Ask Ian..... 8 December 2002

Q		A
Could you please send me the latest photograph of ABBA (4 members together and separately) and Can I set up a ABBA FAN CLUB in Sri Lanka? If so how could I do it? Thanking you Trevine Bastians Sri Lanka.		I can’t send you “the latest photograph” of ABBA, but I can tell you that the last time the four of them were photographed together was in January 1986. Recent photos of the ABBA members can be seen on ABBAMAIL’s Latest News pages. I don’t know what you would have to do to set up a fan club in your country, but I don’t think you need anyone’s permission to set up an “UNofficial” one.
Hi, I came across your address on the web while looking for the mail address of Polar Music International AB. The thing is I just finished filming a short film that’s gonna be my final work for my Cinematography studies at Mexico’s National University. I’d like to use a fragment of an ABBA song (Dancing Queen) but I need the clearance of the owner of the song’s rights. ¿Could you please help me? Thanks on advance Polo Vallejo		I suggest you contact your local branch of Universal Music, who hold the rights to ABBA’s recordings.
I was wondering if anyone has a site dedicated to ABBA tributes with reviews as I myself am Frida in a tribute band and with so many of us out there I think it would be brilliant to have the real fans’ point of views on costumes performance talent!!! Take a look at our site and if ya have any comments please tell us also if ya know a site that does this already it would be a real treat or if not have you ever thought of it??? www.abbasolutelylive.com Claire Louise		Many of the tribute bands have their own websites, some of which include reviews and comments from punters. But I’m not aware of any site dedicated to tribute bands in general.

My question is not about ABBA specifically, but I think you can help me. I've already asked other people, but I'd like to know different opinions. I live in Brazil and I'll spend a few days in London next month, so I would like to know where can I get ABBA stuff there (CDs, books, memorabilia etc). Have you got some tips? Hope to hear from you, Daniel danielcouri@msn.com		I don’t know of any shops in London where you might buy any rare or hard to find ABBA stuff. There are several very large record shops in Oxford Street (HMV, Virgin, Borders) where you should be able to find most if not all current release CDs, videos and books. If anyone out there knows where Daniel might find rare stuff, please contact him directly.

Hallo! I'm from Sweden and I remember that when our king got married 1976, in the evening following the wedding there was a big gala-night broadcast on TV with Sweden's most well-known artists. Birgit Nilsson the world-famous soprano and ABBA among them. The ABBA-members were dressed in ancient clothes with the girl's as pretty as pictures. They sang ‘Dancing Queen’ which was new then. Is that moment on any video so that I can relive it? (Stupidly I saw it again once but didn't record it on my video.) Birgit		This performance (on 18 June 1976, actually on the eve of the royal wedding) was included on the videocassette ‘ABBA Video Biography 1974 – 1982’, first released by Virgin Video in 1988 and re-released by PolyGram in 1993. As far as I know, that video has been deleted, and I’m not aware of any plans to re-release it or that particular clip. Maybe you’ll be able to find a second hand copy of that tape.

I have a question about the "unreleased mix" of ‘If It Wasn't For the Nights’ as featured on the bootleg ‘If It Wasn't For The Music Vol. 1’. I think it has been taken from the TV show ABBA in Japan 1978 and I can't find any difference between this version and the released version. Do you know which parts are supposed to be different than the officially released version? Also, this CD contains a demo version of ‘The Name Of The Game’ which doesn't feature the synthesizer part during Frida's solo part in the chorus. I didn't know that existed. Do you know where it came from? Thank you very much, Toby		The alternate mix of ‘If It Wasn’t For The Nights’ was done specifically for ABBA to perform (lip synch) to when they performed the song on The Mike Yarwood Show (and that Japanese special) in late 1978. The main difference is that the strings have been mixed out, and the song is shorter than the released version, with some of the chorus repeats edited out. I don’t know where that early version of ‘The Name Of The Game’ came from – it was a surprise to me the first time I heard it myself, a couple of years ago. Somehow these things keep leaking out. Toby asked about the alternate unreleased mix of If It Wasn't For The Nights and you answered that it was used for playback on The Mike Yarwood Show and also in Japan. In fact ABBA used two different versions foreach performance - the stringless version on The Mike Yarwood Show, and a more complete mix for Japan which did include strings. This mix, however, is quite different from the released version, again being shorter but having quite obvious different string parts as well as some other subtle differences here and there. Mark Walton, Chester, England Ian says..... It's been a while since I've watched the Japanese special. I remembered that the version of 'If It Wasn't For The Nights' wasn't the same as the released one, but I mistakenly remembered it as being the same as the Mike Yarwood show version. Thanks for the update, Mark.

