R K

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L I N D O R E S

A R R I V A L

I

f ever an album cover embodied the record it contained, it is 1976’s Arrival . Featuring the group posing confidently inside a helicopter in a Stockholm airfield, the shot captured ABBA, primed for lift-off, transcending them to the upper reaches of the pop echelon where their success proved limitless. Almost a year in the making, Arrival was the point at which ABBA discarded the Eurovision, novelty pop tag and fashioned themselves into a sleek hit machine. Short on 60s-inspired schlager influences, they displayed a knack for churning out complex slices of pop perfection, taking elements of Philly Soul, Fats Domino and folk to create a more expansive sound that would become quintessential ABBA. Originally intended for release in the spring of 1976, ABBA had begun work on their fourth album in August 1975, when they had created a groove called Boogaloo , inspired by George McCrae’s Rock Your Baby . However, the album was delayed by the runaway success of previous singles SOS and Mamma Mia, both of which had become huge hits for the group, forcing them to leave their creative hub on the island of Viggsö, where all of their material was crafted, to fulfil touring obligations throughout Europe and UK, the United States and Australia, where they were fast becoming one of the biggest names in pop. Their appearances in those countries proved an invaluable part of the ABBA success story, not only because of the huge sales their visits had generated but also because of the outside influences the group absorbed and incorporated into their music which only served to enrich their sound, marking Arrival as their first great album and one which still stands out as one of their best. By the time the album was released in October 1976, the aforementioned Boogaloo had metamorphosed into Dancing Queen, a complete

A L B U M

I N S I G H T

ABBA visit London during a promo tour in 1976


game-changer for them, which became a No. 1 hit around the world – including in their sought-after markets of the UK and the US (it was their only US No. 1 single). It had originally been mooted for release in March 1976, but was postponed in favour

40 years later, the song is still regarded as their greatest, though it faced stiff competition from other tracks on the album, singles or otherwise. A globeconquering triumvirate of hit singles which was completed by Knowing Me, Knowing

A globe-conquering triumvirate of hit singles – Dancing Queen, Knowing Me, Knowing You and Money, Money, Money – ensured Arrival was a pop juggernaut which would establish ABBA as an international success story of Fernando (a re-recorded version of a song which had appeared on Frida’s solo album), as ABBA didn’t want to follow-up Mamma Mia with another upbeat song. With ABBA’s fame on the ascent and their eagerly anticipated fourth album now due out later than planned, ABBA released a Greatest Hits compilation to satiate fans with Fernando appearing on that compilation as opposed to their next studio LP, meaning Dancing Queen would now be the lead single.

You and Money, Money, Money ensured that Arrival became the pop juggernaut which would establish ABBA as an international success story, though Dancing Queen’s gargantuan success overshadowed some of Arrival ’s other highlights. Money, Money, Money , a Cabaret -inspired number in which Frida laments her busy work life and lack of finance and longing for a rich man to help her out was released as the second single, though it failed to top the charts in

the UK due to the prolonged success of Dancing Queen. Like many of the songs on Arrival , the lengthy gestation period between its early recording sessions and eventual release, Money, Money, Money took on various styles and titles before arriving in its finished version. The song started out as Been And Gone And Done It , before evolving into Gypsy Girl and then Money, Money, Money . Completing Arrival ’s trilogy of hits is Knowing Me, Knowing You, an even stronger track than Dancing Queen, and the first of ABBA’s bitter break-up songs. Comparing a shattered relationship with the haunting memories contained in an empty house, Knowing Me, Knowing You proved that ABBA were well on their way to mastering the art of masquerading bitter, painful lyrics as irresistible pop hooks. Singles aside, Arrival is packed with many of ABBA’s lost gems, songs of such a high calibre that they could easily have become hits in their own right, such as the joyful exuberance of When I Kissed The Teacher , 37

A L B U M

I N S I G H T

which kicks off the album, a euphoric song underpinned with a playfully innocent lyric about a schoolgirl with a crush on her tutor; the rocking Tiger , which talks of the dangers of being in a city at night and the predatory quest to snare the object of one’s desires; the positively uplifting disco-infused That’s Me (Agnetha’s personal favourite from the album) and the bluesy swagger of the Fats Domino-inspired Why Did It Have To Be Me . Elsewhere, My Love, My Life , which boasts a heartwrenching turn from Agnetha bathed in a chorus of backing vocals inspired by 10CC’s I’m Not In Love , is one of their greatest ballads and set a precedent for her ability to portray heartbreak and vulnerability, something which would continue throughout their career to great effect – particularly in the later years, when such songs would convey the breakdown of ABBA, both personally and professionally. One of the final tracks recorded for the LP due to so many songs featuring lead vocals from Frida, the song began life as Monsieur, Monsieur , a more uptempo track, before being restructured as My Love, My Life .

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A R R I V A L

One track which has been unfairly singled out by critics over the years as a lowpoint on the album is Dum Dum Diddle . Much maligned by fans and even by the band

Oldfield. Aside from giving the album its title, the song doesn’t really add anything to the record at all. A much better decision would have been to include

The ABBA logo with the back-to-front B came about by mistake, after the band were holding up cards for a magazine photoshoot and Benny held up his B card backwards. Designer Rune Söderqvist liked how it looked themselves, it is nonetheless a catchy slice of Europop, much in the vein of Mamma Mia, with the track’s only real letdown being its bizarre lyrical subject matter and title. Björn has spoken of how the song is one of his least favourites from the ABBA canon and has admitted that the tale of a dejected woman’s jealousy of her lover’s violin and the attention he pays it was the result of a frantic 5am rush-job writing session on the day of recording. The only real misstep on Arrival comes with the closing track, a folky instrumental, which was later covered by, and was a hit for, Mike

Fernando instead, thus completing an almost perfect pop album, something the band realised with the Australian and New Zealand pressings of the album and have since rectified on Arrival ’s subsequent reissues and Deluxe editions. Very much a transitional record for the band at the time, Arrival was ABBA aiming for the big time. As well as the iconic helicopter image on the cover, Arrival saw the debut of the ABBA logo, with the back-to-front B. It had originally come about by mistake, after the band were holding up cards for a magazine photoshoot and Benny held up his B card

backwards. Designer Rune Söderqvist liked how it looked and suggested that the idea of the A and B facing each other reflected the two couples in the group. From then on, it was used as their official band logo. An hour-long TV Special, ABBA-DABBA-Dooo!!, was filmed during the recording of the album and granted the cameras access to their recording sessions. It contained interviews with the group, alongside one-off performances of all of the songs from the album (with the exceptions of That’s Me and Arrival ), and was broadcast around the world on 5 November 1976, a month after the album’s release. The album was an instant sensation, both critically and commercially, garnering rave reviews for ABBA’s upgraded sound and reached No. 1 in 12 countries including the UK, where its success continued long into 1977 and went on to become the biggest-selling album of the year. With ABBAmania in full swing, it was decided that the fairest method for fans to buy tickets for their two UK concerts at London’s Royal Albert Hall was to allocate them by a postal ballot. A total of 3.5 million applications were made for tickets, more than proving their soaring popularity. Four decades after its release, Arrival is rightly regarded as one of ABBA’s greatest achievements – capturing the joyful sound of a band at their absolute zenith, while Dancing Queen has become an entity of its own and is often held up as a benchmark by which great pop music is measured. This was the album on which ABBA truly arrived in the pop firmament and proved that they were here to stay.


1. When I Kissed The Teacher 2. Dancing Queen 3. My Love, My Life 4. Dum Dum Diddle 5. Knowing Me, Knowing You 6. Money, Money, Money 7. That’s Me 8. Why Did It Have To Be Me? 9. Tiger 10. Arrival

PERSONNEL

Benny Andersson Synthesiser, piano, accordion, chimes, keyboards, marimba, vocals Agnetha Fältskog Vocals Anni-Frid Lyngstad Vocals Björn Ulvaeus Acoustic guitar, electric guitar, vocals ADDITIONAL MUSICIANS

Ola Brunkert Drums, strings Lars Carlsson Saxophone Anders Dahl Strings

Malando Gassama Percussion, rhythm Anders Glenmark Electric guitar Rutger Gunnarsson Bass Roger Palm Strings, drums Janne Schaffer Electric guitar Lasse Wellander Acoustic guitar, electric guitar CHART PLACINGS

UK No. 1 US No. 20 Sweden No. 1


The group on the Dutch family TV show Eén Van De Acht in 1976

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J O H N

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onsidering ABBA: The Movie was about At least the soldiers turned up, which is more than can be said for Festfolket’s package tour back in the machinations of a world tour, it’s Sweden that autumn. Performing alongside dance surprising how ambivalent ABBA were about performing live. Of the four, only troupe The Lolas, Festfolket played cheesy covers to as few as 14 people, according to Ulvaeus. Anni-Frid Lyngstad seems to have actually enjoyed being on the road. Agnetha Fältskog was the Speaking on Australian TV show Sunday Night Special in 2013, Ulvaeus said: “This was the low of archetype of the musician who was bored when the collaboration between the four of us, because we not actually on stage, while Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus were frustrated that the concerts could weren’t doing what we supposed to. We were singing never sound as good as the group’s studio recordings. other people’s songs in a cabaret act, and Benny and The fact there was no lengthy world tour ensured I did a number where we were supposed to be two ABBA could be more prolific in the studio, but it also little boys. It was embarrassing, but we realised after that tour that we should do our own songs.” meant they completed just two full European tours and one of North America. Their sole Japanese jaunt The following year saw ABBA begin playing their own material in earnest, but Lyngstad wasn’t there for in 1980 marked ABBA’s final gigs, two years before most of the shows, as she was touring as a backing they eventually split. In her autobiography As I Am, Fältskog summarised singer to Swedish singer-songwriter Lasse Berghagen, who had recently had a big hit with Fredriksson The touring as “Everything I didn’t like”. She wrote: “It was too long away from the children, long journeys, Teddy Bear . Fältskog and Ulvaeus got married on 6 July changing hotels every day, time changes…” that year, but were back playing with Andersson ABBA’s years of struggle before Eurovision have been well documented, and these included the as Agnetha, Björn And Benny just four days later. Around that time, Agnetha, Björn And stereotype of performing shows to pitifully small crowds. Yet ABBA’s very first gig was actually Benny began getting their first reviews. National newspaper Aftonbladet commented: relatively lucrative. Following on from Ulvaeus and “The show is sincere, simple and very ‘hit Andersson’s success in previous band The Hep Stars and Fältksog’s 1969 solo hit Jag Var Sa Kar , Swedish parade’,” while Expressen considered: “It’s a charming show and they’re good on stage. The songs travel agency Fritidsresor paid for the group to go to the Cypriot resort of Famagusta for two weeks in are very chart-oriented, although some are quite weak.” But Expressen’s reviewer Hans Fridlund went April 1970. They only had to perform one show – on: “Björn still sings with a little nasal sound, for Swedish soldiers stationed there. Playing under the name Festfolket (Swedish for ‘party people’), the characteristic of him, whilst Miss Fältskog is still limited vocally. I’m sure that will change over the show lasted for about 20 minutes. None of the group can remember which covers they performed, and years.” You can’t fault Fridlund’s prescience. there’s debate about which two original songs they With no live shows at all in 1972, ABBA’s final prefame gigs took place in a hectic four months over snuck into the set. 41

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ABBA take their praise at Radio City Music Hall in New York on 2 October 1979

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showed up to each of the 13 concerts. It helped that, the summer of 1973, when they performed as Björn, Benny, Agnetha And Frida. They played as many as by then, their self-titled third album gave ABBA more hits in Mamma Mia, SOS and I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, four shows a day, with a setlist featuring future songs I Do . from ABBA’s debut album Ring Ring including the title track and Nina, Pretty Ballerina. After taking 1976 off to concentrate on making Arrival , by the time ABBA finally toured Speaking in the official biography ABBA: The Europe again in 1977, there was no stopping Book , Lyngstad recalled: “There are happy memories of that tour, but we were all exhausted. I lost 7kg. them. When the tour arrived for ABBA’s first British show at the 2,500-capacity Odeon in Birmingham on We did three or four shows on the same day – it was madness.” 10 February, the group needed their own individual security guards. Tour promoter Thomas Johansson Following the Eurovision triumph in 1974, you’d said: “The audience is more forward in Britain. They expect ABBA’s live fortunes to have changed overnight, but their post- Waterloo tour that year was want to get close to their idols and touch them.” Touts were selling £2 tickets for £100, which didn’t a mess. A planned tour of Swedish parks was soon help Faltskog’s nerves. She told a local ITV crew: “It was especially scary to be playing in front of a British cancelled, with their record label Polydor anxious to audience. We were terribly nervous about that first cash in on Eurovision. But, with Waterloo their only hit, ABBA felt that night. After all, it’s a classic ground it was too soon to “IT WAS SCARY TO BE PLAYING IN be playing theatres for pop music.” The opening of – which was borne FRONT OF A BRITISH AUDIENCE… the show featured out when gigs in the UK, France and AFTER ALL, IT’S A CLASSIC GROUND the sound effect of a helicopter the Netherlands FOR POP MUSIC” – AGNETHA were cancelled passing over the crowd as ABBA due to lack of came on stage to Tiger . But that ‘helicopter’ was the interest. Ulvaeus told ABBA: The Book : “We thought we’d be turning some people away here and there, only time the Odeon’s quadrophonic PA was used. Roadie Dale Michelson told The Birmingham Mail : maybe in Germany where we were always top of the “As soon as the effect was over, we had to drag charts. But no.” He was also concerned that the fans who did turn up were so ancient, “at least 25 to the PA through the doors at the back and onto the rear car park, de-rig it and wheel it back 30 years old”. An additional complication was that Ulvaeus and around backstage.” Less than three years after an IRA bomb killed Fältskog didn’t want to be away for too long from 21 people in the centre of Birmingham, security their 18-month-old daughter Linda, so the tour was split into two, meaning they had to persevere with the was understandably tight for the show. Michelson said: “Stewards were on full alert. But, by the end middling shows again after a month off. Concentrating on Sweden again the following of the gig, some fans were able to get on stage for Dancing Queen and wave ABBA flags.” year proved a much happier experience. After Over 50,000 people had applied for the Odeon’s cancelling the parks tour in the wake of Eurovision, the shows they played there in 1975 were an early 2,500 tickets. That was nothing compared to the 3.5 million who applied for a total of 10,000 taste of ABBAmania, as between 8,000-10,000 fans

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Agnetha apparently enjoying playing live, at the Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne, March 1977


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tickets for ABBA’s two London shows at the Royal Albert Hall for the end of the European tour, which followed further British gigs in Manchester and Glasgow. And this was in the days before online booking, of course. The concerts – a matinee and evening performance on 14 February – were ones even the gig-phobic Andersson enjoyed. He told ABBA: The Book : “The fans displayed their enjoyment so much. It was electric, vibrant. I never thought I’d see it happen.” A fortnight later, ABBA’s sole Australian tour – as documented in director Lasse Halstrom’s ABBA: The Movie – began in Sydney. If tour promoter Johansson thought the British fans were going to be intense, it was nothing compared 44

to the Australian hysteria, beginning with 2,000 fans greeting ABBA at Melbourne Airport. Fältskog wrote in As I Am: “[The tour] was the most incredible of all the things I experienced with ABBA. There was fever, hysteria, ovations, there were sweaty, obsessed crowds. Sometimes it was awful. I felt as if they’d get hold of me and I’d never get away again.” Bodyguard Richard Norton recalled that, after a gig at Sydney’s Myer Music Bowl: “Our car was lifted and moved in a different direction. You literally couldn’t see, it was just a sea of people.” It was quite the moment for a band who hadn’t even wanted to go to Australia, as Ulvaeus admitted in 2007 to Australian mag The Weekend : “We’d said Australia was too far away. I don’t think anyone except maybe

ABBA wave to a gathering of 2,000 fans at Melbourne’s Tullamarine airport, on 5 March 1977

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Although 1986’s ABBA Live was compiled from Frida wanted to go on the tour. Benny and I had realised a long time ago that the song is the important various shows from the 1977 and 1979 tours, thing. In those days, you didn’t even make any money it’s a disaster. Heavily overdubbed by ABBA touring. And, apart from the time you’re on stage, the producer Michael Tretow, most notoriously, it features rest is utterly, utterly boring and unproductive.” none-more-80s synth drums front and centre. For a truer picture of an ABBA gig, listen to ABBA After the triple whammy of ABBA: The Album, The Live At Wembley Arena. Issued in 2014, it was Movie and The Book , 1978 was quiet apart from Andersson and Lyngstad getting married, nine years chosen by the group as the best document of a full show that needed the minimum of work doing to it. It’s after they began dating. It left the tour accompanying Voulez-Vous in 1979 also strongly rumoured that a full show from the 1977 tour will be out as a live album next year. as ABBA’s sole trip to North America before a third After a four-month break, ABBA’s final tour began and final run in Europe. The 45-date US tour wasn’t a success. Although the tour stuck to cities where ABBA in Tokyo in March 1980. By this point, with personal relationships ruined and Lyngstad the only member sold well, it lost £150,000. By the first show, which was held in Vancouver who enjoyed touring anyway, they’d long decided to stick to the studio rather than risk further damage in September, Ulvaeus and Faltskog had got to their music. The gig was effectively the same as divorced. Fältskog said: “I tore myself away from the children and the 1979 shows, with the I just wanted “[THE TOUR] WAS THE MOST INCREDIBLE to be home. only notable Björn and I OF ALL THE THINGS I EXPERIENCED WITH difference being how were agreed ABBA … I FELT THEY’D GET HOLD OF ME quiet the about doing the fans tour together, AND I’D NEVER GET AWAY” – AGNETHA Japanese so we had to were on the first night at form a new Tokyo’s Budokan. Lyngstad recalled: “I remember relationship. It was unfamiliar for all of us, an ordeal by fire. I had no-one to talk to, so I mourned alone.” our audience didn’t respond the way we were used to. Our promoter said we had to tell them they were Given her sadness, and cracks appearing in allowed to participate and do whatever they felt like. Andersson and Lyngstad’s marriage, it was perhaps little wonder that reviewers wondered what all the fuss The next night, at Björn’s announcement, the audience lifted the roof.” was about. The Calgary Herald noted poor sound and “lack of self-assurance and supercharged vitality And so, on a return to the Budokan on 27 March 1980, ABBA played their final concert, ending normally associated with big-league artists”. with Dancing Queen. However, one impressed fan was Madonna, who later copied Lyngstad and Fältskog’s blue-and-violet Given the seemingly cordial relationships between the four members of ABBA in 2016, jumpsuits for her own Confessions On A Dance Floor tour in 2006. The European tour, which ended given that they performed Me And I in June at Stockholm’s Berns Hotel, if any huge group was going in Dublin in November, was more settled. A six-night to reform for a tour, you’d think it just might be ABBA. run at Wembley Arena ended on a show with Joe Strummer and Ian Dury in the audience, and forms the Except, that is, when you consider three-quarters of them hated playing live first time round… basis of ABBA’s only full live album.

