ABBA - A Little Golden Book Biography

 On March 3rd, the new Little Golden Book Biography about our favorite foursome, written by Jeneanne DeBois and illustrated by Maike Plenzke was released, and thanks to pre-ordering it on Amazon, the book arrived that same day!

I feel like I've kind of cemented myself as being someone extremely critical of every ABBA and ABBA-related book release, always anticipating inaccuracies or alleged facts that haven't been proven so the book just ends up being another gossip mongering tale to add to all the other gossip-fueled stories, and at this point, I had kind of given up on the idea of their being an accurate telling of ABBA's story in book format.  

With this is a children's book with ~20 pages, and assuming it's targeted mostly at an American audience,, I wasn't anticipating there to be a lot of room for super detailed story telling, and, being a children's book, I expected the story to be extremely simplified, only acknowleding the songd featured on ABBA Gold at most, certainly making a big deal about Mamma Mia!, and barely going into details on the members life pre-ABBA. 

So I was extremely surprised and excited to find that the book went beyond my expectations.  The book dedicates one page to each ABBA member and their pre-ABBA work, presenting them in age order actually, like the first page is about Bjorn, next is Frida, followed by Benny, and then Agnetha.  The Hootenanny Singers and the Hep Stars are even acknowledged and illustrated as well!

 

Although the text is super simple and not overly detailed, not going into all the fine details of ABBA's story, the book acknowledges that the road to success after ABBA's Waterloo win was not easy, with the fear of being a one-hit wonder, and critics being a bit harsh.  Songs like Dancing Queen, SOS, and Mamma Mia, are mentioned as big hits, as well as I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, which is not a title you'd think of if you're someone only familiar with ABBA Gold.  The only studio albums discussed are ABBA and Arrival, but the book isn't really going in a linear, extremely biographical direction, but rather as an introduction to the band.

 The illustrations are super cute, and do a pretty good job representing the ABBA members and their ever-changing appearances throughout the years.  As someone who is obsessed with ABBA's costumes, I'm really happy to see that there is even a page dedicated to ABBA's outfits, and they're even drawn accurately, as well!

December 11, 1982, is mentioned as the date of their final performance, which is a super specific detail that I wasn't expecting the book to include.  After that, it writes that the members' went their separate ways, and doesn't go into any detail on their solo-work post-ABBA, which is fine since this book is dedicated to ABBA the band itself.  Then there's one page that shares a little bit on the success of ABBA Gold and the Mamma Mia! musical and films.  

Then, the book concludes with a page on ABBA the Museum, and to my pleasant surprise, ABBA's 9th and final album to date, Voyage, with an illustration of the ABBA members at the Voyage show premiere.  No mention of the Voyage show though.  Interestingly, the book doesn't acknowledge any other crucial players in ABBA's story, like Michael B. Tretow, or Stig Anderson, either.

I really really liked this book.  Without being overly detailed, the book manages to share ABBA's story in a way that feels fresh and new, yet also manages to include information that isn't super broadly known among the non-obsessed, casual ABBA listeners. 

Now, I know this is being super critical and this probably doesn't bother anyone other than me, and it also doesn't affect the story telling whatsover, but the outfit they drew Frida in on the cover isn't 100% accurate, as Frida never wore the skirt piece of the white 1979 tour with the blue thigh-high boots, and she only wore the blue thigh-high boots on the Japan leg of the tour when her hair was longer and styled differently than pictured on the cover.  Also, they forgot to give Bjorn a beard in the image of them in 1982, but again, this is just me being a quibbler. 

All in all, I'm actually quite impressed with this book, I'm happier than I expected to be.  It really felt like the author and illustrator know their stuff and share a love for this band, and they managed to translate that love into the text and drawings.  I can totally see myself someday reading this to my nieces as an introductory piece, and I suppose if there are children who read this book and want to know even more about the band, then that's where my children's book can come in and provide even more details. ;)

Major applause to Jeneanne DeBois and Maike Plenzke.

If I'm being super critical, I'd rate this book a 9.75/10, but I'm happy to round that up to a 10/10, and if you have young kids who you think would be interested in getting to know ABBA, then I highly recommend this book.

The Book Of ABBA - Melancholy Undercover.... An approved biography?