I have in my possession an ABBA Group Jigsaw Puzzle and I would like to know an estimated value or if you know of who I could contact to find out. Joan Reynolds		Since you have an Australian e-mail address, I’m assuming that you probably have the Australian jigsaw puzzle made by Cartex Pty Ltd of Sydney in 1976 (with a photo of ABBA performing on their Channel 9 special). I saw one of these on sale a while ago at a second hand market, and as I recall the asking price was something like $A20. The best way to test the market is to try www.ebay.com

Could you please tell me when ABBA won the Eurovision competition? Thanks in advance! Gottschmitt		ABBA won the Eurovision Song Contest with ‘Waterloo’ in Brighton, England on 6 April 1974.

I have two questions: yesterday I listened to the re-issue of ‘The Visitors’ and came across ‘Slipping Through My Fingers’. I listened to the track twice and I wondered if during the second verse ("Sleep in her eyes...") Agnetha is singing a duet with herself or if it is Frida who sings the second voice. The other question is one about ‘Hej gamle man’. Knowing that all four ABBA members are super-professionals I cannot understand one thing about the track: when the chorus is repeated twice after the second verse and they all start to sing together ‘Hej gamle man, kann du..." there is one note that is so much out of tune that it hurts ("...for koooooooooma..."). I think it is Agnetha who is singing out of tune. Why wasn't that note erased from the final release? Did they think it's fun? Same goes for ‘I Am The City’. During the first chorus (..."the famous hotels and the cocktail bars...") there is definitely a wrong note. What happened? Maybe you have the answer... Thanks and bye, Oliver		1. To my ears, it sounds like Frida singing the harmony vocal in the second verse of ‘Slipping Through My Fingers’, putting on a “childlike” voice. Others have disagreed, saying that it’s Agnetha dueting with herself (which makes no sense in the context of the song), or her daughter Linda (who, it must be remembered, was only 8 years old at the time, and evidence of her singing voice at that age is clear on the ‘Nu tandas tusen julejus’ album). 2. I wouldn’t say that there’s any “wrong” notes in those songs. Perhaps to some ears they sound wrong, but they sound okay to me. ‘Hej gamle man’ is more “schlager” than pop song, which from what I’ve heard schlager music has different ideas of scale and harmony to “modern pop music”. And remember. ‘I Am The City’ is an unfinished recording, so maybe had it been subject to more overdubs, as most ABBA recordings were, what you hear as “wrong” may have been fixed up. No doubt the musicologists out there would be able to offer a better explanation.

I remember as a kid around 1976? I cassette taped from Australian TV an ABBA special that I no longer have, but I recall the songs were mainly what went on to become ‘Arrival’ but different recordings, especially ‘Why Did It Have To Be Me’ - and no it wasn't ‘Happy Hawaii’. Do you know of this TV special, or any of the others that they made in Australia and are the stations still in possession of them? What chance that they may air them again instead of the lame 'specials' we have been subjected to of late, hosted by idiots? Terry		This special was ‘ABBA From The Beginning’, and was shown on Channel 9 in Australia in late October 1976. Most of the songs in the special were from the forthcoming ‘Arrival’ LP, which was released a few weeks after the special was broadcast. ‘From The Beginning’ was actually made by Swedish television as ‘ABBA dabba doo!!’, and unfortunately the interview segments were only recorded in Swedish, which is why only tiny fragments were shown on Australian TV. You’re right about some of the songs being “different” – two of them (‘Dum Dum Diddle’ and ‘Why Did It Have To Be Me’) were a live performance in a Stockholm television studio, and one other (‘When I Kissed The Teacher’) was a slightly different mix to the one later released. The rest of the songs were the same as those on record. I don’t know what the chances are that some TV station might actually show some of those original ABBA specials, but it doesn’t seem too likely, which is a shame cause it would be a hell of a lot better than the crap specials that have been shown in recent years.

