Do you have a favourite ABBA Book

Re: Do you have a favourite ABBA Book

Maxi-saxi - 12.07.2007, 06:11
Do you have a favourite ABBA Book
I know over the last few years in particular there have been a lot of Books coming out On ABBA, And Mamma Mia. Agnetha & Frida, Benny

Do you have a Favorite, A Book that you really treasure,
I have over the years brought heaps of Books and love all of them.

One Of My Favorites Is The Frida Fan Book, as well as the From ABBA To Mamma Mia edition.

There are just so many Books out there.

So just out of Interest What is yours.

Maxi-saxi

Re: Do you have a favourite ABBA Book

imstillalive - 12.07.2007, 09:53

It's difficult to choose.

I'd have to cheat and say these:

The "Bubi" book - all those fantasic photos!
Frida's Tribute book - again fantasic photos!
Bright Lights Dark Shadows
Complete Recording Sessions

But I cherish all my books, but these four are the main ones I get out frequently.

Re: Do you have a favourite ABBA Book

DancingQueen - 12.07.2007, 13:00

benfridgirl wrote: abba speaking on terms

I liked the book too after reading it for the first time. Then I discoverd how nasty in fact it became when you are paying attention to the little remarks towards Frida. Yes, On Speaking Terms published some very nice pictures and some of the texts were good as well, but those remarks are way too rude to call it 'my favourite ABBA book'.

I haven't read much books about ABBA though. It is really hard to get them. Made In Sweden was nice, and Mama Mia! How Can I Resist You has some adorable and fantastic pictures, but there's too less information about ABBA. As I Am is coming this way now, and Bright Lights Dark Shadows will be my next choice from the libary, so I will take my time to decide.

Re: Do you have a favourite ABBA Book

benfridgirl - 12.07.2007, 22:02

is it against frida ? :sob: never see that before :wall:

Re: Do you have a favourite ABBA Book

Fire&Ice - 12.07.2007, 22:22

benfridgirl wrote: is it against frida ? :sob: never see that before :wall:

:agree: :cry: That's true benfridgirl... The authors of that one are :stupid: , you know. I guess you like it because of the pictures, right?

Re: Do you have a favourite ABBA Book

ABBAnator - 13.07.2007, 04:24

BLDS (Bright Lights Dark Shadows) was probably my favorite ABBA read. I admit I don't have many of the ABBA books however.

I too am very interested in the "Bubi" photo book but haven't justified the cost yet as it's fairly pricey. :wink:

Bruce 8)

Re: Do you have a favourite ABBA Book

benfridgirl - 13.07.2007, 07:26

yes the pictures are good fire and ice :D

Re: Do you have a favourite ABBA Book

ABBAnator - 13.07.2007, 11:39

BLDS is good because it's generally regarded as the most detailed, accurate and complete biography that has yet been writtien about ABBA. I personally found CMP's writing style to be entertaining enough to keep my interest. Sometimes biographies can read like a technical manual or an "after action report" as they say in the military, not so here.

It's not "Gone With The Wind", but it's intereresting for an ABBA fan. :D And unlike some of the other so-called ABBA biographies the information is fairly reliable.

Bruce :wink:

Re: Do you have a favourite ABBA Book

abbascots - 13.07.2007, 14:20

Hello Maxi-saxi
I have 10 ABBA books maxi-saxi and i would say up until now my fave is BLDS,it is a very resourceful book pact with information it gives the fan all the information they would want it gives a good detailed insite into ABBA,I also love both my Tribute to Frida and As i am books purely because of the wonderful pictures,I also enjoyed reading From ABBA too Mamma mia,ABBA the book Mamma mia how can we resist you the latter because of the info regarding the songs and it is written and signed from Bjorn and Benny so its special in a way!
Ps DancingQueen Bruce has exsplained it well BLDS is the most informative,realiable and interesting book i have ever read regarding ABBA it truly is a must :wink:

Johnsteven

Re: Do you have a favourite ABBA Book

DancingQueen - 13.07.2007, 15:39

I don't know much about novels.. :lol: ;)

Seriously, I was looking for some more information. Thanks to both of you for your replies! ABBAnator, I found your opinion about this book very intresting and I'm convinced: I wanna read it too. Gossips about ABBA.. I had enough of those, and since the both of you and other members mentioned this one as their personal favourite, I hope I can get it as soon as possible.

