Video Collector

ABBA’s videos review: ABBA good day…again!

Ten years after their break up, ABBA remain the world’s highest-selling act since The Beatles, and second to Volvo as Sweden’s most successful export. Yet, when they won the Eurovision Song Contest with Waterloo in 1974, it seemed all over before it had even started for the Scandinavian quartet. Though the Eurovision is the world’s most popular song contest, winning it is generally a quick cut to oblivion and it took ABBA a year to live down the stigma. After that setback, however, there was no stopping them. They had 18 consecutive Top 10 singles and ruled European, English and Australian charts for five years straight. (The Best Of ABBA was the first album to sell more than a million copies in Australia.) That their music survives by itself was proved last year when ABBA Gold topped the album charts again. But it’s the ABBA Gold video that demonstrates the group’s full impact. ABBA ruled pop TV like no other before or after them. The two blondes Björn and Agnetha, and the blonde-bearded Benny and super-cool Anni-Frid pioneered a deceptively simple form of clip where the two couples shared laughter and tears and remained the best of friends. Their appeal was to young kids and their parents – older teenagers went punk or stayed faithful to Led Zeppelin and, either way, hated the whole ABBA phenomenon. But now the ABBA kids have grown up and come back to the music of their childhood. The best of ABBA’s output remains perfect pop for all seasons from the cheerful silliness of Mamma Mia to the tearful ballad The Winner Takes It All to the sardonic smile of Money, Money, Money and Dancing Queen’s luxurious disco beat. By 1982 it was all over – Björn and Agnetha divorced in 1979, Benny and Anni-Frid in 1981. The group’s music turned turgid as they attempted to make adult middle-of-the-road for America. Still there was enough good stuff to make More ABBA Gold video worthwhile, and though they rarely toured, ABBA Live In Concert 1979 proves their carefully layered harmonies lost nothing in the translation to stage.

Review: ABBA – The ultimate video collection – (PolyGram Video).

ABBA Gold - Greatest Hits. Revered and legendary, ABBA dominated world charts for around 8 years… now ABBAmania is back! Relieve all those magic moments with this greatest hits compilation. 19 tracks $29.95 rrp 0855483

More ABBA Gold – More ABBA Hits. 13 more hits from this history-making group including Summer Night City, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, Head Over Heals, Bang A Boomerang and much more! $29.95 rrp 0873803

ABBA – Live In Concert. A fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the band on tour, culminating in 6 nights at Wembly Arena where they stunned audiences with their dazzling show and delivered one pop classic after another… $29.95 rrp VVD1130

ABBA – A Music Biography (1974-1982). Preserving their magic for future generations, this biography collects together the clips which brought ABBA from local celebrity to international stardom. 19 tracks including Ring, Ring, Dancing Queen, (A royal performance in Stockholm on the eve of the royal wedding of Sweden’s king and his Queen-to-be during 1976.) and Waterloo (A live performance at the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest in Brighton). $24.95 rrp VIR1942Transcribed for ABBA World

TV Week (Australia) · 18 September 1993 (Pages 44 & 45)

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