What is the latest on an ABBA DVD release of any kind... videos, ‘The Movie’, ‘Live’??? Terry, Australia		Latest word is that a DVD collection of all of ABBA’s promo films (music videos to the younger generation) will be released in 2002. Last that I heard, ‘ABBA – The Movie’ was still planned for DVD release sometime in 2002, once the film and soundtrack have been enhanced for the format and any additional material has been found and compiled.

I have heard a lot about an album called ‘OPUS 10’. What exactly is that? What does it contain? Thank you very much!! Cristian, from Argentina		‘Opus 10’ started out as a rumoured working title for ‘The Visitors’ album, and has since blown out into a mythical title for a mythical unreleased ABBA album, which depending on which version of the story you hear, is either the album ABBA were recording in 1982, or were to record in 1983, or would have reunited to record in 1986. It came about when a journalist from the Swedish newspaper Expressen visited ABBA in the studio during 1981, and then wrote that ABBA were recording their “10th" album. He then went on to list ABBA’s “10” albums (‘Ring Ring’ to ‘Super Trouper’, including both ‘Greatest Hits” compilations but excluding ‘Gracias Por La Música’) and then stated “And will ’Opus 10’ beat them all?”, jokingly referring to the coming album as ABBA’s “10th opus”. A much fuller version of this story can be read on Carl Magnus Palm’s website http://www.bahnhof.se/~cmpalm/. There is a bootleg CD circulating with the title ‘Opus 10’, but most of the songs on it are the “previously unreleased” songs and B sides copied directly from 1994’s ‘Thank You For The Music’ box set.

Do Universal have plans to re-release the ‘Gracias Por La Musica’ album (with original artwork) with bonus tracks - as done with ‘ABBA – Oro’ recently. Best Regards Mahen		Not that I’ve heard, and I doubt it since ‘ABBA Oro’ has basically replaced ‘Gracias’. Which is a pity really – I quite liked the ‘Gracias’ cover, and it’s infinitely nicer than the ‘Oro’ look.

I have always been an ABBA fanatic. But could you tell me the shoe sizes of the members of ABBA, apparently during their heyday this was considered a top class secret by the Swedish Government! Best regards, Julian.		LOL! I’m not aware of any such thing (but it’s an hilarious concept :-D). I’m sorry to say that I can’t tell you the ABBA members shoe sizes. Their publicity biographies in the 1970s mentioned height, colour of eyes and other personal details, but not that one.

I am Korean and I must find information about ABBA. Because it is my project in school. So I need help from you. Could you answer for these below questions? 1.What is the most popular song of ABBA? 2.What are they doing now - each member? Thank you for reading... Sincerely		1. The most popular song is without doubt ‘Dancing Queen’. It’s reportedly ABBA’s biggest selling single, and frequently tops polls of favourite songs amongst ABBA fans. 2. Björn and Benny are currently working on the Swedish production of their musical ‘Chess’ which opens in Stockholm in February 2002; Benny has recently released a solo CD ‘Benny Anderssons Orkestra’ and has been performing a few concerts (in Sweden and Glasgow, Scotland) to promote it; Björn is heavily involved in the production of the musical ‘Mamma Mia!’, based on ABBA’s songs; Frida is living out of the public eye most of the time, with occasional public appearances; Agnetha is living on her secluded estate outside Stockholm, but is rumoured to be planning a musical comeback.

