About My Blog

I created this blog to help share ABBA information with other fans and to show off my new collection items :)


Please note: Collection item photos are from my own personal collection. These are not stock photos. If you wish to use any of my photos elsewhere, please have the courtesy to ask first - Thank you :)

Saturday 27 September 2014

ABBA's SOS May Be A Baby Saver !

ABBA’s SOS may be a baby lifesaver when it comes to CPR
 
 
SWEDISH pop stars ABBA may have created a lifesaver with their hit, SOS. 
              
Research by the Royal Women’s Hospital has revealed that the tune provides the perfect pace for doctors and nurses to deliver CPR to newborn babies.
The Deputy Director of Newborn Research, Dr Jennifer Dawson, said playing music could ensure that clinicians give the right number of cardiac compressions to ventilation.
The hospital’s Professor Peter Davis and Dr Charles Christoph Roehr had previously found that a German march, which was 110 beats a minute, helped workers deliver better CPR.
Dr Dawson said their team sought to find songs that people would be more familiar with, but had a similar beat.
“If you are doing co-ordinated resuscitation, you need to get 120 beats per minute so it made sense to have a piece of music that kept the same time,” she said.
In the UK, the Bee Gees hit, Stayin’ Alive, which is 105 beats a minute, is used to teach members of the public the correct pace.
Dr Dawson said the songs they trialled were Gloria Gaynor’s I will Survive, Jingle Bells and SOS— all 120 beats a minute. She said babies needed much faster chest compressions than adults, because their heart beat faster naturally at their age.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/abbas-sos-may-be-a-baby-lifesaver-when-it-comes-to-cpr/story-fni0fit3-1227070816824

Frida Interview On Skavlan !!

Frida appeared on Skavlan on Friday 26th September 2014 !!

For a partial English translation of the interview, check out:

http://abbaofficial.wordpress.com/2014/09/24/frida-loneliness-is-natural-for-me/



Wednesday 24 September 2014

ABBA Gracias Por La Musica Deluxe Edition - Order Now !

The upcoming release of Gracias Por La Musica Deluxe Edition can now be pre-ordered from Amazon.

This is a Deluxe Edition of CD/DVD and the release date is 10 November 2014.

What a shame it is not in LP format.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gracias-Por-La-Musica-Abba/dp/B00NPJYCIE/ref=ntt_mus_ep_dpi_1

Also can be ordered from Universal Music here (cheaper than Amazon):

http://store.universalmusic.com/udiscover/*/*/Gracias-Por-La-Musica-Deluxe-Edition/3HVG0000000

Sunday 21 September 2014

ABBAChat ABBA Forum

Don't forget to check out my new ABBA Forum - ABBAChat.

I am working on it - updating features - and getting it set up for ease of use - with all the great features we expect from a forum these days.

Come join other members and start chatting now !

http://abbachat.com/

ABBA Live At Wembley Arena - Nearly Time !!

It's nearly time !!!

Getting very exciting now especially seeing these new images of the CD and LP sets !





Saturday 20 September 2014

Pop Story By Björn Ulvaeus - Pre-order Now !

POP STORY

By Björn Ulvaeus

Preorder. Release mid October

WHO WERE the four people behind Sweden's biggest pop group? How did they meet, fall in love and write such wonderful music?

In Pop Story, Björn Ulvaeus tells a fun and action packed tale of flying beetles, lobster racing, trolls, and, above all, the love of music.

All royalties will be donated to the Swedish Childhood Cancer Foundation.

An ABBA The Museum Exclusive.

http://www.abbathemuseum.com/en/shop-en

Around $27.00AUD

Sunday 14 September 2014

New ABBA Chat Forum

I think we've all heard the sad news that the abba4ever chat forum will be closing down permanently in early October after 8 years of service to the ABBA fan community.

There are a few Facebook pages and groups that are dedicated to ABBA, but Facebook isn't quite the same as a forum, as many would agree.

Many in the fan community enjoy a Forum environment - I personally feel that a Forum is much more organised and informative than a Facebook group - and I believe the community needs a Forum.

I had considered starting a forum a few years ago - but realised that only one worldwide forum was really needed - and we already had abba4ever.
But now, with the closure of abba4ever, I have decided to go ahead and create a new forum.

My new ABBA forum is called ABBAChat :)

It can be found here:

www.abbachat.com

It is in the very early stages of development - but it is fully functional and ready for members.

If you are a member of abb4ever please feel free to copy your old posts from there and add to ABBAChat - but please also include the original date of your post on abba4ever so it's easier to work out timelines for events etc.

So come on over and check it out - if you like what you see, sign up, start posting, make suggestions and help it to grow !

And last, but not least, share the news ! :)




Thursday 11 September 2014

ABBA Gracias Por La Musica Gets The Deluxe Treatment !

Gracias por la música Deluxe Edition – ABBA’s Spanish recordings on CD and DVD
The celebrations of ABBA’s 40th Anniversary year of 2014 continue with the latest release in the acclaimed ABBA Deluxe Edition series. In April of this year, Waterloo Deluxe Edition was released, attracting 4-star reviews in the music press, and in November, ABBA’s Spanish-language 1980 album Gracias por la música will receive the Deluxe Edition treatment. The original album has been expanded with 5 bonus tracks, plus a 40-minute DVD featuring vintage promo clips and previously unreleased television material. Gracias por la música Deluxe Edition will be released November 10, 2014.

Proof reading the booklet !