ABBA dance across the Concord Pavilion stage during a gig in Walnut Creek, California

s n r e e B h t s e ’ t i l m p s o e h d k t , c o e h m t t a S t t s e r r a fi b , 6 r i 1 y n e n h e t 0 2 B d e l d o n n u a h J t ’ n n i m r d 0 ö l u 8 j B o 9 h s 1 y a n e d o c i e n n i h u s t f e r e o m a i t y r t r a o s r s f r y fi e l v t e i n h n e t i r n t o a a f p r h t m e 0 i h t 5 g e e n g h i t o t i t a t e w g n a r i s b n m e a r l o e F f r c P e o U p t , _ p l P u t e o O o r P g H

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INSIGHT THE ALBUM 1 9 7 7

WHAT ABBA’S FIFTH STUDIO TITLE LACKED IN AN IMAGINATIVE TITLE, IT MADE UP FOR WITH GREAT SONGWRITING, AMBITIOUS MUSICIANSHIP AND RECORD-BREAKING SALES J U L I E

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y the time of this, their ABBA played a 28-date fifth studio album, European and supergroup ABBA Australian Tour were sitting on top in early 1977 of the music world. Savvily released in conjunction with ABBA: The Movie – which featured tantalising snatches of these cracking album tracks – it proved a great double whammy. Three years into their phenomenal success, this LP served to further cement the band’s status worldwide. Remarkably, it also broke records in some territories not otherwise known to welcome pop. It’s hard to digest now, yet as late as the 70s, the bleak Cold War still cast a cloud in Eastern Europe, with ‘degenerate’ Western music fiercely frowned upon. Luckily for sweetly melodic ABBA, they couldn’t be labelled as anything remotely corrosive, and their uplifting, catchy sounds won the day. Incredibly, in 1977, ABBA: The Album managed to shift The Album became the thirdThe Name Of The Game ); an unheard of one million biggest-selling album of the two would be huge Euro units across Poland – using year – just behind those other hits (Eagle/Thank You For up the country’s whole iconic, era-defining movie The Music ); and three were foreign-currency resource in unusual culls from ABBA’s soundtrack LPs, Saturday the process. Though a limited Night Fever and Grease . 1977 tour mini-musical pressing of 200,000 copies Ultimately striking platinum concept, The Girl With The was somehow allowed in Golden Hair . sales in the UK and US, the Russia, demand was such that same in Germany and Hong On the accompanying the – sadly thwarted – sales potential was estimated at some 40 million. Such was the Though the content was the least of any power of ABBA, it seemed. ABBA album, the compositions were Meanwhile, in the UK, following an unintentional longer in length than any of the band’s postponement, their latest previous LP output, and sparkled with LP smashed straight in at No. 1; the first ABBA album originality and quality – spawning some to do so, where it remained seven (largely) hit singles for seven weeks. Due to massive pre-orders, UK pressing plants had been unable to provide Kong, it grew to platinum-plus ABBA: The Movie – which ties enough copies in time for the prominence in Finland and in some of ABBA: The Album’s scheduled end of ’77 release soundtrack – Björn Ulvaeus double platinum in Canada. date. The post-Christmas Sandwiched smartly comments: “Music critics try ABBA clamour continued between LPs Arrival (1976) to rationalise (our appeal) – into the New Year when ‘they have a formula’ – we and Voulez-Vous (1979), The – at last – the goods were Album comprised just nine never did. We wrote from the delivered, in more ways than heart.” This was never more songs. Though the content one. The Album spent a total was the least of any ABBA true for the Super Troupers of 39 weeks in the Top 40, album, the compositions were than on this highly regarded February through to October adventure of an album: a longer in length than any of ’78. For the first 14 weeks, it the band’s previous LP output, high-calibre showcase of comprised a happy hat-trick, and sparkled with originality wide-ranging work. charting along with Greatest and quality. Spawning some Critics such as Rolling Hits and Arrival : at the start seven (largely) hit singles, two Stone Magazine ’s’ John of March ’78, all three ABBA Rockwell called ABBA’s would be evergreen UK No. albums were in the Top 15. 1s (Take A Chance On Me/ songs… “a calculated blend

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of six elements: innocently superficial lyrics, bouncy Europop music, rock energy and amplification; soaring melodies, Mamas & Papas high female harmonies and lavish sonic textures…” Even he had to concede: “ABBA: The Album represents an interesting departure from past formulas…” That was some understatement. Overall, the consensus was that even the most hardened music journos waxed lyrical about this particular LP: according to one, who loved its “effortless straddling of hard rock, pop/rock, dancerock and progressive rock.” ABBA’s soundscape had undoubtedly expanded, progressing far beyond the bounds of their original Eurovision win. The Swedish supergroup were now pop royalty, and on this evidence, in a realm of their own. Opening on an epic scale, Eagle soars from the get-go. A pure breath of fresh air, it perfectly paints a sound panorama of mountain, forest and sea, and the feeling of ABBA let loose from the studio and airborne). An intro worthy of Pink Floyd expands into such intricate melodies and harmonies, it needs 47

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this 5.53 duration to do it justice. It’s complex and dense, synth-laden, rich in American-Indian influence, yet tinged with a Viking-like spirit of adventure – poetic, in other words. Britain especially adored the next track, Take A Chance On Me . From its bonkers yet brilliant a cappella opening, this insanely catchy melody is an instant earworm. Bubbly and punchy, it bounces along, anchored by Benny, enjoying himself on the old joanna driving home the beat. A song so great, in fact, it almost singlehandedly lends weight to the theory that at one point, ABBA were responsible for producing 20 per cent of Sweden’s entire GDP… And now for a slight digression, to discuss The Album’s mixed history of production quality. For reasons unknown, original LP pressings came from a defective master tape, causing distortion across some tracks – most especially, The Name Of The Game . The original Polydor pressing and subsequent CSR and Deluxe editions – sourced from the same ‘bad’ tape, also audibly suffered. Though clean transfers of the original studio tapes came via various Tretow

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and Astley remasters, issues still remained. According to experts, Tretow’s had a harsh EQ, whereas Astley’s were badly compressed and noise reduced. Fortunately for Take A Chance On Me , it largely escaped distortion across all LPs and non-remastered CDs – such as Polydor’s Greatest Hits Vol. 2 . ABBA: The Album

mode, is on lead vocal, adds to the piquancy. In comparison, The Name Of The Game was seen as a commercial cracker. The girls deliver sublime solo parts before their clear-asa-bell harmonies chime to rival the best of Phil Spector’s girl groups. Their unearthly, radiant chemistry is something

On the evidence of this totally eclectic LP, ABBA can never be accused of trotting down the road marked ‘bubblegum pop’. Like their colourful album cover, this landmark LP is a rainbow of a record was released as a CD in 1984, and four subsequent times by Polygram. In 2005, part of The Complete Studio Recordings box set, by 2007, it was also available as a two-disc Deluxe Edition. Carrying swiftly on to an overlooked slow-burn gem, and one never released as a UK single: One Man, One Woman. Benny’s gift for lyrically depicting human relationships reflects in his moving lyrics here on the gender situation, like a male Carly Simon in insightful vein. The fact that his then-missus Frida, in notably emotive

else; the kind of magical vocal melding usually the preserve of siblings. Manager Stig Anderson helped the two worker Bs, Benny and Björn, on the writing credits. As he did on I Wonder , and folksy Side 2 starter Move On. Despite its progressive message, this song is nowhere near as potent or as memorable as the rest. Off on another tangent goes the rock pomp of Hole In Your Soul . Building like some opus from Queen, it deftly displays Benny’s masterful way with song-bridge construction, while Lasse

Wellander has hard rocking fun on lead electric guitar. Amidst more ear-bending blending of Frida’s mezzosoprano and Agnetha’s soprano, listen out midway for the latter’s amazing heavymetal scream… As Björn said: “We had a wild range.” Most arresting of all was the three song finale. An unsettling essay on the entrapping nature of fame acts as a bold touch of genius. A trio of scenes from a ‘mini-musical’ were conceived as a storytelling saga by Benny and Björn for the concerts on their latest triumphant tour. The flaxenhaired heroine of the semicabaret-style tale behind The Girl With The Golden Hair is not necessarily Agnetha: both women appeared onstage in blonde wigs to perform this bravura number. The lyrics travel from moody reflection to joyful gratitude. Then through I Wonder , the tone changes to a ‘what if fame hadn’t come calling?’ scenario. The diva turns it around in a final remarkable twist – to pronounce her all-consuming career’s left her nothing but a puppet. With more than a nod to the lexicon of Broadway musicals and the rich musical texture of Weimar cabaret – (as one wag said, “ABBA almost does Kurt Weill”) – it culminates in the unexpected jangling edge of the girls’ duet, I’m A Marionette . On the evidence of this totally eclectic LP, ABBA can never be accused of blithely trotting down the road marked ‘bubblegum pop’, or resting on their laurels. Like their colourful album cover, this landmark LP is a rainbow of a record, and one which, seemingly effortlessly, manages to encompass a surprising number of tones, textures and moods. It represents ABBA at their artistic peak.

THE DETAILS

9. I Wonder (Departure) 10. I’m A Marionette RELEASED

TRACKLISTING

1. Eagle 2. Take A Chance On Me 3. One Man, One Woman 4. The Name Of The Game 5. Move On 6. Hole In Your Soul 7. (The Girl With The Golden Hair – Three Scenes From A Mini Musical) 8. Thank You For The Music s e g a m I y t t e G ©

12 December 1977 (Scandinavia); January 1978 (UK) LABEL

Polar, Epic (UK), Atlantic (US) PRODUCED BY

Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus RECORDED AT

Marcus, Metronome and Glen Studios, Stockholm, and Bohus Studio, Kungälv PERSONNEL

Benny Andersson Keyboards, vocals, backing vocals Agnetha Fältskog Vocals, backing vocals

Anni-Frid Lyngstad Vocals, backing vocals Björn Ulvaeus Acoustic guitar, electric guitar, vocals ADDITIONAL MUSICIANS

Ola Brunkert Drums Roger Palm Drums Lars O Carlsson Flute, saxophone Malandro Gassama Percussion Rutger Gunnarsson Bass Janne Schaffer Lead guitar Lasse Wellander Lead guitar Benny and Björn included their ambitious mini musical on The Album

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SHOT ACROSS SIX WEEKS IN 1977 ON THEIR SEMINAL AUSTRALIAN 10-DAY TOUR, THIS FUN AND HISTORICAL FLICK REMAINS THE BAND’S DEFINITIVE IN-CONCERT DOCUMENT J U L I E

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ccording to one review critic: “This was really the first widescreen pop music showcase… It remains a very rare portrait of a 70s pop band at the height of its popularity.” Digitally remastered and re-released in 2008, it was first conceived as a home movie, a TV Special, then a documentary, before this ‘rockumentary concert’ movie. As writer/director Lasse Hallström’s first film in English, he later found fame with movie hits including What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? , Chocolat , and The Cider House Rules. He also directed the majority of ABBA’s 38 s e promotional videos, from g a m I ABBA arrive at the London premiere 1974 debut Waterloo to y t t e of their movie at Warner Cinema, G their farewell Head Over Leicester Square, on 16 February 1978 © Heels, in 1982. Chiming with the release of ABBA: The Album, …The Movie spans country-and-western track members of the public on the danger (a distinct hazard appeal of ABBA. A surprising songs from the LP plus earlier for then-pregnant Agnetha, intro is an early 70s Björn hits, and such otherwise and Benny composition: number of under-12s are fans necessitating many of her Please Change Your Mind , of their music and perhaps unavailable gems as Get On scenes shot in close-up). sum it up best as “Special” The Carousel . The quartet, clearly in performed by Swedish By the time of ABBA’s country band Nashville and “Happy”. their heyday, are dynamic Huge crowds had come arrival in Australia on 27 onstage. For optimum Train – who were made up of February 1977, the group’s acoustic recording, the film several musicians from ABBA’s to watch the band perform, record sales had eclipsed studio band. while cheering fans lined their sticks mainly with one indoor entire 19km airport route to that of The Beatles. We meet gig at Perth Entertainment Dizzyingly edited from the Swedish ‘Fab Four’ at a Hallström’s 50 hours of Melbourne. Abbamania in Centre. Latest album tracks full swing. ‘welcome’ press conference. Björn Ulvaeus later admitted When asked: “Is every “Seeing the fi lm came as a bit of a shock. It’s performance ‘traumatic’?”, to some misgivings about the film. “…Quite honestly, I don’t Benny answers, “Every show hard to recognise yourself on a giant screen in you’re nervous,” and, “I’d think that films with pop stars Panavision. But then we’ve had so many moments work very well. Of course, hate the sound of 30,000 The Beatles are an exception fans booing!” As for Agnetha: when it has been hard to accept the things that “I find the travelling very and Tommy was a big hit – have been happening” B J Ö R N U L V A E U S but there have been lots of hard. I start to think, ‘Where am I? Which city?’” Björn other pop films that have sunk without trace… Seeing the says: “It’s an unsocial life, are showcased: He Is Your footage, unusually, no film came as a bit of a shock. it kills creativity in a way I Brother ; Eagle ; the startling out-takes or DVD extras don’t like.” Livewire Frida would ever surface. It’s hard to recognise yourself Agnetha and Anni-Frid duet up there on a giant screen in adds: “It’s boring to travel, to I’m A Marionette . Classic Concert coverage is fantastic to be onstage!” Did spliced throughout with the Panavision. But then we’ve hits, of course, rock the they make loads of money? had many moments when crowd: SOS , Money, Money, (deliberately) thin fiction of it has been hard to accept “A lot of money coming in, Money , So Long, Rock hapless DJ Ashley Wallace, a lot of tax to pay. Money assigned to interview the the things that have been Me , to Fernando ; the girls’ happening to us.” isn’t that important, it’s liking favourite, Dancing Queen, band and despite frequent the work that is,” says Benny. near misses, unable – until Nevertheless, on departing and their lesser-known slower And to Agnetha, how did it Down Under, the message duets, I’ve Been Waiting For the last minute – to do so was positive: “We had feel having the sexiest bottom You to Why Did It Have To (a plot device apparently in pop? “How can I answer kept from the group to add such a good time,” the Be Me? . More material not foursome agree. As DJ Ashley that? I don’t know, I haven’t instantly recognisable includes authenticity). After a surreal broadcasts his hard-won seen it!” (It still caused some dream sequence in which Benny playing his prog-rock off-tone-titled gig reviews such pop Intermezzo No. 1; the the girls sing The Name Of interview, in the background plays ABBA’s timeless concert as ‘Agnetha’s Bottom Tops instrumental Stoned and The Game , he finally gets Show!’). ‘ABBA Risk Their to meet and talk with them closer, Thank You For The Swedish traditional songs Music . Nearly 40 years on, Lives’ ran a more serious Johan Snippen and Polka all in an elevator. Traversing the sentiment is still shared by headline, when rain-swept Sydney, Perth, Adelaide and Goes, performed by Benny arena stages threatened Melbourne, Ashley interviews the band’s global fanbase. on accordion. Even the film’s 51

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IT’S ABBA AT THEIR SEXIEST, AS THE QUARTET HEAD FOR BOOGIE WONDERLAND ON THE MOST DISCO-INFLUENCED WORK IN THE BACK CATALOGUE M A R K

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ith a new baby, a wedding and a divorce all happening behind the scenes and a poorly received album planting seeds of doubt in the minds of the group as to their position in the music scene, it is little wonder that Voulez-Vous, ABBA’s sixth album, was their most challenging to date. Having sustained a prolific musical output, releasing an ABBA album every year as well as writing and producing other acts since 1973, recently completed a tour in support of ABBA: The Album and ABBA: The Movie , Benny and Björn found themselves suffering writers’ block for the first time in their career and it was decided that 1978 would be set aside for them to write a musical instead, having been inspired by their The Girl With The Golden Hair vignette, which had closed their previous album and tour. However, the idea was put on the backburner when Summer Night City failed to set the world alight – although a hit by anyone’s standards, it wasn’t by ABBA’s. So, used to a seemingly endless string of No. 1 hits, the song’s Top Five placing in the UK was deemed below par and, knowing full well that all pop acts – however successful – had a shelf life, ABBA began to worry their time at the top was finally coming to an end. They decided to push ahead with a new studio album instead; however, despite putting the time in in the studio, they struggled to produce anything that they considered good enough. For the first time, working in solitude in their usual secluded cottage was stifling them and Benny and Björn decided that they needed exposure to current music trends to inspire them and took a trip to the Bahamas and Miami, where they immersed themselves in disco and funk, including the Bee Gees, Earth, Wind & Fire and Donna Summer. The trip proved to be just creative shot in the arm they needed and there, they wrote a handful

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ABBA perform in Paris in 1979


of songs that form the basis of the next ABBA album. Their creativity sparked, they booked studio time at Miami’s Criteria Studios and recorded the backing track to Voulez- Vous, the song that went on to become the album’s title track and dictate the direction of the album. Upon their return, and with their brand-new state-of-

ABBA would seamlessly slink their way into the dancefloordominated world, of which pioneers such as Giorgio Moroder, Cerrone and the Casablanca label roster rubbed sequinned shoulders with Eurotrashy classics such as Baccara’s Yes Sir, I Can Boogie and Tina Charles’ I Love To Love , all which are ingrained in the rich sonic

Benny and Björn decided that they needed exposure to current music trends to inspire them and took a trip to the Bahamas and Miami, where they immersed themselves in disco and funk, including the Bee Gees, Earth, Wind & Fire and Donna Summer the-art Polar Music Studio in Stockholm at their disposal, they crafted their most cohesive album to date, utilising the latest studio technology, they completed the album within a matter of weeks and found disco the perfect fit for their trademark hook-driven pop. At a time when everyone from The Rolling Stones to Rod Stewart were releasing disco songs, it was a no-brainer that

tapestry of Voulez-Vous. Kicking off with a dramatic string arrangement, As Good As New resolves into an energetic number which dictates the pace of the record and is driven by a pulsating dance beat, over which ABBA’s unmistakable harmonies flourish. Likewise, with the title track, the only ABBA song recorded outside Sweden, Voulez-Vous marks quite a departure for ABBA,

with its risqué lyric, which hints at Labelle’s infamous Lady Marmalade , and is definitely at odds with their usual wholesome image. Keen not to alienate their longstanding audience, ABBA slowed the pace for a more traditional, schlager-influenced ballad with I Have A Dream, a schmaltzy ballad which scored them a Christmas hit, yet sounding out of place within the sexier, clubbier tracks which form the core of the album, particularly when a children’s choir are enlisted to sing lines such as “I Believe In Angels”. A perfectly fine ballad – but for ABBA three albums ago. The only other downtempo moment on the album, though far superior, is Chiquitita, a perfect example of ABBA going back to their roots. Of similar ilk to their classic Fernando , Chiquitita was written at the request of UNICEF, who approached the biggest acts of the day to donate a song each to raise proceeds to under-privileged children. Chiquitita was a huge hit and has raised millions for the charity. Amping up the tempo once again, Angeleyes is one of ABBA’s greatest 53

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songs and one of the most underrated, due to its lack of a video and its release as a double-A Side with Voulez-Vous, therefore not giving the song its chance to shine. Blending an irresistible 60s-inspired melody over a dance beat, the song is one of those songs that manages to be both wistful and uplifting at the same time, of which ABBA were the true masters.

V O U L E Z - V O U S

when suffering loneliness. “How I fear the time when shadows start to fall/ Sitting here alone and staring at the wall/ Even I could see the light/ If it wasn’t for the nights I think that I could make it.” The lyric was deemed to have particular relevance when put into context that it was written shortly after Björn and Agnetha’s divorce. Having battled to save their

Wanting to check they would fit alongside the biggest dancefl oor hits of the day, Björn and Benny would visit Stockholm’s Atlantic nightclub to play the songs when they were in the process of being recorded and gauged the crowd’s reaction to them Likewise with If It Wasn’t For The Nights, a mid-tempo disco shuffle which evokes Dancing Queen and possibly even surpasses it. The megahit that never was, the song was originally planned to be the first single from the album but was shelved when they were approached by UNICEF. Showing a remarkable progression when it comes to storytelling, If It Wasn’t For The Nights deals with how hopeless one can feel at night

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marriage with counselling sessions after the birth of their second child, they were forced to admit that they had grown apart and divorced, though they assured fans that their split would not affect ABBA. This technically wasn’t true, as it became a source of inspiration for their subsequent albums and would provide an emotional depth that would in turn result in some of their songwriting’s

creative high points. If It Wasn’t For The Nights, Chiquitita and Angeleyes were only the beginning. Keen not to make all their confessions on the dancefloor, though, tracks such as the title track, the pounding glamrock/disco hybrid Does Your Mother Know (Björn’s only lead vocal on a single) and the blistering Kisses Of Fire proved energetic escapism from the troubles behind the scenes, particularly the latter. Like Donna Summer’s MacArthur Park , the song begins with a stunning misleading introduction, which suggests the song is going to be a beautiful ballad before it erupts into a funky floorfiller reminiscent of the Bee Gees’ You Should Be Dancing, with one of ABBA’s most hypnotic choruses. The songs’ authenticity was tested when, wanting to check they would fit alongside the biggest dancefloor hits of the day, Björn and Benny would visit Stockholm’s Atlantic nightclub to sneakily play the songs while they were in the process of being recorded and gauged the crowd’s reaction to them. The only time the quality drops is on the plodding The King Has Lost His Crown and Lovers (Live A Little Longer),

both of which were among the first songs to be written for the album, originating from the period when Benny and Björn were struggling for inspiration and direction, and aren’t really up to the standard of the later material. When the Voulez-Vous album was finally released in 1979, fans were thrilled with the band’s return to form after the disappointing ABBA: The Album. With a sound that was as sexy and cool as ABBA ever got, and a sleek, fashionable look ready for a night on the town on the cover, this was positive proof that the dancing queens were at their musical peak. The album itself fit perfectly into the musical zeitgeist and ABBA found themselves a hit in the clubs and in the charts, with no fewer than seven of the album’s 10 songs hitting the charts as singles in their own right or as Double A-Side features. When the band ran out of songs to release, they simply returned to the studio to seemingly casually dash off and record yet another slice of dancefloor magic, in Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight). The only place where the album wasn’t a success was in the US, with ABBA’s hopes of a hit there scuppered by the untimely emergence of the Disco Sucks movement and the ceremonial burning of disco records in Chicago. Tensions were also rising within the group, with Agnetha and Björn struggling to adapt to life in the group postdivorce and cracks also beginning to show in Frida and Benny’s relationship, despite their recent wedding. Despite the chart success of the album’s singles, though, by the end of the decade, it seemed the party was over – both for ABBA and for disco.

