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 25 March 2017

Frida Duet With Arturo Sandoval - Arturo Interview



Arturo Sandoval Talking About His New Album "Duets".

Arturo Sandoval recently talked about his new projects, the album "Duets" and a new "Christmas Album". FRIDA is of course mentioned for the "Duets" album, but it seems, that we have to be still patient with the release, before we hear FRIDA on her new recording of "Andante, Andante" on this new album. According to Arturo Sandoval in this interview, the album will be finished "when it is finished". Listen to this new TV interview at:

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/tavissmiley/interviews/jazz-trumpeter-arturo-sandoval-2/

Arturo Sandoval About His New Album
Read The Interview Here:

TRANSCRIPT

So pleased to welcome musician, composer and friend, Arturo Sandoval, back to this program.
Born in Cuba, mentored by Dizzy Gillespie and now living in Los Angeles, the trumpet master and piano player is in the midst of recording two new projects, a Christmas album with Notre Dame University, and his first duets album with singers like Pharrell Williams, Placido Domingo and the late great Al Jarreau. Arturo, always, sir, an honor to have you on this program.

Arturo Sandoval: My pleasure, and thank you so much for having me.

Tavis: My pleasure, my friend. I know you and Al were friends. I know he recorded for your album. I just spoke at his funeral a few weeks ago.

Sandoval: Oh, Al Jarreau.

Tavis: Oh, my God, my dear brother.

Sandoval: I’m so sorry. I wasn’t here and I couldn’t attend it, man. But he was such a sweet guy and an extremely talented artist, of course. To me, he was the music, you know.

Tavis: So I’m curious now. What did he do on the album? What did you guys do?

Sandoval: Oh, my Lord, I can’t remember now.

Tavis: It was great [laugh].

Sandoval: Oh, no, no. So musical. You know what the best thing is? We were neighbors in Tarzana and then he came to my house and we spent the whole day. Now we have lunch together and we took a lot of pictures with my family. He was such a beautiful person and an incredible talent, incredible.

Tavis: While we’re talking about it, you’ve got some big names. I didn’t mention Stevie Wonder and others on this duets album.

Sandoval: Pharrell Williams, Josh Grobin, Alejandro Sanz, Prince Royes, Marc Anthony, a bunch of people, yes, a bunch of people. Juan Luis Guerra from Dominica, bunch of great people, man. I hope I didn’t forget — or Frida from ABBA…

Tavis: How did you choose the music for this new project?

Sandoval: You know what? I start to call friends and people who I admire and respect. Some of them replied, some of them no. Some of them say right away, and that was my first choice. The people who say yes, absolutely [laugh].

Tavis: Yeah. That makes it easy, doesn’t it?

Sandoval: Oh, my goodness. But it’s a very ambitious project because all those people have a lot of, you know…

Tavis: Everybody’s busy.

Sandoval: With their schedule and then was still a couple of them. But the rest, we recorded all of them already. I did, oh, Placido, Josh Grobin, Juan Luis, Alejandro Sanz, Frida. All the people I recorded already.

Tavis: When do you expect that’s going to come out, that project?

Sandoval: As soon as we finish [laugh].

Tavis: Famous last words of an artist. As soon as I’m done [laugh].

Sandoval: As soon as I’m done. It’s true.

Tavis: That could be five years, that could be two years, that could be — every artist is different.

Sandoval: And the project you mentioned about a Notre Dame University, a year ago I got a doctorate there in Fine Arts. That was such an…

Tavis: Yeah. Congratulations.

Sandoval: Honor and a privilege. Then I mentioned that to the president of the school. I said I would love to do something with a different format that they have there. They have a full orchestra. They have a big choir. They have combos and big bands, a lot of things.
I would love to do with all the formation here, a Christmas album. They embraced the idea from the top and they love it. They said we’re gonna do it 100% and we’re gonna back that 100%, and we’re about to start.

Tavis: Well, Notre Dame, there’s some smart cookies there. You don’t have Arturo Sandoval offer to do something with your music organization and you pass it up, yeah.

Sandoval: But it’s a beautiful school and I was impressed with the whole thing.

Tavis: You know, I’m from Indiana. I grew up just down the street from that school.
Sandoval: No kidding?

Tavis: I’m from Indiana. I grew up just down the street from South Bend, you know.

Sandoval: I’m also going to share with you something that — I just come back from Jakarta, Indonesia. There was a great jazz festival there, great. Then we went in Europe before. But next week, I’m going to China for the very first time.

