ABBA Magazine #41

Issue number 41 of the ABBA Magazine was published in November 1981. The majority of the magazine was taken up with an interview with Bjorn who talked about his dog ("Roddie"), his boat (included on the front cover) and his recent holidays.

The reader offer in this edition was for the 1982 ABBA Calendar which was priced at a very reasonable £3.50 for those in the UK.

The back cover includes a picture of Agnetha..

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Collection Update - 3" Agnetha CD Single

This has been a bumper week for Agnetha CD singles - not only did I receive her latest single a few days ago but I also just bought a 3" CD single of "The Last Time". The single was released on the WEA record label and included an extended remix lasting just under seven minutes.

 

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ABBA Date - 29th November 1974

On the 29th November 1974 ABBA released their latest single "So Long" in the UK. Although the single was not a hit in the UK (it was the only one not to make it into the top 50) it was a hit in Austria (No. 3), Sweden (No. 7) and Germany (No. 11). A rage of images were used for the single cover in different countries some of which are shown below...

 

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Alternative Single Covers #3 - "I Have A Dream"

Here are pictures of ABBA's "I Have A Dream" single which is part of a batch I bought from eBay with alternative covers. As with the regular single the b-side is the live version of "Take A Chance On Me" recorded at Wembley in 1979.

The back of the cover includes another picture of the group together with a mention of the "Voulez-Vous" and "Greatest Hits Vol 2" albums.

 

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Collection Update - Agnetha CD Single

I have just received Agnetha's new CD single for the track "The One Who Loves You Now" - pictures below...

 

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Collection Update - ABBA Laserdisc

A recent addition to my collection is laserdisc from 1980 with the title "Stig Anderson presents ABBA". Although I have no way of ever playing the disc from what I can find on the internet the track list is as follows-

 

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ABBA Magazine #40

The 40th issue of the ABBA Magazine was published in October 1981 and focused on an interview with Benny who mentioned a number of new songs which had been completed for ABBA's next album including "Two For The Price Of One", "Slipping Through My Fingers" and "When All Is Said And Done".

In the editorial section of the the magazine there is a mention that the 12" version of "Lay All Your Love On Me" was the first to reach the Top 10 in the UK. There was also mention of Micke B Tretow's group Caramba and their single "Habba Habba Zoot Zoot".

The second major article covers some of the people involved in ensuring that ABBA and their video's appear on TV to ensure maximum impact.

As with the previous few issues of the magazine there is another one of Frida's "jazzABBAcise" sections...

This issues "Special Offer" was for the 1982 ABBA Annual which at that time would have cost only £3 plus £2.50 postage and packing.

Agnetha Single Review

Just read a nice review of Agnetha's single "I Should've Followed You Home" on idolator.com - click the image below to go to the website...

 

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Flipboard "Abba Fans Magazine"

As well as updating my blog I also post the entries to a Flipboard magazine called "Abba Fans Magazine". Earlier today the Flipboard twitter account mentioned the magazine including a #MagsWeLove tag...

For anyone who doesn't use Flipboard it allows you to view news feeds from multiple sources in a single app. Here are a selection of pages from the app showing the entries from the blog.

 

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Alternate Single Covers #2 - "One Of Us"

The second single I bought from eBay recently with alternate covers was "One Of Us" from 1981. I prefer this cover to the official version which I never thought represented the song very well.

The back of the cover includes a mention of "The Visitors" album as well as another picture of the group from that period.

 

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ABBA Date - 17th November 1979

On the 17th November 1979 ABBA's latest album "Greatest Hist Vol. 2" hit the number 1 spot on the UK album charts where it stayed for 3 weeks. In getting to the number 1 place on the chart the album replaced "Tusk" by Fleetwood Mac and was later replaced by Rod Stewart's "Greatest Hits Vol. 1".

The album spent a total of 63 weeks in the UK album chart and was the 8th biggest selling album of 1979 and the 17th biggest selling album of 1980. This was ABBA's second number 1 album of 1979 - "Voulez-Vouz" had been at the top of the charts earlier in the year and was the 4th biggest selling album of 1979.

The album returned to the number 1 spot in the chart on the 12th January 1980 which meant that ABBA again had two number one albums in a single year when "Super Trouper" (the biggest selling album of 1980) hit the charts later in the year.

The album was also a huge success in Japan where it was the biggest selling album by a non-domestic artist until Michael Jasons's "Thriller" was released in the 1980s.

Abba Magazine #39

Abba Magazine number 39 was published in September 1981 - not a huge amount of actual news appeared in this issue although there is a mention of the 12" version of "Lay All Your Love On Me" doing well in the UK charts during August.

