ABBA Omnibus - Questions & answers


November 2009

I bought the ABBA in Japan limited special edition 2 DVD set and got it home and watched the first disc, disc 1. And enjoyed it very much. Then when it was over I put the second disc in and the same thing that I had just watched came on I then realised they had put the same two discs in both were disc 1 and there were no disc 2. My father phoned the shop where I bought the DVD to see if we could get another one and the man said he would ring us back. When he phoned us back he said he had a look at all the one's he had in stock and they were all the same as well. I was just wondering do you know if anyone else who bought the 2 DVD set has had the same trouble. I would like to buy it again but the same thing might happen. Carissa, Australia		I've heard of this happening only a couple of times. As far as I know most copies should have the correct two discs. My own copy did. All I can suggest is to return it for replacement, or refund and buy it from another store.

Listening to ABBA recordings, I hear background music by the Billy Vaughan orchestra, but I can find no mention of Billy in any of the documentation. Was he just the studio orchestra, or something more. I have a lot of Billy Vaughan LPs, so I know his sound. The opening of Ido,Ido, etc., was his signature sound. Bill H, USA		Indeed, ABBA recorded 'I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do' as a tribute to Billy Vaughn's music. ABBA did not record with Mr. Vaughn, who as far as I can tell had retired by the late 1960s.

I've read rumours among YouTube-users that a full version of "Just Like That" will be released on the deluxe-edition of "The Visitors". What is your comment in this?

Frode, Norway

It's probably way too early to know. So far as I know there are no plans to release a Deluxe Edition of The Visitors just yet. The previous Deluxe Editions - Waterloo, Arrival and ABBA - The Album - coincided with the 30th anniversary year of each album's original release. This year we didn't get a Voulez-Vous Deluxe Edition, though word is that it will still come out sometime. So following the anniversary pattern we would not anticipate a deluxe The Visitors until at least 2011.

I wouldn't expect a full version of 'Just Like That' to be included. Benny and Björn have refused frequent requests to release it dating back as far as More ABBA Gold in 1993, claiming that the version they produced for duo Gemini in 1985 (with a different verse melody) is the final version of the song, and they can't release two different songs with the same title. The verse was eventually used in the Swedish version of Chess in 2002.

I'd like to have the instrumentals of Mamma Mia! The movie. How can I have
them? I'd like to have all of the songs, they're wonderful in the movie version!! Thank you very much!

Diego, Italy

There are two, 'Dancing Queen' and 'Mamma Mia', available to download free from Ponds, the cosmetic company, for a competition held last year (and luckily the tracks are still there). No other instrumental tracks are available unfortunately.

I bought the deluxe set of ABBA in Japan and love it but I read on line that it comes with 3 postcards and the 1980 tour sticker, I did not get that can you please tell me where I can get these?

Best regards Brent, Canada

The postcards and sticker are included in the Special Limited Edition two disc version in most of the world. It seems that in North America the two disc version has been issued in a regular DVD case, without the deluxe packaging and extra items. You should be able to order the deluxe version from Europe or the UK. Because the DVDs are region 0 and NTSC there will be no compatibility problems.

Are the members of the group Abba still alive? Where are they?

Kind regards, Roy, Kenya

Yes they are. Agnetha, Benny and Björn live in Sweden, while Frida spends most of her time at her home in Switzerland. Benny is the only musically active, performing in Sweden with Benny Anderssons Orkester, which has released several CDs.

I just picked up ABBA in Concert DVD, and along with abbaontv.com, I found a scene early in the film where Frida is waiting on an airport tarmac about to get into a limo and she opens up her passport for the camera. It is only a few seconds, but I had paused the scene in an attempt to see the info on the passport data page.

My questions are:
1) Her passport number is DP-007226, would the "DP" stand for diplomatic passport? Did Sweden issue her one since she was so well traveled, or was that a special code for naturalized citizens? There is an image of Björn's passport on raffem.com and his passport number is standard issue, however.
2) On the right facing page and to the left of her photo, there are some data written in: hair color, eye color, height and sex. I cannot seem to make out her eye color (both in Swedish and English). Her hair is clearly written Rött/Red, height = 171 cm and gender female. It looks to me (I don't understand Swedish) that the English written in for her eye color is: "Mixed colours", could that possibly be? All along I believed that she had green eyes. Unless this is code for hazel in Sweden, again I cannot make out the Swedish word written in for her eye color.

Peter, USA

My word, what a doozy of a question! I'm not sure if there is any reason for the different numbering of the passports beyond different years of issue. From that image it appears that Frida's passport is dated 1978, while that photo you mention of Björn's passport it is dated 1972. Also seen in ABBA in Concert is Tomas Ledin's passport, with the same numbering format as Björn's and as far as I can tell was also issued in 1972. Frida's passport may also be numbered differently as she was an immigrant to Sweden. Perhaps a Swedish reader can enlighten us.
Sorry, I can't make out what the word is describing Frida's eye colour either.

Did all of the ABBA members quit smoking? I have read that Agnetha did and Benny was trying but don't know if any of them permanently succeeded.

Sandy, USA

I'm really not sure. Frida and Björn managed to hide their smoking habit from the public, while Agnetha and Benny were almost famous for it - see how many times Benny lights up on the new ABBA in Japan DVD. Agnetha had famously quit smoking in the early 1980s when she participated in an anti-smoking campaign, then was caught out on a date smoking.

I was wondering has Agnetha ever performed the song 'Turn the world around' on TV, if so, where can I watch and download the performance. Hope you can help.

Thanks from Helen in the UK.

No, Agnetha never performed this B side track on TV. You can find information of every known ABBA member's TV appearances at Sara's fantastic site ABBA on TV.

I read recently on the 'ABBA-Intermezzo' website where Björn mentioned about his and Lena's happy marriage, which was lovely to hear, and that reminded me of a question I was thinking of recently. I remember reading a while ago that Lena was not well. If that was true, do you know if she Ok now? I hope so... she's looked well in recent photos.

Cheers for now, Tony, Australia.

Apparently she was diagnosed with a form of leukaemia. There hasn't been anything much said about her condition since the first news broke a few years ago. She has continued to attend events with her husband - in September she accompanied Björn to the first Kristina concert at Carnegie Hall.

With the demise of ABBAmail if there was any other ABBA mailing lists available to join?

Rob, UK

There are a few mailing lists still fairly active. ABBA List, the very first ABBA mailing list formed in 1993; ABBA Village, which grew out of ABBAMAIL's membership; and ABBA Planet. There is also the very popular and busy abba4ever forum. For more see the Fan Contacts page in the Links section.

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