Tavis: Your first time going?

Sandoval: I never been in the mainland. I’ve been in Hong Kong, Thailand, Macao, all…

Tavis: Where you going? Beijing? Shanghai? All over?

Sandoval: Gonna be 18 gigs in 21 days. Gonna be three weeks, one-nighters.

Tavis: You’re gonna love it, though. You’re gonna love China, man.

Sandoval: I’ll let you know when I come back [laugh].

Tavis: Let me know, yeah. Let me now [laugh]. I been there a few times and I love it.

Sandoval: And then from there, we fly straight to New York to do a week in the Blue Note. Gonna be four weeks out.

Tavis: When you get a chance, I mean, you obviously were tutored by, you hung out with, drove Dizzy Gillespie around the island of Cuba, which I’m gonna come to in just a second, but when you get a chance to play in these iconic and historic venues like the Blue Note, do you feel the presence of all these other great artists who played there when you show up?

Sandoval: You nailed it. Absolutely, of course. I always said that. I always said it’s an honor and a privilege to be here in the same stage where so many incredible musicians have been playing over the years. Of course, something stayed there, you know, their presence you can smell. Man, how many good notes have been played here in this place, you know? And how many great artists have played there?
I enjoy it always because the people — you know, for me, the people made a big difference. It doesn’t matter where. I don’t care much what the name of the city or what continent. What really made a big impact on me is the reaction of the audience. Does the audience get very receptive and enjoy and have fun? Man, I’m in heaven. I’m in heaven. Doesn’t matter where. Could be anywhere.

Tavis: They’re gonna love you in China.

Sandoval: I don’t know. I don’t even know. Is a trumpet player there?

Tavis: No, they’re gonna love you. Let me shift gears very quickly here. This is the first time I’ve seen you at least on this stage since Fidel Castro passed away. I saw your comments about him. I’m gonna read this right quick. Can I read this? You did not hold your tongue, man.

Sandoval: No, no, no. You know this…

Tavis: I’m quoting from — hold on, hold on. I’m quoting from my friend, Arturo Sandoval, on Facebook after Castro passed away, and I quote. “The dictator has died finally. He was the worst kind of evil, the kind of person that hell even turns away.” You got to being so shy, man. What were you really trying to say, Arturo?

Sandoval: No. What I’m trying to say, everybody was waiting for that day because we shouldn’t be happy when somebody dies, of course. But it’s not as a person. It’s what he represent and all the damage he did. And, unfortunately, that moment when I find out the news, I said I felt it gonna be like as very happy day to make a big party.
No. I said no because he’s gone without paying for all the horrible things that he did and all the crime he did. He died in peace on the bed, you know, without being in the courtroom and the people prosecuting him for all the horrible things he did. And then that moment, I stopped being happy because I never thought that my parents were going to be gone before him.

Tavis: Your parents died before he died.

Sandoval: Before, yeah.

Tavis: But they never got a chance to go back to see their family…

Sandoval: Absolutely, and they died with that desire to go back and see their relatives. I said I can’t believe it. And the worst thing is not even that. The worst thing is his brother is the same thing, but worse because he’s more stupid than the other one, and nobody respect the brother there.
The people feel no respect. But the other one was good speeches. He gonna be good speech maker. He could sell ice to the Eskimo.

Tavis: What do you expect is going to happen in your native land in the coming years? What’s gonna happen?

Sandoval: I gonna reply that with a little joke. There’s a couple of Cubans. They find each other in the street in Miami. Hey, Juan. Hey, Pedro. How are you? How you doing? Man, last night I got a conversation with God. He say, what?
Yeah, we talk on the phone. He say, what you talk about? Man, a lot of different things. I asked a bunch of questions. You ask him, of course, what are gonna happen, the question you just asked. He say, of course, I saved that for the last one. What he say? He hung up [laugh].
Bottom line is, not even God knows, man. It’s unpredictable. But what I have to tell you is the situation there is worse than ever. Some people are confused and believe because they open, we really appreciate and respect the decision of President Obama to do what he did.

Tavis: Open things up, yeah.

Sandoval: But the result doesn’t happen. The depression is worse. The people are more frustrated, more hopeless than before. And we couldn’t see the horizon, to be honest, unfortunately.

Tavis: You were kind to answer my questions about that. Let me shift gears in the three minutes I have left with you to something more happy. This horn looks sort of brand new. Is it relatively new?