Re: Do you have a favourite ABBA Book

Fire&Ice - 13.07.2007, 16:39

If anyone would believe me, I was reading BLDS for a YEAR! :shock: The moment I finished it, I would start reading it over and over again... :shock:

Re: Do you have a favourite ABBA Book

Charles - 13.07.2007, 22:36

Hmm, the first book I had in mind was "Fenomenet Abba" (Het Fenomeen Abba in dutch). It was the first real Abba book, the first Abba book that I read, authorised by the group and Polar, but published in 1977, so not complete at all. But it came out during Abba's haydays and I swallowed the information, being a huge fan back then. My book got lost somehow, but I bought 2 or 3 second hand copies at very low prices from dutch Ebay daughter.

"Bright Lights Dark Shadows" was an unexpectedly interesting and complete read, diving quite deep into it all, but it's not a book that I take from the shelf easily, for let's say a short time reread. I remember I ordered and payed for the hard cover version from the Abba Fan Club Shop, back then the ABBF Record Service, as there wasn't a big difference in price, but I received a paperback edition. I never sent it back to exchange it for the hard cover...

I think my all time favourite one is "The Complete Recording Sessions". There's so much information about the music and the songs and that what's it all about, at least to me, after all. I can take the book any time I want, there's always something very interesting to read/reread. It's also the first Abba book that I bought after I rediscovered Abba, somewhere in the mid-to-end-nineteen-nineties and shortly after I discovered the virtual world.

Of course the "Bubi Bible" is a huge book/release, and I consider it a must-have, but I don't like all photos in it, and sometimes I think the quality is disappointing.

Charles

Re: Do you have a favourite ABBA Book

jenlovesabba1982 - 14.07.2007, 22:58

fav book little book on abba in 70s it was in abba the movie ! and mammai mai book also like angetha book as well maybee its cause i love her soooooooooo much !

Re: Do you have a favourite ABBA Book

Bonnie - 15.07.2007, 15:58

I have about 30 ABBA books, and I think my faves are some that came out after ABBA.

The Complete Recording Sessions, because it gave us a lot of information about their recordings.
The huge Bubi Heilemann book, so many well known pictures and even more not well known.
A tribute to Frida, obviously!
BLDS, because it's detailed and contains heaps of information.
Oh and I want to mention ABBA by Harry Edgington, it's from 1976 I think but still quite a nice read.

I have both On speaking terms and the German translation Ihre ganze geschichte. The moment I started reading it I knew there was something fishy about it. The way they idolize Agnetha and put her above the rest is creepy. It's OK to have a favourite but not when you are claiming to write the definitive biography of a group, you should at least try to be impartial.
The problem with this book is the fact that it had a lot of publicity in The Netherlands and almost all Dutch fans also new ones bought it. Now it is quoted everywhere in Dutch press. :?

Re: Do you have a favourite ABBA Book

lemmon - 21.07.2007, 13:39

Complete recording sessions and On speaking terms/ihre ganze geschichte

Re: Do you have a favourite ABBA Book

Maxi-saxi - 23.07.2007, 06:18

Yes!

Buy It I think it is a wonderful Book, some amazing pictures in there as well and makes good reading.
Maxi-saxi

Re: Do you have a favourite ABBA Book

Maxi-saxi - 08.08.2007, 06:27

I brought ABBA on Speaking terms even though I can't read Dutch I ONLY brought it for the Pictures as there are some that I Have never seen before.

Maxi-saxi

Re: Do you have a favourite ABBA Book

Toni - 21.02.2009, 18:15

I want to add "ABBA The Scrapbook" to my favorite ABBA book list. :D

Re: Do you have a favourite ABBA Book

fearthereaper1956 - 21.02.2009, 20:22

kitty-cat wrote: For the information and stories, it has to be Bright Lights Dark Shadows, but for the pictures it is a toss up between Abba the Book and From Abba To mamma Mia, I cant decide between them both lol :roll: Gill xx
Until this month when I bought the Scrapbook, those are the only books I've seen. For pictures, I like the Scrapbook the most. I like BLDS for info.

I notice some of you own or have read well over 10 books. In terms of pictures only, how does the Scrapbook compare to all the other ones I've never seen before? Should I be looking for another one to complement the Scrapbook?

Ed

Re: Do you have a favourite ABBA Book

fearthereaper1956 - 21.02.2009, 20:37

Thanks Joe. I will hunt that book down!
Ed

Re: Do you have a favourite ABBA Book

Maxi-saxi - 21.02.2009, 22:32

Any day now I'll be getting the latest Edition to my Book Collection The Dutch Version Of Agnetha's Book.


Only bought it for the pic's.


