This year Universal Music is releasing a special 12 inch blue glitter single of ‘Voulez-Vous (Extended Dance Remix)’ back with ‘If It Wasn’t For The Nights’, also from the Voulez-Vous album. The single is limited to 5,000 copies. The remix of ‘Voulez-Vous’ was first released on a US promotional 12 inch single in 1979, and first commercially released on The Definitive Collection double CD in 2001.

The ABBA Fan Club Shop will have some copies for sale for fans, though at this stage it is not known how many copies. Presumably it will also be available through ABBA – The Official Site, as its webstore is run by Bengans, which fits the description of an independent record store.

Record Store Day is Saturday 21 April, 2012.

That Saturday morning the music show Sounds showed the album cover, which confused me – I could see Agnetha to the left and Frida in a chair, and what looked like Benny standing a little to the right (well, it was a man with a beard), but where was Björn?

The following night Australia’s famous music show Countdown played the promotional clip for ‘When All Is Said And Done’, but otherwise made no mention of a new ABBA album. As the summer holidays were coming up, that weekend saw the last shows for the year for both Sounds and Countdown, so there was no real opportunity for TV promotion for ABBA’s new album. Countdown did play ‘One Of Us’ on its first show for 1982, by which time it was too late for that single, which had already peaked at 48 and was on its way back down the singles chart. Sounds eventually played ‘Head Over Heels’, which was not released as a single in Australia.

Ironically, the radio station giving away copies of  The Visitors did not play any songs from the album, or any ABBA music at all, except for the first line of ‘Slipping Through My Fingers’ in the competition ad. Nor did the ad actually mention the album title.

And so came the usual waiting game for the album to appear. As ABBA were no longer the big thing in Australia that they were in 1976, there didn’t seem to be much rush to get new ABBA records in the shops, and it wasn’t until Wednesday December 16th (yes, Benny’s birthday) that I finally got The Visitors.

In Australia The Visitors came in a gatefold sleeve, with the lyrics on the inside, which seemed like a waste to me – why not more photos, as other gatefold sleeve albums had? I later learned that in most other countries the lyrics were on an inner sleeve. I loved the imagery, but was pissed off that the ABBA members, who seemed to be getting smaller on each progressive album cover, were hard to discern. So Björn  now had a beard, and Benny was in the dark corner on the far right, but was Frida’s hair cut short? It was hard to tell.

On first listen I was mightily impressed. ABBA’s music always seemed to exist outside of mainstream music trends, but here was ABBA sounding like those British synthpop groups so popular at the time. Especially the opening title track, which has been described over the years as having a melody that sounded reminiscent of The Beatles Eastern musical excursions, but to my ears sounded like ‘Astradyne’, the opening track to Ultravox’s 1980 album Vienna, with the chorus that sounded like ‘Summer Night City’.

I also loved that ABBA’s lyrics had become more meaningful – the dissident paranoia of ‘The Visitors’, fears of dictators leading the populace into war in ‘Soldiers’, and the bittersweet experience of watching children grow up  and leave in ‘Slipping Through My Finger’  were immediately obvious to me. The heartbreak of ‘When All Is Said And Done’ was more inspirational than the previous year’s melodramatic ’The Winner Takes It All’, and its personal inspirations were also obvious. ‘I Let The Music Speak’ addressed the poetry of music in clever twists and turns. ‘Two For The Price Of One’ was a little throwback to the quirky songs of ABBA’s first couple of albums, but unlike almost everyone else in the world I liked it from the start.

The only songs that didn’t grab me on the first listen, and still don’t particularly like, were ironically the two selected as international singles: ‘One Of Us’ and ‘Head Over Heels’. Possibly that’s coloured by the fact that they were the singles, chosen over such obvious choices as ‘When All Is Said And Done’ (actually the first single in the USA and second single in Australia) and ‘The Visitors’ – even Phil Collins, producer of Frida’s 1982 solo album Something’s Going On, thought ‘The Visitors’ was an obvious single for the times.

At the end of my first listen to the whole album, as the music box of ‘Like An Angel Passing Through My Room’ faded away and the incessant ticking clock suddenly stopped, I knew that ABBA was over, that this would be their final album.

The CD/DVD package includes the original 9-track album from 1981, the non-album b-side of the first single released from the album (‘Should I Laugh Or Cry’), five of the six tracks recorded the following year (both sides of the two 1982 singles, plus ‘I Am The City’, not released until it was featured on More ABBA Gold in 1993). The accompanying DVD includes two songs from the 1981 television special Dick Cavett Meets ABBA (one of ABBA’s few group TV appearances during 1981), the original promotional clip for ‘When All Is Said And Done’ (with an alternate version of the song), some of ABBA’s final TV appearances from late-1982, TV commercials and sleeve gallery.

Most exciting to fans is the news that it will also include previously unreleased ABBA music, the first time any “new” material has been allowed out of the so-called vaults since the Thank You For The Music box set in 1994.

The intrigingly-titled ‘From A Twinkling Star To A Passing Angel’, described as “a medley of demos”, hints at unheard versions of the albums closing track “Like An Angel Passing Through My Room’. It is known that there were several different attempts at recording the song (thanks to Carl Magnus Palm’s book ABBA – The Complete Recording Sessions) before the final version was recorded just a few weeks before the album’s release. One of those early versions had the working title ‘Twinkle Twinkle’.

The world’s media has picked up on the “unreleased track” news, with the story spreading like wildfire to seemingly every news outlet in the world over the last few days. Perhaps unsurprisingly as the news spread it started to morph into stories of “a new song”, “a new single”, even hints of a group reformation.

