ABBA - The Album
Polydor remastered CD 1997
2nd paragraph: "1977 was the year of the earlier of ABBA's two world tours…" They were never described at the time as being world tours, each only visiting two continents, and indeed were billed as tours of "Europe & Australia" and "North America & Europe". The Japanese tour of 1980 was an extension of the 1979 tour, arranged much later.
continuing: "...the group were persuaded to play two shows there [the Royal Albert Hall] on St. Valentine's Day, 1977." Wrong. Two concerts were scheduled initially, before tickets went on sale.
2nd paragraph: "Among the new songs they performed on that tour were three excerpts from… 'The Girl With The Golden Hair'…" Wrong. There were four songs in the mini-musical performed on the tour. It was only when The Album was recorded that there became only three.
continuing: "…and onstage featured Anni-Frid and Agnetha looking almost identical with blonde hair and very similar costumes sharing the title role." The costumes were identical.
3rd paragraph: ".. the only two [singles] they did release [in 1977 - 'Knowing Me, Knowing You' and 'The Name Of The Game']… were both Number One hits…". Not in most places, only in the UK and Belgium.
4th paragraph, 2nd column: "…remarkably, no further singles were released… at the time." Wrong. 'Eagle' was released as a single in much of Europe, Japan and Australia in mid 1978, which is mentioned at the end of this paragraph.
continuing: "Well, there were two further candidates… 'Thank You For The Music'…" Wrong. The song was never considered as a single release at the time, as it was considered part of the mini-musical, and as such was not singled out. It was the British who later turned it into the legendary "ABBA's theme song" by releasing it as a single in 1983, which has been given the status by some reviewers of "ABBA's farewell single".
continuing: "…'Thank You For The Music' was the song which ended ABBA's live concerts of their 1979 world tour." Wrong. A brief version of the song was used as the finale on the 1977 tour, on the 1979 tour the song was performed in the middle of the concerts.
4th paragraph, 2nd column: ".. it is widely believed that 'Eagle' was ABBA's tribute to another band [The Eagles]…" Only amongst stupid reviewers. Björn has said in many interviews that the "feeling" of the song (rather than the actual lyrics) was inspired by the novel Jonathon Livingstone Seagull.
5th paragraph: "...Having… also starred in a feature movie with a plot as weak as the vast majority of great pop/rock films…" Damning with faint praise? In other writings, Tobler writes about the "excellence" of ABBA - The Movie.
5th paragraph: "'The Girl With The Golden Hair' has apparently never been completed - maybe one day?" Another ill-informed comment from the "authorised" author. Again, Björn has said in interviews that the story as it was wasn't really strong enough to sustain a full musical (it didn't even fully make it onto The Album!), and any thoughts of expanding it into a full musical had been abandoned by 1978.
As usual, the notes concentrate on the singles released from the album, with the addition of an extended theory on other potential singles, with little comment on the album itself.