I now have over 40 Books Covering ABBA and ABBA members.

Maxi-saxi

Re: Do you have a favourite ABBA Book

ABBAFANUSA - 22.02.2009, 04:48

As a fan my favorite is The Complete Recording Sessions

As a Collector my favorite is ABBAMANIA The Singles Vol. 1

Re: Do you have a favourite ABBA Book

Maxi-saxi - 23.02.2009, 21:01

Agreed The complete Recording Sessions is a great Book but after reading it One only wishes We could have all those versions available to hear.
Alternate takes, Demos
Well maybe one day?


Maxi-saxi

Re: Do you have a favourite ABBA Book

billydog - 20.08.2009, 17:20

I love The Complete Recording Sessions and find it the best reference to the actual songs so I know what was recorded when etc.
I took Bright Lights Dark Shadows on holiday with me and it took me a week to get through it. Even now I still pick it up and read bits now and again but have no recollection of reading it previously!! I'm on holiday again soon so I might just start it from cover to cover and see if it sinks in better on the second occassion. I just find the book so detailed and I like Carl Magnus's style of writting and think he researches everything as thoroughly as possible.I have contacted him a couple of times and have always found him friendly and happy to help.
Stuart

Re: Do you have a favourite ABBA Book

Bonnie - 29.08.2009, 11:51

No offence Lemmon but you gave EXACTLY the same response on page one of this topic :wink:

By the way, all you lovely ABBA fans out there, don't you think that ABBA is way underrated when it comes to books? Go into whatever book shop and you'll see tons of books on the Beatles and the Stones but maybe 1 of ABBA. Such a shame. Maybe one of them should die to make it more interesting? :?

Re: Do you have a favourite ABBA Book

Pabs - 29.08.2009, 15:02

jomclane wrote:

And its not as if the story. I dont know what happened, but after 1999 when ABBA were on the cover of Mojo (Unhappy ever after) and were being touted as inductees to teh Rock'nRoll hall of fame, the musical came and suddenly the interest vanished.

Wasn't that amazing? A couple of years before the MM! musical first opened in London, a comprehensive reassessment of ABBA's legacy was well underway. Serious articles were appearing about ABBA right across the media. ABBA was on the point of being beatified and knighted as being much much more than what they'd once been considered to be.

Once MM! the musical was launched, though, no-one in the media again dared to say anything positive about the group. Overnight, ABBA again were flayed, ridiculed as they had of old, and treated as light-weight, fun, daft, karaoke and hen's night music. Those serious journalists promptly jumped ship and, once again, ABBA's reputation was back to where it was in 1976 (as far as the media's concerned).

MM! has been very bad for ABBA's "cred". The focus went straight back onto their silly clothes and platform boots. It was back to the nightmare days. ABBA was only to be taken as a bit of fun. They're just a "funny" group for nerds all over again.

I hope that when "Kristina"'s classical and grandiose music becomes better known, the media might once again have the courage to treat ABBA seriously. Hopefully, if "Kristina" became successful and famous everywhere (though it's far from guaranteed that it ever will), I think only then will ABBA's music have a second chance to be rescued and rehabilitated, and recognised again as having been something of supreme genius.

I am so sorry to see ABBA back in the toilet again, to be laughed and sneered at and doomed not to be taken seriously. The musical and its film version are the greatest culprits for this terrible reversal of fortune in ABBA's critical reputation.

I'm praying for a "Kristina"-powered "second wind", inspiring the type of reappraisal of ABBA's music that we saw in the media from, say, 1995 to 1998. MM! destroyed a lot of respect for ABBA, "Kristina" may just cast the group back into the realms of respect, where the media reports again that there was something truly classical and weighty behind their seemingly innocent tunes.

I sometimes wish that MM! had never seen the light of day.

Pablo

Re: Do you have a favourite ABBA Book

fearthereaper1956 - 29.08.2009, 18:38

Bonnie wrote: No offence Lemmon but you gave EXACTLY the same response on page one of this topic :wink:

By the way, all you lovely ABBA fans out there, don't you think that ABBA is way underrated when it comes to books? Go into whatever book shop and you'll see tons of books on the Beatles and the Stones but maybe 1 of ABBA. Such a shame. Maybe one of them should die to make it more interesting? :?

