Abba Gold: Greatest Hits

33⅓ Main Series #7

by Elisabeth Vincentelli

Perhaps more than any other Greatest Hits compilation, Abba Gold has come to define a band's career on one disk. More than that, its release in 1992 heralded the critical rehabilitation of a group which had, since its demise a decade earlier, become little more than a memory of trashy costumes and cheesy tunes to many people. Here, Elisabeth Vincentelli charts the circumstances surrounding the birth of Abba Gold, looks at the impact it had on the music world, and tells the stories behind some of the greatest pop songs ever recorded.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Biography

128 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2004

About the author

Elisabeth Vincentelli is a French-born, New York-based arts and culture journalist. She is a regular contributor to The New York Times’ Arts section. She served as the chief drama critic for the New York Post from 2009 until 2016, having replaced Clive Barnes after his death in 2008.

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

One does not write an entire book dedicated to ABBA Gold unless one is the kind of person prone to sentences such as:

"And so I should admit that 'SOS' is not only my favorite ABBA song, it is my favorite song of all time, encapsulating everything that makes pop glorious, everything that makes life worth living." (Page 56)

And one does not read such a book unless one is prepared -- nay, eager -- for such sentences.

[Juan A. Ramirez · Rating 4 out of 5]

The exact kind of Extra Gay Shit I love.

[🌶 peppersocks 🧦 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reflections and lessons learned:
“When you write about Abba, you have to let your guard down and admit that these songs get you teary and happy at the same time. You can't hide your feelings behind sociological analysis or the coolness of an up-yours rock attitude: With Abba, you have to embrace the fact that you love a band many consider cheesy even if they pay lip service to its sense of craft”

I genuinely can’t remember what came first for myself in the 1990s - longing after the outfits in the throwback and new version Erasure videos; coming up with our own customised dance moves to Dancing Queen at local cheesy nightclubs, racing to the dance floor as soon as one of us heard the crashing piano crescendo opening notes, using shared alcopops bottles as taking it in turn microphones; seeing Bjorn Again; singing Mamma Mia madly around the house from Priscilla or, of course, owning the amazing CD that IS ABBA Gold.

A CD that travelled proudly with me throughout the days of physical media. For years I’d danced to the rubbish rip off versions of the disco hits on Top of the Pops albums passed through the family, but this was the real deal - this even featured ‘Does your Mother know’, the footstomping, mid song crouching nod to pre teen fans going too far, reassuring me that my celebrity apathy wasn’t unwarranted after all!

A wonderful moment from uni was when a rugby boy from the end of the corridor knocked on my door one teatime and asked to come in. We knew each other for quick chats but this looked serious as he closed the door. I think he had just got off the phone to his family, and feeling a bit weird he was looking for solace. He couldn’t really look at me, but very politely asked “I think I’ve heard you playing some music which I love, but would never own, and could do with listening to - can I borrow your ABBA Gold CD?” After a couple of hours of him blasting ‘Thank you for the music’, we were all out in the corridor singing ‘The Winner takes it all’ (sports uni) and the smile was back on his face… and that’s the great thing about these songs - on the surface they’re disposable and easy to singalong to, with some quite non sensible lyrics in parts, but the heart is there behind them all. This book offers a great chance to reflect on each song and wonder at the choices and order that then went on to influence so much more than just additional previous album sales.

Why did I not transfer a lot of these songs for continued regular listening to iPods and streaming? Why was it not a car disc for emergency use? Because the songs had done the job for my formative years - making sure that I understood that life could mostly be fluffy and glittery, but the heartbreak would often be there too. Right, best be off - I’m in the mood for a dance… 🪩

[francisco rivera · Rating 4 out of 5]

"all Swedish people are depressed and spend most of their time thinking of ways to kill themselves. often they find a way, eventually. but on their way to the bitter end they have the inspiration to write some of the saddest and sweetest pop melodies in the world. if one song captures that dichotomy, it's SOS."

abba might have been my first musical obsession. i remember listening to them as a child before mamma mia came out in 2008 (when i was still a child). we had a DVD of all their videos that lived in the van, and my sister and i would watch them at random any time we went from point A to point B. i was too young to understand the subliminal vibes of their divorce, the somewhat stilted performances, the subtle accent beneath their delivery, but i understood everything i needed to at the time. what they were doing was art.