THE DETAILS

Björn Ulvaeus

PERSONNEL

Benny Andersson

Banjo, guitar, vocals

Synthesiser, keyboards, vocals CHART PLACINGS

Agnetha Fältskog Vocals

Anni-Frid Lyngstad TRACKLISTING

Vocals

1 As Good As New 2 Voulez-Vous 3 I Have A Dream 4 Angeleyes 5 The King Has Lost His Crown 6 Does Your Mother Know 7 If It Wasn’t For The Nights 8 Chiquitita 9 Lovers (Live A Little Longer) 10 Kisses Of Fire

ADDITIONAL MUSICIANS


Rolf Alex

UK – No. 1 US – No. 19 Sweden – No. 1

Halldor Palsson George Terry

Drums

Rutger Gunnarsson

Tenor saxophone

Guitar

Ola Brunkert

Bass

Arnold Paseiro

Mike Watson

Bass

Bass

Jan Risberg

Lasse Wellander

Oboe

Guitar

Janne Schaffer

Kajtek Wojciechowski

Drums

Paul Harris

Lars Carlsson

Piano

Horn

Janne Kling

Anders Eljas

Wind

Horn

Nils Landgren

Joe Galdo

Trombone

Guitar, sitar

Drums

Ish Ledesma

Johan Stengård

Malando Gassama

Guitar

Tenor saxophone

Roger Palm

Åke Sundqvist

Percussion

Drums

Percussion

Tenor saxophone

Though disco was a perfect fit for ABBA’s melodic pop, when the 80s dawned, it swiftly went out of fashion

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A L B U M

INSIGHT SUPER TROUPER 1 9 8 0 ONE OF THEIR MOST FULLY FORMED COLLECTIONS OF SONGS – AND A UNANIMOUS BAND FAVOURITE – SUPER TROUPER SAW ABBA PUT ASIDE THEIR DIFFERENCES TO FINE EFFECT M A R K

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L I N D O R E S

S U P E R

T R O U P E R

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A

lthough ABBA’s sixth and penultimate studio album took its name from the giant spotlight that glared on the band during their live shows, the four members of the group revealed themselves to be super troopers of a different kind, soldiering on through the catastrophic turmoil that was their personal lives to produce their most accomplished album to date. While Agnetha and Björn had put on an amicable front when announcing their divorce in 1979, the fact that Björn had met his new partner within a week of his split from Agnetha strained their professional relationship considerably. Also, though unbeknown to the public at s e the time, Benny had also g a m I met a new woman, thus y t t e G signalling the end of his © marriage to Frida. Therefore, at the dawning of the 80s, ABBA was a they had made progress released as the first single very different entity to the with the album, they divided from the album in July 1980 fun foursome in flamboyant and is an obvious standout. their time in the cottage in fashions that captivated the Viggsö and in their Polar With a visceral lyric about world with their infectious a couple’s divorce delivered Studio in Stockholm, penning Scandi-pop. On Super songs for the album. with heartbreaking feeling Trouper , they emerged, battle With half of an album’sby the person the track was scars on display, with an written about, the track is worth of material written, the album as rich with emotional depth as it is in complex harmonies – the confessional In The Winner Takes It All , an emotionally lyrics testament to Björn’s spent Agnetha opines the breakdown of grasp of the English language and his flair for storytelling. her marriage: the song covers the stages As initial sessions for the of a broken relationship such as denial, album took place in January 1980, Benny and Björn found shock, wistfulness and self-punishment, themselves struggling to write asking her ex-husband questions she for the new album. As this doesn’t really want the answers to was the same predicament they had found themselves in with Voulez-Vous, they once again decided a visit one of those instances which band completed a tour of to sunnier climes could help Japan in March (which would transcends the boundaries to get their creative juices of being a throwaway pop be their last), before returning flowing (not to mention a to work on the LP in earnest song. As an emotionally break from the tensions of at the end of May. As work spent Agnetha opines the their home lives) and headed breakdown of her marriage, continued, and Benny and for Barbados. Björn felt that the record was the song covers the stages of The trip was short lived, a broken relationship such as taking shape, they revisited lasting only 10 days, but was a few older ideas they had denial, shock, wistfulness and a success, in that it resulted recorded and, during one self-punishment, asking her ex in them having written the questions she doesn’t want the particularly fruitful session, first two songs for the album, came up with the song that answers to, such as: “Does Happy New Year and On became the centrepiece of she kiss like I used to kiss And On And On, the former the album and would be you?/Does it feel the same stemming from the idea of recognised in the fullness of when she calls your name?” writing a musical that they Although Björn has insisted time as ABBA’s masterpiece. were still toying with. Feeling The Winner Takes It All was that The Winner Takes It All is

ABBA pictured in 1980 – they may’ve been approaching the end, but they were still a hit machine

not strictly autobiographical about his divorce from Agnetha, in the sense of there being a winner and a loser, the raw, emotional lyrics can only be a subliminal release. He admitted that once the backing track was complete, the song is one the quickest he’d ever written, with the lyrics pouring out of him. Aside from the lyrics and Agnetha’s delivery, bathed in choral backing vocals and Benny’s simple cascading piano line, the song is notable for its unusual structure, something ABBA had become masters at ever since their biggest hit, Dancing Queen (which begins halfway through the chorus), taught the pair that there are no rules when it comes to writing timeless pop songs. The Winner Takes It All is by no means the only song on Super Trouper to explore the pain of the breakdown of relationships. As affecting a song, if not so raw, Our Last Summer finds the wistful Frida of Knowing Me, Knowing You reflecting on a summer spent in Paris, reminiscing of “Walks along the Seine/ Laughing in the rain/ Our last summer/ Memories that remain”. 57

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While the song was written by Björn about a summer romance he had while a student, Frida’s interpretation is entirely believable, just one of many standout performances from her on this album, in some cases sadly overlooked due to the dominance of The Winner Takes It All . Completing Super Trouper ’s break-up triptych is seasonal standard Happy New Year . Originally planned as the first single from the album, and also at one point a starting point for Benny and Björn’s plans for a musical, the song uses New Year’s Eve as a metaphor for the happy part of a relationship, while the gloomy comedown of New Year’s Day when the fun is over and the uneasiness and uncertainty of what lies ahead proves daunting. While the introspective ballads form the emotional core of the album, the intensity is countered by some of their greatest pop songs. Safely ensconced in their new Polar Music Studios (Agnetha called it her “second home”), ABBA had the latest in technology at their disposal, and Benny made full use of it – particularly the new Yamaha GX-1 synthesiser, an instrument which proved

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S U P E R

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invaluable in allowing him to experiment in a variety of different genres. With its keyboards and catchy “Su-per-per trou-perper” vocal refrain, the title track’s irresistible harmony was the perfect antidote to downcast lyrics which tell of the downside of life on the road. The band had never enjoyed touring, and now separation from loved ones

they’d explore deeper on the The Visitors album. Taking the premise of a split personality, the song experiments with strong synths and vocodered vocals, which culminate in one of ABBA’s most uplifting, anthemic choruses, likewise with Lay All Your Love On Me . The song was originally in the style of a traditional hymn, with multitracked vocals for the chorus to give

With more than an air of swansong to it, The Way Old Friends Do suggests that ABBA maybe knew their time was coming to an end. It was a theory supported by the album’s artwork – a shot of the group in a circus setting, surrounded by their family and closest friends while on tour was an issue for Björn, who missed his new partner, something he had never experienced with Agnetha as they were never apart. The song shot to No. 1 around the world when it was released as the second single in November 1980. The feelgood factor is sustained with Me And I – one of the most forwardsounding tracks on the album and a precursor to the sound

it a choir-like sound, but the addition of a dance beat and piano melody reminiscent of That’s Me , resulted in one of ABBA’s best dance songs. When it was released only as a 12-inch single, Lay All Your Love On Me , became the biggest-selling 12-inch single of all time. Aside from ballads and synthpop, Super Trouper ’s cosmopolitan feel is illustrated with On And On And On, a Beach Boys-inspired rocker in the

vein of Does Your Mother Know which veers close to the cool female rockers of the day such as Blondie and The Pretenders, Andante Andante – another of the band’s returns to their schlager material with an endearing lilting country feel, and The Piper – which is a medieval-inspired song that warns of the possibility of a looming dictatorship. The album closes with The Way Old Friends Do , an Auld Lang Syne -style sentimental song recorded live as the encore to their Wembley concerts in 1979, accompanied only by accordion. With more than an air of swansong to it, the album as a whole suggests that ABBA maybe knew their time was coming to an end – a theory supported by the album’s artwork, a shot of the group in a moodily lit circus setting, surrounded by a specially invited audience made up of their family and closest friends. If it was the case that ABBA were planning their farewell, they were going out on a high. Super Trouper was met with unanimous critical acclaim upon release – a first for the group, and it became their biggest selling album. Entering the charts at No. 1 in nine countries, Super Trouper exceeded sales of over one million in advance orders alone in the UK, a record at the time. As well as being a firm fan favourite, unusually, perhaps, all four members of the group cite Super Trouper as their favourite album, because it works as a collection of songs and each is strong enough to stand individually. Speaking in the Words And Music documentary, Frida says: “You usually feel that each album you do is the best you’ve ever done, but I have to say that Super Trouper is a little different. Because we’re pleased with each and every song on the album.”


1 Super Trouper 2 The Winner Takes It All 3 On And On And On 4 Andante, Andante 5 Me And I 6 Happy New Year 7 Our Last Summer 8 The Piper 9 Lay All Your Love On Me 10 The Way Old Friends Do


PERSONNEL

Benny Andersson

Per Lindvall Drums

Synthesiser, keyboards, vocals

Janne Schaffer

Agnetha Fältskog

Guitar

Vocals

Åke Sundqvist

Anni-Frid Lyngstad

Percussion

Vocals

Bass

Björn Ulvaeus Acoustic guitar, vocals

Mike Watson Lasse Wellander Guitar

Kajtek Wojciechowski ADDITIONAL MUSICIANS

Saxophone

Ola Brunkert Drums

Lars Carlsson Horn

Rutger Gunnarsson Bass, guitar

CHART PLACINGS

UK – No. 1 US – No. 17 Sweden – No. 1

Janne Kling Flute, saxophone

ABBA’s last gigs were 11 dates in Tokyo in 1980, on the band’s final world tour

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AS GLOBAL SUPERSTARDOM TOOK ITS TOLL, ABBA’S BREAK-UP WAS A LONG TIME COMING. DAVID BURKE LOOKS AT THE FINAL YEARS AND HOW THEY STAYED OUT OF THE SPOTLIGHT…

n o s t a W c i r E

©

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BITTER SWEDE


SYMPHONIES 61


Benny and Björn with Tim Rice at the press conference for Chess in in 1984

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W

e can talk about the ephemeral magic of pop music… about the quick fix, the instant buzz, about getting off or becoming blissed out on three minutes of sonic candy candy.. We can talk about the evanescence of pop acts, the ‘here today, gone tomorrow’ nature of hipness. But none of this applies to ABBA, the consummate practitioners of an artform in which they scaled epic heights; which they positively made their own between 1974 and 1982; whose songs transcend the now and occupy a prominent place in our heads and in our hearts, and who, as an entity, lingered just long enough for us not to remember but never to forget them. Who, similarly to The Beatles and The Smiths, knew when to quit rather than suffer the ignominy of reprising themselves year after year, decade after decade. Which poses an intriguing question: would ABBA’s oeuvre have endured as it has, if they hadn’t separated when they did? Carl Magnus Palm, internationally renowned ABBA authority, uses the example of a bunch of wrinkly rockers to offer an objective view. “The Rolling Stones never formally split up, but have limped along over the decades. Yet I’m sure this hasn’t really hurt the long-term endurance of classic hits such as (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction . But maybe The Stones’ back catalogue would be regarded as even more magical if they’d split up at some point. I’m sure it’s been good for ABBA’s longevity that the audience has been left wanting more. It’s created a tension that’s enhanced the magic of the back catalogue.” Of course, ABBA never really split up. Not officially officially,, anyway.. “They took a break so that Björn and Benny anyway could write Chess together with Tim Rice,” says Palm. “And then, not getting back together again seems to have happened organically. organically. By the time Björn

and Benny were finished with Chess, no one was interested in getting back together as ABBA. When they went on that break, I think they all knew that there was a possibility they would never get back together again.” ABBA’s vanishing act – what else could you call it? – meant their millions of fans worldwide were denied the opportunity to thank them for the music. Surely a reunion, however fleeting, would facilitate what our supposedly special friends across the Atlantic term ‘closure’? Carl Magnus Palm doesn’t think so. “One should never say never, but I can’t see that ever happening. Bidding farewell to their fans would not be very high on ABBA’s ABBA’s agenda. If they did it, it would only be because they felt that they could make some good music together. But with most of the group being around 70 years old, they don’t want to spoil the memory of ABBA as that young-ish band they once were.” There was almost a sense of inevitability about ABBA’s demise, even when they were at the zenith of their global success. The foursome may have given the impression to their fawning fanbase that they were comfortable with the demands commensurate with multi-million record sales and sell-out concerts. But these demands caused a shift in the dynamic of the group, according to Palm. “Maybe it became clear that Björn, Benny and Frida were quite eager to go with the flow in terms of touring and going on promotional trips all over the world. Agnetha, on the other hand, had small children and didn’t think anything could be more important than staying home with them. It appears to have caused some tension from time to time.” Factor in the strain that fame must have placed on those marital relationships involving Björn and Agnetha, Benny and Frida – both of which collapsed

T H E

B R E A K - U P

– and it’s remarkable that ABBA managed to sustain “Wee would arrive in our cars and there would be “W the long run they did. Although all parties concerned small children there, and we were so scared that were adamant that the failure of their marriages we were going to drive over someone or hurt them. wasn’t detrimental to ABBA, Palm, on the other hand, Sometimes, we could hardly leave our hotels. It remains somewhat ambivalent. was frightening, but we had so many people taking “It doesn’t seem to have impacted ABBA that care of us and everyone wanted to show us the best much. After all, they went on for four years after wherever we went.” Björn and Agnetha’s split, and after both couples Compounding the misery of life on the road was made statements about their respective splits saying Agnetha’ss increasing dread of going on stage. Agnetha’ that the marital breakdowns had nothing to do with “Performing live was not my favourite. I am more of a ABBA, and that they intended to carry on as before. recording person. I prefer to be private. Walking Walking on However,, in the long term, perhaps the fact that However stage and singing live, that’s a bit difficult. And I don’t they’d come together as two couples in love, and now think we ever sounded or looked very good.” were just four individual members, robbed ABBA of Björn, whether expressing his own thoughts or some of their raison d’etre.” representing the ABBA collective’ collective’ss perspective, Björn and Agnetha’s divorce was presented to press suggested to reporters that the American trek would and public as amicable, with Björn insisting the pair probably be their last, though “not “ not a farewell tour, “just grew apart and decided, let’s split up”. Agnetha like The Rolling Stones have done so many times”. told a different story in her book, As I Am, insisting Namechecking The Beatles, he saw ABBA evolving things weren’t quite so conciliatory. into a studio-based outfit. But the show went on, “We always told the media that it was a happy as ABBA returned to Europe for 23 sold-out concerts divorce, which, of course, was a front. Obviously Obviously,, we at the back of 1979, before, in March 1980, all know there are no such things as happy divorces, embarking on an 11-date commitment in Japan, especially when there including six nights at are children involved. Tokyo’s Budokan. “Our [lives] were in the full glare of the On top of that, ours was The cycle continued media. But to this day day,, I don’t regret in the full glare of the with the writing and media. But to this day, I recording of Super splitting up. The reason behind our Trouper , featuring the don’t regret splitting up. separation is one of those things I don’t The reason behind our track that finally exposed want to go into” A G N E T H A separation is one of those the torment – Björn and things I definitely don’t Agnetha’s, Agnetha’ s, yes, but really want to go into.” ABBA’s – behind the triumph, The Winner Takes It All . Björn quit the family home on Christmas Eve in The personal had trespassed on the professional, and 1978, after which he was “a bachelor for a week”, though it’s a profound meditation on failed love, this before meeting future wife Lena Källersjö. confessional ballad could be heard as a declaration Meanwhile, Benny and Frida’s marriage had been that ABBA themselves were unable to go on, that on the rocks for years. Coining a phrase similar to they had been utterly consumed by the music and that used by Björn to describe his and Agnetha’s everything that went with it. separation, Frida, speaking to a Swedish newspaper Björn wrote the words while imbibing a bottle of in 1981, said she and Benny “simply grew out of Scotch. “I was drunk and the whole lyric came to me each other. It came down to our different goals in in a rush of emotion in an hour. And that never works. life. We have always been honest and talked about You think it’s wonderful at the time, but it looks terrible everything. We talked and talked, and finally we the next day… but that one worked.” agreed that a divorce would be the best solution. Next day, he demoed the song at Polar Music There was a lot of tears and a lot of discussions, Studios in Stockholm and gave it to Agnetha. but there was no way back. Breaking up became “It was strange hearing her singing that. It was a necessity.” more like an actress doing something when she In the same newspaper piece, Benny claimed that sang it, but deeply moving, too. Afterwards, there he and Frida “decided to stay together for the sake were tears.” of the music”, adding, “We are fond of what we are For Agnetha, performing The Winner Takes It All doing musically, musically, and we will be able to cope with this was “fantastic… I could put in such feeling. I didn’t as long as possible.” mind sharing it with the public. It didn’t feel wrong. Retrospectively Retrospective ly,, what emerges from this narrative There is so much in that song. It was a mixture of what – Agnetha’s anxiety, her separation from Björn, I felt and what Björn felt, but also what Benny and followed by Benny and Frida’ Frida’ss separation, and Frida went through.” the deferment of dealing with the emotional issues By the time of the next album, The Visitors, their wrought by the breakdowns for the sake of s ustaining swansong (intentional or not can only be conjectured), a career – is that ABBA were incrementally imploding. things were more fraught between the members of On a tour of North America in 1979, Agnetha ABBA, with little attempt to conceal the cracks. “It was resented being away from her children, and insisted getting harder to say, ‘Please do that again’,” Björn on travelling in a different vehicle to Björn so that, in recalled of the fractious sessions. the case of an accident, those children wouldn’t be “I think all four of us could see that the potential in orphaned. She also developed a fear of flying, after the group was still there, so why should we let our a private aircraft in which she was travelling became private lives ruin something that’s still good?” caught up in a freak storm. The constant adulation Perhaps Björn was being disingenuous – if was another problem. everything hadn’t already been destroyed, it was “Fans would become really hysterical, banging on certainly in the process of being destroyed. “My car doors,” she recalled in 2013. understanding is that it was something of an uphill 63

struggle, at least from time to time, but maybe more because everyone started feeling that ABBA had run their course, rather than because of any bad feelings in the studio,” Carl Magnus Palm posits. “That said, it may also depend on which ABBA member you ask. It seems it wasn’t so easy for Frida from time to time, being fresh from her divorce and struggling to build a new life for herself while s till working with her ex-husband.” On The Visitors, Visitors, ABBA went over to the dark side. Paranoia, madness and desolation were not themes with which the faithful were familiar. In the UK, only One Of Us made Us made the Top 10 singles chart. The Day Before You Came didn’t didn’t even bruise the Top 30. An offer to collaborate with Tim Rice on a musical – which turned out to be Chess Chess – – was taken up by Björn © Getty Images

Anni-Frid pictured in France, October 1982

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and Benny. Plans to work on new ABBA material were postponed, with Benny declaring: “The energy had run out. That’s the feeling we had at the time.” He has since stated that had The Day Before You Came gone gone to No. 1, ABBA might have carried on for a little longer, a scenario Palm finds plausible. “Perhaps Björn and Benny would have made a different decision and not gone ahead with the musical just yet, and instead spent 1983 completing the album they began in 1982. It’s not impossible. Assuming they would have chosen to do the musical, after all, as indeed they did, it’s not impossible that if they went on their break off the back of a really big hit, they would have felt more motivated in getting back together and carrying on as ABBA. But judging by the way they all conducted their lives in the mid-80s – Björn and Frida were both living outside Sweden, for example – it just seems like it would have been too much trouble.” While Björn and Benny hooked up with Rice, Agnetha and Frida both embarked on solo ventures with Wrap Your Arms Around Me and and Something’s Going On respectively. On respectively. They released a handful of albums between them during the 1980s, before disappearing into secluded lives. Agnetha issued a covers collection, My Colouring Book , in 2004, before 2013’s A found her joining forces with Take That’s Gary Barlow, among others. Chess Chess came came out in 1984, spawning the hit singles One Night In Bangkok (for Murray Head) and I Know Him So Well (a (a duet featuring Barbara Dickson and Elaine Paige), before opening in London’s West End two years later, and Broadway in 1988, although bad reviews culminated in the latter’s closure within two months. Benny descended into alcoholism, finally sobering up in 2001, when he admitted: “When it’s about the difficult battle against addiction, it doesn’t matter who you are. I wasn’t feeling well without alcohol, so I knew I was in trouble. I sought help and I got it. I knew that if I continued drinking, there was a risk I would lose everything. If you drink enough for a long enough time, you lose things.” ABBA haven’t gone away. It may be almost 35 years since they last put down anything new, new, but their body of work – the look as well as the sound – is part of the popular-culture consciousness, kept alive by a resonance with successive generations and by the profusion of tribute acts glammed up and reimagining Dancing Queen, Queen, Voulez-Vous Voulez-Vous and and The Winner Takes It All for for audiences everywhere who never got to witness the real thing. “When we broke up I thought that ABBA was something completely past, behind me,” said Björn in 1999. “We were going forward, writing Chess and so forth, and I assumed that ABBA would vanish. It was stupid and naïve thinking that. The fact it has survived is immensely flattering.” So ABBA didn’t vanish at all then. They’re still out there in the firmament. Carl Magnus Palm believes the quartet are comfortable with their legacy legacy,, just as they’re comfortable with how they faded out. “They seem to be pragmatic souls who feel that there’ss a time for everything, and that they probably there’ quit at a good point. When the ABBA revival happened in the 90s, I get the feeling some members may have struggled a bit with having to relate to this ‘old stuff’ and the interest in ABBA never going away. away. But it seems they’ve all come to terms with it now, and accept it as part of their lives.”

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THE VISITORS 1 9 8 1

BY 1981, THE END WAS NIGH – “WE’VE EMPTIED OURSELVES OF EVERYTHING WE’VE GOT TO GIVE,” SAID BJÖRN, AFTER THE RELEASE OF THEIR INTROSPECTIVE FINAL ALBUM D A V I D

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BBA are synonymous with impeccably crafted, inspiring pop songs that excite the kind of joyously communal response from listeners redolent of spiritual revivalist meetings, but with a greater sense of irony and much better choruses. Yet there has always been a darkness at the heart of their material – think SOS ,

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Knowing Me, Knowing You and The Winner Takes It All

– a darkness that becomes fully manifest on their final album, The Visitors, which metaphorically and explicitly documents both the group’s impending dissolution and the marital breakdowns of its members, Benny and Frida, and Björn and Agnetha. Easy listening it’s not, and it’s more of a critics’ than a fans’ favourite, with the former describing it as “an early 1980s pop masterpiece” and “a record divided between almost throwaway studio mastery and spectral, uneasy premonitions of ABBA’s own demise”. The sessions began on 16 March 1981, when Björn, Benny and their quartet of trusted musicians, Lasse Wellander (guitar), Rutger Gunnarsson (bass), Ola Brunkert (drums) and Åke Sundqvist (percussion), along with engineer Michael B Tretow, entered Polar Music Studios in Stockholm. Some five months previously, ABBA had completed work on Super Trouper , which went on to become 1980’s biggest-selling album in the UK and spawned another brace of No. 1 singles in the title track and The Winner Takes It All . The latter explored Bjorn’s divorce from Agnetha in 1979. When backing tracks were laid down for The Visitors, Benny and Frida had already announced their separation, and so a band that once comprised two couples was now made up of four individuals who, while each retaining a mutual professional respect, found themselves conflicted by personal politics.

