ABBA's 30th Anniversary next month: new DVD and CDs

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LittleBummerBoy · #1 Post by **LittleBummerBoy** » Wed 03 Mar 2004, 11:07 am

ABBA In Concert released on DVD

• The complete concert film on DVD for the first time
• Three rare bonus performances
• Interviews with ABBA’s tour promoter and the film’s director
• Fully illustrated booklet with extensive essay

Compared to their top-level competition on the international rock music scene in the 1970s, ABBA made very few international concert tours. Their only major outings were the 1977 tour of Europe and Australia and then the tour of North America and Europe in 1979. This last tour was made into a film, ABBA In Concert, which vividly captures the four Swedes on stage at the height of their fame. ABBA In Concert will be released on DVD for the very first time at the end of March 2004, and comes with a number of rare bonus performances, one of which has never been seen before.

The documentary scenes in ABBA In Concert, offering an intimate look at the group’s life on the road, were filmed in the United States in September and October 1979. The sparkling concert performances were captured at Wembley Arena in London, England, in November. ABBA In Concert, a co-production between Sveriges Television and Polar Music International, was directed by television producer Urban Lasson. The film was first broadcast in Japan in March 1980, and has been seen all over the world since then.

This new DVD version of ABBA In Concert comes with three bonus performances, filmed in conjunction with the television special. The Way Old Friends Do was a part of the film when ABBA In Concert was broadcast in Japan and the United States, but was not included elsewhere. I Have A Dream was featured in ABBA In Concert, but in the film the performance is interrupted by rehearsal footage. This bonus track version is the complete version of the song, without the rehearsals. Thank You For The Music, finally, has never been seen anywhere before – the filmed performance was not even edited at the time – and is an exclusive feature on this DVD.

The ABBA In Concert DVD contains brand new interviews with ABBA’s trusted promoter and tour producer, Thomas Johansson, and with the director of the film, Urban Lasson. In the interviews, Johansson and Lasson share their memories of the 1979 tour and the making of ABBA In Concert. The DVD will also feature a picture gallery and trailers. The booklet for ABBA In Concert is fully illustrated and features a 5,500-word essay by Carl Magnus Palm.

Avalon · #2 Post by **Avalon** » Wed 03 Mar 2004, 12:11 pm

But the question is: will it also include the Abbacadabra movie?

LittleBummerBoy · #3 Post by **LittleBummerBoy** » Wed 03 Mar 2004, 3:49 pm

Avalon wrote:But the question is: will it also include the Abbacadabra movie?

What's that? You don't mean Abba: The Movie? If you're waiting patiently for that to appear on DVD then the ABBA camp don't seem to be in a hurry. Read this, from last December:

ABBA’s classic 1977 feature film was celebrated as part of the Swedish Film Institute’s restoration programme and the Institute’s 40th Anniversary celebrations.

ABBA – The Movie, Lasse Hallström’s 1977 feature film made during ABBA’s tour of Australia, has recently been restored and received a special gala screening yesterday at the Swedish Film Institute in Stockholm. The screening, which was a part of the Film Institute’s 40th Anniversary celebrations, was attended by former ABBA members Frida and Benny, who both thoroughly enjoyed the event. ”I think it’s fantastic that the Film Institute looks after these movies and renovate them so that they can be preserved the way they originally were,” Frida told a television reporter.

The screening of the movie was preceded by an opening speech by Åse Kleveland, the Director General of the Film Institute. This was followed by a short lecture by Anita Falk, in charge of the Institute’s restoration project, who told the audience about the work done on ABBA – The Movie. Swedish TV personality Pekka Heino then introduced the film and invited guests on to the floor to ask them questions about ABBA in general and The Movie in particular. Among the interviewed guests were Frida, who shared some of her memories of the 1977 Australian adventure, Claes af Geijerstam, sound engineer on the tour, and Maritza Horn, one of three backing vocalists in ABBA’s tour entourage.

Much to the delight of the audience, costume designer Owe Sandström had brought along some of his costumes from the 1977 tour, including one of the wigs used during the mini-musical The Girl With The Golden Hair.

Among other members of ABBA’s inner circle in attendance at the screening were backing vocalist Lena-Maria Gårdenäs, guitarist Janne Schaffer, former Polar Music Vice President Görel Hanser and photographer Anders Hanser.

