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| I have heard through someone else that they found out through ABBAMAIL that there will be a new ABBA book released. Could you help me resolve this puzzle as the fanclub does not know anything about this? Nicoletta, Australia | | That would be ‘ABBA: Thank You For The Music – The Stories Behind Every Song’ by Robert Scott. Unfortunately, I don’t know anything more about this book than can be found on amazon.co.uk, which reports that it's being released this month (February 2003). |
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| If we want ABBA to do a concert, where do we ask? My friend Kim and I want to know if ABBA can play in Prince George BC Canada some time. Florence | | ABBA stopped working together at the end of 1982, and have no plans to reunite and perform anywhere. A couple of years ago the group was offered an alleged 1 billion US dollars to reform for an album and a 100 date concert tour, an offer they turned down |
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| Do you know where I can find an English translation for the Swedish part in Agnetha's song "Wrap Your Arms Around Me"? Thanks, Terri, USA | | Here you are, Terri. Thanks to www.agnetha.net for the lyric excerpt: Tag mig i din famn / Take me in your arms
Håll om mig / Hold me
Du är den, bara du / You are the one, only you
Jag vill vara hos dig / I want to be with you
Vi hör tillsammans / We belong together
Vi var så nära / We were so close
Nätterna är så kalla / The nights are so cold
Vill vara hos dig / Want to be with you
Saknar dig hur som helst / Miss you anyway
Jag vill vara hos dig / I want to be with you
Håll om mig, älska mig, älska mig / Hold me, love me, love me |
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| Could you tell me what videos Agnetha made in the 80s? Thanks, Terri, USA | | For her album ‘Wrap Your Arms Around Me’, Agnetha made clips for the singles ‘The Heat Is On’ and ‘Can’t Shake Loose’. She also made a television special, where she performed half a dozen songs from the album on stage. To promote her ‘Eyes Of A Woman’ album, she made a TV special ‘A for Agnetha’, which had clips for ‘One Way Love’, ‘Just One Heart’, ‘I Won’t Let You Go’, ‘Click Track’, ‘We Should Be Together’ and ‘We Move As One’. For the ‘I Stand Alone’ album she made clips for ‘The Last Time’, ‘I Wasn’t The One (Who Said Goodbye)’ and ‘Let It Shine’. Between albums, there were also clips for ‘It’s So Nice To Be Rich’ and ‘P&B’ (mostly, clips from the movie ‘P&B’) and ‘The Way You Are’. Only ‘The Heat Is On’ and ‘Can’t Shake Loose’ have been commercially released on home video, ‘The Heat Is On’ on the ‘ABBA Music Show 3’ tape in Sweden and ‘ABBA More Video Hits’ in the UK, while ‘Can’t Shake Loose’ appeared on ‘More Video Hits’. |
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| Can you please tell me the title of a 3 CD box set (in a white box) early 90s which had ‘The Piper’, ‘On And On And On’, ‘Summer Night City’, ‘Eagle’ etc? I cannot find this box anywhere - not even in Amazon!!! Stevie, Glasgow | | This sounds like ‘The Hit Box’ released by Pickwick in the UK around 1989. It combined three previously released single CDs, ‘The Hits’, ‘The Hits 2’ and ‘The Hits 3’. Each of the three CDs had a selection of well-known ABBA hits interspersed with some lesser-known songs. You’ll find the track list and a small image of the front of the box here. Have I passed the test, Stevie? J |
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| I just finished reading ‘Bright Lights, Dark Shadows’ and thought it was a wonderful biography of ABBA, I also saw that you had some input in this book. Can you tell me what the group thought about the book? Ted Gibson Minnesota USA | | I know that all four members were sent copies of ‘Bright Lights, Dark Shadows’ when it was published, but there’s been no comment from any of them regarding the book. The closest comment came from Frida’s father, who was interviewed not long after it was released, saying that comments that he and Frida were no longer in contact were wrong. I’m glad to hear that you liked the book though! |