ABBA almost manage a collective smile as they arrive in Bournemouth in September 1981

“It could be frosty sometimes,” was Björn’s diplomatic recollection of the atmosphere. Frida admitted that they had become tired of collaborating as ABBA. The analogy has often been drawn with the sessions for The Beatles’ Abbey Road , the last time the original Fab Four created as a

sound simply became too clean, so I had to find ways of compensating for that,” he said. The first three tracks had already been put down on analogue. This meant Tretow had to transfer all subsequent tracks from digital to analogue and back again to avoid variable quality.

There has always been a darkness at the heart of their material that becomes fully manifest on their final album, The Visitors, which metaphorically and explicitly documents both the group’s impending dissolution and the marital breakdowns of its members collective. There was a sense of finality about The Visitors, even if nobody was saying as much. An already uncomfortable ambience was compounded by Tretow’s difficulties in navigating his way around the new 32-track digital recorder purchased for Polar. “Digital recording cut out all the hiss, but it also meant that sounds were sharply cut off below a certain level. The

That he overcame his teething problems with the equipment, and managed to achieve such a pristine sound, is a lasting testament to Tretow’s engineering and production diligence and dexterity. The Visitors remains, within ABBA’s oeuvre, a sonic tour de force, and consequently made it a perfect fit for the inchoate CD marketplace. The Visitors itself, awash with spooky synthesisers,

opens the album. It’s a strange and strangely irresistible song about totalitarianism, with Frida intoning – almost droning, in fact – “I hear the doorbell ring/And suddenly the panic takes me”. Subtle reminders of ABBA’s flirtation with disco fail to thaw the icy vibe. Head Over Heels and Two For The Price Of One appear incongruously frivolous among an otherwise austere collection, though each is perhaps redeemed by its satirical undertone. Next up is the real gold on The Visitors, a composition that came out of Benny and Frida’s break-up. When All Is Said And Done , similar to much of the album, finds ABBA in more adult-oriented terrain. Björn, who wrote the lyrics, was concerned that it would be too much of an emotional wrench for Frida to sing, but on the contrary, she assured him that the opportunity to express her true feelings was exactly what she needed. “All my sadness was captured in that song,” Frida confessed years later. When All Is Said And Done

was released as a single in Australia and the US only,

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peaking at No. 27 on the Billboard chart. And inadvertently, it may have been the reason why, in 1982, The Visitors ended up being banned in the former Soviet Union. On 31 January that year, ABBA had allowed a video of When All Is Said And Done to be shown in a United States Information Agency television special, Let Poland Be Poland , along with a spoken message from Björn and Benny. The show, broadcast globally via satellite, also featured Frank Sinatra, Paul McCartney, Orson Welles, Henry Fonda, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and American President Ronald Reagan, expressing public opposition to the recent imposition of martial law in Poland. Ironically, ABBA’s segment wasn’t included in the final programme because of time constraints, though suspicions linger that the omission was really due to Björn and Benny’s criticism of US-supported dictatorships in Chile and El Salvador. Whatever the veracity of either account, the notion that ABBA incurred the wrath of both protagonists in the

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Cold War is a delicious one. The lead single elsewhere in the world was One Of Us, which, in contrast to the rest of The Visitors, stays true to the classic ABBA template lathered in lush harmonies. Agnetha takes the vocal, inhabiting the familiar role of a woman in remission from heartbreak. Soldiers is impelled by a spellbinding drum motif, some fat guitar

the album’s predominantly gloomy tenor. Slipping Through My Fingers is an almost unbearably poignant meditation on parenthood, the words penned by Björn after watching his seven-year-old daughter, Linda, leave for school one day. “I thought, ‘Now she has taken that step, she’s going away – what have I missed all these years?’”

Slipping Through My Fingers is a poignant meditation on parenthood, the words penned by Björn after watching his seven-year-old daughter, Linda, leave for school one day. “I thought, ‘Now she has taken that step, she’s going away – what have I missed all these years?’” lines and a refrain that merely accentuates the drudgery of the verse. I Let The Music Speak , with its wistful piano intro, synth string ensemble and Jan Kling’s beguilingly intricate flute, is a grandiose paean to the gods of melody (and a signpost to Björn and Benny’s musical ambitions), and offers some euphonic relief from

It has since become a mainstay of Mamma Mia!, the hugely successful stage musical and film adaptation. Like An Angel Passing Through My Room, the closing selection on The Visitors, pitches Frida’s solitary voice against a spare synth arrangement – bleak but beautiful – and a ticking clock, which, when it stops

suddenly, calls time on the album and on ABBA. The sessions concluded on 14 November, after which ABBA’s sleeve designer, Rune Söderqvist, came up with his concept for the cover. He interpreted the ‘visitors’ of the title as angels – an interpretation given ballast by Like An Angel Passing Through My Room. “I knew that the painter, Julius Kronberg, had painted a lot of angels in his time,” Söderqvist explained, “so I located his studio at the Skansen Park in Stockholm, which contained several of his paintings.” Together with photographer Lasse Larsson – whose image adorns Super Trouper – he assembled ABBA in Kronberg’s chilly studio, positioning them in a picture with a giant angelic portrait as a backdrop. Björn, Benny, Agnetha and Frida are depicted as singular rather than as a group. The impression engendered by the shot is sombre, a portentous glimpse at a future already being consigned to the past. “We might not go on working with this forever. We’ve emptied ourselves of everything we’ve got to give,” Bjorn remarked at the time. And so it came to pass, more or less – the group would only work together on three further songs: The Day Before You Came , Cassandra and Under Attack -- all are on the 2001 remastered edition of The Visitors. The following year, ABBA more or less just faded away – there was no dramatic exit – after a last public performance on British TV’s The Late, Late Breakfast Show . In The Visitors, however, they had left behind an imperfect, yet sublime requiem.


1 The Visitors 2 Head Over Heels 3 When All Is Said And Done 4 Soldiers 5 I Let The Music Speak 6 One Of Us 7 Two For The Price Of One 8 Slipping Through My Fingers 9 Like An Angel Passing Through My Room s e g a m I y t t e G ©

PERSONNEL

Lasse Wellander

Benny Andersson

Acoustic guitar, electric guitar, mandolin

Synthesiser, keyboards, vocals, backing vocals, drum machine

PRODUCTION

Agnetha Fältskog

Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus

Vocals, backing vocals

Anni-Frid Lyngstad Vocals, backing vocals

Björn Ulvaeus Acoustic guitar, guitar, vocals, mandolin, backing vocals

Ola Brunkert Drums

Rutger Gunnarsson Bass, mandolin

Janne Kling Flute, clarinet

Per Lindvall Drums

Åke Sundqvist Percussion

Producers Arrangers Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus

Engineer Michael B Tretow

Design Rune Söderqvist CHART PLACINGS

No. 1 – Holland, Norway, Sweden, West Germany and the UK No. 3 in Austria No. 12 in Japan No. 17 in France No. 18 in Canada No. 19 in New Zealand No. 22 in Australia Overall, The Visitors is a fitting final offering from a band that had built up so much emotional baggage

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e S w v i o L O h t S s h t i y g i h d r e N i e m y h o a t c d r m S u r U t o a f S r r a

t e l a p u s t o p o k l d p o f n l a a b r e e t i h l t r r e f o h t g a n r i e t t h s e T


CLASSIC

PRESENTS ABBA In the early days of ABBA, the band’s manager Stig Anderson wrote many of the lyrics including Waterloo , Mamma Mia , The Name Of The Game and Fernando . He died at the age of 66 in 1997.


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PRESENTS ABBA Agnetha arrives for the taping of a Dutch TV show in 1976

C I S S A L C © Getty Images

n o d n o L a t a e l b 7 a 7 t g 9 n 1 i n m i a e g c a n e d r e n f u n o r o c a s n s e u f r p e v a h d n a b e h T



CLASSIC

PRESENTS ABBA Anni-Frid and Agnetha during an ABBA concert at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne, March 1977


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PRESENTS ABBA ABBA in Los Angeles in 1978 in front of a giant billboard proclaiming their massive record sales

© Getty Images

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ABBA will forever be one of the most astonishing hit-making machines in the history of pop. This chronological look at the standout tracks from their glittering back catalogue brings home just how spectacular their nine-year success story really was… I A N

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ith their worldwide sales numbering somewhere around an estimated, though difficult to verify, 300-million-plus records worldwide, ABBA are one of the biggestselling pop bands of all time, putting them in the same bracket as the likes of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. Like the former, their recording career was relatively short, only spanning nine years. ABBA’s liking for catchy choruses and flair for melody had its roots in their native Sweden and the early influence on Benny and Björn of the ‘schlager’ music of central and northern Europe, which is informed by Nordic and Slavic folksongs. The Swedish variant of schlager added memorable choruses and pronounced key changes, both of which are present in most ABBA songs. Winning Eurovision was a jumping-off point and the band quickly progressed, with writers/producers Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson soon playing the recording studio like an instrument. The voices of ABBA, Agnetha Fältskog and AnniFrid (‘Frida’) Lyngstad had a range of three octaves between them and were given all sorts of complicated vocal parts to sing by Benny and Björn, in what wasn’t their first language. The timeless appeal of ABBA’s songs, the intricacies of their vocal arrangements, and the inventiveness of the productions have influenced a generation of producers, musicians and songwriters. Benny, Björn, Agnetha and Frida made eight studio albums during the period from 1973 to 1981. These albums and the many hits compilations are a library of timeless pop songs that transcends fads, fashions, glittery boots, pert bottoms and marriage breakups… When all is said and done, what ABBA are really about is the music. Let’s jump in!

40 RING RING

RECORD LABEL EPIC RELEASED 1973 Written by Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus and ABBA manager Stig Anderson, Ring Ring was originally called Klocklåt (Clock Tune) . The trio had been asked to submit a song for consideration for Sweden’s entry into the 1973 Eurovision Song Contest. English lyrics were added by Neil Sedaka and Phil Cody, and the song became Ring Ring . By Melodifestival (the Swedish Eurovision heat), the quartet weren’t yet ABBA and performed as Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid. Agnetha was nine months pregnant and Frida learned Fältskog’s parts along with her own, so they could perform without her if necessary. The judges chose another song to go through to Eurovision, with Ring Ring coming third – to much outcry in the Swedish press. It went on to be a Swedish No. 1. ABBA (as they soon became) had arrived.

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WATERLOO

RECORD LABEL EPIC RELEASED 1974

HONEY HONEY RECORD LABEL EPIC RELEASED 1974

HASTA MAÑANA RECORD LABEL EPIC RELEASED 1974

Instructed by Stig Anderson to write a song for 1974’s Eurovision, Benny and Björn came up with the basic track in Ulvaeus’ holiday cottage on the island of Viggsö. This was then passed on to Stig to write the lyrics. His original title of Honey Pie was quickly jettisoned in favour of Waterloo , which means the same in any language. Eurovision’s requirement for songs to be performed in each countries’ native language had recently been lifted, enabling ABBA to perform Sweden’s entry in English. Held in Brighton, Eurovision 1974 was the first time ABBA went to town visually, with glittery outfits designed by Inger Svenneke. Arranger Sven-Olof Walldoff joined in by conducting the orchestra decked out as Napoleon.

The Waterloo album reveals an ABBA who still hadn’t quite worked out what sort of band they were. Half the songs were clichéd rockers sung by Björn or Benny and don’t sound much like the ABBA everyone knows. Much more in the ABBA ‘schlager’ style of the time, Honey Honey was one of the tracks sung by Agnetha and Frida and could have been a Eurovision contender. ATV Music in the UK owned the publishing and, on learning that ABBA weren’t going to release it as a single, put together the Sweet Dreams boy/girl duo to record a cover, which peaked at No. 10 in July 1974. The ABBA original was the follow-up to Waterloo in the US and made No. 27, beating the Sweet Dreams version, which stalled at No. 68.

First included on the Waterloo album and later re-recorded in Spanish for 1980’s Gracias Por La Música album, Hasta Mañana was a close contender for ABBA’s 1974 Eurovision entry. The song was more in line with recent previous winning entries of emotional slow-to-mid-tempo ballads in the European melodic ‘schlager’ style that Eurovision favoured at the time. Lyrics were written by Stig Anderson, who had been on holiday to Las Palmas in the Canary Islands, where the phrase “Hasta mañana!’ (see you tomorrow) was widely used. Hasta Mañana is sung primarily by Agnetha, and it was decided that, bearing in mind the huge exposure offered by Eurovision, Waterloo would be a better vehicle for the quartet.

I DO I DO I DO I DO I DO RECORD LABEL EPIC RELEASED 1975

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When I Do I Do I Do I Do I Do began climbing the Australian charts in 1975, Countdown , the Top Of The Pops equivalent, asked RCA Australia whether a clip was available. The programme was rewarded with not just the I Do… video, but also promos for Mamma Mia , Bang-A- Boomerang and SOS . The four videos were shot in April 1975 by Lasse Hallström at the breakneck speed of two a day on a miniscule total budget of 50,000 kronor (£5,500). Australian television had only recently crossed over to full-colour broadcasts and Hallström’s cheap and cheerful treatments received massive exposure, resulting in ABBA becoming the most popular act in Australia.

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BANG-A-BOOMERANG RECORD LABEL EPIC RELEASED 1975

MAMMA MIA RECORD LABEL EPIC RELEASED 1975

This jolly piece of pop was originally recorded as the Swedish entry for 1975’s Eurovision by Swedish duo Svenne & Lotta, who Benny and Björn were producing. Svenne & Lotta were unsuccessful, and their vocals were subsequently taken off the track and replaced by Anni-Frid and Agnetha, with the reworked number ending up on the 1975 ABBA album. Lasse Hallström’s exuberant video shows Benny, Björn, Frida and Agnetha miming furiously by the sea, as comic book imagery (including a no doubt unauthorised appearance by Superman) is cut in whenever ‘Bang!’ is sung. One of Lasse H allström’s quickies, the Bang-A-Boomerang video features his trademark close-ups, with the quartet smiling and laughing.

The song that named a musical has come to symbolise the huge ongoing appeal of ABBA. Taken from 19 75’s ABBA album, it was the band’s second UK No. 1 and established the outfit as a successful pop act in their own right. Mamma Mia! the musical is a standalone story not based on the song, of a girl who invites the three men who might be her father to her wedding on a Greek island. It debuted as a stage production on 6 April 1999 and is still running in theatres, having played to 50 million theatregoers. Then, in 2008, it was made into a movie. Benny and Björn are credited as e xecutive producers of the film and re-recorded their songs at Metronome Studios in Stockholm, with the cast supplying their own vocals.

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SOS RECORD LABEL EPIC RELEASED 1975

DANCING QUEEN RECORD LABEL EPIC RELEASED 1976

The recording sessions for SOS started at the end of August 1974 under the working title of Turn Me On . With Agnetha on lead vocals, SOS was the third single taken from the ABBA album. It was the song that returned the quartet to the Top 10 and gave them an appearance on Top Of The Pops , something that virtually guaranteed a hit. SOS eventually peaked at No. 6 in October 1975 and remained in the charts for two months. It also took off in the US, making the Top 20. It was now obvious that ABBA were substantially more than a Eurovision one-off and, in September 1975, they undertook their first US promotional trip, spending two weeks making TV appearances and talking to journalists.

Issued as a taster for the Arrival album, Dancing Queen was ABBA’s third chart topper in a row, hitting No. 1 a mere two weeks after release, staying there for six weeks and selling 850,000 copies in the UK. Released in the US in early 1977, it was the first ABBA single to top the American charts. Originally titled Boogaloo , the song draws on the dance rhythms of the time, including George McCrae’s Rock Your Baby and the New Orleans-flavoured drumming on Dr John’s 1972 album, Dr. John’s Gumbo . To leave listeners in no doubt that this was definitely a track to strut your funky stuff to, Stig came up with the Dancing Queen title and the song’s original lyrics, which Björn later modified.

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33 FERNANDO RECORD LABEL EPIC RELEASED 1976

Originally a Frida solo track from her 1975 Frida Ensam (Frida Alone ) album that had only been released in Scandinavia. Written by Benny, Björn and Stig, Fernando had been recorded at the same time as ABBA’s Dancing Queen sessions. The popularity of Fernando in Sweden quickly persuaded the group to turn the track into an ABBA release and it became the band’s third UK No. 1 in March 1976. The Swedish lyrics had been written by Stig, but Björn stepped in for the English language version and turned the song from a standard love ballad into a conversation between two former Mexican revolutionaries sitting outside reminiscing – a theme that ABBA reprised for the video, with the quartet sitting around a campfire playing acoustic guitars.

30 TIGER RECORD LABEL EPIC RELEASED 1976

For part of ABBA’s short international touring career, Tiger , from the Arrival album, was the up-tempo ‘get ’em going’ song they came on to. In ABBA: The Movie , the quartet are standing at the side of the stage; Frida does a few vocal warm-up exercises; the extended intro starts to play and helicopter sounds that nod to the Arrival cover echo round the stadium. The four run on, throw off the long glitter y cloaks they’re wearing and launch into Tiger . The Lasse Hallström promo video draws on the song’s lyrical theme of the city at night being a dangerous place and shows Agnetha and Frida doing their best to look streetwise in denim and bandanas as they drive around a bustling city, while Benny and Björn sit passively in t he back looking bored. 81

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WHY DID IT HAVE TO BE ME? RECORD LABEL EPIC RELEASED 1976

DUM DUM DIDDLE RECORD LABEL EPIC RELEASED 1976

MONEY, MONEY, MONEY RECORD LABEL EPIC RELEASED 1976

THE NAME OF THE GAME RECORD LABEL EPIC RELEASED 1977

Probably ABBA’s most theatrical number, Money, Money, Money underwent several lyrical concept changes before reverting back to the original. On the premise that songs about cash were (literally) ten-a-penny, Björn ditched his original idea and title of Money, Money, Money in favour of new lyrics based around a gypsy girl. Ultimately deciding this didn’t work, the Money, Money, Money idea was reinstated. Benny and Björn wanted to write a musical and often crafted songs that could work within a dramatic context. Melodramatically sung by Frida, Money, Money, Money wasn’t released as a single in the US, on the grounds of being more European than American.

Over their nine-year recording career, ABBA proved themselves masters of many musical styles. The Name Of The Game demonstrates that in addition to impassioned ballads and full-on Europop, they could also do restraint and subtlety. Recording sessions started on 31 May 1977 of a song initially called A Bit Of Myself , laying down bass and synthesiser refrains. The rest of the song was then developed as a six-part structure, with Frida and Agnetha adding solo and harmonised sections. Benny provided exotic synthesiser effects, including a piccolo-trumpet sound. Stig Anderson suggested The Name Of The Game as a title, which Björn then built his lyrics around.

One of the songs that Benny and Björn brought into Metronome Studios in April 1976 for the Arrival album was a piano-and-sax boogie-woogie number called Why Did It Have To Be Me . Novel pedal steel and crashing waves sound effects were then added, and Stig Anderson came up with lyrics about a girl going to Hawaii to forget the lover who’s jilted her; Frida and Agnetha recorded a joint lead vocal, the song was renamed Happy Hawaii and mixed. As the Arrival sessions drew to a close, the Fats Domino treatment was revived – although the Happy Hawaii version with Beach Boy-esque backing vocals also saw release as the B-side of Knowing Me, Knowing You .

Frida’s sexy Norwegian accent on lines like: “You’re only smileen, when you play your violeen. Wish I was Dum Dum Deedle, Your darling feedle!” and the sheer bonkers subject matter peg this Arrival track as a classic piece of ABBA kitsch – Eurovision done right. Dum Dum Diddle was later dismissed by both Frida (“A silly song – I don’t like it!”) and Björn (“It might as well have been Dumb Dumb Diddle!”). A drunken Björn had written the words (so he later admitted) at five o’clock in the morning with a recording session looming. The idea of a woman wanting to replace a violin as the object of her lover’s affections undeniably ranks as one o f ABBA’s more unusual lyrical concepts.

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KNOWING ME, KNOWING YOU RECORD LABEL EPIC RELEASED 1977

TAKE A CHANCE ON ME RECORD LABEL EPIC RELEASED 1978

Despite being recorded on 23 March 1976, Knowing Me Knowing You wasn’t released as a single until 16 February 1977, demonstrating how confident ABBA were in the other songs they had ready to go. The number was the first track recorded for the Arrival album and spent five weeks at No. 1 in April 1977. Stig suggested the title, but Björn mapped out the lyrical journey into heartbreak, where a couple realise that: “There is nothing we can do. This time we’re through.” The simple but effective Lasse Hallström promo has the four band members singing while facing each other and the n turning away when a ne w line is sung. The conclusion, with Agnetha and Frida sadly walking away from Benny and Björn in the thick Swedish snow, help make the promo one of pop’s most iconic videos.

From the a cappella vocals at the start of the track onwards, Take A Chance On Me is a classic pop song, where the singer is asking a prospective beau to throw caution to the wind and ‘take a chance’. It cuts to the chase immediately, as many of ABBA’s songs do, especially after Björn began writing the lyrics on his own without Stig. And while the collaboration between Benny and Björn was never entirely cut and dried, since Björn wrote most of the lyrics and Benny was the prime musical force, it was probably Andersson who came up with one of ABBA’s prime signature touches of having an instrument ‘talk back’ to the vocal as here, when the ‘It’s magic’ line is followed by a piece of ‘magical’ synthesiser swagger.

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AND IN

FROM THE MAKERS OF

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23 SUMMER NIGHT CITY RECORD LABEL EPIC RELEASED 1978 ABBA opened their own state-of-the-art recording studio in Stockholm in May 1978. The first song to be worked on at Polar Studios over an initial backing track recorded at Metronome Studio was the disco-influenced Summer Night City . Benny, Björn and Michael B Tretow spent a week trying to get a mix they were satisfied with, without success. Ultimately, a mix was chosen that removed the 45-second vocal, string and piano introductory section which gave the track more immediacy (although this was reinstated when ABBA played the song live on their 1979 world tour). To Tretow’s ears, the edit was glaringly obvious. Björn later remarked that the recording was lousy and shouldn’t have been released. The public didn’t agree and Summer Night City charted at No. 5 in September 1978.