ABBA’s Spanish adventure began in 1979, when it was suggested that the group should record a Spanish-language version of their latest hit single, ‘Chiquitita’. This was in order to facilitate a breakthrough in Latin America, where ABBA hadn’t yet achieved success on the level of the Abbamania that gripped the rest of the world. The results of this single release were astounding: ‘Chiquitita’ rushed to the top of the charts all over Latin America, and became the biggest hit in 25 years in this part of the world.
In 1980, an entire album of Spanish-language ABBA songs was recorded. Appropriately entitled Gracias por la música (“Thank You For The Music”), this also became a huge hit – even entering the charts in the not-very-Spanish-speaking Japan! Since then, ABBA have been consistently popular in Latin America.
The first disc in the 2-disc Deluxe Edition of Gracias por la música is a CD, which features the original album plus five bonus tracks. The bonus selections are the remaining Spanish tracks recorded by ABBA, four of which were originally included on the albums Super Trouper and The Visitors in Spanish-language territories. The DVD features the five official promo clips ABBA did for ‘Estoy soñando’ (“I Have A Dream”), ‘Conociéndome, conociéndote’ (“Knowing Me, Knowing You”), ‘Gracias por la música’ (“Thank You For The Music”), ‘Felicidad’ (“Happy New Year”) and ‘No hay a quien culpar’ (“When All Is Said And Done”). Additionally, there are three previously unreleased TV items: two performances of ‘Chiquitita’ from 1979, plus a 1980 interview with the group made for Spanish TV, which also features a unique – in every sense of the word – performance of ‘Dame! Dame! Dame!’ (“Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! [A Man After Midnight]”).
The package also includes a 20-page illustrated booklet featuring a personal greeting from Frida, as well as an essay on the making of the album. The essay includes brand new insights from Buddy & Mary McCluskey, who instigated the Spanish-language recordings and wrote the Spanish lyrics for ABBA, and Ana Martinez del Valle, who coached Agnetha and Frida in the studio. In the booklet, Frida’s greeting and the essay are featured in both Spanish and English.
Don’t miss out on this unique celebration of an often overlooked part of ABBA’s glorious career!

Great youtube video by AbbaVEVO of ABBA performing Gracias Por La Musica on the Applauso 100 TV special:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=do1EGAs_UNQ&feature=youtu.be&list=UUa_4DcdTB9QfK0LY9-7qWuQ

GRACIAS POR LA MÚSICA – DELUXE EDITION
Disc 01, CD:

1. Gracias por la música
– Thank You For The Music
2. Reina danzante
– Dancing Queen
3. Al andar
– Move On
4.  Dame! Dame! Dame!
– Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)
5. Fernando
6. Estoy Soñando
– I Have A Dream
7. Mamma Mía
8. Hasta Mañana
9. Conociéndome, Conociéndote
– Knowing Me, Knowing You
10. Chiquitita

Bonus tracks

11. Ring ring
12. Andante, andante
13. Felicidad
– Happy New Year
14. No hay a quien culpar
– When All Is Said And Done
15. Se me está escapando
– Slipping Through My Fingers

Disc 02, DVD:

1. Chiquitita (300 millones, TVE)
2. Chiquitita (Aplauso, TVE)
3. Estoy soñando (promo clip)
4. ABBA On Spanish TV (Especial Aplauso 100, TVE)
SONGS PERFORMED:
Conociéndome, conociéndote (promo clip)
Gracias por la música (promo clip)
Dame! Dame! Dame!
5. Felicidad (promo clip)
6. No hay a quien culpar (promo clip)
7. International Sleeve Gallery

http://www.abbasite.com/banners2/gracias-por-la-musica/

Thursday 4 September 2014

Benny Andersson Listening To Live At Wembley Arena

Father and son together.

Ludvig Andersson has worked with ABBA's upcoming re-release of a classic Wembley concert 1979th

- I did this for me, because I was not born at the time, so I never got to hear this, he says.

There is nothing more ABBA material.

But a live album, it will be anyway.

Benny Andersson's son Ludvig Andersson has gone through several days of ABBA live material, selected the night at Wembley and processed sound quality.

- Instead of taking several evenings and cut them together, it will be fine to have a whole night, so it'll be like to be there, he said during a press conference in the studio on Skeppsholmen.


"I never got to hear this"

They play the songs from the upcoming live album before some 20 journalists from around the world, and Louis tells why he took on the job with the disc.

- I did this for me, because I was not born at the time, so I never got to hear this, he says.

Benny himself was surprised at the finished result.

- I did not think it sounded like good. When you're on stage, everything sounds fantastic because you have the volume and the audience, and is in the midst of it, he says.

"We were not so bad"

Benny asked if the remastered album has made ​​him change his view of ABBA live bands.

- Maybe. We were not so bad, he says, tears down a laugh.

His son, however, a point of view.

- They were very bad at talking between songs, says Ludvig Andersson and are greeted by yet more laughter.

"ABBA live at Wembley Arena" will be released on September 29 this year.


Original article here:

http://www.aftonbladet.se/nojesbladet/musik/article19472244.ab

Polar Music and ABBA The Museum have posted these photos from the 'listening party'.
Apparently Benny played Intermezzo No. 1 for the guests.




Wednesday 3 September 2014

Inventor Of ABBA Logo Passes

Rune Söderqvist, inventor of ABBA's iconic logo, passed away last week after a brief period of illness.
Rune was aged 79.

As the inventor of the timeless ABBA logo and the designer of every ABBA album sleeve 1976–1986, as well as the stage set on the group’s tours of 1979 and 1980, Rune was tremendously important for ABBA’s visual presentation.

Rune can be seen in Carl Magnus Palm's documentary 'ABBA: Absolute Image' talking about the album cover designs.

He will be sadly missed.


 
ABBA: Absolute Image:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4YL2rs3m4Y