ABBA On Record - Packaged Promoted Reviewed

by Carl Magnus Palm

ABBA On Record - Packaged Promoted Reviewed started out as a companion volume to the award-winning ABBA - The Complete Recording Sessions. Essentially, if the first volume explored ABBA's own creativity and the stories behind the songs, then ABBA On Record tells the reader what happened after the music had left the studio: single by single, album by album it presents the stories behind the iconic album sleeves, explores how the record companies worked with ABBA releases in presenting them to the record-buying public, shows what kind of success – or lack thereof – they enjoyed, and presents a selection of review excerpts to give a flavour of how the singles and albums were received by the media at the time.

456 pages, Hardcover

First published March 15, 2024

Reviews

[Ian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of course this was going to be a 5 star review. What other author knows his subject so well?

This book expands the history of ABBA beyond the realms of "The Complete Recordings" and, refreshingly, doesn't hold back the less successful times or reviews. No white washing, here.

For me the most enjoyable chapter was the one concerning the Michael B. Tretow tapes; recordings made on the side-lines over the ABBA years. It's an enlightening foray into the group's development of their songs, trial and error and no end of experimentation with style and sound, and also an indication of how ruthless they were when it came to abandoning tunes they thought didn't work, sometimes when they were virtually complete. Pleasingly the tapes also reveal how much input Agnetha and Frida had during the recording sessions, working to make phrases fit to the music, being very forthright when they didn't consider that lyrics were right. And not above making farting noises into the microphones to amuse each other.

Later this year a revised and updated edition of "Bright Lights, Dark Shadows" by this author will be published. I shall be reaching for that with enthusiasm.

[Darlene Chisholm · Rating 5 out of 5]

Carl Magnus Palm has once again created a great read that I feel all ABBA fans will appreciate the detail. What a wonderful opportunity to have been able to listen to those "raw" recordings from the studio all those fabulous years ABBA were recording and to capture the essence of those sessions in words. So glad that Michael B. Tretow had the notion to record "unofficially". I look forward to any future ABBA projects Carl is attached to.

[George Hawkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very comprehensive, lots of interesting facts.

[Powersamurai · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is not only of interest to ABBA fans. Anyone interested in the workings of the music industry around the world in the 1970s would enjoy at least the first half of the book.