Gold: Greatest Hits [Digipak]

Performer: ABBA
Distributor: Universal Distribution

Notes: ABBA: Bjorn Ulvaeus (vocals, guitar); Benny Andersson (vocals, keyboards); Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Agnetha Faltskog (vocals). Producers: Benny Andersson, Bjorn Ulvaeus. Compilation producer: Chris Griffin. Includes liner notes by John Tobler. Digitally remastered by Michael B. Tretow (Polar Studios). Includes a 12-page booklet with an essay by John Tobler. Bonus DVD contains GOLD GREATEST HITS DVD. ABBA: Bj�rn Ulvaeus (vocals, guitar); Benny Andersson (vocals, keyboards); Agnetha Faltskog, Anni-Frid Lyngstad (vocals). Liner Note Author: Carl Magnus Palm. In seemingly random order, GOLD contains fourteen of Abba's twenty American hits (the remainder are on MORE ABBA GOLD); which is to say, it contains fourteen of the most delectable pop productions of the '70s and early '80s. "Dancing Queen," "Waterloo," "Knowing Me, Knowing You" and the other landmarks of upbeat melancholy are complex concoctions--all layered harmonies and brilliant keyboard arrangements. These songs don't easily fit into any pop timeline, which may be why Abba received much of their acclaim long after breaking up. What may have seemed like Euro-pop fluff in its day, has been revealed by time to be truly classic studio pop. The Swedish band's songs had show-tune and '60s-pop roots, skirted around the edge of disco, and were an unspoken influence on new wave. Without them, Madonna's very existence would be highly unlikely. With its Latin beat and gospel harmonies, "Lay Your Love All Over Me," one of the five songs here that didn't chart in the U.S., sounds like the very source of "Like A Prayer." Like Madonna, Abba had a grandiose vision of pop's place in the world--"who could live without it, I ask in all honesty," is how they put it in "Thank You For The Music," their Broadway-like farewell gesture. Hearing these singles, its hard to imagine anyone ever did.

Rolling Stone (12/23/93, p.156) - "...these Swedes are a factor in the general revival of that silly decade, their giddiness a twist on the escapism that in more urgent form fueled disco and glam...." Q (10/00, p.154) - Included in Q's "Best Best Of... Albums Of All Time" - "...Confirms that Sweden's Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson made a Faustian pact circa 1972..." Musician (11/93, p.93) - "...ABBA proved slickness and seething passion could coexist...."

Not many pop groups end up on postage stamps, as Abba has in its native Sweden; but then again, few groups become their homeland's most identifiable export. The group's stratospheric success was built on a foundation of buoyant, exquisitely arranged and produced pop music. Although they called it a day in the early 1980s, Abba lives on in the form of popular tribute bands and albums, a Broadway musical, and consistent record sales of their voluminous catalog.

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