Editorial Product Review:

Amazon.com essential recording:
Anyone looking for the key to Abba's enduring appeal should look no further than 'Voulez Vous' and 'Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)' for their answer. There was an innocence to the Swedish quartet, even when they were singing about one-night stands and the invitations to them. Gold establishes that the band, while appreciated as campy, were actually multifaceted in their execution. 'S.O.S.' has a raw urgency in its chorus, and 'Does Your Mother Know' draws its energy from classic '50s rock & roll. Likewise, you don't have to be Priscilla to swoon over 'Mamma Mia' or 'Dancing Queen.' And when it comes to drama, those soaring vocals on 'The Winner Takes It All' turn the song into a bitter anthem of every relationship that has ever fallen apart. The much-covered 'Lay All Your Love on Me' is practically epic. --Steve Gdula









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Disc 1:

1. Dancing Queen
2. Knowing Me, Knowing You
3. Take A Chance On Me
4. Mamma Mia
5. Lay All Your Love On Me
6. Super Trouper
7. I Have A Dream
8. The Winner Takes It All
9. Money, Money, Money
10. S.O.S.
11. Chiquitita
12. Fernando
13. Voulez Vous
14. Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)
15. Does Your Mother Know
16. One Of Us
17. The Name Of The Game
18. Thank You For The Music
19. Waterloo

Customer Rating: - A Prospector's Cache
Across the fjords of Norway and the vast stretches of arctic splendor and wasteland, I came upon a pole resembling the archetypal North Pole, much like those found in scenes often seen in stories and pictures. Upon close inspection, I found a set of destination markers protruding from it on all sides done in red letters on white backgrounds.

In words written in (undoubtedly) Swedish, Spanish, Dutch (?), and English, one marker pointed to Helsinki, another to Reykjavik, Iceland, and yet another to Oslo. Walking around the pole, I found still other markers: one pointing (undoubtedly) southwest was written "Lake Woebegon, MN". One slightly askew to it, pointing slightly more west, was written: "Women's Norwegian Volleyball Team, California, U.S.A". I had to smile at that one. Memories of Louis Anderson and Garrison Keillor came flooding into my memory as I mused upon the markers.

Adjusting my eyes to the glory of the green flashes of Northern lights in the sky, I realized that the tears rolling down my frozen face had to do more with sentiment than the piercing cold. (Feeling perhaps like Alex Hailey (in miniature) during his discovery of his ancestor Kunta Kinte, I felt mystically connected to my ancestry.) As is often fashionable today (and should be standard), I also like to be proudly connected to a distinctive ethnicity, which creates variety and should be celebrated by everyone. Through my bleary-eyed vision, one final marker pointed to the short kilometer distance--a number which escapes my memory--to Stockholm.

Which brings us to the flood of musical memories that come from the pop group wunderkinds, ABBA, an acronym for the group members' names.

In their day they gave us gloriously produced syntho-techno pop before Gary Newman or Flock of Seagulls were conceived during the eighties. From the troubadour nature of their first single "Waterloo," a Euro song contest first place winner, to the remarkably slick and engaging "One of Us" from their swan song album `The Visitors,' ABBA ruled the English speaking world like few bands or artists since The Beatles. Nay during the seventies, ABBA's presence was like Queen Victoria: The sun never set on a part of the world that wasn't dominated by their pop reign.

Just a cursory look at their hits should entice the most basic pop hooky appetite: "S.O.S," "So Long," "Dancing Queen," and "Knowing Me, Knowing You" to name only a few. For a more meditative mood, "Fernando," "Chiquitita," and "I Have a Dream" are pleasant and essential. Without dating themselves, disco songs like "Gimmie, Gimmie, Gimmie," "Does Your Mother Know?" and "Take a Chance on Me" still have the power to get 'em out on the dance floor.

While I love their albums, I must concede that the critics are right: Singles were and are ABBA's best suit. I love their best albums, including `Arrival,' and `Super Trouper,' and recommend these and others for their obscure songs ("Why Did It Have to Be Me," "That's Me," "Hole in Your Soul," and "I've Been Waiting for You" are about as essential as anything else.) Still, 'ABBA Gold' is uncluttered and magnificent for its slick resonance. Between their studio pop machine, the songwriting skills of Benny and Bjorn, and the siren voices of former loves Ana-Frid and Agnetha, ABBA made an unmatched collection whose lingering presence has spilled onto Broadway and Hollywood for no small reason. (And, I must note, paraphrasing music critic Dave Marsh's take distinguishing The Rolling Stones' 'Hot Rocks' and 'More Hot Rocks,' `More ABBA Gold: More ABBA Hits,' if anything, is even more of a prospector's cache.

In the end, ABBA has elicited memories that have little to do with ethnicity. For me it is about driving on scenic roads in a Volvo (Okay, let's not be pretentious; it was a Ford!) listening to ABBA cassettes. For most people, ABBA has little to do with bumper stickers with sayings like "Legalize Lutafisk!" on them. More often than not, ABBA was an influence on the dance floor, in the aerobic studio, and on the turntables of yesteryear. However you remember ABBA, they managed to be a musical phenomenon; one that hasn't been imitated as well and whose timeless appeal can only futilely be argued.

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Customer Rating: - Fabulous CD!
This is a great CD to work out with. It takes me back to my childhood.

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Customer Rating: - ABBA Gold - really great!
After I saw "Mamma Mia" in the theater, I remembered how much I liked ABBA songs, so I immediately ordered ABBA Gold. The CD came within a few days, and I have been playing it ever since. It has all the songs I love, and the quality is outstanding. I was also very pleased with the prompt delivery.

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Customer Rating: - Bobby
This is another digitally re-mastered ABBA CD and it sounds great. It brings back a lot of good memories too. I am glad I bought it. Five stars.