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| Is there anyone that knows where I can get a "package deal" for all of ABBA's CDs. Everything! My dad is a huge fan and only has their ‘Gold’ CD. He has just about every LP, remaster, remix, live, whatever type CD in his list and I was wanting to get them, even if some are used. Matt Talbert | | Sorry, there’s no single package that can get you all of ABBA’s releases. However, the reissued version of ABBA’s eight studio albums ('Ring Ring', 'Waterloo',' ABBA', 'Arrival', 'ABBA – The Album', ' Voulez-Vous', 'Super Trouper' and 'The Visitors') will get you the majority of the ABBA catalogue, including most of their singles and B sides as bonus tracks. Add to that the Spanish compilation CD ‘ABBA Oro’ for their 15 Spanish language recordings, the compilation ‘The Definitive Collection’ (for 2 remix tracks not found anywhere else) and the box set ‘Thank You For The Music’ for a full disc of rare and previously unreleased material. All of these should be available in any good music store. You’ll find the rest of ABBA’s Swedish recordings not found in any of the above on the CD ‘På svenska’ and ABBA’s three German recordings on ‘The Complete Singles Collection’ – both of these should be available from Skivhugget. There is also the CD ‘ABBA Live’ which has 14 songs performed live, and the compilation ‘More ABBA Gold’ features the song ‘I Am The City’ which is not available on any other CD, but these two have been deleted though you’ll probably find second hand copies around. That will give you just about everything released, though the French recording of ‘Waterloo’ isn’t available anywhere at the moment. |
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| I thought I saw a movie on Starz last year about ABBA not like ‘The Winner Takes It All’ special. Am I losing it or does it exist and where do I get it? I used to listen to ABBA when I was in the Navy on submarines and while I was under way my exercise was to the ABBA tapes I would do the bicycle to there songs it was perfect I set it up with a slow song to start then move it up slow it down a little then give it hell. So I have just carried it on but I saw a movie too late. Am I loosing it or does this exist? Thanks Donald Pease | | You’re not "losing it", Donald. It sounds to me like you caught a rare screening of ‘ABBA – The Movie’, which was filmed during ABBA’s Australian concert tour in 1977. It featured many ABBA hits performed live on stage, with a storyline about a country DJ following ABBA around Australia trying to get an exclusive interview. Unfortunately, ‘The Movie’ is not available at the moment, though Universal Music plans to re-release it on DVD sometime in the future, hopefully this year. |
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| Has Agnetha made promotional videos for her last three English singles ‘The Last Time’, ‘I Wasn't The One (Who Said Goodbye)’ and ‘Let It Shine’? And if so can I get them, at all. Is there any plans to release both Frida's and Agnetha's solo videos on to DVD? It would be nice to see them again, and I think a lot of others would. Many thanks, Lawrence | | Agnetha did indeed make clips for all three of those singles. Unfortunately, they have never been commercially released. I know that many fans would love to have all of Agnetha’s and Frida’s solo clips on DVD, but at this time there are no plans to release them. And personally, I think it cheapens their individual careers to lump them in together under the ABBA banner, though I think separate compilations of each women's clips would be ideal. |
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| Do you know if there are any plans to re-release the book ‘ABBA – The Complete Recording Sessions’ by Carl Magnus Palm? I live in the United States and have never been able to find it over here. From the comments I've read it sounds like an interesting book. Thanks! Dan from Minnesota. | | It is most certainly a very interesting book – probably one of the top two or three most valuable books to the ABBA bibliography – though unfortunately at the moment there are no plans to re-release it. Second hand copies regularly appear on eBay. |
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| I checked your FAQ section and couldn't find this answer – I would really appreciate your help. I have a know-it-all friend I'm in an argument over this... I know ABBA recorded songs in I believe it is five different languages. Did they speak and write their songs in English? Trudy Keefer, USA | | ABBA recorded songs in English, Swedish, German, French and Spanish. The English and Swedish songs were written in their respective languages, while the songs in German, French and Spanish were translated by others. All the ABBA members spoke and still speak English. |