The first main article covers the work of the CBS Press Relations department and the work they did to keep ABBA in the press as well as holding screening events for TV specials and ensuring that pre-release copies of new albums were made available for review.

There is then a section on a "Poster Art Competition" which the magazine had run showing the winning entries - having had a look at these there were quite a few which were linked to "The Winner Takes It All" video.

The magazine was also running a special offer featuring an ABBA clock and a picture plaque - both of which could be purchased in the UK for £26.50 which seems fairly expensive now never mind in 1981.

Of special interest to me was a full page advert for "Adrians" record store - back in the 80's I used to order records from them and I can remember buying "Dame! Dame! Dame" as well as some imports from Japan. As this advert reminded me of them I have just checked on-line and they are still around (adrians.co.uk) and still have a good stock of ABBA items for sale.

As usual the magazine had some new pictures of the group including the one below which I think was from the TV special they had just filmed.

Agnetha's "A" Back In Amazon Top 40

Following Agnetha's appearance on Children In Need Rocks with Gary Barlow last night her album "A" moved from number 161 on the UK Amazon Album chart to number 40.

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ABBA Date - 15th November 1975

On the 15th November 1975 ABBA appeared on the US television program "American Bandstand" where they were interviewed by the host Dick Clark and performed "SOS" and "I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do".

 

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ABBA Date - 14th November 1975

On the 14th November 1975 ABBA released their latest single "Mamma Mia" which returned them to the top of the UK singles chart and started their run of number 1 hits. The image below shows a number of the different covers which were used in various countries for the single.

The table below shows the top 5 selling singles in the UK from the week of 31st Jan 1976 - having spent several weeks sitting at the number 3 spot "Mamma Mia" finally replaced Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" at the top of the charts where it stayed until the 13th of February.

The single also hit the number one position in a number of other countries including Australia, Germany, Ireland and Switzerland.

Agnetha Back On Stage...

Agnetha on stage with Gary Barlow during the Children In Need Rocks concert...

 

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Billboard Magazine - ABBA Reunion Story

Billboard Magazine' website mentions the latest ABBA reunion story - to view the article click the image below...

 

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Collection Update - "The Magic Of ABBA"

The latest album I have added to my collection is "The Magic Of ABBA" which was released in Australia on the K-TEL record label.

 

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ABBA Date - 10th November 1975

On the 10th November 1975 Polar released Frida's latest solo album "Frida Ensam" ("Frida Alone") which was produced by Benny. The album (which contained the original version of "Fernando") was a big hit in Sweden spending 6 weeks at the top of the album chart.

 

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ABBA Magazine #38

Time for another look back at one of the ABBA Magazines from the 80s - this week it is issue number 38 which was published in August 1981. The front cover shows Agnetha and Bjorn in "Super Trouper" t-shirts with the back cover showing Benny and Frida from the same shot.

The majority of the magazine is taken up with an interview with Micke Tretow which runs across seven pages. The interview mostly covers his work with various Polar recording artists as well as discussing some of the stuidio equipment which was being used at the time. He does however reveal that the "B" in Micke B Tretow is short for "Bo".

The next piece provides various updates including the release of some "Super Trouper" chewing gum and confirmation of a number of new tracks which ABBA have recorded for their next album including "When All Is Said And Done", "Slipping Through My Fingers" and "Two From The Price Of One".
The article also mentions the 12" version of "Lay All Your Love On Me" which was released in Europe and "On And On And On" which was climbing up the US charts at the time. Additionally there is a note that ABBA picked up an award from the "American Guild Of Variety Artists" for "Vocal Group Of The Year 1981".

The next section provides some of Frida's jazz exercise moves which she had used during her performance of "Why Did It Have To Be Me" during the 1979 tour.

The last major section of the magazine provides readers with the chance to buy Agnetha's album "Tio Ar Med Agnetha" which had been released by her old record company CBS Cupol. The magazine was offering the album (and a poster) to UK readers for £6 which seems like a good deal !

As usual the magazine includes some nice colour pictures of the group - the back cover shows the Benny / Friday section of the image from the front page.

ABBA Date - 8th November 1982

On the 8th November "ABBA The Singles - The First Ten Years" was released in the UK where it hit the number 1 spot in the album chart on the 27th November. This was ABBA's second number 1 album in 1982 as "The Visitors" was at the top of the charts in January.

As well as the regular version of the album Epic released a limited edition box set which included picture disk versions of the albums.

 

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