20 GIMME! GIMME! GIMME! (A MAN AFTER MIDNIGHT) RECORD LABEL EPIC RELEASED 1979 The follow-up single to Voulez-Vous was originally going to be Rubber Ball Man (also known as Under My Sun ). The song only made it to demo stage and Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight) issued instead. With its disco bass and drums, the song was more in keeping with the dance tracks that ABBA were making in 1979. Sung by Agnetha, the slightly risqué lyrics spin the story of a lonely woman desiring romance to lighten up her late nights. An up-tempo, catchy calling card for the band’s forthcoming world tour, it was edited down to 3.36 for North America, as its 4.46 duration was too long for daytime radio.

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VOULEZ-VOUS RECORD LABEL EPIC RELEASED 1979

IF IT WASN’T FOR THE NIGHTS RECORD LABEL EPIC RELEASED 1979

Always evolving musically, Voulez-Vous , ABBA’s sixth album, saw the group experimenting with funk and disco. Many songs are set to a dance beat and are longer than usual. In the Bahamas in February 1979, writing and preparing songs for the next album, Benny and Björn had access to all sorts of music not generally available in Sweden. Inspired enough by what they heard to write Voulez-Vous and Kisses Of Fire , the duo flew across to Miami and booked themselves into Criteria Studios, where the Bee Gees had made many of their mid-70s hits. They laid down a basic track for Voulez-Vous which was taken back to Sweden and completed. It was backed with Angeleyes , another dance-influenced track.

Engineer Michael Tretow was flown over from Sweden to Miami to make sure whatever was done at Criteria would be compatible with the equipment at Polar Studios. Working alongside producer Tom Dowd were disco band Foxy supplying the backing. In addition to Voulez-Vous , a new version of If It Wasn’t For The Nights was tried but didn’t work – Benny later recalled: “The song has so many peculiar chord changes in the verse, it made it hard for them to get into the groove like they were used to.” Live shows around this time started with Voulez-Vous and segued straight into If It Wasn’t For The Nights , proving ABBA could write and perform disco as well as anyone.

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I HAVE A DREAM RECORD LABEL EPIC RELEASED1979

CHIQUITITA

In major contrast to the brisk disco rhythms of most of the rest of the Voulez-Vous album, I Have A Dream is probably the most sickly sweet song ABBA ever recorded. It’s also the only ABBA track to feature vocalists from outside the band, when a children’s choir from the International School Of Stockholm join in for the final chorus. As 1979 was UNICEF’s Year Of The Child, ABBA would bring on stage a children’s choir from each city visited on their world tour to sing I Have A Dream with the group. As the band later admitted, the results were variable – but the kids’ choirs sometimes also stuck around for Thank You For The Music , confirming ABBA in concert was a family show rather than a rock gig.

Chiquitita is one of the very few occasions ABBA repeated themselves. The number borrows heavily from the earlier Fernando and, as a ballad, sticks out from the rest of the Voulez-Vou s album. In The Arms Of Rosalita , an earlier version of the song, had been even slower, with vocals shared by Agnetha and Frida. An interim, lyrically different version of the song called Chiquitita Angelina was also recorded but discarded. Chiquitita is faster and Fältskog dominates the individual sections. With all publishing royalties going to UN ICEF, the song was premiered in 1979 at a benefit in New York as part of the International Year Of The Child, with ABBA on the same bill as the Bee Gees, Earth Wind And Fire and Rod Stewart.

RECORD LABEL

EPIC

RELEASED 1979

A B B A

T O P

4 0

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DOES YOUR MOTHER KNOW RECORD LABEL EPIC RELEASED 1979

SUPER TROUPER RECORD LABEL EPIC RELEASED 1980

ME AND I

THE PIPER

RECORD LABEL EPIC

RECORD LABEL EPIC

RELEASED 1980

RELEASED 1980

The closing track on Side 1 of the album, Me And I is is Super Trouper album, a prime cut of Europop, Eur opop, with Frida’s commanding lead vocals riding over a powerful Benny Andersson synth-dominated track. Michael B Tretow, who engineered the majority of ABBA’s output, would often multitrack the backing vocals, but then vary the tape speed at successive passes to create a shimmering effect which is present here. Frida’s vocals are slightly higher than normal, with occasional syllables running together, together, indicating that the main vocals have also been sped up. Björn Ulvaeus’ lyrics te ll the story of an internal battle within a split personality – quite a progression from “digging the dancing queen”.

With Agnetha, Frida and Michael Tretow in Stockholm working on the Spanish album, Benny and Björn adjourned to Barbados to write songs for Super Trouper , with the thought of making a part of it a trial run for the musical the duo had been hankering to write. Björn had started his career in The Hootenanny Singers, a Swedish folk group, and The Piper has has folk-styled medieval-sounding music complete with flutes, jigs and military drumming. It’s rescued from novelty hell by the vocals of Frida and Agnetha. Ulvaeus’s lyrics refer to the Pied Piper legend and the fear that in the future, a fascist leader might be able to rise again, an idea inspired by Stephen King’s 1978 novel, The Stand .

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HAPPY NEW YEAR RECORD LABEL EPIC RELEASED 1980

LAY ALL YOUR LOVE LAY ON ME RECORD LABEL EPIC RELEASED 1981

Their ninth UK No. 1 and title song of ABBA’s seventh album is self-assured Getting to No. 4 in the UK charts and but accessible pop music. With a lead vocal later covered by REM, the release of from Anni-Frid, the song tells of the trials and Does Your Mother Know as as a single shows a tribulations of being in a band on the road band supremely confident about what they and stage with a Super Trouper being the were doing and the guarantee of success for nickname of the hefty spotlights that ABBA virtually anything they released. Rather than were lit up by at their stadium gigs. The feature a lead vocal by Agnetha or Frida, namecheck for Glasgow was suggested by probably among the wor ld’s most vocally recognisable singers, Does Your Mother Know Howard Huntridge of Bocu M usic, ABBA’s UK has Björn (at best an average vocalist) on his publishers. The video and record sleeves feature circus performers – art director Rune only 45RPM lead vocal, singing about having Söderqvist and photographer Lars Larsson the hots for a female a lot younger. “Take initially considered Piccadilly Circus, but this it easy. That’s That’s no way to go”, he concludes; was soon ruled out and the Europa Film Frida and Agnetha join in with classic Studios in Stockholm and a circus were harmonies for a middle eight lifted from the booked instead. band’s unreleased Dream World song. song.

Very squarely set in 1979, as the lyrics tell us: “It’s the end of a decade. In another 10 years’ time, who can say what we’ll find… at the end of ’89?” The opener of Side 2 of the Super Trouper album was written by Benny and Björn while in Barbados. They’d met comedian John Cleese and discussed the possibility of writing a musical together. Happy New Year was intended to play a significant part in the production, which was to be based around the characters looking back over the previous year and speculating about the future. Cleese ultimately backed out and Benny and Björn put the idea on hold, but kept the central song – a maudlin ballad with a great chorus.

Two tracks from the Super Trouper album were given the full-on dancefloor treatment. Rather than put one or both out as singles, it was decided to package them together and make the record available only in the format of choice of club and dance DJs – the 12-inch single. Both On And On And On and and Lay All Your Love had been remixed with great success On Me had and had topped the US dance and club chart. July 1981 saw the two remixes packaged up together and issued as a 12-inch-only release. The ‘Exclusive 12 inch Collector’s Item’ single peaked at No. 7 and stayed in the chart for close on two months.

11 ON AND ON AND ON RECORD LABEL EPIC RELEASED 1980/81

Benny Andersson’s keyboards, sequencers, staccato piano stabs and the poppier end of the industrial European electro of Kraftwerk are all in evidence here, even though On is one of ABBA’s more rocky numbers. The heavy guitars are almost certainly And On And On is keyboard-generated and an effective contrast to Agnetha and Frida’s robotic vocals. Benny and Björn had been playing around with the duo’s vocals for years and carried on doing so until the end. ABBA were never ashamed of borrowing riffs or musical styles from different sources (including themselves!) and On And On And On has has Benny’s Beach Boys-esque falsetto backing vocals. Beach Boy Mike Love must have heard the homage, as he covered the ABBA song on his solo album a year later. Looking Back With Love solo 85

10 OUR LAST SUMMER


This emotive ballad that has a woman directly addressing a former lover is sung with so much feeling by Anni-Frid that the suspicion is it’s a true stor y that happened to Frida herself. Not the case: the track from the Super Trouper album album is Björn writing about a holiday romance he enjoyed in France as a teenager and references walking along the Seine, sitting in the grass by the Eiffel Tower Tower,, Notre Dame and mor ning croissants. It’s all nicely punctuated, unusually for ABBA, by a great piece of rock guitar courtesy of Lasse Wallander. In the final verse, Frida flips it by saying the e x-lover now works in a bank and watches football, but she still tells him: “You’re the hero of my dreams.”

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THE WINNER

THE VISITORS

TAKES IT ALL

RECORD LABEL EPIC

RECORD LABEL EPIC

RELEASED 1981

RELEASED 1980

Often referred to as one of ABBA’s most personal songs, even though, as Björn later confessed, the lyrics came to him in an hour-long rush of creativity wh en he was drunk one night. Ulvaeus says that the lyric, which refer to a recently ended love that is still causing emotional pain, is “90 per cent fiction”, adding, poignantly: “There were no winners in our divorce.” The video was filmed 10 days after Björn and Agnetha finalised their divorce, has Benny and Frida laughing with Björn while Agnetha sits glumly, lost in thought about days gone by. Because he was filming a movie there, Lasse Hallström shot the video in the small town of Marstrand on the west coast of Sweden.

The title track of ABBA’s ABBA’s final studio album, where the recording sessions were later described by Benny as an “uphill struggle”. Parts of the album are melancholy and downbeat, reflected in the dimly lit front cover, which has the band members barely acknowledging each other. By this album, Björn had progressed hugely as a lyricist. The title track tells of being a dissident in t he Soviet Union and the “secret meetings” (where) “we talked and talked in quiet voices, smiling” and then waited for the ominous ring of the doorbell by “the visitors” – the Secret Police? – who’ve “come to take me”. Benny’s swirling keyboard introduction and Frida’s treated otherworldly vocals are classy ‘pop prog’.

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SLIPPING THROUGH MY FINGERS

ONE OF US

RECORD LABEL EPIC

RECORD LABEL EPIC

RELEASED 1981

RELEASED 1981

Taken from The Visitors album album with Benny’s keyboards as lead instrument, Slipping Through My Fingers is is a slow-paced emotional insight into ABBA’s private lives. With lyrics by Björn and restrained lead vocal from Agnetha, the song is in stark cont rast to the heavyweight concept of the album’s title track. Slipping Through My Fingers was was inspired by Björn watching their daughter Linda going away to her first day at school and tur ning round and waving as she did so. Björn and Agnetha acknowledge that Linda is growing up and have mixed feelings, but know that they ultimately need to let go. In common with many parents, Björn later regretted having missed out on some of the magical childhood years when work dominated – predominantly ABBA, of course.

Among Lasse Hallström’s most memorable ABBA promos, the video for One Of Us gives gives us a forlorn-looking Agnetha moving into a new flat. Noticeably on her own, she carries in boxes of her possessions which she starts to unpack and arrange w ith several bizarre modern-art paintings taking pride of place. Hallström’s interpretation of the song could be viewed as the director (and ABBA themselves, who will have had to approve his treatment) playing on the recent personal soap o pera happening between Ulvaeus and Fältskog and threatening to overshadow the music. The record-buying public disagreed and One Of Us was was a Top Three single in the UK and many other countries, has been covered many times and features in the stage version of Mamma Mia! .

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A B B A

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05

04

HEAD OVER HEELS

THE DAY BEFORE YOU CAME

RECORD LABEL EPIC

RECORD LABEL EPIC

RELEASED 1982

RELEASED 1982

Taken from The Visitors album album with a lead vocal by Agnetha, Head Over Heels was was ABBA’s poorest-selling UK single in seven years. ye ars. The band’s run of Top Five singles was over. Musical tastes had changed – New Romantic bands like Duran Duran and Spandau Ballet dominated the charts and the media was always hungry for the Next Big Thing. Head Over Heels (and (and the video which accompanied it) illustrates the theatrical direction Andersson and Ulvaeus were going in. The song is about a woman who enjoys the material things in life, as rammed home in the promo which shows a worn-out Björn carrying parcels and packages for shopaholic Frida, who then dances round in a series of extravagant outfits while he falls asleep on the settee.

The last track (and penultimate original single) that ABBA recorded as a group, group, with Benny’s keyboards providing all the instrumentation. Andersson and Ulvaeus usually came into the studio with finished songs, but on this occasion, Benny only had a small fragment which he started playing. Michael Tretow had the foresight to record everything he was doing and within an hour, ho ur, Den Lidande Fågeln (The Suffering Bird) had had a full melody. The number was a new direction for ABBA, with no chorus and sequencers replacing Benny’s usual majestic chords. Björn made a list of everyday things that somebody leading an ordinary existence would go about doing before “The day before you came”. Agnetha was then instructed to sing the lyrics in a disinterested way, to emphasise the r outine aspect of the narrator’s life.

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02

UNDER ATTACK

YOU OWE ME ONE

RECORD LABEL EPIC

RECORD LABEL EPIC

RELEASED 1982

RELEASED 1982

Under Attack was was ABBA’s ABBA’s 28th and last original UK single. The group started work on what was initially intended as a new studio album in early August. This was abandoned abandoned in favour of a double album of ABBA hits, called The Singles: The First Ten Years which Years which included Under Attack and and The Day Before You Came from from the autumn sessions. Under Attack underachieved, only reaching No. 26 in the UK charts and barely scraping into the Top 100 in Australia, previously an ABBA stronghold. The video for Under Attack was was shot in a warehouse to a backdrop of revolving red lights, dr y ice and running up and down staircases. In keeping with the serious tone of the song, the video concludes with Agnetha, Frida, Benny and Björn with their backs to the camera walking out of the warehouse and into the daylight. Symbolic?

Following the difficult sessions for The Visitors album, album, Benny and Björn returned to Polar Studios in May 1982 and eventually recorded several songs for an album to be issued later in the year that never materialised. One of these was You Owe Me One , which showed an ABBA uncertain of their place in contemporary music by returning to their ‘schlager’ roots, which brought huge international success in the mid-1970s. The multilayered song pops like crazy, with Agnetha and Frida sharing joint (slightly speeded up) lead vocals. You Owe Me One may may be ABBA-by-numbers, but the gro up’s knack for making ultra-catchy pop records hadn’t deserted them. The number ultimately surfaced as the B-side of Under Attack , and as a bonus track on the 1997 remastered edition of The Visitors . 87

01 THANK YOU FOR THE MUSIC


Issued as a single in November 1983, a year after Under Attack and when, to all intents and purposes, ABBA were no more, Thank You For The Music (which could be considered an epitaph for the band) only made No. 33 in the UK. It was originally part of The Girl With The Golden Hair , the ‘mini musical’ that concluded Side Two of 197 7’s ABBA: The Album . Björn and Benny used the 1977 tour to try it out as a show-closer in front of their huge live audience. Lasting only 25 minutes, The Girl With The Golden Hair revolves around a girl leaving her small to wn in search of fame. The full musical remained unproduced, but Thank You For The Music became a classic track.

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FURTHER READING

A feast of facts for ABBA aficionados…

Bright Lights Dark Shadows – The Real Story of ABBA – Carl Magnus Palm (Omnibus) From ABBA To Mamma Mia! – Anders Hansen and Carl Magnus Palm (Virgin) ABBA Gold – The Complete Story – John Tobler (Century 22) ABBA’s ABBA Gold (33 1/3) – Elisabeth Vincentelli (Continuum) ABBA – Thank You For The Music – Robert Scott (Carlton)

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AN EP OF ABBA COVER VERSIONS BY ERASURE REMINDED THE WORLD OF THE BAND’S GREATNESS, CEMENTED THE SYNTHPOP DUO’S REPUTATION AND HELPED REVITALISE THE SWEDES’ FORTUNES AHEAD OF GOLD, MAMMA MIA! ET AL. ERASURE’S ANDY BELL TALKS FRANKLY ABOUT THE ABBA EFFECT B Y

P A U L

L E S T E R

Erasure had already covered ABBA songs in concert before the release of their Abba-esque EP in 1992

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n June 1992, Erasure released the ABBA-esque EP, comprising four cover versions of Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus’ ABBA classics – Lay All Your Love On Me , SOS , Take A Chance On Me and Voulez-Vous. It became the duo’s first – and, to date, only – No. 1 for a single or EP in the UK: they had previously peaked at No. 2 twice, first with Sometimes in 1986, followed by the Crackers International Christmas EP in 1988. ABBA-esque spent five weeks at the top of the charts in Britain and also reached pole position in Ireland, Austria, Finland and ABBA’s homeland of Sweden, where it remained for six weeks. It saw singer Andy Bell and sonic architect Vince Clarke delicately negotiating the middle ground between fidelity towards the originals and imposing a distinctly Erasure-ish aesthetic. Lay All Your Love On Me opened with a choir of multitracked Bells, affording it an out-of-season Yuletide churchy ambience, before turning into a lightly throbbing dancefloor version of ABBA’s Top 10 entry from summer 1981 (when it was the biggestselling 12-inch record in UK chart history, ahead of New Order’s Blue Monday ). The intro to SOS (a UK No. 6 in 1975) featured those familiar piano chords, only rendered this time on an electric keyboard. The remainder of the song was a bubbly, burbling synthpop take on the Andersson-Ulvaeus version, as though it had been dipped in techno. Take A Chance On Me (UK No. 1, 1978) was the most faithful of the tracks on the EP, with a sprightly feel that allowed Bell and Clarke to camp things up in the accompanying video – promos were produced for all four tracks, and issued as a video EP on VHS (a remix EP was also released by Erasure’s label Mute in

the UK, which featured the same four songs in heavily reworked form). That said, the rap by Londoner Caron Geary aka MC Kinky, the first white female reggae/ dancehall toaster, was something of a departure from the original and must surely have caused raised eyebrows chez ABBA. Finally, there was Voulez- Vous (No. 3, 1979), which gave the song a sparkly glitterball disco twist. The ABBA-esque EP was a resounding success, both artistically and commercially – and not just for Erasure: it’s been argued that the four-song EP helped revitalise ABBA’s fortunes and give them a healthy dose of credibility ahead of the wider revival of their career provided by the 1999 Mamma Mia! musical and attendant 2008 movie of the same name. Yes, ABBA Gold: Greatest Hits – a 19-track compilation issued in September 1992 – would already have been on the release schedules long before Erasure decided to put out their EP; nevertheless, ABBA-esque can be seen as a trailer or teaser for that hits collection and a reminder to the general public of the Swedish pop phenomenon’s melodic sensibility and general musical magic. ABBA Gold would eventually become the secondbest-selling album of all time in the UK, one place behind Queen’s 1981 Greatest Hits, with nearly 5.2 million units shifted. It also cemented Erasure’s reputation as pop colossi themselves. As a measure of the kind of fuss the EP caused in 1992, it led to the release of the Erasure- ish EP by the ABBA tribute band Björn Again, which featured two Erasure tracks (A Little Respect and Stop!) performed in the style of ABBA, as a direct riposte to Erasure. It was a tribute to an homage; postmodern referentiality run rampant.

E R A S U R E

Classic Pop: How did the ABBA-esque EP happen? Was there a conversation between you and Vince (Clarke) about it? Andy Bell: I’m not sure if we spoke about it that much. We’d already done a version of Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!… years before, on the B-side of [1986 single] Oh L’Amour and I just loved the band – I was a huge fan when I was at school, back when it was uncool to admit you liked them. I thought they were really, really underrated.

A B B A - E S Q U E

CP: What did close scrutiny of ABBA’s music teach you? That they’re amazing songwriters? Bell: Yes, they really are. Those songs are little nuggets of genius; each is a drama of its own and tells a story – it has a beginning, a middle and an end. And the harmonies are so tight with the girls. I always thought the boys didn’t give the girls enough credit. I love listening to Frida’s vocals on their own, with no music backing – they sound great.

CP: As with Gillian Gilbert in New Order and the CP: It was inconvenient of ABBA to emerge at the Human League ladies, the addition of the women to height of punk! the line-up made the crucial difference… Bell: Yeah. It was because of my pop sensibility that Bell: The Human League girls were a visual element I was such a fan. I loved Elvis Presley and rockabilly to the band and did give them a ver y different and Buddy Holly and country ’n’ western music, sound… But the ABBA girls – the ladies, I should say which ABBA was always tinged with in the beginning. – already had huge careers before they joined ABBA. Also, I was a bit of a Euro fan, and you didn’t get to Agnetha played Mary Magdalene in [the 1972 hear too much European music at the time. It was just Swedish production of the international musical hit] something Vince and I did for fun. Jesus Christ Superstar . And Frida made a jazz album before she joined ABBA. They both had beautiful CP: Wasn’t the original intention for the EP to be voices, and they married them together, becoming an album? almost indistinguishable. Bell: Yes, but in hindsight, I’m really glad it wasn’t, CP: Could it have been Bee Gees-esque or anyone because we honestly did get swamped by the whole ABBA thing. It almost became a new career – Erasure else-esque? Bell: Never. We could maybe have done Blondie. almost got forgotten about as songwriters, because we got so well-known for those cover versions. It was With ABBA, I was just glad it was only the four songs the height of our popularity and it became too much. because it all became a bit burdensome. And also, That was the point when I said, “Please switch it off when you’re a huge fan of somebody and have to and make it go away.” take on the mantle of their songs, it takes away some of their mystery. I’d rather keep the mysteriousness CP: Did you have to convince Vince to do it in the and not dissect it. first place? Bell: No. We did have a little tussle over the song choices, which we always do, anyway. His taste is completely different to mine. He chose SOS and Take A Chance On Me and I went for the more dancey, uptempo ones. CP: Notably, you didn’t do Dancing Queen… Bell: No, no. A few people had done [ABBA cover versions] before us. Blancmange had done The Day Before You Came and I know Jimmy Somerville did a version of Dancing Queen live with The Communards… Anyway, we were on tour and not in the country and the EP just took off. We were quite surprised, because ABBA had fallen out of favour a bit and been forgotten about. They needed that boost from another familiar band. CP: Did you study the songs? Bell: I’m not really a music reader, but I am a really intense listener. I did the same with Siouxsie And The Banshees and Blondie and The B-52’s – you just rehearse along with the songs, and learn them that way. One of my first boyfriends in school was also a big ABBA fan and that cemented our relationship.