I recently watched an interview of Bjorn on 20/20 re: the opening of ‘Mamma Mia’ in New York. I'm almost positive that Bjorn confirmed a rumor that ABBA was offered a billion dollars to get back together for a year. Is this figure accurate or did I mishear the answer? My friends seem to think I'm "out to lunch" with such a high figure. Thank you for your assistance. Sincerely, Michelle AND Did ABBA get offered a billion dollars to go on tour again and are the second to The Beatles in album sales?		The widely reported figure that ABBA were apparently offered for a reunion tour is indeed US$1 billion. I don’t recall actually seeing Björn say the amount himself in any interviews, though I’ve seen several where the interviewer mentioned that amount and he agreed. Oddly enough, in a recent interview, Benny said that it was “$100 million”. I believe that ABBA’s record sales are indeed the second highest for a group after The Beatles. ABBA have reportedly sold over 350 million records, while The Beatles have apparently sold “over 1 billion”.

Do you know maybe what’s happened with Maggot’s site from New Zealand? Do you know maybe his new address or his email address? For a long time he is gone, we can not get it any longer. Please please can you answer me? 1000x thanks! Many greetings from Holland. From Davina Elise Deborah Tonny and Jennifer, 5 big fans from Holland		The website that hosted Maggott’s ABBA Gallery changed its policy on free web hosting, so all “free” sites were closed. But the site has just reopened at http://t1330.chem.tue.nl/~maggott/abba.htm

When did ABBA start and finish? From Nicole		ABBA’s first record release was the single ‘People Need Love’ in 1972, released under the name ‘Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid’, though the four had worked together on and off since 1970 on each other’s solo recordings and some concert appearances. The first record released under the name ABBA was ‘Waterloo’ in March 1974. ABBA’s last records (the compilation ‘ABBA – The Singles’ and single ‘Under Attack’) and public appearances together were in November 1982.

1) Reportedly, there was an interview in Swedish media with Agnetha's younger sister, Mona Ericsson, who is blackmailing Agnetha. Have you heard anything about it? 2) It is often stated that ABBA were only maligned by the critics when the group was active. I think it's absolutely not true. I have numerous articles about the group written by influential critics (e.g. John Rockwell from NY Times, or Robert Hilburn from LA Times) where ABBA are praised. Here are some examples: "Together these men and women create the characteristic ABBA sound in which those almost invariably irresistible melodies and hooks are enriched with a sensuousness of instrumental and vocal color that may be unmatched for invention and consistency in the history of pop music" (J. Rockwell, Rolling Stone, 1978). "Their music can be absolutely breathtaking, with perfect melodies that must have been written in heaven, earthier but equally effective voices, and often amazingly complex production efforts that never lose their crystal clarity" (J. Young, Trouser Press, 1979). "ABBA is the greatest pop band of the last ten years." (C. Connelly, Rolling Stone, 1978) I think you would agree that all of the above is not some sort of a lukewarm reaction, but something close to admiration. So why do you think this wrong cliche of ABBA being a lowbrow (mass audience) and not highbrow (critics) (or sometimes even guilty) pleasure is so consistently and annoyingly repeated, while in reality at the time group did receive a fair amount of critical praise? I haven't yet read a new book by CM Palm about the group, but do you know if this book shatters that wrong assumption that ABBA were critical pariahs? Thanks in advance, Yuri, Chicago		1. I’ve not heard any recent story about Agnetha’s sister supposedly blackmailing Agnetha. Except for stories about their childhoods, when Mona would threaten to tell their parents that she’d caught Agnetha smoking or kissing boys! Do you have any more information on this story? 2. Yes, of course ABBA had many, many positive reviews during their existence, and you’ve cited some excellent examples there. Unfortunately, it seems that mostly the negative reviews are quoted – I can’t explain why. The new book ‘Bright Lights, Dark Shadows’ does indeed quote from many positive as well as negative reviews.

Do you know if Michael Tretow is involved in the team for Agnetha’s new album and why do you think it's in Swedish? Ute Heil		I have no firm idea whether he’s involved in Agnetha’s much rumoured musical comeback, though some reports indicate that he is. My guess (and my guess only) is that any future recordings by Agnetha would be in Swedish, knowing of her dislike for massive public attention and apparent loss of skills in the English language (which was the reason she gave for not being interviewed for the 1999 ABBA documentary ‘The Winner Takes It All’).

I have copies of most of the early UK ABBA Fan Club Newsletters. Are they rare - they make interesting reading in parts. Hope to hear from you. Alan Lucas		Those newsletters would be pretty rare (personally, I’ve never seen any copies of the UK fan club stuff). I know that in its heyday the UK fan club had thousands of members, but just how many kept their newsletters after all these years is anyone’s guess!

Being both an ABBA-fan and an amateur astrologer, I was wondering whether you or anyone else within the fan community could help me with this one: - Do you have any idea about what time of the day Agnetha and Frida are born? I would like to make astrological birth-charts for them, as they're tremendously fascinating women who have lead quite extra-ordinary lives (esp. Frida), and it would be soooo interesting to see what the stars say about their personalities and fates. Regards, Maria Olsen, Norway		I’m sorry, but I have no idea what time of day they were born. That information has never been published in any biographies that I’ve seen.

Is there video tapes for sale of any ABBA concerts. Carl Edington Channelview, TX.		The television special of ABBA’s 1979 tour, ‘ABBA In Concert’, was released on video cassette in 1993, but as far as I know it’s no longer available, and I’ve not heard of any plans to re-release it either on tape or DVD. ‘ABBA – The Movie’, which centres on ABBA’s 1977 tour of Australia, should be released on DVD in 2002.

I have a question about ABBA's families.... 1. When are Björn's daughters Emma and Anna born? Which year and which date? 2. When was Agnetha’s sister born? Is her name Mona? 3. Is it any pic of Benny and Frida together with their children? Do you know were I can find pictures of them together with their children? 4. Is it true that Björn has a sister? If it is, how old is she? 5. I guess you know about Maggott’s ABBA site on the net with over 4,000 ABBA pictures. Do you know if that page has moved or if it will come back again? I guess all ABBA fans want it back cause that was a great page with a LOT of pictures and a lot of updates. 6. Is it any picture of Agnetha together with her granddaughter Tilda? That would be great to see! I hope to get at least some answers.... Evelina Sweden		1. Björn and Lena’s daughter Emma was born on 3 January 1982, and Anna was born on 1 May 1986 2. Agnetha’s sister Mona was born in 1955. 3. There are several photos of Benny and Frida with their children around. You’ll find a couple in the biography ‘Bright Lights, Dark Shadows’ by Carl Magnus Palm, and some of Frida with her son Hans I the picture book ‘From ABBA To Mamma Mia!’. There are other photos of Frida with her children on the Frida Shine site http://www.angelfire.com/music2/FridaShine/index.htm and recent photos of Frida and her son Hans, and Benny and his youngest son Ludwig on ABBAMAIL’s Latest News page for May 2001. I can’t think off the top of my head where any pics of Benny with Peter and Helene can be found, though there is a photo of Peter and his wife Nanne on that same Latest News page. 4. Yes, Björn has a younger sister, Eva, born in March 1948. Incidentally, she and her husband were wed in a double ceremony with Björn and his second wife Lena in 1981. 5. As mentioned above, Maggot’s ABBA Gallery site can now be found at http://t1330.chem.tue.nl/~maggott/abba.htm 6. No, there’s been no photos published (that I know of) of Agnetha with her granddaughter. There are a couple of photos of Tilda and her parents to be found on ABBAMAIL’s Latest News page for May 2001.


