ABBA On The Web - December 2003
For almost ten years, ABBA fans around the world have been enjoying the books and CD notes of Carl Magnus Palm. Carl Magnus first came to our attention with his book ‘ABBA - The Complete Recording Sessions’ in 1994, regarded by many (and not just hard-core ABBA fans) as the best ABBA book ever published. Since then, he has worked on a multitude of ABBA projects, as well as writing books and contributing to CD releases for other artists.
To complement his work, Carl Magnus has created a website, Carl Magnus Palm.com, with detailed background information about the many ABBA projects he has worked on, plus his involvement with those other artists. He has had a website for a number of years, but recently his site has been revamped, expanded and relaunched, so I thought it was a good time to introduce the new, improved site to you readers.
The site is broken down into several sections: of course, ABBA fans will be most interested in his many ABBA-related projects, but you may be surprised to learn that Carl Magnus also written a book about The Beatles (in Swedish), and a discography of Swedish chanteuse Monica Zetterland, which led to the release of a CD box set (an uncanny coincidence with his first work with ABBA, as we shall see).
The site is easy to navigate, with links to the five major sections listed down the left. From here, it’s just one click to just about every page of the site. The site is very easy on the eye, with a cool blue background and a simple layout that encourages an extended stay.
The first part of the ABBA section details the books that Carl Magnus has written: the aforementioned ‘ABBA - The Complete Recording Sessions’, the coffee-table book ‘From ABBA To Mamma Mia!’ (featuring photographs by ABBA “family” member Anders Hanser) and the acclaimed biography ‘Bright Lights, Dark Shadows: The Real Story of ABBA’. There is background information about how each of the books came into being, plus lots of extra details about each one. As well as English editions, these books have been published in languages as diverse as Swedish, German, Japanese and Russian – in some cases, these other editions have been updated and modified from their original versions.
In the case of ‘The Complete Recording Sessions’, there is a page of FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) about the book, details of many rumoured but unconfirmed and undocumented ABBA song titles, updated information, plus a handy index which due to space restrictions couldn’t be included in the book. For ‘Bright Lights, Dark Shadows’ there are some very interesting and rare photos that were unearthed during research but couldn’t be used in the book.
And that’s just a few examples of all the extra information you’ll find. There’s also chapter extracts, page previews, media reviews, interviews, feedback from the fan community, and even links for ordering the books from various countries.
Plus, you can purchase copies of some of these books signed by Carl Magnus himself – see the site for details. And before you ask, unfortunately ‘The Complete Recording Sessions’ is no longer available.
The next ABBA section is about the many ABBA CD and video/DVD projects that Carl Magnus has contributed to for Universal Music. For the past few years, he has written the booklet notes for almost every single ABBA (and related) release, including compilations of solo work by Agnetha and Frida. Along with the booklet notes, you’ll find background information on many of these discs. You may be surprised to learn just what goes on behind the scenes before these products hit the shelves of your local stores!
One area that will be of major interest is the section on the ‘Thank You For The Music’ box set, released in 1994. There are no less than eight separate pages on how the project came about, from the research into ABBA’s recordings for ‘The Complete Recording Sessions’ book, interviewing all four members of ABBA for their memories of those sessions, and the exciting afternoon Carl Magnus spent with Benny, Björn and engineer Michael B. Tretow going through many, many tapes of unreleased ABBA recordings – the direct result being the inclusion of many of those songs on the box set. I think you’ll be quite amazed at what you’ll learn in these pages – I can tell you I was the first time I read this!
There is also a FAQ page about the box set, which lays to rest many rumours and myths that have grown around ABBA’s recordings over the years.
On top of all that, there are details about Carl Magnus’s contributions to the official ABBA website, plus ‘ABBA – The Exhibition’, which was held at the Nordiska museet (the Nordic Museum) in Stockholm from November 1999 to October 2001. There’s also the latest news about new projects that Carl Magnus is working on – and yes, there are more ABBA-related projects in the pipeline.
On a personal note, there’s also a page about when Carl Magnus himself was a recording artist! Want to know more? You’ll have to visit the site to find out.
