Bright Lights, Dark Shadows... is it REALLY the definitive biography of ABBA?????

 I want to start this review with a quote from the book itself, on page 597 regarding the creation of Mamma Mia! the stage musical  "Everybody involved was careful to point out that the musical was in no way related to the story of ABBA, but when news of the project reached the press, some reports still made out that it was going to depict the group's emergence from Sweden out into the world.  Frida read one such article, and unimpressed, fired off an angry fax to Bjorn, asking what he meant by doing a musical about their career.  She calmed down and gave the project her blessing when he explained that the exact opposite was true: the last thing anyone wanted was the ABBA saga in dramatic form."

Almost exactly one year ago today I posted my initial review of esteemed ABBA historian Carl Magnus Palm's book Bright Lights, Dark Shadows, namely the 2014 edition.  As a kid I had always wanted to get my hands on this book because it seemed like a great window into ABBA's lives, giving the ABBA-obsessed child that I was a chance to really get to know my four favorite people in a more personal format.  So when the opportunity to buy it at a nice, discounted price on Amazon I think it was arose, I jumped at that chance, and the book ended up being more of a disappointment to me than enjoyable.  In my review I'm surprised that I didn't really put in to words how upset the book made me, trying to seem a little more positive, but in actuality, I really did not like the book.  

So why then did I go ahead and buy the new, 2024 revised edition in honor of ABBA's 50th anniversary that I only finally got my hands a couple of weeks ago?  Because Carl Magnus Palm had said that he was going through and fixing a couple of things, part of me had hope that he would maybe add in sources, or actually prove that events that he says happened actually happened.  But nope, nothing has changed.  In fact I would argue that the "post-2014" section was kinda messy and hastily put together.

One of my major concerns in this book is the characters that Carl Magnus Palm has created for each ABBA member.  Often times he'll take a character trait or fact about the person and decide that that entire trait encompasses that ABBA member. For starters, because Frida had a bit of a rough childhood and may have suffered from bouts of depression, suddenly Frida is the depressed one.  Because Bjorn showed interest in the business side of the things, suddenly he is the business man.  And of course, despite Carl Magnus Palm even mentioning how degrading it is to be reduced to a body part, namely the disgusting way media became obsessed with Agnetha's bottom, obviously that means that Agnetha is the sExY one, and is only ever the sexy one.  She may not have enjoyed being a sex icon, but no matter what, she was the sexy one!  Stig Andersson is ABBA's hot tempered angry manager.  No matter what he says, it will always be with negative or angry undertones.  Stig will never just "say", he will always respond with a snap, or an angry retort.  And Benny, well, dare I say, Benny kinda doens't have much personality in this book. He's always there to support Frida, he's loveable, and kind, and a musical genius, and he does like birds, but that's about it. There's hardly any mention of his goofball side, the pranks he'd pull on Michael B. Tretow in the recording studio as referenced in Bjorn's children book that he sells at ABBA the Museum, no mention of his sense of humor, like how he once replied to a fan questionnaire that his favorite food is Acorns and Milk. Also apparently Agnetha and Frida are always very temperamental and spend a lot of their time having temper tantrums, even during recording songs.

All of this, in my opinion, completely goes against what the ABBA members have said, as stated in this interview with Sveriges Magasin in 1977, in fact the characters that Carl Magnus Palm has created for the ABBA members sounds all too similar to the "characters" that the ABBA members are claiming are not true.  Especially when Agnetha says in this same interview that a Swedish paper falsely claimed that she had been close to calling off the tour because she was longing for her daughter and home too much, Agnetha continues by saying how all of that can be true, that of course she missed her daughter, but she never had the intention of canceling the tour.  Yet this book spends majority of its text trying to remind us that Agnetha absolutely HATED touring and was the one holding ABBA back from touring because she just missed her daughter so much and couldn't bare to leave her. And it would pain her that the other three members (while the book also reminds us how Bjorn and Benny - but not Frida because Frida ((who the book must remind you used to have bouts of stage fright but doesn't anymore but she also used to have stage fright and depression)) loved to tour - also didn't like the stress of touring) would overpower her and insist on touring and as a result Agnetha would spend the entire tour miserable.  Nevermind that the book will also talk about how exciting and exhilarating it was for ABBA to perform on stage in front of an audience, even during their miserable 1977 and 1979 tours, while also reminding us of how it was so painful to do so.  And I'm not arguing the fact that touring and being away from home and family can be tiring and exhasting and not the most fun thing to do, it's just the book spends way too much time pontificating on the negative parts and hardly going into the positive sides.