“We were quite surprised because ABBA had fallen out of favour a bit and been forgotten about” A N D Y

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“I read Agnetha preferred her own version [of Voulez-Vous] but she liked our version, too…” A N D Y

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rap. I’m not sure whether they had a clue what she was going on about! If it was another band, they might not have allowed it. CP: You

alluded to this before, but what was it like having your first No. 1? Bell: It was lovely, but we weren’t in the UK at all so we weren’t around to celebrate it. We didn’t have any champagne or anything like that. I’m not sure if we were working or on tour or promoting – we didn’t do any TV appearances or anything, which is quite strange. It all seemed to happen without us. “It’s always lovely having a No. 1 album, but we were a bit ‘humpy’ about it, because it was with cover versions after all those singles of ours like Blue Savannah and Love To Hate You and all those other records that were No. 2 forever behind Europe, or Crackers International being No. 2 forever behind Jason and Kylie. And then you come along with ABBA and you do it [i.e. reach No 1], and it’s a bit kind of like… CP: …A

mixed blessing? But I honestly didn’t think about it that much. I do remember it stayed at No. 1 for about five weeks and I was just thinking, “Oh god, how come it’s just staying there?” I thought it would just go in and come straight back out again. Bell: Yeah.

Vince Clarke: an altogether better Agnetha than Andy Bell, apparently

CP: Did

the EP bring you into contact with ABBA? Bell: Not at all. There’s a plaque in recognition to Erasure in the ABBA Museum, apparently, but I’ve never ever met them. I’d be a bit beside myself; a bit like when I met Madonna, maybe even worse. I couldn’t even speak! I froze and could feel myself fainting and going, “Andy! It’s Madonna, it’s Madonna, it’s Madonna…” I had to snap myself out of it. I don’t know what I’d be like if I met ABBA. Maybe I might cry. CP: What

did (Mute label boss) Daniel Miller make of

the EP? Bell: He didn’t mind it. Because everything worked out nicely and tied in with the [1992] Phantasmagorical tour which was the biggest tour we’d done. We got loads of radio play and it all culminated in a great period for us. It was a gift, really. CP: Where was it recorded? Bell: Vince was living in Amsterdam,

so we used his studio there. It was really good fun. The sessions didn’t last very long – maybe five days. It was very fast. I thought Vince’s spin on the music was brilliant: the electro twists on the intro to Voulez-Vous were, I think, some of the punkiest stuff he’s ever done. I remember reading an article saying Agnetha preferred her own version but she liked our version, too. She liked our Take A Chance On Me – that was really tricky, doing the vocals on that. It’s funny, because we had to get permission for the MC Kinky 94

CP: When

you finally arrived back in Britain, did you experience Erasuremania? Bell: Not really. I used to live in Hampstead with my partner Paul and we had our own group of friends and we’d go to the pub. Then it all started getting a bit cliquey after Abba-esque came out. Everybody started staring when you walked down the street and I got really paranoid. I was very good at walking with my head down and dashing through crowds. But when your face becomes your calling card, it gets a bit naff. That’s why I love how our careers are now. The celebrity culture today is so damaging; it’s awful. Because of social media, there’s too much overexposure. I go on the tube all the time now. I didn’t realise how much I liked [anonymity]. People crave fame, but it’s all a bit silly, really. CP: Do

you think that’s what happened to ABBA? They started to crave anonymity, hence their decision to call it quits in 1982? Bell: Yeah, definitely. Their lives were full on, they were on every TV show – the same as Kate Bush, she was on everything. You just realise the superficiality and vanity of it all. It’s amazing being a musician, it’s amazing being creative, writing songs, giving pleasure to people, doing shows. It’s a great job all round. But I can really see why people like Debbie Harry start to refer to themselves in the third person, because it’s not you! That’s why I think it was so wise

E R A S U R E

of ABBA to stop right at the peak of their career. It was very courageous and probably one of the best things they could have done.

Bell: Yup,

CP: Do

CP: How

you think they should they take the billion-pound offers and reform? Bell: [Categorically] No. I think they should retain the mystique. They don’t need the money. what extent did Erasure bring about the revival of ABBA’s fortunes? Bell: I think quite a lot, actually. We kind of propelled them back into the club limelight with the dance tracks. And I don’t think there had been a video EP before and the songs got exposure like that – in video bars in America and places like that. Not that we gave them credence or anything, but it really was a reminder to people of how brilliant that band was. They’re definitely one of the all-time Top 10 bands in terms of influence.

A B B A - E S Q U E

very nice. Very camp. I think even to this day, for some people, it made us a bit too camp [laughs]! much coaxing did Vince need to ‘go female’ and wear the glam outfit? Bell: None at all! He totally wanted to be a blond. We’d done DJ tours in the US already in drag, in these clubs, so it wasn’t anything new.

CP: To

CP: Up

there in the 70s pantheon with Bowie, Blondie and the Sex Pistols? Bell: Yeah, definitely. CP: What was it like doing the ABBA-esque videos? Bell: I loved doing them, although that was probably

one of the first times that Vince started opting out – he was in two of them, not in the other two. one for Take A Chance On Me , where you dress up as the ABBA girls (with thanks to Dean Bright, the body double, for the from-behind shots), was great. CP: The

CP: Did

you argue about who would be Agnetha and who would be Frida? Bell: A little bit, but in the end, I think Vince looked much better as the blond. I kind of see Vince as the boss – although he calls me the boss now – but I think he made a much better Agnetha. So we made the right choice. CP: So

all in all, you’d say that ABBA-esque brings back happy memories? Bell: Really, really nice. Brilliant. So good. I do hope to meet them one day, I really do. ABBA-ESQUE

Erasure (1992)

Erasure’s four-track EP of ABBA covers was released on Mute in the UK, where it was No. 1 for five weeks and Elektra Records in the US, where the EP reached 85 on the Billboard 200. A1 Lay All Your Love On Me A2 SOS B1 Take A Chance On Me B2 Voulez-Vous

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A Y B D E R E S, V R O E C M R N F O B E E R D E S A P E A F H H O S I C T I H R S C U O N P M U D S B ’ N E A A R S B B E N A V A I I T D V E S L Y E A L B D B E A E S K W R D S N A A S E R EM A L U L I N , B E O E J I L S… . Y S G T K N C I M K A R O L O A F R T E W E M R F N A O M E R V E O G R T E T O R U S A E T R A O T I N V D A

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Madonna included a sample of Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! in her hit Hung Up

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hil Collins was impressed by the craft that went into the composition. Bono lauded the “pure joy” in the music. And Elvis Costello heard the melancholy in ABBA’s songs – “all the flourishes, like big double octaves on the piano” – admitting that he and his former band, The Attractions, “stole from them like crazy”. ABBA’s body of work has proven irresistible to myriad artists, across all formats. Cover versions can be found by everyone, from one-time teen idols S Club 7 to guitar virtuoso Yngwie Malmsteen, and easy-listening piano man Richard Clayderman to jazz trio The Bad Plus. Dame Vera Lynn has recorded Thank You For The Music , and the original Bananarama line-up reformed briefly in 1998, to belt out Waterloo on the Channel 4 Eurovision parody, A Song For Eurotrash. Meanwhile, samples have been used by heavy hitters like The Fugees – The Name Of The Game on Rumble In The Jungle – and even Madonna, whose Hung Up includes a snatch of Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!. “I had to send my emissary to Stockholm with a letter begging them and telling them how much I love their music,” said Madonna at the time. “They never let anyone sample their music. Thank God they didn’t say no. They had to think about it, Benny and Björn.

They didn’t say yes straight away.” ABBA gave their consent because, as Benny explained, Hung Up was “a wonderful track – 100 per cent solid pop music. If it wasn’t any good, we would not have said yes.” Benny’s characterisation of Hung Up could just as easily be applied to ABBA’s entire oeuvre – a masterclass in the art of the perfectly formed threeminute (or thereabouts) wonder, a sonic and lyrical synthesis of sensibility and savvy. “The songs have such strong tunes at their core, that you can make almost any kind of interpretation and the tune will still be there to support the arrangement,” says ABBA biographer and historian-in-chief, Carl Magnus Palm, who publishes ABBA: The Complete Recording Sessions in March 2017. “Also, you could argue that a song like Eagle , for instance, is a heavy metal song at heart, so maybe the original versions of some ABBA songs are really other types of songs in disguise, which would lend themselves to cover versions by artists from all kinds of genres.” One of the first acts to cover ABBA were Blancmange, taking The Day Before You Came to No. 22 in the UK charts in 1984. Frontman Neil Arthur heard the track two years previously, while on a working holiday with bandmate Stephen Luscombe and several other musicians, including Vince Clarke. “I bought one of those Walkman things, and the first cassette I bought to go in it was ABBA’s The Singles: The First Ten Years. Me and Stephen fell in love with The Day Before You Came . I’d been brought up on ABBA – my mum used to do the cleaning to it. We both liked the idea of me – a big, lanky northerner – singing these lyrics,” says Arthur. “It was a genuine love for ABBA. The record company were a bit surprised when we said we wanted to do it, because I think at that time nobody had done an ABBA cover. It wasn’t that successful compared to some of their other things – it was one of their lesser known songs. It really appealed to us.” If you think that’s Agnetha in the accompanying video to Blancmange’s single, then you’d be right – footage of her from the original ABBA promo was spliced in. “We sent a copy off to ABBA, via our record company. They wrote back to us, saying how much they liked the song. To get a letter from them was just brilliant. Their record company then got in touch and said, ‘ABBA really liked the cover. If you can think of any way we can help, let us know’. So we were making the video with Clive Richardson, and ABBA’s record company said that we could use their video.

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01 MADONNA (2005) HUNG UP

02 U2 (1992)

DANCING QUEEN

He had a meeting with Benny to discuss his idea So they gave us rights to use clips from the video. before committing to it. Benny laughed. “‘ABBA were It’s quite a strange thing, I suppose, but that’s why never funky’, he said. ‘I know – that’s why I want to you get me appearing to look at Agnetha!” make this album!’ I replied. ‘Crazy enough’, he said, For Arthur, the popularity of ABBA material among the diversity of artistic generations that have followed ‘just go for it.’” He gave me the freedom to change what I wanted, as long as I didn’t use any sampling since their dissolution, is down to the Swedish Fab from the records.” Four’s understanding of “the craft” (that word again). Benny actually appears on the album, playing “Look at any of their songs, they’re beautifully piano on When All Is Said And Done , a duet with crafted. Stephen and I had absolutely genuine appreciation for ABBA. We genuinely liked them Swedish chanteuse Viktoria Tolstoy. “It was a magical moment in the studio, just the two of them in the room, when a lot of people didn’t. They weren’t particularly with everybody else in the control room listening in popular in that early-80s period. Amazing success rate, incredible writing. And they were fantastic with total silence.” The reaction from Benny – and Björn – was electronics. Incredible stuff.” Portishead explored this electronic adeptness on a overwhelmingly positive. Indeed, Landgren was invited to a celebration of the 50th anniversary chilling rendition of SOS earlier this year. The Bristol of the pair’s collaborative relationship earlier this outfit released it as a tribute to Jo Cox, the Batley and Spen MP killed in June. The video features singer year, and will perform Funky ABBA at the ABBA Museum in Stockholm next year. “Musicians have, Beth Gibbons, shot alone in monochrome, reaching for many years, looked down on ABBA for being too towards the camera before a quote from Cox’s commercial, too slick – just too much. It’s not true, maiden parliament speech – “We have far more in common than which divides us” – appears on screen. though. ABBA’s music is a true musical treasure.” Portishead’s revision of the original SOS could certainly be described as radical when contrasted with most other interpretations of ABBA, which seem to favour a reverential approach. Perhaps that explains why Westlife’s number one single, I Have A Dream, Cliff Richard’s Lay All Your Love On Me , Kylie Minogue’s Dancing Quee n, anything by A-Teens (their 1999 album, The ABBA Generatio n, spawned four hits) and even Sinead O’Connor’s Chiquitita tip into blandness. Less radical than Portishead, but still interesting, are Madness’ Money, Money, Money , Mike Oldfield’s Arrival , Richard Thompson’s folkie Money, Money, Money and Belle And Sebastian’s Dancing Queen (a track also performed live by the Sex Pistols and U2). Stuart Murdoch of Belle And Sebastian is such a big fan, he declared in 2014 that he wanted to be a member of ABBA. “ABBA always amazes me. I can hear every instrument, and I can almost see it in three dimensions and feel the way they’ve done it. But at the same time, you just shut your eyes and it’s an amazing sound,” he said. And then there are the plain curious, such as German metalheads Avantasia and Metalium’s respective assaults on Lay Your Love On Me and Thank You For The Music , and trombonist Nils Landgren’s album, Funky ABBA. Landgren, who featured on ABBA’s Voulez-Vous, found it “a challenge, but fun, too, to transform the songs from the originals to the funk genre”.

03 PORTISHEAD (2015) SOS

04 KYLIE (1998)

DANCING QUEEN

Kylie covered Dancing Queen on her 1998 tour and at the Sydney Olympics in 2000

05 BLANCMANGE (1984)

THE DAY BEFORE YOU CAME

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WITH ABBA’S LAST TOUR FINISHING UP IN 1980, IT’S BEEN LEFT TO A CORNUCOPIA OF TRIBUTE BANDS TO KEEP THEIR POP TORCH BURNING BRIGHTLY. WE TAKE A CHANCE ON SOME OF THE GROUP’S BEST DOPPELGÄNGERS CURRENTLY ON THE CIRCUIT D A V I D

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Australia’s Björn Again playing live Facing page, top, and previous page:

Revival, voted top ABBA tribute act by the Agents Association Of Great Britain, since 2013 Facing page, bottom:

The Original Band, left to right – Lasse Wellander (guitar), Roger Palm (drums/ percussion), Mikael Areklev (guitar), Mike Watson (bass), Åke Sundqvist (drums/ percussion), Johan Stengård (sax) and Owe Sandström (ABBA’s original designer

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blame Matthew Kelly, myself. Stars In Their Eyes Reilly of Revival, voted top ABBA tribute act by the spawned a nation of doppelgängers, ordinary Agents Association Of Great Britain each year folk transformed – with the aid of cosmetics and since 2013. costumes – into their idols. Of course, the ability to “Part of the genius of their music is the fact that sound vaguely like the person you were imitating was you can play around with the structure and give give it a prerequisite of the television series – a criterion not your own stamp. The key elements of the song are always deemed so important by many of those who still present, but we can increase or lower the tempo, make a reasonable living on the tribute t ribute act circuit. make the guitars heavier and generally give the And it is a lucrative circuit, especially at a time sound a more raw live feel. ABBA also did this in their when we’re having to be more prudent with our live performances.” pennies. Affording ticket prices to see s ee Lady Gaga, The Original Band, out of Sweden, comprises Madonna or Coldplay in concert is a pricey business, musicians who have recorded and performed with so the cut-price impersonator is often the next best ABBA, among them Mike Watson, Åke Sundkvist, thing. Mind you, be prepared for a considerable Johan Stengård, Per Lindvall, Mikael Mikael Areklev, Areklev, suspension of belief in the th e presence of Maybe Gaga, Roger Palm and Lasse W Wellander ellander (the late Rutger Madonna By Knight and, ahem, Coldplace. Co ldplace. Gunnarsson passed away last year), as well as The same suspension of belief isn’t wholly necessary ABBA ABBA’s ’s original designer, Owe Sandström. According when it comes to the veritable small industry of ABBA to Stengård, he and his colleagues “created their own tribute acts. Let’s face it, many of them bear as much playing on the recordings, the bass and guitar lines, resemblance to Benny, Benny, Björn, Agnetha and Frida as the drum grooves. You know, there was never any this writer does to Beyoncé. But that’s part of the gig. written music in the studio.” The sillier they look, the better, really. really. Nor does their t heir This association with ABBA is what Stengärd St engärd vocal homage have to be note-perfect – a decent believes gives The Original Band an edge over the karaoke ABBA usually suffices. You see, when it competition. “It is one thing to play an ABBA song. It’s comes to the Swedish Fab Four’s mimics, it’s all about a completely different thing to present an ABBA song the songs, whether or not Agnetha is played by a as close to the recorded hit as possible,” he says. former nun who has swapped her tweed twinset for “The ABBA-recorded songs have so many details figure-hugging gold spandex. And the same songs and variations in the arrangements, mixes and sound. are performed with as much (if not more) gusto by the We have really looked back at how we played the audience – replete with dance moves – as they are by songs and analysed them from all angles.” the performers. The “smoking horn riff” on ABBA’s ABBA’s 1979 hit single, Mind you, the musicianship required to nail Voulez-Vous, was the brainchild of Stengård, along these songs live is in the upper reaches. They may with trombonist Nils Landgren and saxophonist sound simple, but they’re not simply constructed. As Haldor Palsen. composers, Benny and Björn had lofty aspirations. “In those days, we played every single note, no “There is a surprising amount of freedom to improvise track copying, no autotune – what we played is on within the framework of ABBA songs,” says John that record. When we finished recording the riff with

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overdubs, Björn mentioned that he thought something was missing in the introduction. That day, day, I brought my new soprano sax with me to the studio, thinking, ‘You never know, it might come in handy’. So I picked it up, played a little line reminding me of an old jazz standard called Nature Boy , that fitted perfectly into the composition. ‘That’s what we want!’ was Björn and Benny’s reaction. So I recorded that seven-note mini-melody twice in a couple of minutes.” The Original Band are also the sole ABBA tribute act with the rights to use the ABBA brand. “It is very ver y important to respect copyright laws. We have continuous communications concerned with what we are allowed to do, making sure the advertising is correct, having all permissions in order concerning using copies of ABBA costumes on stage, merchandise prints, as well as the only band in the world to have the permission to show photos of ABBA when we are performing.” And adding even more credibility to their particularly unique tribute is the involvement of designer Sandström, the man responsible for every ABBA stage outfit after their 1974 Eurovision Song Contest triumph. “Owe is actually a member of the band, even though he doesn’t play an instrument. He is also a ver y important part of our show, as he appears on stage presenting some of the original costumes and telling the true story about them. We are actually the only performing band in the world to have original copies of the ABBA costumes, as well as costumes designed by Owe Sandström to underline the typical ABBA look.” It’s impossible to put a figure on the number of ABBA tribute acts. There are so many. You might be harbouring one now in your spare room. Listen out for the hurdy gurdy dialect of the Swedish chef from Sesame Street strangling strangling The Winner Takes It All . But one of the first – and arguably the best known – are Björn Again, formed by Melbourne native Rod Stephen in 1988. “As a teenager who was more interested in English progressive-rock music, I witnessed the birth and death of 70s music and fashion,” he recalls. “I was not really a fan of any of it, especially ABBA, as it appeared to me to be throwaway girlie

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“It is one thing to play an ABBA song. It’s It’s a completely different thing to present an ABBA song as close to the recorded hit as possible…” J O H A N S T E N G Å R D , T H E

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pop. After enduring the following decade of mostly dire 80s New Romantic twaddle, while attempting to succeed in a number of original and covers bands, I studied closer the form of New Zealand band Split Enz and wondered how I could do something that was as much fun and as entertaining. I knew my own music wouldn’t cut it, so I decided to focus on something that had been popular in the past, but to rework it and give it a new twist. “The year was 1988. ABBA’s ABBA’s music and fashion of the 70s was all-but-forgot all-but-forgotten. ten. Nobody wore those clothes anymore. Nobody listened to 70s music, much less ABBA. So to put things on its head, I believed a

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This page Malin Kernby and Linda Frithiof, alias Frida and Agnetha of The Original Band Facing page Revival recreating the famous shot from ABBA’s Greatest Hits

show based on ABBA, with theatrics like Split Enz, the music rocked up and a healthy dose of satire and comedy, including observations about ABBA’s relationship issues played out on stage, would at the very least be great fun to do. I had no idea it would be that well received by audiences.” After eight months of rehearsing, programming, arranging and choreographing, and despite “the show not being as good as it should be”, Björn Again launched at a small Melbourne pub in May, 1989. “The advertising chalkboard out the front said ‘Björn Again: ABBA Revival Show’. That was all that was needed to sell the 300 tickets. The response from the small audience was astounding. There was a great write-up in the music press. Björn Again was offering up something unique and different, and most of all, fun. By the end of 1989, Björn Again were on national television and selling out five shows a week consistently around Melbourne.” The buzz about Björn Again made it to Europe, where there was interest from promoters in Sweden, Ireland and the UK. 28 years and more than 150 members later, arguably, they remain the best known and possibly best loved of ABBA disciples. In 1992, at the request of Nirvana, they appeared at the Reading Festival. The biggest thrills, though, were a 1990 meeting with Benny and Björn in Stockholm – and subsequently being asked to promote ABBA’s Gold album for them on Swedish TV – and entertaining Agnetha at a private party in 2007. “All four members (of ABBA), as well as the fifth, former manager Stig Anderson, have all offered various comments about Björn Again. I guess, most significantly, Björn stated, ‘An ABBA revival was inevitable, but Björn Again certainly initiated it’,” Stephen proudly declares. 104

Yet he doesn’t regard Björn Again as a tribute act, claiming “the content of the show is actually quite different to the approach of ABBA tribute bands we see today”. However, different it may be, the content of the show does include glamming up – which Stephen acknowledges is integral to the concept. “When Björn Again started, the very notion of wearing platform shoes, flares and the various outrageous glam costumes ABBA had when everybody else was wearing 1980s smart Italian, New Romantic style, was in itself a part of the whole parody package. “The look of Björn Again wearing what was then a very outmoded and dated style stood off the page and so worked in our favour. It wasn’t so much an appropriation of ABBA’s look in order to directly copy them, rather a way of saying, ‘What right-minded person would actually wear these clothes and get away with it?’ I guess the impact wouldn’t have been the same were the ABBA costumes not used.” Revival are meticulous in their attention to every ABBA detail, which explains why the Agents Association Of Great Britain have honoured them for the past four years, with an accolade judged on production, marketing and proximity in both sound and look to ABBA. “There were over 100 ABBA tribute acts in the UK when we started, but still we knew there was definitely a space for a high-quality ABBA experience with a well-rehearsed performance, excellent stage show, authentic props and, above all, a passion for the music,” says John Reilly. “Most of our members have performed in other bands and tribute acts, and knew what it would take to be better than a lot of the rest. It’s kind of a distilled group of very talented individuals who came together with a single purpose – to put their experience and talent on the line and be the best they could be.”