 When Jan Gradvall's The Book Of ABBA - Melancholy Undercover was first announced, it was advertised as an "Approved biography." Finding any proof of that now is kind of difficult as the book's official summary has since changed.  Thankfully I was able to find some record of it because for a moment I was beginning to think I had read it wrong.  The original summary is as follows: 

Over half a century after their songs were recorded, ABBA's songs still make people the world over dance and sing every day, and their ability to evoke every emotion has made them the ultimate soundtrack to major life events, from birthday parties and weddings to heartbreaks and memorials.

Since interviewing the four members of ABBA for an article in 2013 - at which time the band had not been interviewed for 30 years - a relationship was sparked between writer Jan Gradvall and the band, and he was granted unique access for the next decade. He has interviewed each of them exclusively for Melancholy Undercover, and they share their thoughts and opinions with him here more openly than ever before.

Gradvall places ABBA at the centre of the musical universe, and alongside his fascinating interviews, he gives readers the socio-cultural context of how the band's sound was formed - including the melancholic hints of Swedish folk music and the dansband culture of their formative years - and shows how the story of ABBA is also the story of Sweden and the internationalisation of pop culture.

With around 2 million tickets sold to the ABBA Voyage experience in London since it opened in May 2023, it is undeniable that, in the history of pop culture and music, there has never been a group like ABBA. This remarkably intimate, approved biography brings readers a few steps closer to one of the world's most famously private bands.

Publisher: Faber & Faber
ISBN: 9780571390984
Number of pages: 336
Dimensions: 234 x 153 mm
Edition: Main

Interestingly, a lot of the initial listings of this book that contain the word "approved" have since been removed.  I did not realize this when I ended up repurchasing the book on ABBA Voyage's official shop page. (More on that in a bit.)

This is the synopsis as listed on ABBA Voyage's shop website: 

 With exclusive band interviews and over a decade of
 deep research, in Melancholy Undercover, renowned
 music journalist Jan Gradvall explores the secret to
 ABBA's success.

 Over half a century after their songs were recorded, ABBA’s songs still make
 people the world over dance and sing every day, and their ability to evoke
 every emotion has made them the ultimate soundtrack to major life events,
 from birthday parties and weddings to heartbreaks and memorials.
 Since interviewing the four members of ABBA for an article in 2013– at
 which time the band had not been interviewed for 30 years– a relationship
 was sparked between writer Jan Gradvall and the band, and he was granted
 unique access for the next decade. He has interviewed each of them exclusively for Melancholy Undercover, and they share their thoughts and opinions
 with him here more openly than ever before.

 

As we all know, I like to read ABBA books and have become a bit of a critic when it comes to so-called ABBA biographies, telling the "totally 100% true and definitive" story of ABBA.  ABBA have always been very protective of their public image, so when ABBA historians come forward with unauthorized, dramatic retellings of the ABBA members' story, filled with all types of never-before-told stories and anecdotes, I am skeptical.  So when I heard that "The Book Of ABBA - Melancholy Undercover" by Jan Gradvall was being advertised as an APPROVED biography on ABBA, I was very intrigued and excited. Up until then, I'd say the closest thing we have had to an official biographical book was ABBA the Official Photobook, originally from 2014, featuring quotes from interviews with all four ABBA members by none other than Jan Gradvall himself.  The various quotes from the ABBA members sprinkled throughout the photobook have to me felt like ABBA at their most personal, and are among some of my favorite quotes from them ever.  Jan Gradvall has also interviewed the ABBA members multiple times, including an official interview that was uploaded to ABBA's YouTube in I think 2021 or 2022 with Bjorn and Benny sort of on the making of Voyage, and the official interviews included in the ABBA Voyage programme that you can buy at the Voyage shop.  So if anyone was to write an official biography on ABBA, I figured the story would be in good hands.

So all of that combined, when I initially pre-ordered the American release of Jan Gradvall's book in September, titled "The Story of ABBA - Melancholy Undercover", I had high hopes.  The American version was intended for release in June, and as of writing this, hasn't been released yet, whereas the UK? or the rest of the world version, "The Book of ABBA - Melancholy Undercover", was released in October.  