bought my copy of this at Strand Books NYC along with a tote bag heheh <3 i had never seen this imprint before and i think it is such a wonderful idea, i would love to see more titles added to this, especially with what the pop landscape has become. it was fascinating to see the details be analyzed, the interplay between instrumentation and vocals in ABBA, the careful selection of (the best instrument of all time) synthesizers (there we go) and something i never heard of, all the working titles that ABBA used. the descriptions of the music videos took me, literally, back in time to a place beyond memory. i don't remember that time in my life at all, but i remember those videos.

it's funny, the author made a big deal of the differences between agnetha and frida, and how frida was the campy queen all the gay guys loved, but not for me. i remember looking at agnetha's big eyes and long silver blonde hair and she was my first pop idol, down. this book was also written in 2004, before everything changed for ABBA with the release of the movie Mamma Mia! in 2008. that started a true renaissance for the group, and the whole book could use a rewrite or a foreword because that movie changed everything.

different from the books i usually read, but loved musical history and analysis and am really looking forward to reading (and writing) some more from this genre. i wrote this in a poem one time: "good dance music comes from sweden // no one knows for sure the reason" and it is SO good to know that i wasn't crazy for that, and to get some kind of answer to that question. this type of writing feels so important to me; when media starts to cross over like this, it truly feels like an elevation of the craft. i ! love ! music !!

[Shane Kaler · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5/5 rounded down: Vincentelli started strong with some well researched attention-grabbing factoids behind the band, then quickly devolved into defending her own opinion as an uber fan of a group she acknowledges as being famous for reducing listener credibility. This was a charitable infomercial that resorted to blatant derision of competing industry figures for their rosier legacies, instead of building ABBA up on their own merit. As a result this entry stands as a black mark on the series when the material could have been extremely enlightening and entertaining in the hands of someone more professional.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really liked this one. Vincentelli explores Abba in a way that just feels right to me. Abba has a cultural meaning for me and a fondness from youth. Perhaps I'm making that up. I'm not sure. Queerness is essential to Abba and I like how this book addresses that. As well as taking on a lot of the macho frat posturing of the classic rock sort. They despise Abba because it has a free, non-masculine way about their sound. I don't want to turn this Goodreads review into a 33 1/3 entry. I like the music and I like the book and I like that in 2019 we can listen to Abba without homophobes throwing slurs around. Although with that dipshit in office it seems like everything has to be fought for. I'll be listening to Abba alongside Bjork and Merle Haggard and have fun freely expressing my soul. What a strange Goodreads, eh?

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Got it from Diana! For some reason, I thought the 33 1/3 series was stories based on the record...but it's actually the story of the record in the case of Abba Gold and to be honest, a bit trivial. If anything, it just got me to want to listen to Abba more. It also bugged me that she constantly pointed out that most critics hated on Abba and compilations are never considered real "albums". Love Abba for Abba, and listening to Gold is probably 10 times more amusing than reading about it.

[Sam · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kind of what I expected - nothing that deep in terms of analysis or research into ABBA. There were attempts at attaching deeper meaning to songs of moments in the group’s career, but they felt a stretch.

I also found the writer’s tone quite unlikeable - e.g making a joke out of Elton John ‘singing about a dead princess’ but also writing a whole book about ABBA Gold.

[Pedro João · Rating 3 out of 5]

ainda estou para encontrar um livro sobre pop — mais analítico-estético do que sociológico — que seja sustentável por mais de 70 páginas. isso tem a ver com as minhas expectativas e com os meus péssimos hábitos de literatura, ya... mas também é efeito daquela estase pró-rock dos anos 60 e 70, que condicionou a forma como se começou a escrever sobre música. ninguém foi realmente pela igualdade de oportunidades; tiveram fôlego suficiente para dizer que afinal as guitarradas não eram um disparate adolescente, mas ficaram hipóxicos pouco depois, e aí se definiram os critérios para lidar com todas as comodidades musicais do futuro. é aqui que se começa a lascar o meu argumento "é tudo pop ao fim e ao cabo": é que as intenções artísticas, e as formas de as comunicar, são muito diferentes.

isto para dizer que um álbum dos ABBA era avaliado pelo mesmo barómetro com que se media um álbum dos Who, e não sei para quê nem para quem. Falham Todos Os Critérios que Definem um Álbum Digno. os critérios de quem? naturalizados por estes ignorantes que, recebendo qualquer disco da Chaka Khan, premiam o botão "três estrelas". caralho! qualquer coisa para legitimar o enxovalhanço desejado para quem gastava mais tempo com melodias do que com letras.