Any more info about Agnetha's recording plans? See ya, Steven... AND Is Agnetha preparing new album Hanna Iwanowska		The latest word is that she has made many demo recordings, and has indeed written new songs. She will be making proper recordings in February next year. The full story from the Swedish paper Göteborgsposten can be found on ABBAMAIL’s Latest News page for November 2001/part 2. Keep checking the Latest News page for all the info as it comes to light.

Saw the ABBA story on ‘20/20’. There was a teen ABBA knockoff group with a cute blonde upfront. Looked Disneyesque. Do you know the name of the band? Much appreciation. Steve		That would be the ATeens (originally the ABBATeens). This quartet from Sweden was originally formed to cover ABBA songs, releasing their first album ‘The ABBA GENERATION’ in 1999. Since then they have branched out, and their second album features all new songs unrelated to ABBA.


I have yet to see many of the video clips done by Agnetha and Frida as solo artists (especially the post-ABBA period). Is there a listing of which songs from both women's solo careers have been made into videos? Thank you! Paul- Vancouver, Canada		There aren’t too many of them, and only a couple have been officially released on videocassette. Post-ABBA, Frida made clips for her songs ‘I Know There’s Something Going On’, ‘I See Red’, ‘To Turn The Stone’, ‘Here We’ll Stay’, ‘Belle’ (duet with Daniel Balavione), ‘Time’ (duet with B.A. Robertson), ‘Shine’, ‘Twist In The Dark’, ‘Så Länge Vi Har Varann’ (with Ratata), ‘As Long As I Have You’ (with Ratata), ‘Saltwater’, ‘Även en blomma’, and ‘Ögonen’. ‘Även en blomma’ is on the Interaktiv section of Frida’s CD ‘Djupa andetag’. Agnetha has made clips for ‘The Heat Is On’, ‘Can’t Shake Loose’, ‘It’s So Nice To Be Rich’, ‘P & B’, ‘One Way Love’, ‘Just One Heart’, ‘I Won’t Let You Go’, ‘Click Track’, ‘We Should Be Together’, ‘We Move As One’ (all clips for the ‘Eyes Of A Woman’ songs were made for a TV special), ‘The Way You Are’ (duet with Ola Håkansson), ‘The Last Time’, ‘I Wasn’t The One (Who Said Goodbye)’ and ‘Let It Shine’. The only pre-ABBA clips I’ve seen were made specifically for TV programmes – Agnetha performing ‘Nu skil vi opp, opp, opp’ and Frida performing ‘Att älska i vårens tid’, ‘Ole Lukköje’, Vad gör det att vi skiljs för i afton’, and ‘Min soldat’ are the only ones that I know of. Excerpts from a couple of these were on the ‘Thank You ABBA’ video released in 1994. SVT has also shown brief clips of Frida in a Hawaiian Hula skirt singing "Söderhavets sång" and Frida in the jet motor of a plane singing Flygaravalsen. Both clips were from the tv series "När stenkakan slog" an parts were shown last on the Swedish heat of the ESC in 1999. In addition footage for another song from that show (I don't recall the title) exists. Filip

I have a question about the CD releases of Agnetha's early solo albums. ‘Agnetha Fältskog’ and ‘Agnetha Fältskog vol. 2’ have been released, but how is it with ‘Som jag är’ and the rest two of them, ‘När en vacker tanke...’ and ‘Eleven women...’? When/if they will be released, what is the place where I can quickest find the info? And, can you describe the CDs? They include bonus tracks, but do they include song lyrics and all the pictures that were in the original LPs too? Thanks already! Riikka, Finland		Agnetha’s early solo albums are being slowly re-released by Royal Records www.royalrecords.net. Their website reports that ‘Som jag är’ is “in production” and should be available soon. They plan to release the other two albums in the future, but dates and any bonus tracks have not yet been confirmed.