 

A bit of a side note/tangent but does tie in, I promise - I was intending to buy the Polar cape recreations as sold at ABBA the Museum, even though I will probably never wear it haha, but got kind of annoyed that despite the original version of the cape being accurate in terms of the pattern on the front, the new revised version is off center and like not accurate??  And it made me so upset that I did not end up purchasing it, but decided, hey why not get the ABBA Voyage capes as sold at the Voyage store so I can still have some ABBA costume recreations that I'll probably never wear???  So I ended up buying those from the Voyage store instead, and while I was there, I also went ahead and bought The Book Of ABBA - Melancholy Undercover, as well as the new revised version of the Official Photo Book.  I have since canceled by order of the American release because as far as I can tell, the books are the same, content-wise.

One of the first things I do when I get ABBA books is check the sources, and of course when I saw Carl Magnus Palm's Bright Lights, Dark Shadows, I was a little concerned because I question the validity of his book and sources, but I was relieved to find that really the only thing quoted from that book were quotes from interviews Carl Magnus Palm did with the ABBA members for his book, namely just one quote from Bjorn.  However, this line towards the end of the book had me even more confused:

How can a book that had been, to my knowledge at this time, approved, and is sold on ABBA's official Voyage web store and I'm assuming in person as well, not be an authorized biography of ABBA?  I began gaslighting myself that maybe I made up in my head that this book as approved, but as already listed above, that is not the case.

It would seem to me some funny business has been going around, and perhaps this book was initially intended as an approved or authorized book on ABBA, but things were changed and the book is no longer an authorized/approved book and in this case, is simply yet another story on ABBA.  Perhaps that's why the American release has been changed from "Book" to "Story", because we've had plenty of stories of ABBA published, from a TV special in 1982 to Carl Magnus Palm's biographies, even my children's book, but a story doesn't necessarily denote authorized, official status like "Book" does.  Just a theory.

 

All of that being said, however, I kept an open mind when reading this book.  I spent the last couple of days fully immersed in this book (and I just have to add, the gold trim, as BEAUTIFUL as it is, has been flaking off and turning me into a glittery, sparkly princess, so just keep that in mind), and I actually enjoyed reading it. There were a lot of quotes in it, a lot of statements, that made me laugh out loud.  The writing was well done.  I like Jan Gradvalls' writing style.  It's very journalistic, but also very personal, as a lot of it was written from his perspective, including personal anecdotes and experiences from when he grew up in Sweden, experiencing the ABBA story first hand.

I would say the book itself spends more time talking about the societal landscape of Sweden in ABBA's time, like the raggare and dansband phenomenon, and then a lot of stories about every day people or other musical acts/aritsts who were majorly inspired by ABBA or had an exciting ABBA story.  Like a doctor who would listen to only ABBA when he was doing a risky surgery to excise an inoperable tumor on a child, or the child of an immigrant from Cypress who found comfort in ABBA's music.  There's also a lot of references to birds, which as you can imagine as a bird lover, is really nice.

The book has an overall positive tone and atmosphere. It even goes into a bit of detail on the whole ABBA and Stig fallout that happened in the 80s and became broken beyond repair when a lawsuit was involved between ABBA and their former manager, but it does so without making anyone seem like a villain.  Stig is never shown is this "evil, controlling manager" and the whole situation is handled well.  Jan Gradvall's adoration for Mamma Mia! the Musical is even kinda infectious, and though I still don't like Mamma Mia!, I certainly have a little more appreciation for the impact it had on ABBA's revival.

As for the "exclusive interviews", all of the interviews are seemingly the same interviews that were conducted for the official photobook and the official voyage programme, with nothing particularly new, with the exception of an interview with Agnetha for her 2023 A+ album.  As someone who loves the tidbits shared in the official photo book, it's nice to see the quotes in more complete format, but I wouldn't really call them exclusive considering you can find them elsewhere.

The book is not written in a linear format, which in some ways is a bit confusing, but at the same time kinda feels like my undiagnosed but likely ADHD brain and how it goes off in a million different directions and topics on things that are semi-related but not quite.  It feels like a bunch of individual articles all put together and compiled into a book.  The book only goes into some detail on the traditional ABBA story, choosing to put focus on only some bits, like the Eurovision win, but glosses over Festfolk, but it's not a bad thing.