The restored version of ABBA - The Movie will be used when Polar Music International/Universal Music release the film on DVD. This release is currently scheduled to occur within the next few years.

bigboy · #4 Post by **bigboy** » Thu 18 Mar 2004, 11:36 am

March 2004: Waterloo 30th anniversary edition - return of classic ABBA album

ABBA’s first international album re-released with additional bonus tracks and DVD of television performances.

• The complete original album, re-released in April 2004
• Five bonus tracks, including Waterloo performed in Swedish, German and French
• Bonus DVD with rare television appearances, including ABBA’s performance of Waterloo at the Eurovision Song Contest
• Fully illustrated 20-page booklet with extensive essay and memorabilia

On April 6, 2004, it is exactly 30 years since ABBA won the Eurovision Song Contest with their zestful performance of ‘Waterloo’. To celebrate this anniversary, a Deluxe Edition of ABBA’s original Waterloo album will be released. This edition of the album extends the original LP to contain no less than five bonus tracks, including the Swedish, German and French versions of ‘Waterloo’. Every different language version of ‘Waterloo’ is now available on one and the same disc.

The 30th Anniversary Edition of Waterloo also comes with a bonus DVD, containing four rare television performances of songs featured on the album. First out is the English language version of ‘Waterloo’, as performed in the Eurovision Song Contest in Brighton, England on April 6, 1974. Then follows the performance taken from the Swedish selection for the Eurovision Song Contest in February 1974. The DVD concludes with two television appearances from May of that year: a performance of ‘Honey, Honey’ from the West German television show Star Parade, and ‘Hasta Maсana’, as performed in the Spanish show Seсoras y Seсores. The clips capture ABBA at their glammest and most enthusiastic, and offer an invaluable look into just how incomprehensibly zany television could be in the mid-1970s. Not to be missed!

The 30th Anniversary Edition of Waterloo is released as a Deluxe Edition digipak, and comes with a fully illustrated booklet, featuring pictures, rare single sleeves, memorabilia, and a 3,000-word essay by Carl Magnus Palm.

HISTORY OF THE ALBUM:

Waterloo was originally released in Sweden on March 4, 1974. It reached Number One in Sweden and Norway, the Top Ten in West Germany, Finland and Zimbabwe, and the Top 20 in Australia.

TRACK LISTING, CD:

1. Waterloo
2. Sitting In The Palmtree
3. King Kong Song
4. Hasta Maсana
5. My Mama Said
6. Dance (While The Music Still Goes On)
7. Honey, Honey
8. Watch Out
9. What About Livingstone
10. Gonna Sing You My Lovesong
11. Suzy-Hang-Around

BONUS TRACKS:

12. Ring Ring (US Remix 1974)
13. Waterloo (Swedish version)
14. Honey, Honey (Swedish version)
15. Waterloo (German version)
16. Waterloo (French version)

TRACK LISTING, DVD:

1. Waterloo (Eurovision Song Contest, BBC)
2. Waterloo (Melodifestivalen, SVT)
3. Honey, Honey (Star Parade, ZDF)
4. Hasta Maсana (Seсoras y Seсores, RTVE)

Technotrancemix · #5 Post by **Technotrancemix** » Thu 18 Mar 2004, 1:33 pm

do we really need this pile of poo hitting the shelves?

bigboy · #6 Post by **bigboy** » Thu 18 Mar 2004, 1:34 pm

Shut up. Abba are fabba than PSB

LittleBummerBoy · #7 Post by **LittleBummerBoy** » Mon 29 Mar 2004, 7:24 pm

Got the concert DVD today. Can't say the visual remastering is that great, to be honest

Avalon · #8 Post by **Avalon** » Mon 29 Mar 2004, 7:29 pm

LittleBummerBoy wrote:Got the concert DVD today. Can't say the visual remastering is that great, to be honest

The only thing that matters and the question that hangs from everybody's lips is: but does the blonde still look hot in those videos???

LittleBummerBoy · #9 Post by **LittleBummerBoy** » Tue 30 Mar 2004, 12:41 pm

Yes, I'd still shag her

LittleBummerBoy · #10 Post by **LittleBummerBoy** » Wed 05 May 2004, 4:36 pm

And who met three-quarters of a famous Swedish supergroup on their 30th anniversary last month?

One of the crowd · Wed 05 May 2004, 4:41 pm

LittleBummerBoy wrote:And who met three-quarters of a famous Swedish supergroup on their 30th anniversary last month?

Ace of Base? Are they still going?