Because this book is supposed to be a dramatic tale on the ABBA members' oh so terrible and miserable lives, there is hardly any place for humor or just general positivity.  When something positive happens, Carl Magnus Palm always has to follow it with something negative, or if something extremely negative happens, only at the very end will there be a very subtle mention to something positive about whatever negative experience it was.

Also, I know that I already stated this in my previous review, but the way the author basically inserts his opinions on ABBA songs and shares them as 100% accurate facts bothers me.  He repeatedly will talk about how the tracks from ABBA's earlier albums, more specifically any song that features Bjorn and Benny on lead vocals, is just a bad song.  While the majority of "uneducated" people may think that ABBA is only a female-fronted band and then precede to get shocked and bummed out to find that good chunk of ABBA's songs feature Bjorn and Benny on lead vocals, that doesn't mean that having Bjorn and Benny on lead vocals makes the song bad.  Yet that's the view that the author seems to take.  And like, yeah, I get that I am an ABBA worshipper and I literally love every single ABBA song, even the "totally unlistenable" I Saw It In The Mirror, but just because a lot of people don't like those songs, it shouldn't discredit those who do like them.  You could say maybe that the majority of listeners don't like such and such song, and that could be true and doesn't in anyway act like the song on a whole is just hated by everyone.

In fact, another thing that really bothers me is how Carl Magnus Palm really doesn't like how disjointed ABBA's early albums, even Bjorn and Benny's Lycka album, are, with no consistent sound, with too many different styles and genres, making the albums sound all over the place, YET he also praises ABBA's Voyage album for doing that exact same thing, proving that ABBA have the ability to sing in any style, even to this day.  I've always loved how, despite all of ABBA's songs having that sparkling and magical sound, no songs sound the same. Each song is unique, each album displays a variety of styles.  But Carl Magnus Palm acts like thats a bad thing, while also sometimes acting like it's a good thing.

I also already mentioned this in my previous review, but the way Carl Magnus Palm insists that, despite Bjorn outright DENYING that songs like One Man, One Woman and Knowing Me, Knowing You had anything to do with his marital situation at the time, Carl Magnus Palm will continue to speculate and decide that Bjorn is obviously lying because he the author clearly knows more about Bjorn's personal life than Bjorn does, and includes this information as if it is 100% factual and true.  Yet songs that Bjorn has stated are actually inspired by (emphasis on inspired because no ABBA song is a direct retelling of their actual lives) personal things, like maybe how Super Trouper was inspired by him missing his then girlfriend while on tour, as he was quoted during ABBA's countdown to the release of the new songs on Social Media back in 2021, there's no mention of.  

It also bothers me that Carl Magnus Palm finds it necessary to compare both Bjorn's then-girlfriend/wife, Lena, and Benny's wife, Mona, to the B's previous partners.  I do not care if the media at that time was like "Omg Bjorn was seen with a new blonde who looks just like Agnetha!!" or "Benny has life his brunette wife for a new brunette girlfriend!" (nevermind that at the time of Benny and Frida's breakup, Frida was a redhead.) Falling trap to the whole comparing women to each other, whether appearance wise or personality wise or anything really, is just wrong.  Nevermind that Carl Magnus Palm in his book complains at how the media would constantly pit Agnetha and Frida against each other, yet he doesn't understand how wrong it is for he himself (and no, he was not quoting a magazine or tabloid when he said this) to compare women who are not Agnetha or Frida to Agnetha and Frida.  It's just wrong.  

I also find it interesting how Carl Magnus Palm shares the exciting events that were ABBA being presented an award by Princess Margaret, and ABBA getting invited to a royal dinner by the King and Queen of Sweden, yet still neglects to share how after the whole private jet turbulence emergency landing in Manchester NH situation, resulting in the cancellation of ABBA's Washington DC show, Bjorn, Benny, and Frida visited the White House and got to meet Amy Carter who was an ABBA fan and was looking forward to seeing them in concert the day before.  They even presented her with an ABBA necklace.  But you know, that event just isn't important enough to share in this 100% accurate and factual biography that Carl Magnus Palm has written.  (Also, fyi, as someone who lives in a small town in NH, Manchester is not a small town - it is a city.)  Jimmy Carter is at least mentioned now, however, as allegedly sending his personal doctor to Agnetha when she allegedly locked herself in her hotel room and Stig was allegedly pounding on her door and harassing her.