A highlight, and honestly one of the best things about the book, is Jan Gradvall's recount of what happened during Bjorn and Benny's 50th anniversary party, celebrating 50 years of friendship in 2016.  Considering the only footage we have of that party is a leaked video of Agnetha and Frida performing The Way Old Friends Do, and a few photos from the party, it was nice to have a little more insight as to how the party was  Like for example, I learned that it was Claes af Geijerstam who set up the whole thing, how a lot of old friends performed Bjorn and Benny's hits from the 60s with the Hep Stars and Hootenanny Singers, Svenne Hedlund sang "Isn't It Easy To Say," Bjorn and Benny's first song together, Benny's sons Ludvig and Peter performed Rock Me, Bjorn and Benny sang Does Your Mother Know, and they even received a video message from Paul McCartney.  After Agnetha and Frida surprised everyone with The Way Old Friends Do, I believe it said all of ABBA sang traditional Swedish drinking song Nu Alla Goda Vanners Skal, the same song that they sand together in 1980 on the TV show Applauso.  It was so nice getting to read all of that, and it made me wish that I got to actually be there and witness all of this happening.

So overall, I wouldn't say this book adds anything new, aside from the B&B 50th anniversary segment, but it's not a bad book, and definitely has a more positive overall feel than anything Carl Magnus Palm has published.  Like, dare I say, in his book, he made the ABBA members all kinda seem rather unlikable, but this book reminds me that it is possible to write a book on ABBA that isn't overshadowed by alleged negative incidents and feelings.  The book is definitely a reminder of the overall positive impact ABBA have had on the world, how unique their story and circumstances were, and how they've continued to be an inspiration to many.

So if I had to give this book a rating, I'd give it a 7.5-8/10.

Frida Beyond ABBA - A MUST have for ABBA fans

 So I've been on a bit of an ABBA book reading kick lately, and bought myself a few books over the course of this year.  Unfortunately the two that I had bought before, both pieces by Carl Magnus Palm, were not my favorite books in the world.  I've read plenty of ABBA books from the library over the years, but never really in full detail (I was a kid who mostly enjoyed looking at the pretty pictures Hahaha), and my not overly pleasant experience reading CMP's books had me wondering if all ABBA books were like this - overly sensationalized, focusing more on the drama than the people and the music themselves, and mostly highlighting the negatives.  Now I'm not saying that ABBA and its members' story is all perfect with no drama whatsoever, but to only focus on the details that are key to sell a book seems wrong.

Up until recently, there hadn't really been any books that take a big deep dive into the ABBA members' individual stories and lives.  Of course, with Agnetha being the PreTTy BlONdE oNe, there are certainly plenty of books all about her, but none that I had seen that were very respectful and didn't sexualize her.  That is until I read Agnetha Faltskog - The Girl With The Golden Hair by Daniel Ward.  I think I failed to give the book a proper review when I got it back in 2023, but I actually really enjoyed it.  The author spent a lot of time compiling quotes from Agnetha over the decades from various interviews, and you really get a feel for her personality, what she was like, how she's really not this quiet, pretty, blonde girl that you perceive during interviews, but rather she had quite the temper and was very outspoken and opinionated, and we love that for her.   And his intention was to actually tell the story of Agnetha Faltskog, omitting the "AgNeThA iS SeXY" narrative because most people only ever see her as a sex icon and he was trying to prove that she is actually a person.  Of course I question the validity of some sources, especially the story about STIG BANGING ON AGNETHA'S HOTEL ROOM DOOR AFTER THE TRAUMATIZING BOSTON FLIGHT AND HER GETTING SICK, and the only source for that incident is Carl Magnus Palm's totally 100% truthful Bright Lights, Dark Shadows book, and the claim allegedly comes from Bosse Norling, ABBA's tour manager, but Bosse Norling was not interviewed for the book, so... where does it actually come from?  Tabloids?  Sensationalized stories that aren't 100% accurate?  Which does also lead me to question the validity of other quotes because they too could come from interviews that aren't 100% true and are sensationalized.  But aside from that, I found the book to be absolutely delightful and enjoyable.

In February 2022, author Remko van Drongelen released a book all about Frida's story, spanning her entire career from childhood, becoming a singer at age 13, all the different competitions she entered to try and get somewhere with her career, the ups and downs of it all - a feat that hadn't actually been touched on until that point. When the book first came out, I really wanted to get my hands on it, but the book is pricey and I didn't really have that kind of money to justify spending on a $100+ book.  But, now that I have my hands on the book, I just have to say, this book was worth every penny.