o muito necessário contraataque vem em livros como o You're History da Leslie Chow, ou este Abba Gold, que glosam uma ideia original e até engraçada; neste caso, reivindicar numa série de ensaios sobre Álbuns Clássicos um lugar para uma compilação de melhores êxitos (que foi muito mais do que isso: uma coleção praticamente responsável pela possibilidade de olharmos com reverência para os Abba, sem sermos insultados a pronto). bastou isso para eu querer ler, e é muito fixe e provocador todo o confronto conceptual entre noções de pop e normas para Álbuns Clássicos.

no coração da narrativa, está o papel deste CD como motor de dignificação dos Abba — o que passa pelo design. e há um certo lamento, dedicado à opulência kitsch que também os tornou ícones, e que percorre o livro todo, que não contamina a escrita. é um olhar de alguém que é parcial ao bom açúcar da música pop, sim, mas é rigoroso, como se conseguisse conciliar um gosto genuíno com altas pretensões de seriedade (sou culpado disto também). reparo numa certa distância, e percebo que talvez isso seja de ordem material: este, como todos os volumes 33 1/3, ronda uma centena de páginas, e todas as 19 faixas são tratadas.

entre rockismo e poptimismo, sobrepõe-se a alguma sensação de vitória ("uau, Dua Lipa no top de álbuns do ano!") o amargo de boca que vem de perceber que... falta formular uma "escrítica pop", como diria o outro, que realmente dê as flores adequadas à música pop, e não vá só roubá-las a outro jardim mais cultivado e experimentado há décadas. tipo sim, Dua Lipa no top de álbuns do ano, brutal, mas as grandes instituições do jornalismo musical souberam escrever sobre esse álbum? não creio. estes livros dão-me mais esperança, tendo mais liberdade e tempo do que peças de jornal/revista, mas acabam por padecer um bocado do mesmo mal: crescemos demasiado presos, nós, escribas parciais à pop, a bases que nos impingiram. falta-nos desenvolver a nossa própria teoria.

seguindo esta lógica, o You're History estaria mais próximo do que eu quero, mas depois também não consigo aderir completamente à abordagem defensiva para dizer coisas que são essencialmente especulativas a partir do som (e a Vincentelli tem um ponto interessante sobre as biografias de artistas pouco controversos, que se tornam parte legível da música pop/rock). mas são originais, dá aquela impressão de "porque é que mais pessoas não escrevem sobre o poder orgásmico das onomatopeias da Sade?" — mas também se põe em bicos dos pés, chamando a um conjunto que inclui Rihanna, Taylor Swift, Janet Jackson e as TLC "as 12 mulheres mais estranhas na música"??? continuamos a querer agradar aos suspeitos do costume, e eles não nos passam cartucho nenhum.

[Ben Arzate · Rating 4 out of 5]

ABBA's back in 2021. They've released two singles, they're putting out a new album soon, and they're going on tour together again for the first time in several decades. No better time to pick this up.

The book makes a fairly solid case for Gold being ABBA's most important album, though I still think The Visitors is their magnum opus. The album helped put some distance between the cheesy 70's disco image they were known for and introduced them to a new generation of listeners. For myself, Gold was the first I heard of them as a kid. Even pompous, rockist critics started to take them more seriously. There's a reason several ABBA songs have been covered by metal bands, and not just for the novelty factor.

Reading it did make me realize the main reason why, even now, they're still widely considered a lightweight band for wine moms in spite of their craft as songwriters and musicians, a catalogue of songs that have stood the test of time, and their importance to LGBT+ subcultures. It's not just that they made pop. Madonna made pop, and she's still considered a living legend, even while she keeps embarrassing herself. There's no real mythos to ABBA. They were two couples who made a lot of songs together, both amicably divorced, and then they went their separate ways for years, largely keeping out of the news. The closest to anything is the fact that Frida's father was a German soldier during WWII. Just a soldier, not an SS officer or some war criminal. The ABBA story has no major drama, no suicides, no drug abuse, no mental breakdowns, no controversies, no early deaths. It was just two men and two women making well-crafted pop music. While it shouldn't matter to the music, people still love a juicy story attached to their legends.

Obviously, I love me some ABBA. One of my novels is named after and inspired by one of their B-sides, I'm excited for the new album, and, if they come near me, I'll definitely be going to one of their shows. If you do too, it's worth picking this up and getting some insight into the stories behind the songs and how Gold was put together.

