The Swedish pop group ABBA is the most successful Eurovision Song Contest winner ever, yet little has been written about how they created and recorded their hits. Now, ABBA fans can look forward to a new “bible” about the secrets of the group’s recording history.
‘The history book on the shelf, is always repeating itself’ – new edition of the 1994 book
The well-known ABBA author Carl Magnus Palm has started a new crowdfunding project to release the book ABBA: The Complete Recording Sessions in a completely revised, updated and expanded edition. During the last 20 years, a lot of new information about ABBA’s recordings is known, as they have all been transferred to digital format.
The new edition will feature more details on exactly how ABBA wrote and recorded their music, including classic hits such as ‘Waterloo’, ‘Mamma Mia’, ‘Dancing Queen’, ‘Knowing Me, Knowing You’ and ‘The Winner Takes It All’. The book will also shed light on the many unreleased and alternate recordings by the group throughout the 70’s and early 80’s.
For more than 20 years Carl Magnus Palm has been researching and writing about ABBA, and he is considered an international authority on their history. In 1994, his first ABBA book, ABBA: The Complete Recording Sessions was published. It contained background stories on how ABBA wrote and recorded their music, based on interviews with all four ABBA members and key persons, that worked with ABBA in the studio. It was the first serious attempt to write a book about the group’s music and it was extremely well received in the fan communities. After that, Carl Magnus Palm has written several books about ABBA, including the in-depth biography ABBA: Bright Lights, Dark Shadows.
Hardcover edition of the book is a collector’s dream
Carl Magnus Palm invites everyone who love ABBA, to support the campaign and spread the word about it. He speaks about his dedication to write the book. “I’ve long been itching to publish an updated edition of ABBA: The Complete Recording Sessions, and ABBA fans have let me know on a regular basis that this is something they would like to see as well”. He has been authorised by ABBA’s record company, Polar Music International/ Universal Music, and ABBA members Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson to listen to more unreleased music, alternate takes, and alternate mixes. The scope of the book has also been expanded to feature a lot more information about ABBA and their music: how it was packaged, received by the critics, and much more.
The crowdfunding campaign offers two formats of the book: a printed hardcover version and a digital ebook version. The goal is to have the book published before the end of 2016.
In addition to offering completely new information about ABBA, all hardback copies of the book will be personally signed by the author, with a personal dedication. Because of the low number of copies presently scheduled to be printed, it seems the hardback version of the book will be rarest of rare ABBA books, the ultimate collector’s item.
The crowdfunding campaign lasts until 8th of April. Pre-order your copy of the book and support the project on the Indiegogo page.
Watch Carl Magnus Palm speak about the book:
Listen to a rare version of ABBA performing ‘Waterloo’ with alternate lyrics as a BBC Radio 1 jingle: