ABBA Song by Song

by Ian Cole

ABBA was the biggest selling pop group of the Seventies. Between their first single in 1972, when the group was not yet called ABBA, and their final singles in 1982, ABBA recorded and released 98 unique songs. In addition they recorded versions of some of their biggest hits in Swedish, German, French, and Spanish; performed a number of songs in concert that were never released on record; and recorded a number of songs that didn't see the light of day at the time, but have been released from the archive the decades since the group 'took a break'; at the end of 1982. Everyone remembers ABBA's biggest hits - songs like 'Waterloo', 'Mamma Mia', 'Fernando', 'Dancing Queen', 'Take A Chance On Me', 'Chiquitita', and 'The Winner Takes It All' - but there are many gems to be found on the eight studio albums and 21 singles released during the group's lifetime. ' Song by Song'; is a look at every single song by the Swedish supergroup, written by a life-long ABBA fan. Find out what inspired the songs, what went in to recording them, and their impact around the world in the 1970s and 80s and beyond.

Genres: Music

295 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 24, 2020

Reviews

[Stephen Groenewegen · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's always room for another ABBA book if it's written by someone who knows their stuff and is willing to do extra research to find new information, rather than rehashing what's long been available. Cole, a decades-long fan of the group, is such an author and there are lots of tidbits that were new for me in this volume, even if there were no major revelations.

Cole also refreshingly metes out his opinion of the group's songs sparingly. After decades of listening, I can find pleasure in every ABBA song, so I don't want to read a lazy dismissal of any of them! I can see myself returning to this as a reference book; in the meantime, I look forward to following up his mentions of related and rare materials on Spotify and YouTube.

[rose ❄ · Rating 4 out of 5]

i’ve been unhealthily obsessed with ABBA ever since my exposure to the cinematic masterpiece Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again™️ about 2 years ago. i saw it in theaters, thought “huh, i didn’t know ABBA had so many good songs, wonder what else they’ve done” and before i knew it i found myself inhaling… pretty much everything every member of ABBA has ever created.

but every time i think i’ve scraped the bottom of the ABBA barrel, i find some obscure piece of content i still haven’t discovered— and this book, to my delight, was a goldmine. it was concise, readable, well-researched and full of all the glorious nuggets of trivia that make my brain release serotonin. i also enjoyed getting to hear the author’s opinions alongside all the chart stats and such (although Under Attack is a GREAT SONG, fight me).

[Powersamurai · Rating 5 out of 5]

Something here for everyone, the novice and the die-hard fan. I just wish we could listen to all the different mixes and versions, but that's not going to be possible. You'll definitely need to have your ABBA music on hand to confirm exactly what you just read.

[Seán Patrick Judge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great to learn about the background life experiences during the recording of the songs. Would have loved them to be more detailed sometimes and less critiqued on occasion.