The Definitive Collection

When you hear the term "Europop," this is the canon from whence the term sprang. With a continental sense of vocal neo-classicism, informed by just the right ethnic cliches (and oft wed to the era's insistent 4/4 disco beat) to make songs like "Mama Mia", "Fernando", "Chiquitita" and "Voulez-Vous" work on a global scale, the writing team of Bjorn Ulvaeus/Benny Anderson and their respective partners in music and life, Agnetha Faltskog and Frida Lyngstad, developed the seamless, wall-of-sound productions contained herein. Definitive Collection features a rare single remix of "Ring, Ring" and a 1979 promo-only extended mix of "Voulez-Vous" as bonus tracks, as well as a concise, illustrated history of the band and each track. --Jerry McCulley

This 2CD set takes us chronologically through Abba's history. There are four tracks which precede the historic 'Waterloo' Eurovision winner. You can sense that the group are still feeling their way towards a defining formula even after that 1974 victory. To my ear, it's only when they created 'SOS' (track #9 here) that they found the correct gear, and from then on they never looked back. Abba stood for very high production values, attractive videos, middle-of-the-road pop and wholly inoffensive lyrics. (As revealed in the sleevenotes, Bjorn was always more concerned with the sound of a word than its meaning.) From that point, the lead vocals on all the singles would always be performed by the girls. Abba absorbed disco, but never pretended to be creating black music.

My favourite Abba song is one of the last, 'One of Us', which has many flaws but a gorgeously plaintive chorus. Agnetha really meant those words as she sang them on the video. It was 1981, the band was nearing the end, and even I fancied her now.

To people who haven't already purchased an Abba CD, I cannot recommend this highly enough. The remastered sound is excellent, bringing out the acoustic guitar particularly well. And the accompanying booklet is informative and contains some pretty photos, without ever saying which is of Bjorn and which is of Benny. Newcomers like me can get confused, but I guess it doesn't ultimately matter.


BEST COMPILATION...SO FAR   October 31, 2001
17 out of 17 found this review helpful

Without a doubt,this has to be the best ABBA compilation in the UK so far.Never before has the entire catalogue of British single releasesbeen available in one collection.The 1974 remix of RING RING is included for the first time,having never been available on any of their British album releases.This version was the only one to chart over here,as a follow up to WATERLOO. The extended remix of VOULEZ-VOUS is a dream for any die-hard ABBA fan,also never released in the UK. The edited version of EAGLE differs from the version on MORE ABBA GOLD, and this would make a great belated single release, 23 years after originally intended. Glad to see the full version of THE NAME OF THE GAME re-appear,but still no extended version of ON AND ON AND ON,as yet only available on THE VIDEO HITS. All in all this album chronicles ten years of unforgettable songs which are as popular today as they ever were.


still a good excuse to have this...   October 7, 2001
22 out of 23 found this review helpful

some fans might think this is overkill - another compilation? we already have "gold", "more gold", "thank you for the music" and "the singles collection" what do we need another one for?
"the definitive collection" puts abba's singles in an international perspective - some tracks released exclusively to one or two territories(ie: honey honey - which was released in the u.s. after waterloo and peaked at 30 and was released as a single as well in germany). the cd also contains liner notes by carl magnus palm - the single most authoritative "abba historian" todate.
to sweeten the pot: 2 bonus tracks: the us remix of "ring ring" appearing originally in the us version of waterloo and the extended dance version of voulez-vous. while there's no certainty that this would be the last compilation released of the group's hits, it's still worthwhile having - until another one comes along...who knows there might be one featuring "just like that" a few years from now?


This is the real "Abba Gold"!   September 9, 2003
9 out of 9 found this review helpful

Although there are rich pickings on the massive selling "Abba Gold" there are greater treasures here - basically all the singles they ever released anywhere in the world! What better option for the individual keen to purchase the very best of Abba?


Definitive, two-disk over-view of ABBA, 1972-1982.   July 30, 2005
Jonathan James Romley (Dublin, Ireland)
24 out of 27 found this review helpful

It's a shame that Abba are sometimes dismissed as mere purveyors of camp, cabaret pop, with most fans unable to get past the dodgy fashions and elaborate stage-routines that have since become an anachronism in these days of homogenised, corporate rock for children. If I were Benny or Bjorn, I'd be rather insulted by the continual focus on the glitz and glamour, with most music critics refusing to acknowledge the gorgeous melodies, impeccable instrumental work and lyrical themes that cut deeper than the bouncy choruses and stilted delivery would suggest, which really defined the Abba sound.