Sandoval: Actually, I was saving a little money to make it gold-plated [laugh]. And, of course, I put here the ring of my best friend, my brother, the Fuente…

Tavis: Yeah, I see that.

Sandoval: But it’s a special horn. It’s a prototype, by the way. It’s made in Switzerland. It’s designed to play soft, pretty, mellow and romantic.

Tavis: Hold up, hold up, stop, stop. Soft, pretty, mellow and romantic, which you are capable of doing, which you’re gonna prove in just a second. But you are known for such a big sound.

Sandoval: Yeah, but big? I don’t know is that as a compliment or a complaint?

Tavis: No, it’s a compliment. No, no, no. Compliment. You get more out of a horn than anybody I know.

Sandoval: No, but my concern or my goal always has been since the very beginning, the quality of the tongue, the quality, the beauty of the tongue. Because when you play a couple of notes with the right sound, everybody love it. You could play a couple of million notes with the wrong sound and nobody care. That’s the importance of the quality of the tongue.

Tavis: So let’s do this. I want you to play the prototype that you have in your hand. I want to say goodnight to the audience and you tell — what are you gonna play us out with? What are you gonna play?

Sandoval: “Here’s that Rainy Day”.

Tavis: “Here’s That Rainy Day”. Here comes “Here’s That Rainy Day” from the trumpet master, Arturo Sandoval, after I tell you thanks for watching. Goodnight from Los Angeles. As always, keep the faith. And just for a little love on the way out, here’s our friend, Arturo Sandoval.

Sandoval: Thank you, thank you.

Tavis: My man [laugh].

Sandoval: Thank you, buddy. Thank you, man.

Tavis: Love it, Arturo. Fine from here.

Sandoval: Thank you, man. Thank you, thank you.

https://www.facebook.com/homagetoannifridlyngstad/posts/1044659905677357:0

Friday 24 March 2017

International ABBA Day 2017 - Netherlands

 

 The next ABBA Day will take place on April 1st, 2017, in Roosendaal

Every year, The International ABBA Day attracts many hundreds of fans from all over the world, and in recent years it has grown into a whole weekend. This year, we are going back 40 years, to ABBA The Movie and the 1977 concert tour.

FRIDAY, MARCH 31st

The many fans who are already in town on Friday meet up at the pub Moriaan (Tongerloplein 9, Roosendaal) from 8 pm to chat, maybe have a beer, take part in our ABBA quiz with amazing prizes or just enjoy the company of friends.

SATURDAY, APRIL 1st

The main day will be held at Rottier (Vijfhuizenberg 52) with all the usual offerings – a big ABBA record and memorabilia fair, a quiz with great prizes (including rare and autographed items), videos on the big screen and, of course, the Fan Club Shop is present.
This year, we will have a small exhibition on ABBA The Movie and the 1977 live tour. As a special guest we will have Hans Löfvenberg, ABBA’s tour manager, looking back on those good old days. We also have a video from Lasse Hallström in which he talks about ABBA - The Movie, especially recorded for the Fan Club. Furthermore, singer Susie Webb will perform a few of her Bossa Nova ABBA songs.
The ABBA Day starts at 11, and the party goes on all day, ending with the traditional disco from 7 pm until 11 pm.
The entrance fee, payable at the door, is € 7.00 for members and € 10.00 for non members. The bar is open all day and also offers some light snacks (you cannot bring your own drinks or food into the building). Cloakroom facilities are available for a small fee.

SUNDAY, APRIL 2nd

The local cinema is showing ABBA The Movie at 11.15 am. It will be the new fully digitized and restored 2017 version. Watching the film together with hundreds of fans is an experience that is too good to miss. Tickets can be bought online.

Please note

The Duch railways NS are planning to do maintenance work between Amsterdam and Roosendaal on April 1st and 2nd. This means it might take longer for you to complete your journey. See here to plan your trip.

http://www.abbafanclub.nl/abbaday/ 

Some pictures from previous years:








Wednesday 22 March 2017

Frida's First Album Special Release - Record Store Day 2017 - Exclusive Limited Edition !



Frida

Record Store Day 2017 Exclusive !

Event: RECORD STORE DAY 2017
Release Date: 4/22/2017
Format: LP
Label: Parlophone
Quantity: 1500
Release type: RSD Exclusive Release

Produced by her then-fiance and member of ABBA - Benny Andersson, Frida was released in 1971. The album received unanimously generous praise from the critics and the press, who especially noted the precision and versatility of Lyngstad's voice.