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Revival have been careful not to “fall into the parody category”, of which there are several examples in ABBA world. “They focus on the kitsch fashions of the 70s, and the outdated attitudes of the time. This sometimes can be quite negative, and there is a real risk that you become classed as a comedy band. We are more interested in the incredible output of ABBA and their timeless catalogue of hits. If you watch any of ABBA’s original concert footage, you’ll quickly realise just how cool they were live, from a cutting-edge light and sound show to costume design which was way ahead of its time during the late 70s. We want to emulate that, to celebrate ABBA the band, not parody it. “We all have elements of the original band’s personalities and add that to the performance, although to ‘over-mimic’ could be seen again as parody. We make it clear that we are a genuinely talented and hard-working band playing amazing music from one of the best bands of all time. If we can bring a fraction of the energy to our performance that ABBA did, we’re happy. We have also studied hours and hours of live performances to really get the look and feel right, from the girls’ dance moves to the boys’ movements and mannerisms.” Revival even went so far as to source the correct props, instruments costumes and hairstyles – even the exact shape of Benny’s beard! “Sometimes, that has meant heavy investment in bespoke items, custom-made to mirror the originals as closely as possible. It’s this attention to detail that helps us assimilate the band and give as much as we do on stage.” ABBAMANIA, who have been touring the world for 16 years, get as close as they can to the sound of ABBA, but are somewhat circumspect when it comes to the look. “Luckily, the girls happen to have a similar look (to Agnetha and Frida), and we have

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tried to keep it this way,” says multi-instrumentalist Steven Galert. “I have always felt it would be too easy to fall into some kind of comical tribute style by wearing wigs. Our costumes are all custom-made to be as close as possible, but you will never see wigs or hear fake accents.” It’s remarkable to think that some four decades after disappearing from a scene they had dominated for the previous 10 years, ABBA continue to beguile us, faithful fans and recent converts alike. They straddle the generations with consummate ease. Their

“We have also studied hours and hours of live performances to really get the look and feel right, from the girls’ dance moves to the boys’ movements and mannerisms” J O H N R E I L L Y , R E V I V A L peerless pop legacy is assured forever, however long forever may be. And having relinquished the spotlight themselves, they have, in a sense, entrusted that legacy to the tribute acts impelled by a gratitude for the music, meeting an international demand not about to let up any time soon. Both John Reilly and Rod Stephen use the word “timeless” to describe the transcendent appeal of the songs. Stephen believes that “the music and lyrics are still relevant in the same way that The Beatles and Queen music is”. Johan Stengard puts it most profoundly. “The music of ABBA may be the most popular music in the world. ABBA was, and still is, a wonderful concept of music and performance that so many want to experience live. The hits reach people 180 degrees. One day performing in Salt Lake City for Mormons, the next day performing in Miami at a rainbow festival. This is unique.” Getting the band back together

It was saxophonist Johan Stengård who came up with the idea to create an ABBA tribute act pooled from the various musicians who had backed Sweden’s Fab Four. So who are The Original Band’s members? “Lasse Wellander recorded most of the guitars and also made all of the ABBA tours. Coming in second must be Mike Watson, who you can hear on all of the albums except Waterloo – but there is Mike on the cover, acting like Napoleon! “Roger Palm drums on many of the early hits, such as Dancing Queen, Mamma Mia and Fernando ,” Johan tells us. “Åke Sundkvist recorded and toured with ABBA, and Mikael Areklev was in ABBA’s studio band. Number one should be my very good friend who, unfortunately, is no longer with us, Rutger Gunnarsson. He was the very best.” Gunnarsson – an arranger and producer as well as a musician – died in 2015. He began his career with Björn Ulvaeus in The Hootenanny Singers. After ABBA, he collaborated with Celine Dion, Westlife, Elton John and Adam Ant. Meanwhile, Stengård has worked with Phil Collins, Michael Bolton and Sammy Davis Jr. Bolton described him as “one of the best sax players that walks the face of the world”.

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Björn and Benny attend the Mamma Mia! Gala Celebration Evening to celebrate the show’s 10th birthday at the Prince of Wales Theatre in April 2009

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international release from BAO, now renamed The Benny Andersson Band. Benny and Björn wrote a song in 2008 for Swedish singer Sissela Kyle, another for actor/singer Anders Ekborg, and even found time to dash one off for Barbara Dickson, entitled The Day The Wall Came Tumbling Down, although it has yet to see the light of day. As for Ulvaeus, he may not have appeared onstage in a musical capacity since ABBA split up, but that dosesn’t mean he disappeared altogether: he did reunite with members of The Hootenanny Singers in July 2005 at a music festival in his hometown of Västervik, where he sang their 1966 hit Marianne . He also contributed lyrics to a cover version of ABBA’s 1976 instrumental Arrival by Sarah Brightman for her 2008 album Winter Symphony . Ulvaeus’ rationale for abstaining from live performing is simple: he’d rather let the music be the group’s “public face”. He also believes the quality of ABBA’s output was in direct proportion to the scarcity of their live shows. “We toured very little,” he admitted in 2008. “Almost nothing. That is why the songs are still out there. They are carefully crafted. It was the very best we could achieve. “We thought touring was a waste of time,” he furthered. “It was much more productive and much more creative to write and record. I am glad today that we didn’t tour. We knew it begins and ends with a song. Back then the entire business revolved around the song.” Even if the pair hadn’t written another note since 1982, Benny and Björn, or at least their music, would have been ubiquitous in the decades since. There are three reasons for this. Most obviously, because it gets played regular on radio all over the world. Secondly, it has featured in other artists’ songs, via samples, most notably on Madonna’s 2005 hit Hung Up , which

sampled Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight) and on The Fugees’ 1995 single Rumble In The Jungle , which sampled The Name Of The Game . Not that ABBA are overly generous when it comes to samples of their work. Indeed, Madonna had to ask very politely to get Benny and Björn’s consent. “Madonna wrote a very, very nice letter saying, ‘Please, please, we have had a wonderful idea which involves Gimme Gimme ,’” revealed Ulvaeus. “We said we would have to listen to it first. But after half a minute I knew it was brilliant. That is one of the few we have allowed. Five years earlier we said ‘yes’ to the Fugees. But to everyone else we said ‘no’. I think the Madonna record shows that ABBA is part of the DNA set-up of pop.” The third contributor to the ongoing popularity and omnipresence of ABBA has been the Mamma Mia! effect. Andersson and Ulvaeus were highly involved in the worldwide productions of the Mamma Mia! musical, as well as the production of the film version of the musical, which opened in July 2008, featured more than 20 of their hits and starred Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Julie Walters and Colin Firth. Andersson produced the soundtrack, using many of the musicians ABBA employed themselves on their albums and tours. He even made a cameo appearance in the movie as a fisherman-pianist in the Dancing Queen scene. Ulvaeus, too, made a brief appearance, as a Greek god playing a lyre during the closing credits. They were originally reluctant to give the green light to the musical. “When we were first approached about the idea for a show we said, ‘I don’t think so’,” Andersson told The Daily Telegraph in 2008. “We were very protective at the time of the work we had done. We were proud of it. “You don’t just give songs away to anyone to do with what they want,” he added. “It could have been

Benny and Björn at a press conference for their musical Chess in Rotterdam, Netherlands, October 1984


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Anni-Frid sings at the Sunday Night Classics TV show in Germany, 2004

a disaster. But we did have the power of veto which meant we could have stopped it anytime.” Fortunately, they were delighted with the finished results. “The first preview was absolutely wonderful,” said Andersson. “I remember in Knowing Me, Knowing You they took out the ‘ah ah’ bits. But the audience wasn’t having it and just put them back in. They just filled in the gaps.” In 2008, Ulvaeus and Andersson won the highly coveted Special International Ivor Novello Award from the British Academy Of Songwriters, Composers And Authors as well as The Music Export Prize from the Swedish Ministry Of Industry And Trade and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Swedish Music Publishers Association (SMFF). ABBA may have been, in rock-critical circles at least, something of a joke when they first emerged in the 70s, but nobody is laughing now. Today, Benny and Björn can take their place in the pantheon of all-time greats as established titans of collaborative sophisticated songcraft, alongside Lennon--McCartney and The Rolling Stones’ Jagger/Richards. “We have influenced other writers obviously,” said Ulvaeus. “With such a string of hits, you are bound to influence other people.”

ANNI-FRID LYNGSTAD ABBA were still officially operating when Frida released her first post-Abba solo album, and debut solo album in English, 1982’s Something’s Going 110

On. A rocky affair produced by Phil Collins, it was a substantial worldwide success, selling 1.5 million copies and spawning I Know There’s Something Going On, a chart-topping single in Switzerland, Belgium, Costa Rica and France, where it stayed at No. 1 for five weeks. She was subsequently voted Best Female Artist Of The Year 1982 by the readers of Sweden’s biggest evening newspaper. Her next album, Shine (1984), saw Lyngstad recording with Peter Gabriel/U2/ Simple Minds producer Steve Lillywhite and was more experimental than its predecessor. It featured Slowly , the last known Andersson-Ulvaeus composition to have been recorded by either of the erstwhile ABBA vocalists. There were further solo recordings and collaborations throughout the 80s while in the 90s, she became involved in extracurricular projects such as the Swedish environmental organisation Det Naturliga Steget (The Natural Step) and Artister För Miljö (Artists For The Environment). In 1996, she recorded a Swedish language album Djupa Andetag (Deep Breaths), her first LP since Shine . It reached pole position in Sweden. She recorded a duet in 2002 with opera singer Filippa Giordano and performed a song with Deep Purple keyboardist Jon Lord. In 2004, she appeared in a comedy video alongside the other former members of ABBA in the interval of the semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest, their first joint venture since 1982. In 2005, Universal Records issued a box-set of her solo albums and included a DVD documentary in which she discussed her entire music career. She returned to the recording studio in 2010 to record

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vocals for the Cat Stevens song Morning Has Broken, for Swedish guitarist Georg Wadenius’ album Reconnections, which reached No. 17 in the Swedish charts. She appeared in a BBC Radio 4 play in 2011, Like An Angel Passing Through My Room, about love and death. Following the death of Jon Lord – a friend as well as musical collaborator – in 2012, Frida has matched Agnetha for enigmatic reclusiveness, although in 2013 she helped organise the opening of the ABBA Museum in Stockholm and in 2015 released the single 1865 , about the Matterhorn in Switzerland, with Dan Daniell.

AGNETHA FÄLTSKOG Back in 1980, Fältskog recorded Nu Tändas Tusen Juleljus (Now A Thousand Christmas Candles Are Lit), a Swedish Christmas album along with her seven year-old daughter Linda – it went on to become of the nation’s biggest-selling Yuletide albums ever. Following the cessation of ABBA activity at the end of 1982, Agnetha snapped into action as quickly as her male counterparts. She sang a duet with Swedish singer (and former ABBA backing vocalist) Tomas Ledin on Never Again, which became a Top 5 hit around the world, and acted in the Swedish movie Raskenstam. She also released her first post-ABBA solo album (and seventh overall), Wrap Your Arms Around Me , in 1983. Produced by Mike Chapman, half of 70s glam production team Chinn-Chapman with partner Nicky Chinn, and producer of Blondie’s Parallel Lines, it fared well across Europe (notably Denmark, where it became the biggest-selling album of the year), sold over one million copies, and even featured a single, Can’t Shake Loose , which charted high in the States. The follow-up, 1985’s Eyes of a Woman, was produced by Eric Stewart – singerguitarist with, and producer of, 70s pop brainiacs 10cc – and featured writing contributions from Stewart, ELO’s Jeff Lynne and Justin Hayward of The Moody Blues. Again, it sold well in Europe but only managed a week in the UK charts. In 1986, she recorded another duet, The Way You Are , with Swedish singer Ola Håkansson, which became another No. 1 hit in Sweden and Nor way. The following year there was an album recorded with her son Christian, aimed at children and s ung in Swedish. In 1987, she recorded her third English language solo album, and 10th overall. Titled I Stand Alone , it was produced by Peter Cetera (formerly of the band Chicago) and Bruce Gaitsch, who had collaborated on Madonna’s La Isla Bonita. It was a minor hit in Europe, except in Sweden where it spent eight weeks at No. 1 and became the bestselling album of 1988. Nevertheless, its poor sales elsewhere perhaps contributed to her decision not to record another solo album for 17 years, until My Colouring Book . Agnetha withdrew from view, becoming something of a pop Garbo, a beautiful enigmatic recluse. There was a strange extracurricular occurrence in the quiet intervening years when she entered into a relationship with a man who, after they broke up, proceeded to stalk her, resulting in a court issuing him with a restraining order. She published her autobiography in 1996.

My Colouring Book , a collection of covers of classic tunes such as Fly Me To The Moon and Sealed With A Kiss, was released in 2004, topping the chart in Sweden and earning rave reviews for her still-stunning voice. And despite refusing to do any publicity for the record, it still managed to sell around 500,000 copies worldwide and became the 10th best-selling album of 2004 in Sweden. She did, however, give an extensive interview, her first for years, for Swedish TV. Three years later, she appeared at the final performance of Mamma Mia! in Stockholm, and at the after-show party with ex-husband Björn Ulvaeus. In 2008, Fältskog joined her three former ABBA-mates at the Swedish premiere of the film version of Mamma Mia!; she even danced, alongside Lyngstad and the film’s star Meryl Streep, in front of thousands of fans, before joining the film’s other stars and Messrs Andersson and Ulvaeus for the first photograph of all four ABBA members together in 22 years. In May 2013, she released a new album, A, which managed Top 3 placings in many countries, including No. 6 in the UK (her highest ever placing in that territory), and whose sales have since exceeded one million. The single If I Thought You’d Ever Change Your Mind (a cover of the Cilla Black song from the 60s) became Fältskog’s biggest solo hit in the UK, reaching No. 11. That November, she sang live onstage for the first time in 25 years at the BBC Children In Need Rocks 2013 concert in London, performing a duet with Take That’s Gary Barlow, the organiser of the event. In April 2016, a new biography – Agnetha Fältskog: The Girl With The Golden Hair – was published in the UK. Clearly, the public’s fascination with the blonde chanteuse continues unabated.

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Agnetha makes a public appearance at London’s G-A-Y club in May 2013


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Previous page: Richard Carson as Sky and Sanne den Besten as Sophie in Mamma Mia!

Above: The full cast take their praise Top right: Mazz Murray as Tanya, Linzi Hateley as Donna and Jo Napthine as Rosie Bottom right: Alasdair Harvey as Harry, Richard Trinder as Sam and Dugald Bruce-Lockhart as Bill Following page: Linzi Hateley as Donna and Sanne den Besten as Sophie

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n any given day, numerous different productions of Mamma Mia! – the musical inspired by ABBA’s mammoth hits – plays somewhere round the globe. Its subsequent silver screen spin-off, Mamma Mia! The Movie , is now the most successful film musical ever. Not for nothing are songwriting partners Benny and Björn, cited as fourth best-selling artists of all time. It was while the pair were working on the West End to Broadway musical, Chess with Tim Rice, in around 1983, that they first met theatrical producer Judy Craymer. The determined 20-something had risen through the ranks from stage manager of the original production of Cats, to Tim Rice’s production assistant and onto his executive producer of Chess. Inspired by the drama of The Winner Takes It All – Björn’s ultimate break-up hit song – Craymer had the lightbulb idea of setting ABBA’s best-loved songs in a stage context. Initially, the guys were not overly keen on the concept, and it took the would-be impresario 10 years to persuade them to give her the rights to their most treasured works. However, once in agreement, they were artistically involved from the start, along with ABBA’s Anni-Frid in a financial capacity. Said to have sealed the deal was the pitching of a top-notch creative team – Andersson and Ulvaeus were already on good working terms with Craymer

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as proposed producer. The script by ‘savvy writer’, Brit playwright Catherine Johnson was promptly sanctioned; while director Phyllida Lloyd impressed with her previous high-end output of Brecht and Shakespeare. Firing on all fronts, Craymer put everything on the line to make it all happen, selling her flat and giving up her day job in the process. By 1997, the musical juggernaut was well and truly on its way. It lived up to its billing: ‘The storytelling magic of ABBA’s timeless songs with an enchanting tale of family and friendship unfolding on a Greek island paradise.’ It was a surprisingly modern narrative centred round the wedding of a girl who had invited her three possible biological fathers to her important event. On the fictional Greek island of Kalokairi, Sophie aches for her father to walk her down the aisle – but does not know his identity. Discovering her mother’s old diary by chance, she finds entries recording romantic dates with three men in swift succession. Thinking one of these may well be her father, ahead of the wedding she sends an invite out to each in the guise of her unsuspecting mother, Donna. As Donna is caught up with meeting guests at her taverna including old best friends (and ex-bandmates) Tanya and Rosie, in turn Sophie secretly meets each of her mother’s ex-lovers. Shocked to see the men after all this time, Donna exits overcome with emotion. Soon confusion reigns for

Mamma Mia! the musical has

MAMMA MIA! A DOUBLE WHAMMY

been seen by 60 million people worldwide in 50 productions in 16 different languages. That’s a cool $2 billion at the box office so far.

The Mamma Mia! musical Original Cast Recording remains consistently in the Billboard Catalog. The Special Edition Cast Recording is Double Platinum in several territories.


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both mother and daughter, with all three men wanting to escort Sophie on her big day. The somewhat soap-opera story breezes by ably abetted by a string of ABBA pearls including Super Trouper , Lay All Your Love On Me , Dancing Queen, Knowing Me, Knowing You, Take A Chance On Me , Thank You For The Music , Money, Money Money , The Winner Takes It All , Voulez Vous, and of course, Mamma Mia! – the title track taken from the band’s 1975 smash. Various plot twists and turns later, it all resolves with a giant ‘sing’ in the tale via I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do , and I Have A Dream, before a lively audience interacting finale and reprise of Mamma Mia and Dancing Queen. The non-stop ABBA jukebox musical proved to mesmerise an audience like no other production before or (so far) since. Currently entering its 18th year, the London production has now been seen by more than 10 per cent of the population. Following its London premiere in 1999, the album ABBA Gold notably topped the UK charts again. By 2001, the musical opened on Broadway, and has now played in more than 40 countries in all six continents – to a worldwide audience of more than 60 million. Not surprisingly, Hollywood soon came calling. As Craymer later related, after all her hard slog: “There was no way I was going to sell the rights and have someone else do it.” True to what would


The ninth-longest running Broadway musical, Mamma Mia!’s the longest daily running show in Russia and the first Western musical to be staged in Mandarin in China.

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become her indomitable reputation as “the greatest showbiz impresario of the 21st century”, she wisely insisted on refusing all Tinseltown offers until reaching an agreement to helm the film herself along with the original key team: Catherine Johnson as writer, and Phyllida Lloyd, directing. She fought suggestions for other experienced directors (such as Steven Spielberg) to take over. Equally, insistence was made that the musical’s central middle-aged, hippie mother character remained just so. Politely declined were mentions of casting younger glamour girls like Kylie Minogue, and favoured from the start, was Meryl Streep. Self declared ‘lifelong ABBA fan’ Streep stated: “I am Mamma Mia!” on being cast, and said it was one of the happiest roles of her life. She explained she’d found watching the 2001 Broadway musical version ‘life-affirming’ in the wake of the 9/11 Twin Towers tragedy, and thus made contact via a congratulations note, with Craymer. Finally, actor Tom Hanks offered to make it on the Brit producer’s strict terms with his production company, and soon a useful ‘ABBA-mad’ high-up at Universal Pictures got things moving. Besides Streep – as spirited, single mother Donna – the stellar cast boasted Amanda Seyfried as her daughter Sophie, Julie Walters and Christine Baranski as her best friends, and as the trio of love interests, Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgard, ex ‘Mr Darcy’ Colin Firth and former 007, Pierce Brosnan. Ironically, as well as the main film location of the gorgeous Greek island of Skiathos, Donna’s villa in the film was in reality a set shot on the 007 stage at Pinewood Studios. Most external shots, with the exception of the seaside hamlet of Damouchari in the Pelion region, were filmed on Kastani beach, on the small island of Skopelos. The beach bar and jetty were temporarily built for showcase song and dance numbers: who can forget the highlight of the cast strutting their collective stuff to Dancing Queen with such joy on the jetty? – all to that ABBA soundtrack. Eagle-eyed ABBA fans may have spotted cameos by Benny Andersson as the Dancing Queen piano player, while more uncharacteristically, Björn Ulvaeus played a ‘blink and he’s gone’ Greek god! Cast-wise, most naturally attuned to the ABBA repertoire, and known for their singing ability, was Meryl Streep. Having taken opera singing lessons as a child, she had previously performed in films including Postcards From the Edge , Silkwood , and most recently, Florence – about opera singer Florence Foster Jenkins. Consequently among the movie’s many awards, she was Golden Globe nominated for best actress. The fact that some of the cast had not been chosen for their vocalising led to some mixed reviews from critics. Most especially Pierce Brosnan, who may have looked the part but somehow didn’t quite sound it – and as a result, won the Golden Raspberry

The production’s won multiple awards and accolades, while honouring its original ABBA inspiration – a Touring Broadway Award for best musical score.