In many ways, there are overlaps with Bright Lights, Dark Shadows, which I had literally just finished reading, but Frida Beyond ABBA goes into so much more detail.  I had mentioned that one think I didn't like about Bright Lights, Dark Shadows was the fact that the author has to remind us constantly about Frida's struggle with depression, and it basically only focuses on that fact and makes you think that Frida had no positivity in her life, and she is always going to be Depressed Frida.  Frida Beyond ABBA is the opposite.  Yes Frida's depression comes up a lot in the book, but it never makes you feel that she is just a depressed person, that the depression enveloped her entire personality and she was only Depressed Frida.  We actually follow her depression in real time, see what triggered it and how it got better.  We learn all about Frida's motivation in life, why she wanted to start singing.  We learn about her family history as well, all about her mother Synni and her father Alfred Haase, but most importantly, the book kept things respectful.  

 Bright Lights, Dark Shadows had been rather explicit, talking all about how Synni and Alfred Haase first made love, and like, I don't know about you but I don't think that's details that we should or need to know, especially as what does it matter how and where they were when they did?  Did the author only include it because Sex is a SENSATIONAL TOPIC and Sex sells??????  Frida Beyond ABBA wasn't like that in any way at all.  It does explain how children out of wedlock had been a common occurrence in Frida Lyngstad's family history, but like, that's all.  And it's fine.  I'm not judging of course, I just don't think we need to know all the little details on how each person was intimate together, and where and when.  That's too personal and feels disrespectful to include in a biography.  This book (as did Bright Lights, Dark Shadows) also confirms that Frida was not a child of the Lebensborn program, a rumor that goes around every once in a while.  (Like it's even stated as a "fact" on the wikipedia page for Lebensborn, even though it was never proven to be true.)

 Speaking of respectful, this book included a paragraph about personal details and whether to included them or not in this book.  The line "A determining factor in this was also whether Frida had spoken publicly about these periods in her life or not, and whether a certain detail as a fact or just somoene's opinion, in which case it would often only be included as a quote, if relevant at all."  AND THIS QUOTE IS SO IMPORTANT TO ME!  And that quote alone proved to me that this author was trying his best to share a respectful, non-sensationalized story, and I agree that the end result was just that.

I should also mention, this book also did not vilify Stig Anderson in anyway.  Even in the events that Stig allegedly was mean to Frida, specifically in the making of her Something's Going On album, you learn that his telling Frida that none of her songs had hit potential came from a place of caring, as he was worried that this new musical style she was taking on wouldn't sell or have success.  Ultimately he was proven wrong, as I Know There's Something Going On went on to become a very big hit, but never once in this book do you see Stig as EVIL, a theme that shows up constantly in all the Carl Magnus Palm books that I have read. (CMP's books really had me thinking that it is the general consensus that Stig Anderson is BAD, but this book proves to me that maybe CMP is the problem....)

Now the one thing that I am confused by is the book's statement that after ABBA, pre-Voyage of course, Frida was the only one to be in support of ABBA recording anything again but the rest of the ABBA members, including Agnetha, would constantly make statements that no, ABBA is over.  No more ABBA.  I get I haven't read all that many paper interviews, but that's not the tune that I've ever gotten from Agnetha..?  Like she of course would reiterate that the guys are busy writing a musical and "ABBA is sleeping," but as far as I know she's always had a "never say never" philosophy.  A good example of it is this interview on the Mike aan Zee show in 1985.

Now, I should mention, this book glosses over all of ABBA's career, and doesn't go into much detail about ABBA at all.  I would say this book is definitely not for those who don't know ABBA's full story, but at the same time it makes a wonderful companion book to those who do.  It's just full of so much rich detail, tons of rare and new information that I had never heard of before.  I learned about songs that Frida contributed backing vocals to, I learned all about the early dance-band years, and I feel like I really got to know Anni-Frid Lyngstad as a person. 

Now while I do of course still question the validity of some quotes and their sources, there is no doubt that the author did so much work and research on this book, and even gives a PDF to the reader when you buy the book that includes all the sources, and I cannot tell you how much I appreciate this.  This book was nothing other than respectful, and there is no doubt that this book was created with love

I just really liked this book, and I would honestly give it a 10/10, and definitely a must have for all ABBA fans (if you can afford it of course.)  I think Remko van Drongelen is now one of my favorite authors. :)

ABBA On Record - My Review

I got my copy of Carl Magnus Palm's newest ABBA book about three or four weeks ago, and ever since have been giving it a thorough read, and finally finishing the book last night.  Despite the fact that Carl Magnus Palm has written many ABBA books over the years, back when I was a frequent visitor of my local library and would ask them to inter-library loan all the ABBA books I could think of, I surprisingly had never read any of his original, published books before.  My first official Carl Magnus Palm book that I've ever read was his ABBA at 50 book that he did in 2022 for ABBA's 50th anniversary since People Need Love, and I unfortunately wasn't very impressed.  

