Abba: The Definitive Collection [DVD]

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Records that aren't in picture sleeves will either be in a company sleeve or a generic plain sleeve. Most of the videos were made by award-winning director Lasse Hallstrom, who today is well-known for movies such as My Life As A Dog, What's Eating Gilbert Grape and The Cider House Rules. There’s also the weird shoulder-leading Greek/Russian dance the girls do, and the scene of the four riding around in a convertible, which does always remind me of Liza Minelli and Michael York tooling around in Cabaret. Its almost like they have put most of the well known songs on here in poor quality and buried the rest in the archives which is a disgrace.

The DVD also has it's very bitter-sweet flavour as we watch the results of two happy couples breaking up while all this great music was being made. Yes, I am an unabashed ABBA fan for the simple reason that the time and effort put into the composition, arrangement, and recording of these pop songs is out of all proportion to their importance as music, giving them a life of their own that is far beyond what even their composers could have imagined.Over the years I have played ABBA when I am feeling down ,they always help, especially lately to help with grief (that's knocked me for six). Fernando, Dancing Queen, Take A Chance On Me, The Winner Takes It All and Super Trouper are as loved today as they were when the four Swedes rules the charts worldwide. One amazing thing about these close-up shots is that, despite wearing makeup, you see a lot of imperfections that you would never be allowed to see in today’s videos. Happy New Year”, filmed in Hallstrom’s apartment, is a depressing video, and the first real sign that the end is near. In addition, they wouldn’t even have to appear at TV studios to lip synch performances if they could just send a film clip in their stead.

We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. VG/EX means that the item's sleeve is in Very Good condition and the disc is in Excellent condition. So join Agnetha, Benny, Bjorn, and Anni-Frid--a dazzling blond quartet--on their journey through pop ascension. The DVD also includes “When I Kissed the Teacher”, a clip for a song not released a single, three Spanish language versions of videos, and a version of “Dancing Queen” lip synched at the gala tribute to Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf on the eve of his wedding. The group dresses in baroque outfits that hearken back to the bizarre threads of their earliest days, bringing the whole thing full circle.You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. Anyway, the songs need little commendation from me, watch, enjoy and wonder afresh why the late masterpiece 'Day before you came' wasn't as big a hit as most of the singles that preceded it. As a musician and an amateur music producer, I can appreciate the incredible complexities of the music and the 'Wall of Sound' production style that they used. You can see the change in the way they interact with each other, even in the staged settings of the various videos. Under Attack”, filmed in a warehouse, has a claustrophobic feeling and ends with the four ABBA members walking, backs to the camera, out of the warehouse and into the light.