ABBA Gold - Greatest Hits
Polydor 1992
INTERNATIONAL RELEASE
ABBA is always written as "Abba".
2nd paragraph: "… Anni-Frid Lyngstad … who fronted her own band and, like Agnetha, had made several big-selling albums in Sweden." Wrong. Before ABBA, Frida had released only two albums: the Benny-produced Frida in 1971, and a compilation of her EMI singles was released in 1972 under the title Anni-Frid Lyngstad.
Same paragraph: "They were all managed by a music business entrepreneur named Stig Anderson." Wrong. Not until they started performing together as Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid, and then ABBA. Before that only Björn was managed by Stig.
Same paragraph: "The winner would represent Sweden in the 1973 Eurovision Song Contest, and Abba, as they now called themselves … " Wrong. At this time (circa 'Ring Ring') they were known as Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Frida. The name ABBA was not adopted until late 1973 and not used officially until the release of 'Waterloo' in 1974.
4th paragraph: ". if they [ABBA] weren't recording new smash hits, then they were flying all over the world for promotion and personal appearances." True, they did all that, and had three month holidays as well.
5th paragraph: ".'Dancing Queen', which Abba performed in 1976 at the wedding reception celebrating the marriage of the King of Sweden to Silvia Sommerlath." Half right. It was actually performed at a gala concert on the eve of the wedding.
Same paragraph: "… although Stig Anderson occasionally lent a hand on the lyrics on a few of these pop classics." Typical latter-day belittling of Stig's contribution to ABBA, and in the preceding list of ABBA songs, he wrote (or contributed) lyrics for all but one.
6th paragraph: "… ‘Thank You For The Music’ … which was only released as a single when the group had effectively disbanded. It is often regarded as their farewell to their huge international following …" Wrong. In 1983 the single was released only in the UK and the Netherlands, though a couple of countries released it as the A side (with ‘Eagle’) in mid-1978. The 1983 single was not so much a "farewell", but to promote compilation albums released at the same time (Thank You For The Music - A Collection Of Love Songs in the UK and From ABBA With Love in the Netherlands)
9th paragraph: "A specially recorded live version of the song ['Chiquitita'] was included on an album which can only be called unique: 'The Music For UNICEF Concert'." Wrong. The version of 'Chiquitita' included on that album and lip-synched in the concert was the studio version, albeit faded early.
10th paragraph: ".'Does Your Mother Know' slightly deviated from the usual winning formula, featuring lead vocals by Björn, rather than Agnetha and Frida as normally happened." True, there had not been a song with Björn singing lead vocals released as a single for some years, but it was not unique. On many early singles the boys' vocals were as prominent as the girls were, and songs such as 'Rock Me' had been popular in many countries. This statement is also contradicted in Tobler's statement about 'Summer Night City' on More ABBA Gold.
Same paragraph: "’I Have A Dream’ … was different again as it was a singalong item which was especially recorded live at Wembley Arena, with a large choir of children … " Wrong. The studio version was released as a single, however the B side was a live version of ‘Take A Chance On Me’ recorded at Wembley.
Continuing " … at the last concert of what would sadly turn out to be Abba’s final tour as live performers." Wrong. It was not the last concert of the tour - that was in Dublin, Ireland a few days later. ABBA also travelled to Japan for a tour in March 1980 - albeit the same concert performance as the 1979 tour.
11th paragraph: "A few smaller hit singles extracted from the album [The Visitors] kept Abba's name in the public eye." Only one other single was released from that album in the UK, indeed in most territories at most only two singles were released from The Visitors album.
Nowhere is the song 'The Name Of The Game' mentioned (except in passing in a list "the group's familiar chart toppers") and it is not explained that the version included on this CD is an edited version, first released as a promotional single in the USA in 1977.
AUSTRALIAN RELEASE
ABBA is always written as "Abba".
2nd paragraph: "… Anni-Frid Lyngstad… who fronted her own band and, like Agnetha, had made several big-selling albums in Sweden." Wrong. Before ABBA, Frida had released only two albums: the Benny-produced Frida in 1971, and a compilation of her EMI singles was released in 1972 under the title Anni-Frid Lyngstad.
Same paragraph: "They were all managed by a music business entrepreneur named Stig Anderson…" Wrong. Not until they started performing together as Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid, and then ABBA. Before that only Björn was managed by Stig.
Same paragraph: "The winner would represent Sweden in the 1973 Eurovision Song Contest, and Abba, as they now called themselves … " Wrong. At this time (circa 'Ring Ring') they were known as Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Frida. The name ABBA was not adopted until late 1973 and not used officially until the release of 'Waterloo' in 1974.
3rd paragraph: "[’I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do’]… was considerably more successful in Australasia reaching the top 3 in Australia…" Wrong. It was ABBA’s first number one single (out of six) in Australia.
4th paragraph: "… if they [ABBA] weren’t recording new smash hits, then they were flying all over the world for promotion and personal appearances." True, they did all that, and had three month holidays as well…
5th paragraph: "…’Dancing Queen’, which Abba performed in 1976 at the wedding reception celebrating the marriage of the King of Sweden to Silvia Sommerlath." Half right. It was actually performed at a gala concert on the eve of the wedding.
Same paragraph: "… although Stig Anderson occasionally lent a hand on the lyrics on a few of these pop classics." Typical latter-day belittling of Stig’s contribution to ABBA, and in the preceding list of ABBA songs, he wrote (or contributed to) lyrics for all but one.
6th paragraph: "Not that every country had an identical release pattern of new Abba hits: for example, ‘Rock Me’… was a top 3 hit in both Australia and New Zealand in 1976…" Wrong. ‘Rock Me’ was simply the b-side of ‘I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do’ in those countries as well, charting in its own right.
Continuing: "…a year in which also saw the release of the group’s 5th Australasian chart topper in less than two years, ‘Money, Money, Money’." Wrong. It was actually the sixth. Tobler probably got his information from the 1990 CD ABBA The Songbook - Australian Chart Hits or The Book, both of which used state charts and showed five number ones for ABBA.
8th paragraph: "A specially recorded live version of the song [‘Chiquitita’] was included on an album which can only be called unique: ‘The Music For UNICEF Concert’…" Wrong. The version of ‘Chiquitita’ included on that album and lip-synched in the concert was the studio version, albeit faded early.
Same paragraph: "…’Does Your Mother Know’ slightly deviated from the usual winning formula, featuring lead vocals by Björn, rather than Agnetha and Frida as normally happened." True, there had not been a song with Björn singing lead vocals released as a single for some years, but it was not unique. On many early singles the boys’ vocals were as prominent as the girls were, and songs such as ‘Rock Me’ had been popular in many countries. This statement is also contradicted in Tobler’s statement about ‘Summer Night City’ on More ABBA Gold.
11th paragraph: "A few smaller hit singles extracted from the album [The Visitors] kept Abba’s name in the public eye…" Only one other single was released from that album in the UK, indeed in most territories at most only two singles were released from The Visitors album.
Nowhere is the song ‘The Name Of The Game’ mentioned (except in passing in a list "the group’s familiar chart toppers") and it is not explained that the version included on this CD is an edited version, first released as a promotional single in the USA in 1977.
