This double-disc, 37-track Abba anthology is an excellent collection for every Abba and pop music fan should have in their archives.
I already had a copy of ABBA GOLD at the time I bought The Definitive Collection
, but now this CD has rendered my ABBA GOLD CD obsolete - it contains all the tracks that were on ABBA GOLD and more. It also includes many of the lesser-known singles that made it onto MORE ABBA GOLD (i.e. “Head Over Heels,” “The Day Before You Came,” and “Summer Night City”). In addition, this collection presents the tunes chronologically, so one can hear and make note of how ABBA’s sound changed and evolved during their decade-plus-long time together. It’s a shame that just because of “Dancing Queen” (their only song to hit #1 in the United States), many Americans think of ABBA as simply a “disco” act and dismiss them as such. In reality, ABBA were so much more. They dabbled in almost every time of popular music imaginable. Yes, they did disco (”Voulez-Vous,” “Gimme, Gimme, Gimme,” and the pounding “Summer Night City”), but they also did Latin-flavored folk tunes (”Fernando” and “Chiquitita”), pure pop ballads (the heartbreaking “The Winner Takes It All,” the last of their four U.S. top 10 pop hits and also a #1 Adult Contemporary single, as was “Fernando”), synthesizer rock (”The Visitors”), even German klezmer-ish music (”I Do, I Do…”). Simply put, ABBA could take any genre of music and make it their own, with fun and often quirky arrangements and intricate harmonies. Bjorn and Benny were (and still are) musical geniuses, and Frida and Agnetha were blessed with two of the most beautiful voices ever to grace vinyl. If Agnetha’s powerful performance on “The Winner Takes It All” doesn’t tug at your heartstrings, you have ice water running through your veins.
The Definitive Collection