[Glen Engel-Cox · Rating 4 out of 5]

Don’t read this book unless you don’t mind have Abba earworms for the next week. Or maybe a month. I don’t know how to get them to stop. But right now, “Dancing Queen” is playing in my head and when it stops, “Does Your Mother Know” will likely be next.

And that’s what makes Abba’s compilation of hits, Gold, the perfect subject for one of these 33 1/3 books. Vincentelli makes it clear that she knows everyone is rolling their eyes at the very idea of taking Abba seriously. Their image is permanently etched in the 70s, bell-bottom glitter and awkward dance moves and Benny’s smile. They were Sweden’s answer to the Carpenters: a wholesome foursome of tall white people with impeccable harmonies and a penchant for writing melodies that you absolutely could not forget. Not a rock band, although they had pretensions, but a pop band, and, yes, they were incredibly popular. The problem was, they were interesting. At least, not in the train wreck kind of way that epitomized 70s pop bands that got critical attention. Unlike the competing break-up songs of Fleetwood Mac’s Buckingham and Nicks, when the ABs split, they kept the dirty laundry out of their music.

This is an excellent book for putting all that music into context. Along the way you learn something about the origin of the four members, what made their music different from other pop bands (mainly, they didn’t record in England or America, content to use Swedish production studios and Swedish musicians), and their rise and fall and rise again with the Mamma Mia musical and innumerable cover bands, somewhat fueled by two movies that used their songs and brought them back into, if not fashion, at least a side limelight. I enjoyed it greatly and recommend it. Although, consider yourself warned about the earworms: the struggle is very, very real.

[Paul Bryant · Rating 3 out of 5]

A most remarkable coincidence happened - I bought this little book second hand on Amazon like I always do. Naturally when you do that you have no idea where the book will come from and you don't even notice most of the time - could be anywhere in the country. Imagine my surprise when I noticed this book came from Percival Road, Sherwood - just around the corner from my house. The seller could have walked down their street and put it in my letterbox in three minutes. Strange.

*

As for Abba I wanted to read a strong defense of a popular phenomenon I actively dislike (being an elitist) - this quote from a 1977 critic sums them up :

they play common-denominator music watered-down and sweetened until it's bland enough to offend nobody. Then they take this bland mixture and chop it into neat three minute segments, tart it up to disguise the lack of substance, polish it until it shines... and sell it by the million to people who'll never look below the glittering surface.

The response to such withering might be "and what's wrong with that? We love the tarting up, the polish, the shiny silly surfaces and the manically sad or manically happy singalong choruses written in meaning-free non-specific English-as-second-language". And Elisabeth Vincentelli was content to skate over the surface most of the time. I suppose that was only appropriate.

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[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Inspired by an upcoming trip to Scandinavia (including the ABBA Museum), I wanted to dive deeper into a band I've loved since college [note: eternal thanks to Molly for introducing me to them]. It's very fitting that the 33 1/3 book series chose a compilation album from one of the most famous pop acts of all time instead of any one of the albums in their discography because, like Madonna's 'Immaculate Collection,' few compilations have such a strong cultural impact and become more famous than the individually released efforts. I learned from this book that I would be considered a "Goldie" - someone who was introduced to ABBA through the Gold album first released in 1992. Born to late to appreciate their greatness in real-time, I more than made up for it when I devoured 'Gold,' moved on to 'More Gold,' and then realized I couldn't be completely satisfied until I had purchased each source album and the box set 'Thank You for the Music.' I easily spent a solid year of my life listening almost to ABBA almost exclusively. While I love many of the factoids and context presented in this book, my only complaint was that the author professed to be a true ABBA fan but spends a fair amount of time labeling a number of songs on the 'Gold' album as duds or unworthy.

[Israel Fernández · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me hizo revalorar a ABBA. Me gustaba su música y bailaba con sus éxitos, pero gracias a esto hice un deep dive en su discografía y encontré joyas que no había imaginado. No he podido para de escuchar Does Your Mother Know?

Supongo que un gran fan encontrará poco o nada nuevo por descubrir en estas páginas, pero si solo eres un fan casual o alguien no que está familiarizado con ABBA, este libro te convertirá en FAN.

[Nigel Ewan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short little book addressing topics other ABBA writing often overlooks: an interesting analysis of ABBA's early-1990s revival, and a treatment of ABBA Gold as a full member of the band's canon—more than just a best-of compilation. The author seems oddly opinionated at times in ways that do not serve the book's purpose, but overall it was a delightful read.

[Sammy Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although a quick and mildly interesting read, this is more just a list of facts about each track on the album interspersed with adoration from a super fan. It may just be that ABBA doesn't have enough drama to cause any tension.