I've always known that Carl Magnus Palm is a very lucky ABBA fan/ABBA historian, so I had gone into ABBA at 50 with high hopes, and.... I was disappointed.  There was something about it that gave off pretentious vibes, and I've mentioned in the past that CMP seems to have this vendetta against Stig Anderson, ABBA's manager, and it gave me the ick.  

But, seeing as ABBA on Record was CMP's newest big book venture, and there was a lot of hype going around about his book, I decided maybe it would be worth it, so I pre-ordered it. 

Now I just need to say, my error entirely, I read the title, "ABBA on Record - Packaged, Promoted, Reviewed" as if the book was packaged, promoted, and reviewed by ABBA and that this was like an officially authorized book.  I did not realize this book was entirely about the packaging, promotion, and reviews of ABBA's music/albums once ABBA were done with their part of actually making their music and how it becomes the record company's job to actually release their music to the world.  That's entirely my fault, but it left me a bit confused when I first started reading the book.

I will say, I now know so much about the music industry than I ever thought I needed to know and I don't know what to do with this information now haha.  Honestly it was quite a fascinating read, and it's interesting reading about ABBA's music from the perspective of the music industry and trying to promote them and figure out the best time to release a new album or single, deciding the next song to release as a single, and the different efforts that were done to promote ABBA in various countries under many different record labels.  I learned a lot of about the different key players involved in ABBA's success in the UK and Australia, and all about the various times ABBA tried to reach the US but weren't always successful.  It's interesting how to me, if an album/single even makes into the top 50 of the US Billboard charts, I think that's quite an achievement, but to ABBA's record label, it doesn't mean anything unless they reach the number 1 spot, which did happen with Dancing Queen in 1976, but like, Waterloo reaching a 6, The Winner Takes It All reaching an 8, Take A Chance On Me a 3, and Knowing Me, Knowing You and a bunch of other songs reaching a 14/15, that's not bad!  Yeah a lot of singles also flopped in the US, not even getting into the top 50 spot, but to chart at all still means something.  But that's just my opinion.

Interestingly in the main section of this book, the ABBA members aren't that big of a focus.  Like most of the book is about all the music industry people, and lots of talk about Stig and his ways of promoting ABBA, whether it was promising things or making statements about/for ABBA that didn't end up coming to fruition or being very ambitious.  I never realized how much went into releasing music, and this book makes ABBA seem so small in comparison to all the people involved, yet prior to reading this book, I would never have thought this many people were involved and thought it was all about ABBA.

In terms of talking about Stig, most of what CMP wrote about Stig was not good or bad, just stating facts, but especially in the beginning when Stig is first introduced, I still feel like the author has some personal beef against ABBA's fiery and perhaps overly ambitious manager, and specifically in the early parts of the book, everything is said as if CMP is always hinting at how "Stig seemed nice, but wait till you see all the bad things he did later!"  Luckily, as this book didn't really go into much of ABBA's personal story details and instead focusing on the actual promotional efforts for their music, no discussion was made about ABBA's feud with Stig.  Which I appreciate.  

One of my favorite parts in the book was the discussion of the making and designing of each album's cover art.  Especially the ones that turned out to be quite complex, like the making of the self-titled album's cover and Super Trouper.  And I enjoyed the discussion on the Voyage cover art as well, especially as Baillie Walsh's methods are a lot different than say Rune Soderqvist, ABBA's main designer,'s methods. 

I was a little bit bored on the speculation that CMP does on the meaning behind each ABBA album's cover, like what any reader can interpret from the cover, what does it mean and why type things, but also, I do my own speculation as well, so after a while I actually began to enjoy the speculation parts.  

There was also a lot of sections that I felt weren't actually relevant to the story and ended up being mostly long and drawn out and boring.  Like there's this whole section devoted to the club scene in Stockholm, and Alexandra's club and the difficult history she had with business deals and splitting the company and wrongly using the title Alexandra on the new club that had nothing to do with Alexandra herself, and I just don't see the relevancy?  I feel like there was just a little too much information on this when it could have easily been summarized briefly to just a couple of paragraphs.