This collection brings together all of Abba's most-recognisable hit-singles released over the course of their ten-year career, moving largely in chronological order, from the naive Europop of songs like People Need Love, Love Isn't Easy (But It Sure Is Hard Enough) and their breakthrough Eurovision piece, Waterloo, through to more recognisable hits like Fernando, Mamma Mia, Dancing Queen, Knowing Me Knowing You and Voulez-Vous, right the way through to the more sombre stuff, like The Winner Takes It All, Lay All Your Love On Me and The Day Before You Came. Each of the songs demonstrate Benny and Bjorn's musical progression from entertaining but not all that jaw-dropping pop in the early 70's pub-rock tradition, through to something much more vital and progressive, with more emphasis on layered instrumentation, melodious arrangements and creative production.

What's always more impressive, in my opinion at least, are the lyrics, with the two young songwriters seeming more than able to write from the male and female perspectives, creating mini-narratives that deal in real-life issues like love and loss (and often deeper social concerns as well), all shot through with a sense of cabaret abstraction and cinematic bombast. The use of music is always complementary to the subject of the lyrics, for example the bobbing hooks and rhythmic key-changes in Dancing Queen, the use of the militia drum and more antique instrumentation in Fernando, the continual shifting between major chords and minor chords to convey the emotional uncertainty of a bitter song like Knowing Me, Knowing You, and so on.

Not that you have to read so much into the songs to really enjoy them, though... it just goes to show that there was much more to Abba's magic than silly costumes and an inability to see the funny side of their on-stage personas. As storytellers, Benny and Bjorn are amongst the most important to ever put their words to music... creating narratives and musical characters that are as vital and as memorable as anything by Dylan or the Beatles. And their words and musical notations are brought wonderfully to life by the inter-weaving vocals of Anni-Frid and Agnetha, and the varied, hook-heavy instrumentation of Benny, Bjorn and their numerous collaborators. The production and engineering of their records began to become much more varied and sonically-defined around the time of their "Abba" album, particularly on songs like Mamma Mia and then becoming even more impressive, both musically and lyrically, on their next album, Arrival (which many consider to be their best), with firm-favourites like Dancing Queen and abovementioned Knowing Me further illustrating the progression they'd made over the first few years of their career.

The disco period that followed towards the end of the 70's wasn't my favourite period of the band's history (I suppose you had to be there), but it did give us a collection of memorable tracks, the best amongst them including the epic, and not at all disco sounding Eagle, the pure chic-disco-madness of Voulez-Vous and the admittedly camp, Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (as with Knowing Me, Knowing You... this would become better-known as the title and theme to a BBC2 comedy series).

My favourite period of Abba takes up most of disc-2, the period in which the relationships between the band members had turned sour, and Benny and Bjorn decided to show this by writing some gorgeous pop songs about heart-break, loneliness and despair. The Winner Takes It All is a gorgeous song about divorce, with a fantastic operatic vocal performance from Agnetha and some lovely use of the piano. This was the era of another of their classic album, Super Trouper, with the title-track here illustrating everything that was great about the band (lovely melody, great performance, intelligent arrangements filled with a barrage of hooks, and those beautifully melancholic lyrics). This leads us into the synth-era of Abba, with a song like On and On and On owing more to the British electro-pop scene of the early 80's, whilst classic track Lay All Your Love On Me features a gloomy orchestral arrangement performed entirely on synthesisers.

This takes us into the era surrounding their final album, the often-discredited Visitors, which had a much darker sound to undercut the perfect pop melodies and the surprisingly minimal arrangements. One of Us is still one of the finest songs Abba ever produced, and is perfectly complimented by the similarly great When All Is Said and Done (another contender for my favourite Abba song of all time). The title track from that album points more towards the social, rather than the personal, with Benny and Bjorn dealing with themes of war and political upheaval during the time of the conflict in the Soviet Union, and also has similar ties with the very last Abba single, Under Attack.

The collection draws to a close with the Abba anthem, Thank You For the Music (which I'm not that fond of personally) and two bonus cuts of Ring Ring and Voulez-Vous. All in all, this is a great (and definitive) collection of Abba's brief ten-years of world domination, and some of the finest examples of pure-pop music you're ever likely to find.