The album is sung entirely in Swedish and contains translated covers of international hits such as Leonard Cohens "Suzanne", Simon & Garfunkels "The Sound of Silence" and "Everything's Alright" from Jesus Christ Superstar.

SIDE A:
01 Tre Kvart Fran Nu (Melodi for Piano Op. 3:1 F-Dur)
02 Jag Blir Galen Nar (Goin' Out of My Head)
03 Lycka
04 Sen Dess Har Jag Inte Setten
05 En Ton Av Tystnad (The Sound of Silence)
06 Suzanne

SIDE B:
01 Allting Ska Bli Bra/Vad Gor Jag Med Min Karlek
02 Jag Ar Beredd
03 En Liten Sang Om Karlek
04 Telegram For Fullmanen
05 Barnen Sover

http://recordstoreday.com/SpecialRelease/9320 

I will add stores that will have Frida's album as details become available.

Don't miss out - only 1500 units being sold !

The original LP:




And more news !

Not to be left out, Agnetha's 1970 album Som jag är is being re-released in conjunction with Record Store Day 2017 !

This album can be pre-ordered from Bengans.

For orders outside of EU:

https://www.bengans.se/cgi-bin/ibutik/AIR_ibutik.fcgi?funk=visa_artikel&artgrp&artnr=2417352

For orders within EU:

https://www.bengans.se/cgi-bin/ibutik/AIR_ibutik.fcgi?funk=visa_artikel&artgrp=&artnr=2417352

The original LP:





Tuesday 21 March 2017

ABBA The Complete Recording Sessions Book Update - Carl Magnus Palm



ABBA: The Complete Recording Sessions

by Carl Magnus Palm

After an extremely successful Crowd Funding campaign in April 2015, much research, work and effort by Carl - and much anticipation from fans around the world, this fabulous book is soon to be launched !

The Official book launch will take place on 8 April in London with books expected to be shipped to buyers on 31 March 2017 - so we may all have them in time for the launch :)

If you haven't already pre-ordered this book, be aware that it will not be available in stores to buy later.
You can still order your copy here though as well as buy tickets to the Book Launch event:

The Complete Recording Sessions

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The book launch sounds like a fabulous event - wish I could be there !
Some of the event details:

Carl Magnus Palm presents ABBA - The Complete Recording Sessions
Saturday 8 April 2017 from 16:00

The world's foremost ABBA historian and consultant to Polar Music, Carl Magnus Palm, will celebrate the publication of his new book ‘ABBA - The Complete Recording Sessions’ in a unique event hosted in Hammersmith, London.

★ Carl Magnus will travel from Stockholm to take you behind the scenes of the Polar Music archives where all of ABBA’s recordings - published and unreleased - are stored;

★ Maria Nicholas, the book’s designer, will travel from New York to present the process of bringing the book to life;

★ By special permission of Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, a professional pianist and two vocalists will perform unreleased melodies and/or lyrics which were recorded by ABBA and exist only in the Polar Music archives;

★ Signed copies of the book will ship on 31st March 2017, but attendees may choose to collect their copy in person.

★ Carl Magnus will answer questions from the audience and sign copies of his other books.

★ A selection of merchandise related to the book will be available.

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Carl has done some recent interviews about the book including one for Australian SBS radio with Johan Gabrielsson - you can listen to the interview here:

SBS Radio Interview

Check out more about the book on Carl's own site here:

Carl Magnus Palm

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Nice article about the book on Swedish site M3:

Swedish Article

Rough English Translation (you would think Google Translate would be better at this by now)



March 31, 2017 are given "ABBA - The Complete Recording Sessions" in a new edition containing previously unknown details of how the group recorded their hit songs.Originally published author Carl Magnus Palm Paper in 1994. The content was based on information that the author unearthed, as well as interviews with all members of ABBA and the key people who worked with them in the studio.In the 20 years that have passed since then, new information about the group carefully frammejslade music come and Carl Magnus Palm has put hundreds of hours of additional research: all of this has now been incorporated into the new version of "ABBA - The Complete Recording Sessions ".

 
Memories of musicians and sound engineers who are not interviewed for the original book are also included in the revised and expanded edition. Some of them have rarely or never been interviewed about their collaboration with ABBA. The book is reworked from scratch and includes more than three times as much text as the original edition.The new edition of "ABBA - The Complete Recording Sessions" offers hitherto unknown facts about how ABBA was working and constantly worked on their music, how they cut off long pieces of the recordings to make the songs more "catchy", how they could change texts and arrangements of the same song, and how the same melody fragments could be tested in a variety of tracks before it finally ended up in the right place.