 Also, at the end of each piece of music that was release, be it single or album, Carl Magnus Palm would include reviews from that time on what so called professional music critics would say on ABBA's newest release, and gosh so many of these reviewers are gosh awful and mean. As an obsessed ABBA fan, I love and worship literally every piece of music ABBA have ever created, so seeing people criticize ABBA's music for things I literally love??? is so baffling to me.  Still, the reviews, especially the ridiculously rude and negative ones, made me laugh.  I know I'm overly positive when it comes to ABBA, but these people are just overly negative for no reason.  Music Critics are just impossible to please I guess.

Of course I'm a sucker for pictures in books, especially rare photographs, and this book did not disappoint.  Especially in late 1974/75, there are some rare photos from ABBA's late Autumn trip to the United States like when they appeared on the Mike Douglas show, as well as this super rare, unseen photo from the session of their self-titled album cover's photoshoot.  And I really enjoyed them.

The next section of this book was on the making of ABBA Voyage, written in the style of Carl Magnus Palm's previous book, ABBA The Complete Recording Sessions - Revised & Expanded.  I unfortunately have not been able to get my hands on that book (It is available as an ebook but I am a physical book girly and literally cannot read books on a digital device.)  Even though not a lot of new information was offered, it was nice to see everything in chronological order.  Also it was a little painful having to relive those 3 years since ABBA made the first announcement of the two new songs, and then the long long wait when they'd say "oh no the songs are coming they will be released soon" but no songs were released... until September 2021 of course.  I do very much appreciate that CMP did clarify some information on Just A Notion, explaining that all of the vocals and Lasse Wellander's guitar were taken from the original 1978 recording, but the last line of the song "I, I think it's more than a notion.  In a moment that dream is about to come true," was recorded in 2021.  Not much more information was shared about the two unreleased songs from the Voyage sessions, except that there was an early version of Ode To Freedom from 2019 that was completely different to the one that eventually got released, and that one of the songs was called Hit By A Train, but that's all that's said.  We know literally nothing else about what they sounded like.

But the real highlight of the book, for me at least, was the section on the Michael B. Tretow tapes.  Of course I'm definitely jealous of the fact that Carl Magnus Palm got to listen to all of this absolutely amazing and special material and I cannot, but also I'm glad he has shared some very detailed descriptions of what it's like.  There's this one part of Michael B. Tretow's tapes that was of when Agnetha and Frida were recording the vocals for That's Me, and we've always known that they'd give input on certain words or phrases or arrangements, but this recording actually reveals some of that and you get to hear (or more like read because fans like you and me just aren't privileged enough to get to hear these sort of things....) Agnetha and Frida in action.  I also like that we have a lot more context to the studio chatter that was included and interspersed throughout ABBA Undeleted, like there's a scene when Agnetha and Frida are mimicking a line from a comedy show/movie/film? that they'd seen and some audio issues they were having reminded them of it.  Also it's revealed that the demo track for Rock Me, titled Baby, is actually called "Didn't I", with the line "didn't I, didn't I" sung where Bjorn sings "Wanna be wanna be" in the finished version of the song.  And there's a lot more goodies that reveal how musical pieces that Bjorn and Benny would be working on in the early 70s would end up on music they'd write in the 90s and beyond, which just goes to show how long they've had these musical pieces in their heads.  Really really fascinating.  In this section though, I don't like how CMP references things from his Complete Recording Sessions book, like telling me that I can find more information in that book, but I literally cannot get my hands that book because it is sold out everywhere and no one is willing to give up their versions of the book!!  So please don't tell me that I can read more in that book when I legitimately, physically cannot.

In conclusion, if you take out the sections on Voyage and the Michael B. Tretow tapes, I'd give this book maybe a 6.5/10, but with the inclusion of those last two sections, my rating goes up to a 8.5/10.  I can't say this book was worth the ~$135 that I paid, but the fact that I got the book signed and addressed to me is very nice. :)

Skyler Bird's Big Adventure

 Hi, so not an ABBA related post but I thought I'd share nonetheless.  I just published a new book, my first non-ABBA related book to be released.  It's a short, children's story about my beloved Skyler Bird, with lots of fun illustrations and simple, easy-to-read text.  It's roughly 35 pages long, and is inspired by Skyler's actual adoption story.  