On a recent trip to Portland Oregon in the US, I was shocked to find 4 ABBA books including the scrapbook in the music section. I never saw so many in my hometown, usually 1 or none. Of course there were than 25 copies of 8 Beatles books in that same bookstore. :wink:

Re: Do you have a favourite ABBA Book

hamlet3 - 29.08.2009, 21:55

Pabs, interesting point about Mamma Mia. Makes you look at it from a different angle. Very very frustrating however. :roll:

IMO, this is sort of a twist. The clicheed picture of ABBA is now more present than ever, but since the film, a lot of things turned better from the social point of view, at least what I experienced. It hit ABBA on the "agenda" - no-one was talking about the Beatles or the Rolling Stones. That's what ABBA had deserved for a long time. Then, the music. It has been the first time that unknown songs (to the general public) - "Slipping Trough My Fingers" and "Our Last Summer" - have been heard by a wide audience. It was a signal to the audience that ABBA are more than "Dancing Queen". I had people talking to me saying "been to the film yesterday, and I really liked this or that song!". I sometimes even heard people sing ABBA songs to themselves! Even though a clear clichee, ABBA had never been recieved so positive in my social surroundings.

Re: Do you have a favourite ABBA Book

jomclane - 29.08.2009, 23:19

I think that ABBA should be regarded in the same light as the Beatles and in that I mean at the very summit of popular music
I think Jim Coyler, who posts here occasionally, said that that ABBA are the continuation of the original fab4 but with women.
I go further.
The Beatles are a bunch of lads(geniuses in my opinion) in their 20s, carefree. They broke up when they married and hit their 30s.
ABBA is real life that hits you in the 30s. The ectasy mixed with the pain. The realisation that time is passing.

Damm Mamma Mia and critics
They have nothing meaningful to say. ABBA is where its at.

Lets get writing about real love, real life and the music that perfectly encapsulates our flaws.


Ps- Pablo. Kristina is genius but its not influencing our young people, can it any more than Bach?
ABBA is still a force. Thats my opinion.

Re: Do you have a favourite ABBA Book

Carribean - 25.11.2009, 04:13

My fave was The Complete Recording Sessions and then in 2000 it became The Book and since the beginning of this year it is The Scrapbook.

All three are my faves but The Scrapbook will be the ultimate number 1. I do not think a new book will come along any time soon that will knock it to the 2nd place. Tonight I had another look at the book after not really going through it for some time and I was fascinated once again. This is certainly a book that should be sold at ABBA World but since it is not official that will probably not happen which is a shame.

By the way: I would love to see an updated version of The Complete Recording Sessions with the pics in chronological order please... lol!

Re: Do you have a favourite ABBA Book

Cronus - 10.01.2010, 04:50

I purchased my very first ABBA book the other day. For a long time I'd wanted to read Bright Lights, Dark Shadows by Carl Magnus Palm, but there weren't any copies at any of the book stores where I live. Upon trying to order it in 2007, I was told that it was out of print. An updated version was printed in 2008, and the other day I located (via the internet) a bookstore that had exactly one copy. The store was in Fairfield, CA; a mere 30 minutes drive away. I drove there right after work and purchased it.

Bruce is right, this is a great book. I've only read a few chapters so far, but it's got all the details I could possibly ask for, and it's all very interesting. At the same time, I know that it wouldn't be nearly as intriguing if I were not an ABBA fan.

Re: Do you have a favourite ABBA Book

PeopleNeedLove - 11.01.2010, 12:46

Cronus wrote: I purchased my very first ABBA book the other day. For a long time I'd wanted to read Bright Lights, Dark Shadows by Carl Magnus Palm, but there weren't any copies at any of the book stores where I live. Upon trying to order it in 2007, I was told that it was out of print. An updated version was printed in 2008, and the other day I located (via the internet) a bookstore that had exactly one copy. The store was in Fairfield, CA; a mere 30 minutes drive away. I drove there right after work and purchased it.

Fine choice. Tells everything you need to know about the ABBA story- you'll love it........

Matt

Re: Do you have a favourite ABBA Book

fearthereaper1956 - 12.01.2010, 07:21

Cronus wrote: .... I'd wanted to read Bright Lights, Dark Shadows by Carl Magnus Palm, but there weren't any copies at any of the book stores where I live. Upon trying to order it in 2007, I was told that it was out of print. An updated version was printed in 2008

I borrowed on old version from the public library. Do you know what is different about this new version that you purchased?

Ed

Re: Do you have a favourite ABBA Book

Anonymous - 12.01.2010, 19:20

BLDS without a doubt. It's so full and comprehensive, but reads like a novel. Carl Magnus Palm is a wonderfu, wonderful writer.

I love Abba The Book too. Amazing photos and some great details.