Fans of course lament the non-inclusion of the sixth song recorded in 1982, the legendary ‘Just Like That’, the rest of the Dick Cavett TV special, ABBA’s appearance on Show Express in November 1982 (when they performed three of the four songs released that year), and other potential inclusions from the period. There are, no doubt, valid reasons that may become clearer later.

The Visitors is the sixth ABBA studio album to receive the deluxe treatment, after Waterloo 30th Anniversary Edition (2004), Arrival (2006), ABBA – The Album (2007), Voulez-Vous (2010) and Super Trouper (2011).

Read the announcement, including the full track list, at ABBA – The Official Site, and a little more information on Carl Magnus Palm’s site.

In awarding Agnetha ELLE described her as “A shining superstar – a voice in a million. A fashion legend, just as stylish now as she was then. Thanks for all the glittering outfits. Thank you for the music. You are forever our dancing queen” Agnetha made a short speech, thanking the jury, the other prize-winners and everybody else in attendance. She hoped that everybody, despite it being Friday the 13th, was having a grand time, because she certainly was.

Part of Agnetha’s acceptance speech can be seen on YouTube. ELLE’s website has a tribute to Agnetha, including reports on the night (in Swedish).

UPDATE 17 January: see the whole ceremony here (Agnetha comes in at around 73 minutes), and an extract of Agnetha’s appearance only here (both only in Swedish).

Thanks to Carl Magnus Palm and Håcan Andersson on Facebook.

For the past few weeks Benny has been extremely vocal, mostly in the pages of newspaper Dagens nyheter, in his opposition to plans to rebuild Slussen in Stockholm. You can read several items covering the full story at icethesite.

In another interview in Svenska Dagbladet last weekend Benny sort-of jokingly offered to reunite ABBA and write a new song for the group to perform to oppose the development. “If I knew with 100 percent certainty that it would help, I would call the others and ask if we could do a gig. I’d try at least” he said.

And of course, here’s where the English-speaking media picked up on the story. First the English-language Swedish news site The Local (Abba great hints at reunification gig). Then Britain’s Daily Express asked the question (ABBA TO REFORM?), finally Austrian Times tells us it’s a done deal (Abba reunion says Benny).

Personally I don’t understand Benny’s objections to the redevelopment plans. Slussen is one of the most unattractive parts of Stockholm. In a city that is famously pedestrian-friendly it’s a notoriously pedestrian-unfriendly area. The current construction dates back to the 1930s, and apparently parts of it are sinking. Though I will admit I have not seen the plans in great detail, just various photographs of models that have accompanied many of the news stories over the past few weeks.

Within three hours both outlets had exhausted their allocation. While the Fan Club Shop limited to two copies per order apparently the ABBA site allowed orders of up to five copies.

The timing of the announcement left a lot of ABBA fans upset. Australia was just going to bed, Europe was at work, America was about to wake up. Between the timing and the number of copies available per order many, many fans missed out on the chance to order the single.

Unsurprisingly copies have already appeared on eBay for outrageously inflated prices. ABBA fan forums and the official ABBA page on Facebook have been flooded with comments from disgruntled ABBA fans. For many it was a reminder of 2004′s limited edition ‘Waterloo’ picture disc single, which was available through general outlets in the UK, but disappeared within days as all copies were snapped up – allegedly one person ordered 150 copies from an online store.

Perhaps there are lessons to be learned here. There could be a pre-announcement that orders for such limited items would be taken from a particular future date and time, so people could be prepared. And limit the number of copies available to avoid unscrupulous dealers ordering multiple copies to only to make huge profits later.

As if to make amends the official ABBA site is currently holding a competition to win copy #5 – the first four numbers copies have been given to the ABBA members.

ABBA CELEBRATION! will be a night of ABBA music for fans and friends in Sydney. It will be held at RAILZ on Regent, 56 Regent Street, Redfern, from 7 pm through till midnight. Five hours of non-stop ABBA!

There is a $10 cover charge to cover costs  for security and DJ hire, plus a selection of hot snacks. We’re taking over the entire upper floor of the venue – there’s an outdoor area to grab some fresh air, and a pool table if you get bored with all that ABBA music – as if!

If you’re in Sydney, or can get to Sydney for the night, you’re welcome! See here for more information. If you’re on Facebook you can RSVP here.

ABBA – The Inner Circle Interviews

The book is built around extensive interviews the pair conducted for their two earlier books, with 38 people who had worked with ABBA or the individual members since the mid-sixties discussing their personal memories and experiences. All the interviews were originally conducted in English, making this book their first untranslated publication.

Interviewees include musicians, producers, colleagues, friends and others who worked with ABBA during the height of their career, those who collaborated with the members in various projects after ABBA, even a few whose involvement pre-dates ABBA. As the majority of those interviewed worked only with individual ABBA members after 1982, the story of ABBA as a group ends at page 92, with the remainder of the 230 pages dedicated to the post-ABBA careers.

Because the book is based around the various interviews biographical and historical details are fairly light, dependant on what memories the interviewees shared. This also means that some periods of time are quickly skimmed over, while others are covered in great detail.

The interviews are each individual’s uncorroborated memories that are sometimes conflicting and contradictory with each other or even with themselves, or can be out of context with the ABBA story. Despite this they make for interesting reading, as those who were there at the time tell the stories as they remember them.

The final chapter features an exclusive interview with Björn Ulvaeus, made a year after the the publication of ABBA On Speaking Terms, in which he addresses a few of the comments raised in that book.

Despite the flaws of the concept ABBA – The Inner Circle Interviews is a worthwhile read for its unique perspective on an often-told story, if only for the small peak behind-the-scenes with ABBA.

For more information about the book, details on the many people interviewed, and ordering information see the website www.abbatheinnercircleinterviews.com.

Book provided by Marisa Garau.