If you're interested, it's available to purchase on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.  

Thanks!!

The Story of ABBA - 2022 Edition OUT NOW!

 Hello everyone.  Just wanted to share some exciting news!  My newly updated version of my book, The Story of ABBA - For Young Readers is now available to purchase.  I had a lot of fun working on this project, updating all the illustrations, and adding a little something new about ABBA's amazing comeback.  You can find it on Amazon.com. :)

Combining charming illustrations and kid-friendly, easy to read text, THE STORY OF ABBA by Becky Laine is an unofficial biography of the Swedish pop group ABBA, written specially for the group's youngest fans. Now including four new pages all about ABBA's historic comeback.

There aren't many major differences between my initial 2016 version (that is still available to buy if anyone's interested) besides the illustrations, but I did make some slight changes to some of the text, particularly typos that somehow managed to get past my proof reading, and also some factual information that I admit to getting wrong.

On the left we have the 2016 image and on the right we have the updated version.

And then of course there are four additional pages all about ABBA's return to the music scene, with all new illustrations as well.

But that's not all!

 As a companion to my new book, I've also released a coloring book, featuring illustrations as seen in The Story Of ABBA, as well as drawings that never made it into the original book.  The book is also available for purchase at Amazon.

THE STORY OF ABBA - THE COLORING BOOK is a companion to Becky Laine’s THE STORY OF ABBA. Featuring 50+, hand-drawn illustrations of the Swedish pop group ABBA, this unofficial coloring book provides fans, young and old, the opportunity to visualize the band's history using their own imagination. With adorable caricatures, this fun coloring book is sure to be an enjoyable activity for all fans to sit back and color.

The pages are easy to color in as seen in the image below:

I honestly had a lot of fun working on these books and I really hope you all will enjoy it as well! 

- Becky Laine

My Entire Collection

It took me just over a week, but I finally got around to writing this post. :D  As I like to do whenever my blog anniversary comes around, I wanted to share my entire, updated ABBA collection.

Starting off is the great wall of ABBA, aka my bedroom wall with three huge posters pinned to them, haha.  (Also are a bunch of taped up printouts that I've had on my wall for years!)

The Story of ABBA for Young Readers, both cover versions.

 

And of course let's not forget my book's predecessor, the original Story of ABBA for Young Readers. :P

And here is my only magazine, ABBA Intermezzo from Winter 2014. 

Still can't believe that my book made it into the magazine!

My big book collection, the official photo book, ABBA the Treasures, and ABBA the Scrapbook.

Pop Story and ABBA by Calvero, two amazing books gifted to me by my best friend, Eleonore. :D

My growing CD collection.  The newest addition being Ring Ring, that was given to me for my birthday.

A couple of the miscellaneous things from ABBA the Museum.  The bag, lanyard and VIP tag, as well as the Pop House pencils were given to me by Eleonore.

And my Record Collection.

Since last year, I've gotten two new records, bringing my collection to 5 records.  (Maybe I'll someday be able to get all of ABBA's albums in record format?)

And my most prized possessions, ABBA's autographs.  Still can't believe I actually have all four of their autographs. :O  It amazes me every time I look at them.

And last but certainly not least, my ABBA dolls. :)

Also to make things a little easier for me in the future, I've also created a new page for my collection.  I've wanted to make a collection page since forever, but only got around to creating it now. I'm certainly not trying to brag about my things, and if you want to, go and check it out here. :)

My ABBA Collection so far

My ABBA collection has grown considerably since I last put up pictures, so I figured it was time I do yet another updated post.  :)

Take a look at that! :D  Not included are the The Album and Greatest Hits Vol.2 records.

Many thanks to my dear friend Eleonore for helping to expand my collection by giving me so many goodies, like the "Dancing Queen" poster on the right!  The poster on the left came from ABBA the Treasures.

My ABBA/ABBA related CD collection, ABBA Gold being my first. 

My large-ABBA book collection, including the first Story of ABBA for young readers and the new one.  (What do you think of the new cover?)

My copy of ABBA Intermezzo which features my book, and Bjorn's Pop Story and ABBA by Calvero.

And of course, my most prized possessions: ABBA's autographs!  I will never be able to thank Gorel Hanser for her incredible help in getting me Benny, Bjorn, and Frida's autographs!

 So that's my updated collection.  I hope you enjoyed it! :)

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