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| Hello. Can you tell me when ‘ABBA – The Movie’ was released in the US and Canada and how good or bad it did? Thanks, Terri, USA | | I believe that it was released in the US and Canada in 1979, either just before or while ABBA were touring North America (I keep hearing conflicting dates). It only had a limited release, and from what I’ve been able to gather release was staggered rather than in all cities at once. All reports that I have read said that it didn’t do particularly well in the US and Canada. |
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| Do you know if Frida has plans to ever write a book? Thanks, Terri, USA | | I’ve not heard of any plans for Frida to write an autobiography, and given that at these days she is maintaining her privacy I can’t imagine that she’ll be writing one in the near future. |
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| I was wondering if you could be of any help to me, I am having a 60s and 70s fancy dress party for my 30th birthday this year, and we wanted to go as ABBA. I was wondering if you had any idea where I could get costumes from which would make us look some bit like them. Preferably in the London area or else a company that would do mail order. Look forward to hearing from you. Karen Mason | | I recently stumbled across this company located in the south of England http://www.justforfun.co.uk/fancydress/images.htm who advertise that they have "ABBA costumes" for hire. That’s the only place that I know of that has ABBA-style costumes for hire. |
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| I've heard from a friend that the musical ‘Mamma Mia!’ is coming to Spain in 2003. I searched the net and found the news only in a South American gay page (www.deambiente.com) saying even the day and theater it will be starting December 10, 2003 in Teatro Coliseum, Madrid. Can you please tell me if you have heard something about that or where I can get further and more reliable information about that? Thanks a lot, Fernando, Madrid, Spain | | So far, the only news has appeared on the site you mention. The official ‘Mamma Mia!’ website still has nothing about the proposed Spanish production. |
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| I was wondering if you had any idea when the final Australian performance of ‘Mamma Mia!’ will be, and if tickets will be available for the general public? Thanks, Lisa, Sydney. | | No closing date has been announced, and currently tickets are selling until 16 March – see Ticketek. I’m sure that when the final Sydney performance does roll around, tickets will be available to the public as they were for the final performance in Melbourne last year. |
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| I was reading your Ask Ian section and read that Sally Hofman from Australia was after a recipe for Swedish meatballs [Ask Ian, 22 December]. I have that article about ABBA with that recipe, and here it is. Regards Diane ABBA'S FAVOURITE RECIPES SWEDISH MEATBALLS 500g ground chuck steak
250g lean ground pork
20 ginger biscuits
1/2 cup milk
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 large onion, diced
1 teaspoon salt
Dash of pepper
Dash of allspice, ground
60g butter
60g unsifted plain flour
1 1/2 cups water
2 beef boullion cubes crushed
Parsley sprigs With a rolling pin crush biscuits between two sheets of waxed paper. Measure out 1 1/4 cups into a large bowl and combine with milk and egg. Add meats, onion, salt, pepper and allspice. Mix thoroughly by hand. Cover and refrigerate for one hour. Wet hands and shape mixture into medium sized meatballs. Preheat oven to 165 deg C (325 deg F). In hot butter (just enough to cover the bottom of a large skillet) sauté meatballs until browned all over. Remove to a two-litre casserole as they brown. Remove skillet from heat, pour off drippings, keeping a quarter of a cup, adding more butter if needed. Stir flour smoothly into drippings, slowly add the water, stirring. Add boullion cubes and bring to the boil stirring constantly. Strain over meatballs. Bake covered for one hour. Decorate with parsley and serve over noodles if desired. Serves 6. SWEDISH GLOEGG 2 bottles burgundy or claret
1 small bottle (500ml) Swedish aquavit or vodka
250g sugar
10 peeled cardamons
10 cloves
4 cinnamon sticks
1 tablespoon grated orange rind
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup blanched almonds Pour wine into saucepan and add sugar and spices. Simmer slowly without boiling until sugar is completely dissolved. Add aquavit, or vodka, heat, light liquid with a match and let burn down. Serve in mugs or in cups. Garnish with raisins and almonds. Serves 10. |
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