Review: Pop Story

Another one of the gifts that Eleonore gave me is Bjorn's Pop Story! :D  In Swedish, the title translates as "The Story of ABBA", hehehe.

I find that the story itself doesn't tell the ABBA story that well.  Like, there are a lot of details that Bjorn left out, but I guess that's because this book is for children after all.  I figure my book, The Story of ABBA for Young Readers, is for children who are a little, but for children nevertheless, since I go into a lot of detail.   Anyway, Bjorn's book is still really entertaining and the illustrations are really cute!

Also the way Bjorn tells the story is really, really funny.  He's got a good sense of humor! :D  The text is super easy to read, and if I wanted to introduce my children to ABBA, I'd definitely start them off with this book.

Bjorn also includes a lot of funny stories, like the one about the bugs that flew onto the stage in Australia during the 77 tour.

Aren't those illustrations superb?? :D  (And read that text, too - it is hilarious!)

If I had to, I'd rate this book a 4 out of 5 rating.  It's really entertaining and good. Well done Bjorn! :D

The Velvet Costumes

It appears I forgot to share the costumes on here... Whoops!  You can check out the posts about the costumes on Sew Amazing here, here, here, and here!

Review: Story of a Heart

As I mentioned in my previous post, one of the many gifts that I got from my best friend Eleonore when she came was Benny's album Story of a Heart.  I've enjoyed the album so much (I've listened to it over 5 times now.... I'm even listening to it now.) that I figured it'd be fun to do a review on it. :)

Benny Doll together with the album. :)

Track 1, "Glasgow Boogie" is such a fun and uplifting song.  It has to be one of my favorite tracks on the album.  The instruments on this track are so cool and it does sound very Scottish. :)  

"Trolska" is the next track on the album.  It reminds me of the type of music my grandparents would listen to.  It's kind of slow compared to "Glasgow Boogie" but still very happy.  It's very calming, I must say. 

The next track is "Story of a Heart", another one of my favorites.  Helen Sjoholm's voice is so pleasant (I have no idea why I didn't like it when I was younger????  Proof that I'm a crazy person.)  I've loved this song for a while now since I heard it on a video about Agnetha on YouTube. 

Next is "Bed of Roses".  This song also reminds me of something that my grandparents would listen to.  Very slow and pleasant sounding.  Very 1930s sounding, or 50s.  I dunno.  It does speed up a little, though.  Usually I don't like slow songs because they make me feel slow (don't ask), but this song is so sweet, even romantic sounding! :D 

"You Are My Man" is such a sweet song!  I'd heard it in Swedish before when I was watching BAO videos a while back and really liked it.  I also had completely forgotten that there was an English version, so when I listened to this album the first time, I was like "I LOVE THIS SONG SO MUCH!!" 

For some reason "Cirkus Finemang" always makes me laugh.  I don't know why.  It's very circus-y (probably why it's called "Cirkus Finemang") and makes me want to go to a circus very badly.  Again this also sounds like something my grandparents would listen to.  I wouldn't say the song is fast, nor would I say it's slow.  Aha, the best way to describe it is that it sounds like the type of music that would play on a Merry-Go-Round, or in a marching band.  Circus-y. :)

Would you believe, I'd never heard of the term "Fait Accompli" before?  I thought the song was going to be in a different language and was surprised to hear that it was English.  The song sounds very much like an ABBA song to me, but I can't picture it in Agnetha and Frida's voices.  It suits Tommy Korberg's voice very well.

"Song from the Second Floor" is a slow song.  But that doesn't mean I don't like it.  It's very gloomy sounding, but it's still very pretty. 

It's that song that plays in the intro to Mono Music's website! :D  I've had a love for "Birthday Waltz for Mona" ever since I first went to the website.  Also the fact that Benny wrote it for Mona for her birthday is super sweet!!

"(If This Is) Our Last Dance" is such a sweet song.  It's very Jazzy and even though I don't personally like Jazz that much, it's really nice.  Also, are they speaking Swedish in the background at one point?  (Yeah, they most like are.)

"Jehu" is a very fun-sounding song.  I particularly like the instruments in this one.  :D

"Tyrolean Schottische" is literally the cutest song.  Like, it sounds like the music out of a children's show, and I happen to really like songs from children's shows.  (I still have the music from Barney playing in my head.)  It also sounds like something out of a medieval thingy.

I'm really liking "The Stars".  It's such a sweet duet between Helen and Tommy and it has to be on my top favorites list.  This one's also very Jazzy.   

"P.S" is super short but absolutely beautiful!  I have quite the appreciation for violin and this one really makes me happy.  It also sounds like something out o a medieval thingy.  Very pretty.

And then the last track is "Story of a Heart" in Swedish.  I feel like this one didn't fit together as well as the English one, like the words don't really fit or something, but it's still just as nice as the English version.  I really like Swedish songs, so yeah, I like this one a lot.

As you can tell, I love this album a lot and I'd literally give it a 5 star rating!  Thanks again to Eleonore for getting it for me!  I LOVE IT SO MUCH!!  (And now I'm listening to the album again.)

The Way Old Friends Do - a Tale of Two ABBA Fans

We met just about two and a half years ago, just before the 40th Anniversary of Waterloo.  Eleonore and I were both making animations to celebrate the 40th Anniversary.  A simple comment on my YouTube channel is what began this wonderful friendship between ABBAFan Seventies and ABBAFan456.  Eleonore and I started talking ever since, and this summer, we got to meet for the first time in real life!

ABBA meeting ABBA!  Eleonore's ABBA Minifigs (left) and my ABBA minifigs (right).

Eleonore also gave me some wonderful gifts that I shall cherish forever!

A big box of goodies!

This ABBAsolutely fantastic poster from ABBA the Museum!  I love it so much!!

Some flyers from ABBA the Museum, Mamma Mia the Party, and Pop House, three ABBA the Museum bags, two pencils (that didn't show up in the picture for some reason???), a newspaper from Mamma Mia the party, an Official International ABBA Fan Club postcard, and three wonderful albums: Kristina live at Carnegie Hall, Story of a Heart, and the Arrival Deluxe Edition!  (I'm listening to Arrival right now as I'm writing this. :D )

And a VIP pass from the ABBA Fan Day. (sorry for the bad quality picture!)

She also got me Bjorn's Pop story and a book about the photos taken by Torbjorn Calvero, I just forgot to take pictures of them. :)  I absolutely love these gifts.  Thank you sooo much Eleonore!!

I also gave Eleonore some gifts as well: homemade ABBA dolls that are matching to mine, a copy o The Story of ABBA 1.0, as well as Bjorn, Benny, and Frida's autographs.  :)  That's right!  When I got their autographs for myself from Gorel, I made sure to get a set for Eleonore, too!

Eleonore's dolls and Legos together with mine! :D

Some pictures I had taken before hand of the dolls and the autographs.  I'll do a detailed post on how I made the dolls on Sew Amazing later. :)

Eleonore and I had such a great time together!  This will definitely be a memory that I will never forget.  Thank you, Eleonore, so much for everything!!

Also, if not for Eleonore, I wouldn't have been able to complete my 1977 gold costumes for my dolls.  When she went to ABBA the Museum the first time, she took some pictures of the back of Bjorn and Benny's costumes.  Thank you for that, as well! :D

So yeah, this is the story of our friendship.  I'm so happy to have a friend like Eleonore.  Best friends forever!! :D