Docu-DVD Super Troupers: A Celebratory Film From Waterloo To MAMMA MIA! features unseen footage, and scenes from London’s Fith Anniversary Gala Special Finale.

© 2008 Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved


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award for worst supporting actor. At least he had a great time making the film – “one of the best jobs ever”, he said. “The Mamma Mia! experience that has been created and given people so much joy on the stage has bled into this film.” The cast certainly looked like they were having a ball and allegedly, were whooping it up after hours, as contrary to usual film-making stipulations, producer Judy kept the party mood going with beers all-round for cast and crew. Coming up to a decade after the movie was made, fans still make pilgrimages to the locations, particularly the picturesque – but admittedly petite – Ioannis white chapel used in the wedding scene. Beyond the likes of Grease and Dirty Dancing, Mamma Mia! instantly became the song and dance hit of the decade. Packing in a cracking 24 ABBA hits, as a feel-good escape, it more than hit the mark. As Meryl Streep summed up: “It’s about dreams, your hopes, your happiness.” Opening in 2008, it opened at No. 1 in 35 countries.

“I’ve had less years of being a success than I had of being a failure. For a lot of my life I felt like a complete letdown” C A T H E R I N E

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Craymer had staked all on its success. In the 90s money had been so tight that on the verge of bankruptcy, she had had to sell her house. In interviews in the British press, she later related: “All my friends thought I was crazy. They said ABBA was so passe and I should get over it. But I knew everyone would want to see the musical. I had to make people believe in what I was doing and it became a complete obsession.” Her choice to, in effect, ‘take a chance’ on ABBA paid dividends to an astounding degree: overall from her Mamma Mia! concepts, she is reported to have made a reported £90 million. Awarded an MBE, she went on to produce Viva Forever!, the 2012 musical based on the Spice Girls’ hits, and now spends much of her off-duty time fund-raising for Mamma Mia!-linked charities such as Breast Cancer Research. In much the same way, Bristol writer Catherine Johnson shares a similar ‘roughing it to riches’ backstory. Her colourful life could itself create a compelling screenplay. Expelled from school at 16, married at 18, divorced at 24, she was a hard-up single mum with another child on the way when entering – and winning – a newspaper playwriting competition changed her life. Her hard-hitting play, Rag Doll was staged by the Bristol Old Vic, and penning further plays followed – including Bay City Rollers-based Shang-A-Lang – before stints on popular UK TV series such as Casualty , Band Of Gold and Byker Grove .

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The Times Bestseller, MAMMA MIA! How Can I Resist You? (UK/Orion) explores the magical ABBA songs that first inspired the international success of Mamma Mia!

Recommended to producer Judy Craymer by a mentor friend, she found the idea of the ABBA project entertaining but over-familiar with financial hardship, did not take its commercial chances seriously. For that matter, neither did ABBA’s Björn: “I didn’t have a clue that Mamma Mia! would be a worldwide success,” he later admitted. For the two years it took to write the book, it was a ‘scary-ish time’ for Johnson. “I couldn’t afford for things to go wrong,” she said, looking back on the time. It’s now well-known that Johnson deliberately wrote the plot about a single mother – notably one ‘who wasn’t as the press often liked to paint, a drain on the state… a working single mother who had got her life together and the relationship she had with her daughter.’ As she told The Guardian: “I’ve had less years of being a success than I had of being a failure. For a lot of my life, I felt a complete letdown”. Consequently, though she has gone onto create other plays, she is happy if Mamma Mia! is fated to remain her career’s masterwork. Having initially given the musical a lifespan of three months, it’s now going strong in its second decade, having amassed over an eye-watering £2 billion worldwide. Bankrolling nearly $610 million on a $52 million budget, Mamma Mia! is the highest grossing musical film of all time in the UK. Such was its unprecedented success that co-chairman of Universal Studios David Linde, made a press statement that in years to come, there could be a sequel – adding he would be delighted if the creative quintet of Craymer, Johnson, Lloyd, Andersson and Ulvaeus reunited to create a follow-up based round other ABBA songs. Rumours immediately went into overdrive with every star in town from Kate Winslet to Leo DiCaprio slated to appear in the potential follow-up. In fact, Meryl had had the time of her life so much, she said she wouldn’t mind returning in a ‘Grand Mamma Mia!’ sequel with the same cast. Before fans’ hopes could flare any further, ABBA’s Benny said no to the notion with a definitive: “There will not be another quote, unquote ABBA musical.” The world’s premiere may have taken place elsewhere, but on 4 July 2008, all eyes were on the Swedish film screening. In attending this, all four members of ABBA were photographed together for the first time in 22 years. It was aptly held on ABBA’s home turf in Stockholm, and at the Rival theatre – part of the boutique hotel owned by Benny, where each room has a copy of ABBA Gold – the album that spawned both memorable musical to movie productions. Agnetha and Anni-Frid arrived dancing with star of the movie Meryl Streep, before joining the ABBA boys and rest of the cast, on the balcony. A show of solidarity between the former band members, marking the next chapter in ABBA’s enduring success: from international stage to screen, in 2017, their perfectly crafted pop legacy lives on.

The first-ever UK tour of Mamma Mia! the musical opened in Bristol in March 2016, with further dates to be announced. Now booking tickets through to March 2017...

Mamma Mia! The Movie is the

highest worldwide grossing liveaction musical film of all time. It opened at No. 1 in 35 countries. It is now available to own on DVD.



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FOR THE MUSEUM IT’S THE PERFECT SETTING FOR ALL THINGS ABBA, AND AS JULIE BURNS DISCOVERS THREE YEARS ON, THE ABBA MUSEUM IN STOCKHOLM HAS NOW GROWN INTO AN EVEN BETTER SPECTACLE THAN EVER BEFORE...

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The building houses two museums and a hotel

These cat dresses aren’t e ven the most outrageous clothes on sho w at ABBA The Museum

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s one enthusiastic fan recently commented: “Walk in, dance out!” To many the world over, ABBA’s music represents joy and fun, and the content of a certain number-one attraction does well to reflect that. Since its opening in Stockholm, Sweden, on 7 May 2013, this impressive interactive exhibition dedicated to all things ABBA has carried on updating and evolving. Originally inspired by the other Fab Four, The Beatles, and their world-famous museum in Liverpool, founders Ulf Westmand and Ewa Wigenheim-Westman first mooted the ABBA project back in 2006. Slated to open in 2008, instead – several years and setbacks later – it’s now housed at a glittering new exhibit venue. Today, The Swedish Music Hall Of Fame proves a great showcase for the group’s prodigious musical achievements and influences. Known for their collective love of Swedish island life, ABBA expressed their preference for the landmark to be located on an island and in Stockholm, the site of where they first found fame. True to their wishes, fans will find the ABBA-endorsed centre situated near the picturesque Gröna Lund theme park alongside the bay on the island of Djurgården. The museum is now the permanent home for the popular ABBAWORLD exhibit that first toured Europe and Australia between 2009 and 2011. Mindful of the infectious, singalong nature of their hits, among the plethora of clothes, artifacts and awards to interviews and concert footage on show, the focus is very much on the interactive. Several stateof-the-art audio and video stations allow visitors to

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Only four people in the world have the number for this telephone, in the museum’s Ring Ring Room

karaoke or perform along to their idols’ music, even ‘wear’ one of their digitally projected costumes. On 23 April – annual ABBA The Museum Fan Day – hundreds of fans worldwide gathered on-site in celebration. It coincided with an updated new version of one of the most popular attractions – ‘5th Member’ – enabling visitors to perform onstage with the foursome… or at least their incredibly photorealistic avatars. Museum director/curator Ingmarie Halling explained: “As one of the world’s leading interactive music museums, we need to constantly be in the forefront of technical development, and we wanted the 5th Member attraction to be as convincing as the museum’s silicon dolls of the group. So we contacted Fido, well-known for their digital wizardry in film.” One of the world’s top animation/VFX studios, Fido was Bafta-nominated for its work on David Attenborough productions in stereoscopic 3D, and the Mad Max and Star Wars Battlefront computer games. A team of 15 artists modelled ABBA’s four members as ‘digital statues’, perfecting every detail from Benny’s beard to providing each with digital skeletons for the purpose of animation. Then, to make them move in a lifelike manner, ‘motion capture’ was used (which is the same technique that makes Andy Serkis’ portrayal of Gollum come ‘alive’ in the Lord Of The Rings series). Fido’s sister company, Imagination Studios, then recorded 1970s dance sequences in motion capture. Even the content wasn’t left to chance – Agnetha and Anni-Frid’s choreographer, Graham Tainton, now aged a sprightly 88, was consulted to recreate all the key moves.

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Benny and Björn wrote many of ABBA’s songs in a small cabin on the island of Viggsö

Of all the attention-grabbers contained in this ultraslick space, the roomful of 30 costumes especially resonates. The fact that most have been donated by the band members further amps up the wow factor. From album sleeves to costumes, the imagery of ABBA was always carefully considered. The clothes hold up an interesting mirror to musical and social history: from glam-rock to the disco era, into the more formal early-80s. Agnetha and Frida’s stagewear from ’74 to ’78 is especially flamboyant. Post-Eurovision win, all costumes were exclusively made by designer Owe Sandström, who conceived them, he said, as ‘works of art’. (Rumour has it they also came in cannily outlandish fashion as a savvy way to save money: Swedish law meant costumes could be deducted against tax liability, so long as they were so outrageous they could not be worn out on the street!) Of his ABBA design days, Owe Sandström says: “Björn looked like Superman or some sci-fi action hero, Agnetha looked like Barbarella, Frida often asked me ‘are you serious?’ Benny said, ‘Nothing’s too wild!’” Every garment here strikes a chord: each iconic outfit clothes a moment in time or memory of the band performing particular hits: the blue silk ‘Waterloo’ Eurovision-winning ensemble; the white and sparkling gold attire – Frida and Agnetha’s cheeky shorts to figure-hugging body stocking – for the Australian tour; both of them strutting their stuff in the famous white maxi to micro-mini tunics, featuring tiger and big-cat embroideries. Frida had told clothier Owe:

“I sometimes feel like a tiger” – which, taking her at her word, he made into her motif, while Owe’s cat was the inspiration behind Agnetha’s panther. The yellow and blue appliques and matching linings were included to represent the colours of the Swedish flag. Sweden exerted other stylistic influences – such as an ‘Iceberg’ theme, as seen on the glacier white outfits with shades of purple flashes – one-shouldered unitards the girls wore for hits like Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! Frida had asked their long-term album designer Rune Soderqvist to collaborate with Owe Sandström on the Swedish Ice theme in 1979. Ever at the forefront, the glamour girls gave the band their striking visual identity. The ‘look’ was an integral part of the band’s performance. Curator Ingmarie Halling has gone full circle with the costumes. As ABBA’s former wardrobe supervisor on all their major tours – previous to being producer of their previous costume exhibitions – she remarked: “The clothes are like old friends! For years on tour, I was washing these garments, now they’re behind glass cases.” She considers style stand-outs came from the later, less extravagant Voulez-Vouz disco era: “The girls looked really trendy, tall and slim.” Frida recently agreed: “I think my favourite was the tight, striped jersey costume with the diagonally cut little dress, from the 1979 tour. It made both of us look elegant and a bit sexy, but it would probably not look as good today!” According to Agnetha: “I think they made a great job with the clothes, especially our body stockings, which were so easy to dance and move 123

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The Duvemåla room at the Pop House Hotel – visitors receive a welcome letter from Björn Ulvaeus

ABBA’s iconic gatefold cover art from their 1976 Greatest Hits is showcased at the museum

Those Waterloo -era outfits…

around freely in. It’s such a good feeling to be able to apparently plays whenever he tinkles the ivories. For move around in your clothes like that onstage.” a pleasing personal touch, audio guides (available in English) feature each of the ABBA popsters recounting As to the boys, Benny, known for his (slightly) more sober style, commented: “Owe and Lars did a lot of the story of their glory years in their own words. nice stuff and also some totally crazy clothes. They The whole feelgood experience of the museum is could say whatever they wanted, but at the end of the enhanced by its pairing with the Swedish Music Hall day, I always decided what I wanted to wear myself. Of Fame. This separate, yet intrinsically connected, gallery provides a useful overview of the country’s If Björn wanted to wear a Superman costume that’s pop music history: pride of place taken, of course, by fine, but not for me. Anyway, I think my clothes were slightly cooler!” its most well-loved and famous band. Björn responded: “I don’t think I had a favourite amongst my outfits, but I actually felt quite comfortable ABBA: The Museum, Djurgårdsvägen 68, 115 21 Stockholm, Sweden in my jumpsuits. That bloke on stage was somehow a www.abbathemuseum.com different person to the private Björn; maybe he was hiding a bit in his stage costume and also loosened up a bit. Not sure Benny’s clothes were that much THE MUST-SEE MUSEUM… cooler… more boring, maybe!” Having had exclusive access to the group’s dressing The Museum has had over one million visitors room for so long, many more of the band’s sartorial The History Of Swedish Pop Music exhibition secrets turn up in Ingmarie Halling’s authorised next door features 400 Swedish artists book ABBA: The Backstage Stories. On the subject, including Roxette, Ace Of Base, and Europe Ingmarie concludes: “No matter what Owe created, Björn has co-initiated a new exhibition he always had an eye for detail. Sadly, these celebrating the 60-year history of the particular costumes did not get the attention they Eurovision Song Contest. Björn said: “The deserved.” At least now retrospectively, here on-site, Eurovision Song Contest occupies a special they can be seen and admired by anyone interested place in my heart. It’s a pleasure to be in the ABBA phenomenon. able to display the long and in many ways Other museum highlights include the actual astonishing history of the largest running helicopter from the cover of ABBA’s 1976 seminal TV show in the world, where music is at the album, Arrival . There’s an eye-catching starburst centre. I couldn’t think of any better place to guitar and a very quirky piano – which, as if by do it than at ABBA The Museum.” magic, links to a piano in Benny’s house and • •

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Once more,

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FROM THE SMITHS TO LED ZEPPELIN AND OASIS, WITHIN MONTHS OF A BAND SPLITTING UP THEY’RE BOMBARDED WITH QUESTIONS ABOUT A REUNION. SO WHAT ARE THE CHANCES OF A FINAL LAP OF HONOUR AROUND THE WORLD FOR A REFORMED ABBA? P A U L

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Benny and Björn attend the Laurence Olivier Awards at The Royal Opera House, London, in April 2014

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n 15 April 2015, the Daily Mail reported that Björn Ulvaeus had made “an exciting announcement”. He had been filmed writing the words Mamma Mia! The Party in paint, on a wall. The former ABBA songwriter added that he was about to create a “new entertainment experiment that I will tell everyone about on Wednesday”. The news sent ABBA fans into a tailspin, with fevered speculation that the four-piece were finally going to reform after 33 years. “I’ve been working on this experiment for quite a while now and it’s actually starting to feel ready,” Ulvaeus explained in a clip in which the 69 year old wrote the project’s name in blue paint, followed by the infinity symbol. Was it some kind of mystical sign that Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Agnetha Fältskog were going to once more tread the boards or even re-enter the recording studio for one final ABBA assault on the global consciousness? Might it be a multimedia event or a one–off performance? It turned out not to be the most eagerly-anticipated return since old rockers Led Zeppelin, just a case of Ulvaeus daubing an ABBA-related message on a transparent surface. Still, we’d been here before: there have been rumours about ABBA getting back together virtually since they went their separate ways at the end of 1982. As far back as 1986, there was talk of another ABBA album, ostensibly the follow-up to 1981’s The Visitors, to be titled Opus 10; at least two tracks were recorded. Sadly, the project was abandoned, although one track, I’m A City , turned up on More Gold in 1993. The rumour mill seemed to go a bit quiet in the 90s but went into overdrive in

the noughties, in the wake of the success of Mamma Mia!. In 2000, ABBA were alleged to have been offered a cool one billion dollars to reform for 100 concerts, but they turned it down. Four years later, record producer Billy Butt suggested ABBA reunite in support of the tsunami victims in South East Asia, but the group refused. In an interview Benny Andersson was quoted as saying: “We are four individuals who focus on other things now. We split over 20 years ago and never plan to perform together again.” That same year rumours abounded that ABBA would reunite for the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest in Istanbul, 30 years after they won in Brighton with Waterloo . All four members of ABBA did indeed appear briefly in a special comedy video made for the interval act, entitled Our Last Video Ever , but there was no singing or dancing. In 2008, the complete ABBA line-up attended the world premiere of the movie Mamma Mia! in London. Fans were seen wailing in the aisles and the media once again began musing on the prospect of a reunion, but it failed to materialise. A year later, the ABBA girls – or rather, ladies – appeared together at an awards show in Sweden. Anni-Frid was overheard saying: “I’ve felt lately it would be fun to do something with ABBA again” – cue mass media hysteria, to little avail. It was also in 2008 that Björn Ulvaeus told the Sunday Telegraph: ”We will never appear onstage again. We would like people to remember us as we were: young, exuberant, full of energy and ambition.” But there were signs of minds changing that September, when Anni-Frid Lyngstad said “it would be great to do something” with her former bandmates.

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“I could see us doing something together once again in the future”

reminded about ABBA. It has brought so many happy things into my life.” In January 2016, ABBA surprised fans by making their first public appearance together in many years at the opening of Björn Ulvaeus’ new ABBA-themed Greek taverna, Mamma Mia! The Party in Stockholm A G N E T H A – the entertainment venture alluded to so mysteriously the year before. Agnetha, Benny and Anni-Frid turned out to support their former bandmate, the four all arriving individually for photographs with their spouses on the red carpet. Once inside, the 1974 “It would be hard to avoid all the pressure because Eurovision winners made a brief appearance onstage of ABBA,” she added. “It could never be low key.” to rapturous applause from the audience. Wembley Stadium, anyone? And then, in June 2016, the unexpected happened: Ever the teases, in a 2010 interview in The Times, the four members did perform together on a stage, for Benny Andersson was quoted declaring, “A reunion the first time in well over 30 years — a reunion they seems like a good idea”. It later transpired that he had insisted would never happen and which fans had was joking, although there were further suggestions long ago given up dreaming of. The event took place that year that ABBA might reunite for the wedding of at a private party held at Stockholm’s Berns Hotel to Prince William and Kate Middleton. celebrate the 50th anniversary of the day when Björn Adding fuel to the gossipy fire were Agnetha first met Benny; as seismic a pop encounter as that Fältskog’s words, in which she said she ”could between John Lennon and Paul McCartney. consider” getting together for a one-off concert Towards the end of the evening, Agnetha and “next year”. Bookmakers immediately posted odds Anni-Frid took to the stage to perform the 1980 song for a royal wedding performance: Ladbrokes were Me And I . To the delight of the small audience of offering 66-1 for the reformation in April – the same friends and Swedish celebrities, Messrs Ulvaeus and odds for ABBA to have a US No. 1 in 2011. Andersson then joined them onstage towards the end “It would be fun to get together,” Fältskog said, clearly taken with the idea. “It is just a feeling I have.” of the performance, reuniting the group in song for She seemed to be arguing for a full-blown reformation the first time since they disbanded in 1982. “It was absolutely amazing. A lot of emotions,” – at least for one night. “We would not reunite for gushed Anni-Frid. a tour like The Rolling Stones and other old bands The miracle of the moment was best captured by do now,” she told M magazine. “However, I could Janne Schaffer, a session guitarist for the band, when see us doing something together in the future.” The erstwhile recluse continued: “A reunion, an occasional she told a reporter: “We witnessed a piece of music opportunity, maybe in connection with a charity event history tonight.” – I believe we could consider it.” In 2013, Fältskog – for many years regarded as ABBA finall y reunite at a pri vate the main barrier to the Swedish quartet reforming – party held at Stockholm’s Berns hinted that ABBA could reform the following year. Hotel in June 2016 She told German newspaper Welt Am Sonntag that she, Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson were considering reforming in 2014 to mark the 40th anniversary of debut hit Waterloo . “Of course it’s something we’re thinking about,” she said. “There seems to be plans to do something to mark this anniversary in some way. I can’t say at this point what will come of them.” In 2014, stories ran that echoed the earlier offer of $1billion to reform for one last tour. Speaking at an event at the Tate Modern in London, Frida disclosed details of a meeting the band had had several months earlier to discuss a potential reunion. “We only have one answer and that is ‘no’ – we’re not going to do it,” said Lyngstad. Referring to an image of ABBA on the gallery wall, capturing the four members in their prime, she continued: “That’s how we looked at that time, with all the energy, excitement and motivation. It’s not exactly the same nowadays, if you know what I mean. “We all met because we wanted to talk about what we should do for our 40th,” she continued. “It was a lovely meeting. It was like time had stood still and we were back to where we were. We had the same bond; we bonded instantly. But no amount of money would change our minds. Maybe we sometimes say it would be good to do a song together again, just a recording and nothing else, but I don’t know if that will happen – so don’t say that we will!” Lyngstad added: “There isn’t a day when we’re not 129

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Australia took ABBA to its heart perhaps more than any other country, so it’s fitting that Antipodean cultural ambassador Kylie Minogue was chosen to perform live with Benny Andersson at the Thank You For The Music concert in Hyde Park on 13 September 2009, which paid tribute to the band’s legacy. Björn Ulvaeus was also in attendance at the star-studded event that featured performances from Lulu, Chaka Khan, The Feeling, Elaine Paige, Jason Donovan, Marti Pellow and VV Brow n. The Radio 2-helmed concert was hosted by Chris E vans and headlined by Kylie, who sang Super Trouper and When All Is Said And Done . 130



ABBA Classic Pop

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