I would like to know if any of ABBA's albums had their names written incorrectly or was that the way that they came. I always thought that they had the B's going back to back was their way of making it different because I know someone that has an album with the B's both facing the same direction. Could you please let me know thank you my name is Karen		ABBA’s famous logo with the backward B was introduced on 1 July 1976. All ABBA records released before that date (covering everything from ‘Waterloo’ to ‘Fernando’) were released with “ABBA” written normally, that is, with both Bs facing the right way. The earlier ABBA records have since been re-released with the backward B ABBA logo, thereby confusing some people who see earlier records without it.

I thought I read somewhere that ABBA would finally be featured on VH1's ‘Behind the Music’ in October, 2001. I know there's a ‘Mamma Mia’ special in the works and on hold at VH1, but I swear I saw something about them being featured on another one of their shows. Is it true? Do you know anything about it? I've loved ABBA since I was a kid and even though I moved on to other music and all KINDS of music, I rediscovered them about 5 years ago and I fell in love all over again. They are simply the best. Thanks for your help. Jaye		There were reports in early September that VH1 (in the USA) were producing several ABBA specials to coincide with the Broadway premiere of ‘Mamma Mia!’ – an ABBA ‘Behind The Music’, a ‘Fan Club’ special focusing on ABBA fans, and one on the musical itself. All planned to be broadcast in October, but were put on hold “indefinitely” after September 11th. I’ve just learned that the ‘Fan Club’ special will be screened on 6 January 2002.



Hi! I would like to know why Benny and Frida divorced. Best wishes. Rachel		The simple fact is that like so many couples, they grew apart. Benny then “falling in love” with another woman was the trigger that finally saw them separate.



I have a 1977 edition of the book ‘ABBA Gift Book’ and was curious how much it might be worth today. Do you have any idea or know of anyone who might? Many thanks for your time. Cindy		I really couldn’t say what that book would be worth. I’ve been told that one recently appeared on eBay for only a few dollars. Why not try www.ebay.com yourself to test the market price?


I was reading thru your section with great interest and I came across the part where you mentioned ‘Something's Going On’ being remastered and reissued in the U.S. When I first heard about its release, I quickly ordered it thinking it was remastered. I should've known better - it didn't sound remastered - it sounded just like both the German and Swedish Polar editions. It was still worth collecting though for the artwork (closest to the original). I do agree that the artwork on the 1997 remasters were horrible but the ones reissued in the U.S. closer as they are to the original artwork, weren't remastered. I ordered ‘The Visitors’ at the same time as Frida's (also assuming that it was remastered) but it sounded like the pre 1997 version. Still worth collecting for the artwork. One question I would like answered on your ‘Ask Ian’ column though is this: how was ‘The Visitors’ remastered? I heard remastering analog recordings goes thru a different process than doing it for original digital recordings. I heard that analog is easier to remaster and improve than digital. James Fuentes		If the ‘Something’s Going On’ CD you got has artwork “closest to the original”, which I take to mean that it’s mostly pink and has the inner sleeve photo, then indeed you’ve got the remastered CD (which was released on the Chronicles label). I guess because the album was digitally recorded, any remastering wouldn’t make a lot of difference to the average listener. As for digitally remastering a digital recording, I really don’t know all that technical stuff, and to me remastering is way overrated anyway. But ‘The Visitors’ was not entirely a digital recording – three songs were recorded on analogue equipment, and the entire album was transferred from digital to analogue and back again (‘ABBA – The Complete Recording Sessions’, page 109). I’m sure one of our tech-head readers could give a full and detailed explanation of digital remastering.

I have read somewhere (cannot remember source) that there was some antipathy towards the song ‘Fernando’ in the United States in 1976, the year of their bi-centenary. Apparently it was felt, particularly in Southern states, that the song referred to the American/Spanish wars of late 19th century and it was deleted from some radio play lists. Have you ever heard this story? Regards, Stephen Curry, Londonderry.		I’ve never heard this story before, though it’s interesting and may well be true. But given that ‘Fernando’ reached number 13 in the US, giving ABBA their second highest chart placing at the time, it would seem that any dropping of the song from radio playlists didn’t affect sales too badly.

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