Also, Carl Magnus Palm suggests that the Official Photo Book released in 2014 doesn't offer much in terms of personal anecdotes and really doesn't offer anything new, yet in my opinion, that book does include some of the sweetest personal stories, including one from Agnetha that when the Hep Stars were in her area when she was a teenager, she had nothing for them to sign, so they signed her green parka. (And of course that story was no included in Carl Magnus Palm's book because why would he include that..?) It also includes a different view than the one that Carl Magnus Palm shares in his book, sharing that  Agnetha knew more about the gross sexploitation film that Bjorn and Benny did the soundtrack for in 1970 and was quick to put her foot down, absolutely forbidding Bjorn from taking on a role in the film, unlike in CMP's book where he acts like Agnetha innocently had no idea what the film was about and was like "Aw Bjorn you can't act don't do that hehe."   

Also, for a book who spends a lot of time reminding us that Agnetha was not this poor, tortured, heartbroken woman that the media made her out to be, Carl Magnus Palm sure likes to repeat this trope over and over again.  In fact he also loves to remind us that, despite Agnetha's dislike of being seen as just the sexy sex-icon who is super sexy and has a sexy butt, she was always seen as that.  Maybe, out of respect to the woman you're writing about, you could stop reducing her as such, and like, remind everyone that she is not just a sexy woman who is super sexy?

Also, maybe I missed it, but I also didn't seen any mention of the duet that Frida did with the band Ratata in 1987.  Maybe it wasn't included because it didn't fit the narrative that Frida completely disappeared from the music business after the "flop" of her Shine album.

And again, I will always find it concerning that, despite the author also talking about how tabloid magazines like Expressen and Aftonbladet would often share false stories and narratives about the ABBA members, he still includes plenty of quotes and lists these tabloids as sources for his book.  If these tabloids are known for sharing sensationalized and often false stories, can you really trust them? 

One more thing, I find it interesting how Carl Magnus Palm mentions on several occasions that ABBA were actually very into "WiLD PaRTiEs" and they sure knew how to party after every show or event or whatnot, but unlike other wild rock stars of that era there was no trashing the place, no throwing instruments out hotel windows, yet still fails to elaborate what these so called wild parties mean.  What did they do?  What happened??  All we know is that they had WILD PARTIES and LIKED TO PARTY, but that doesn't say much.

If there was any thing that I did enjoy in the book, it would be the sections added into this new edition that are directly from Michael B. Tretows tapes that were explored in depth in Carl Magnus Palm's ABBA on Record book.  If I hadn't read ABBA on Record already, then those few snippets referenced in this book would have made me so happy.  Other than that though, dare I say this book hardly gives any insight into recording sessions, the thought process behind why some songs were performed such and such way, or more detail to how Agnetha and Frida would contribute ideas.  Even some more insights on ABBA's costumes, and the various styles and ideas that ultimately became their costumes.  It would have been so cool to get more insight into the things that make up ABBA's presentation in both music and appearance.  But no, because there's no drama there, there's not much to be said there.

Again, there is no doubt that Carl Magnus Palm did a lot of research for this book, and dedicated a lot of time and energy, translating articles and writing it all down in a compelling and certainly dramatic story, but I just feel like the whole book is just a sensationalized piece of work that only adds fuel to the fire and doesn't do much to really share the whole truthful story.  There are pieces of information that are missing, a lack of clear cut sources, and the whole thing feels like nothing but gossip with only a few grains of truth, and just overall felt very disrespectful.  I really did not like this book, it made me angry.  I guess if you are a gossipmonger and you like learning all about "ABBA's DIRTY secrets" and are among the general public who only cares about the tracklist of ABBA Gold and the Mamma Mia! franchise, then yeah, this book might be for you.  It was definitely not for me.  If I had to rate it, I think I'd give it a 4/10. worse than my previous score.

(I was also thinking, if I had all the same sources and information that Carl Magnus Palm had, I bet the result would be a completely different story.  The only reason why I haven't actually considered this is that I unfortunately am not fluent in Swedish and could not translate a lot of articles... )