Here's one article you may have missed, in this weeks Melody Maker (August 28 1999 p 8) Copied word for word:


WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUT? NO 86 ABBA

<insert b+w Abba picture, from the same shoot as the one in the 1978 Abba Annual, p4. text : "Abba: made some money money money">

WHAT ARE ABBA ALL ABOUT?
You might have heard of them: Agnetha, Benny, Bjorn and Anni-Frid (hence the acronym). Some might say the songwriting team of all time, Eurovision winners, kept the Swedish economy solvent for years, fell in love, fell apart, split up, inspired millions...Not important enough to make any great impact on Sean Rowney's musically fascistic "All Back To Mine", evidently.

WHAT ARE ABBA REALLY ABOUT?
Like Steps not on speed.

ABBA HAVE BEEN AROUND A BIT RECENTLY, HAVEN'T THEY?
The Abba musical, "Mamma Mia!", opened in the West End and was immediately sold out. An Abba medley took place at the Brits in which the quartet were thanked for the music by Steps, B*witched, Cleopatra and, er, Tina Cousins. "Abba Gold 2" is out. Gabba are playing Abba songs in the style of The Ramones. Abbacadabra have just unleashed "Abbasalute"; The A*Teens are releasing their first record...

WHO ARE THE A*TEENS?
Marie, Sara, Dhani and Amit, four teenagers aged 15-16 known on foreign shores as the Abba Teens. They're a kind of Mini-Pops concept.

WHY ARE THEY CALLED A*TEENS OVER HERE?
Because they didn't want to label themselves as merely an Abba tribute band in the vein of Bjorn Again, Fabba, Gabba, Abbacadabra, The Visitors and this year's Brits popstrels The Super Troupers.

AND HOW EXACTLY HAVE THEY GONE ABOUT NOT BEING LABELLED AS AN ABBA TRIBUTE ACT?
They have recorded an entire album's worth of Abba covers. Some of them ("Super Trouper", "Gimme Gimme Gimme" and a Britney-style workout on "Our Last Summer") are fantastic. Others (including an Ace Of Base-esque version of "One Of Us") are not.

AREN'T THEY A BIT YOUNG?
They may be now, but some of the songs will probably make more sense after the foursome have been whoring around for a couple of years: the on-the-road hell of "Super Trouper" ("all I do is eat and sleep and drink wishing every show was the last show"), the coupling-off then splitting-up tales of "The Winner Takes It All" and, dare we speculate, the seminal pre-virginity-loss anthem "The Day Before You Came".

AND ARE A*TEENS ANY GOOD?
Oh yes.

DON'T SING:"Ring Ring", unless you see two naked people bending over.

from ABBAMAILer Catherine Jelley, Peterborough, UK