[Lee Newman · Rating 1 out of 5]

My least favorite of the series so far. Easily works a cautionary tale as to why the term “guilty pleasure” should be struck from the lexicon. The book might actually convince people not to like ABBA.

[Patrick Tarbox · Rating 4 out of 5]

The lack of substance is made up for by the author doing a good job both defending her thesis but also showing the doubt and why the counterpoints might not be incorrect. I didn’t learn a ton, but I thought a lot and even got a couple laughs in!

[pianogal · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this one. I'm not a hard-core Abba fan, but I do enjoy their songs here and there. And this was a good combination of facts and the author's story. Good installation to the series.

[Emily Wilkerson · Rating 4 out of 5]

"[Abba Gold] affirms loudly and clearly that it's okay to be a dork, a geek, a freak, a queer--you don't have to abide to commonly accepted definitions of hipness to be happy." AMEN.

[Jonny Brick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essential book on pop music and the abolition of the term 'guilty pleasure'

[Brad · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars

[Benj · Rating 2 out of 5]

Why is Vincentelli so cynical and mean? This gives good insight to the band’s song making process but gets pretty bogged down.l in the details.

[Danae · Rating 3 out of 5]

Es tan buena idea la de la colección 33 1/3, y esta revisión de Abba Gold no destiñe. Si bien la autora no propone grandes ideas, creo que hace un correcto análisis del disco más exitoso de Abba, escribiendo canción por canción.
Me gusta que haya abordado en una perspectiva amplia la influencia de una banda tan mirada a huevo como Abba (aunque hay que decir que últimamente ha habido una reivindicación hipsterizada de la banda) y también el hecho de haber optado por un disco de grandes éxitos, un acierto a mi juicio, dejando de lado esa idea sin fundamentos de que los discos "hay que entenderlos como obras completas" desconociendo que el 99% de las bandas entregan discos con canciones buenas y malas.
El libro me terminó de conquistar con el capítulo donde evalúa Knowing Me, Knowing You, mi canción favorita del grupo, llevando a palabras la sensación de ese dolor maduro que emana de la canción. De todas maneras creo que la autora pudo hacer un análisis mucho más elaborado y así dejar de lado las apreciaciones personales que parecían aparecer de la nada.

[Richard Barnes · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun little book - the author treats her subject with reverence but not too seriously, which is surely the way that Abba must be treated?

Vincentelli makes a compelling case for the claim that Abba's defining album is a compilation put together 10 years after the band split up, as opposed to one of their studio albums - Abba's finest moments are five minutes slices of pop genius, not a thematically consistent body of work presented at the apex of their career.

This book doesn't get overly technical or weighty; the author clearly knows her stuff and, I'm sure, could tell you just why the music works so well, or the importance of over-dubbing voices and so on, but she concentrates on what makes the songs work. A few choice quotes from critics of the time and interviews with key players illuminate her analysis.

The beauty of this book is really the beauty of Abba - there is no deep and meaningful explanation, the songs are just wonderful pieces of craft that hit all the right notes, and sometimes, that is more than enough.

[Matthew Lawrence · Rating 3 out of 5]

Despite doing lots of research, I felt like I didn't actually learn much reading this book, which is too bad, because ABBA gold has some of my all-time favorite songs on it. But the song-by-song description (when and where it was written, who performed on it, what the working title was, how bored Agnetha looked in the video) wasn't enough to keep me excited.

[Nathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The opening and closing sections of this book were pretty remarkable, as both were mini-treatises on the way that music is perceived, especially the more pop-centric tunes. However, as I am not an avid ABBA fan, the middle felt like a bit of a strain to get through. Still going to get through the entire series one of these days.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

god i love abba.

i wasn't so fond of the writing in this though. she seemed to constantly be trying to convince the reader of abba's worth, when so much more information could have been packed in. every single chapter and nearly every page however, is full of debating against the non-existent protester. whatever. still liked it. still learned a few things.

[Diana · Rating 3 out of 5]

i learned that yes, i am willing to spend ten american dollars to learn more about a band that never really had any respect and probably never will as a legitimate musicians.

if you are slightly obsessed with music,

get your hands on at least one of these books, soon.

[Simone · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a huge Abba fan, have all the albums (Vinyl, then Cassette, then CD), have the DVD collection of their videos... I am not ashamed to say I am a Super-Fan!

This book was fun because it offered some behind the scenes information - I enjoyed it very much!