The book also tells about how Agnetha, Bjorn, Benny and Frida worked on their music and what they think today about the songs they once played in - they are not always entirely positive. In addition, the book contains five detailed texts about what happened when an ABBA song was created, from the melody was written to the mix. The work is in various eBook - and paper format and can be pre-ordered for about 350 SEK and up. 







Sunday 19 March 2017

The Story Of ABBA - For Young Readers - Children's Book



The Story Of ABBA: For Young Readers

The Story of ABBA by Becky Laine tells the tale of the Swedish super group ABBA starting from the members' early careers before ABBA up til the group was disbanded in 1982. Alongside the easy-to-read text are endearing illustrations drawn by the author herself.

Becky Laine is an author, artist, blogger, and ABBA fan extraordinaire! In her free time, she sews, draws, and collects memorabilia from her favorite Swedish pop group.

The first edition of her book was published in 2013.

First Edition 2013

 A new version was released in 2016 and comes with revised text and completely new illustrations.

The new edition also comes in 2 different cover choices - the white cover or the black cover with contents being the same.

What a perfect way to introduce new young fans to the Story Of ABBA !

I love these covers !

And I even get an acknowledgement - how lovely :)



You can follow Becky's blog here:

http://abbafan456.blogspot.com.au/

And buy all versions of the book at the following links:

2016 Edition - White Cover

2016 Edition - Black Cover

2013 Edition







Friday 17 March 2017

ABBAMANIA AUSTRALIA - 40th Anniversary - New ABBA Book Available Now !!


ABBAMANIA AUSTRALIA

by Nicholas Faltskog

Book available now !!

http://www.blurb.co.uk/b/7796860-abbamania-australia


ABBAMANAIA AUSTRALIA is a fantastic collectors item full of amazing pictures of Abba In Australia, the full Australian Abba & Solo years discography and a collection of the most amazing Official Abba memorabilia ever made.

The book is printed on demand through Blurb, making your copy a one off original. Available in Hard back cover or soft cover. The first edition of the book is the *40th Anniversary Collectors edition.
The book follows an Abba fan's story in parallel to the unfolding attack of Abbamanaia on the Australian public. The ‘Abba Fever, was worse then the flu’ a daily newspaper stated!

This “fan book” is 400+ pages in full colour. A must for any Abba fan anywhere in the world.

For more book details check out the official page for the book:

http://www.abbamaniaaustralia.com/














Monday 13 March 2017

ABBA In Australia 13 March 1977 - Farewell ABBA - 40 Years Ago Today !



13th March 1977
ABBA Live In Australia !
Well my friends, and fellow fans, today we farewell ABBA from Australia.
At 7.30pm ABBA boarded their plane at Perth airport and flew home to Sweden.
It was a very sad feeling to know that they were leaving our country – we had no idea it would be the last time we would see them here.
What an amazing time it was between 27th February and 13th March 1977.
Over 4300 kilometres travelled, 4 capital cities, 11 concerts, 160,000 tickets sold.
Australia had never experienced anything like this Tour before – it was the first of its kind for us.
And ABBA had never experienced anything like Australia before.
Neither ABBA, nor Australia, would see anything like this again.
We gave them everything Australia had to offer.
Torrential rain, gale force winds, thousands of insects, illness, injury – glorious sunshine, beautiful harbours and bays for sailing, unique wildlife (and no, I don’t mean the fans !) – harassing media,  pushy politicians, a bomb threat – and thousands upon thousands of screaming, maniacal, adoring fans wherever they went.
In return, ABBA gave us everything they had to offer – and they were truly magnificent.
They took everything we threw at them – with style, grace, humour and a fabulous level of energy.
When they came to Australia, it was mania in the true sense of the word. To say it was a crazy time is an understatement.
By the time they left here, that mania was evolving into a deep and true respect and admiration for this magnificent and phenomenal group of Swedes – and it continues to this day.
They gave us the time of our lives – nothing else would ever compare – and we thank you ABBA from the bottom of our hearts.

They came - they saw - they endured - they conquered !

 

What a shame this album never saw the light of day - but perhaps we still have this to look forward to this year as part of the 40th Anniversary Celebration ?