About My Blog

I created this blog to help share ABBA information with other fans and to show off my new collection items :)


Please note: Collection item photos are from my own personal collection. These are not stock photos. If you wish to use any of my photos elsewhere, please have the courtesy to ask first - Thank you :)

Thursday 29 January 2015

ABBA The Museum Friend's Day - Book Now !

Hurray, the tickets to our Friend's Day are just released!

For 100 SEK we ensure you a day of fun and unique activities, for all ABBA fans and friend's. We hope to see you all here!

Tickets (under the catergory NEWS): http://www.abbathemuseum.com/en/shop-en

"We will reveal our biggest attraction since opening!
"A never before exhibited costume from 1973.
"(Preview and pre-purchase of fine art photos never exhibited before, by Calvero.)
"A unique walk through inside the Polar Studio, with guide. Competition; one happy person will also get to sing in the original studio and microphone!
"Get your own ABBA The Museum backstage pass/Friends Card. The card will give you special offers and discounts.
"Premiere of our curator's audio guide. An ABBA The Museum tour in depth.
"Mingle and drinks

The fan day at the museum will start around 3 p.m but all visitors are welcome earlier as well. We will be able to offer good pricing on hotels nearby, such as Melody Hotel and Hasselbacken Scandic. Keep posted for updates. A warm welcome and we hope to see you here!

Wednesday 28 January 2015

Pledge Now ! ABBA The Complete Recording Sessions

The return of the groundbreaking book, with more details on ABBA’s recording secrets, alternate takes and unreleased mixes.

Support this release and Pledge now !

Available only through this Kickstarter page!

PROJECT SUMMARY

My first ABBA book, ABBA – The Complete Recording Sessions, will be issued in a completely revised, updated and expanded edition. Originally published in 1994, this 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’. I've been authorised by Polar Music International/Universal Music (the group’s record company) and ABBA’s Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson to listen to more unreleased music. 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.

Please note: The book will only be published if it is successfully funded through this Kickstarter campaign.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1832368278/abba-the-complete-recording-sessions-revised-and-e



Thursday 15 January 2015

ABBA The Complete Recording Sessions - More Info

Two weeks 'til crowdfunding blast-off...

Published January 14, 2015
 
Today, it's exactly two weeks until the crowdfunding campaign for the revised, updated and expanded edition of ABBA - The Complete Recording Sessions kicks off. All the pieces are beginning to fall into place and I'm really looking forward to pushing the launch button. Here are a few random thoughts at this particular point in time.

THE NUMBER OF PAGES IN THE BOOK

As I hinted in my previous blog, my initial page count estimate proved to be insufficient. After discussing the matter with my designer and the printer, we're now looking at somewhere between 400 and 500 pages (originally I'd thought we'd land somewhere between 300 and 400). A little more than I had envisioned, then - but this is no time to compromise on the inclusion of interesting information about ABBA's recorded work, is it?

THANK YOU

Since I first announced the plans to publish an updated edition of ABBA - The Complete Recording Sessions about a month ago, I've had a fantastic reaction from the ABBA fan community. There is so much enthusiasm out there that I'm really overwhelmed. Some have even reached out and offered to help out with information and materials - to say that I'm touched and grateful is a gross understatement. Every author of ambitious factual books knows that there is no way you can do absolutely everything by yourself, you always rely on people helping out through enthusiasm for what you're trying to achieve and with no other reward than the gratitude of the author. I'd like to extend a warm thanks to everyone who has shown their support so far, whether through offering to help or simply showing their support for the project.

AND, FINALLY, A REMINDER...

More information about the updated version of ABBA - The Complete Recording Sessions can be found here. It's easy to be notified of updates about the book and the upcoming crowdfunding campaign by following me on Facebook or on Twitter. (If you're worried that you're going to be inundated with updates and tweets, fear not - I seldom post things not related to my work, and you will usually only hear from me a few times every week, at the most.)

Please keep on spreading the word about the crowdfunding campaign, which starts on 28 January: ABBA - The Complete Recording Sessions will only be published if the campaign succeeds.

http://www.carlmagnuspalm.com/blogs/abba-blog/two-weeks-til-crowdfunding-blast-off

ABBA - The Complete Recording Sessions - more about new features

Published January 11, 2015
These are interesting times at CMP headquarters.

As I revealed in my previous blog, Maria Nicholas has come on board as the designer for the revised, updated and expanded edition of ABBA - The Complete Recording Sessions. I have a few finished chapters of the book - finished in the sense that they have a structure, and a beginning, middle and end; there is still much information to be added to the texts. Earlier this week Maria took one of the chapters and created a sort of "test layout" for it. I learned two things from this: a) Maria knows what she's doing and the text looks really nice on the page, and b) there is no way this is going to be a 300-page book, as I thought might possibly be the case. We're looking at 400 pages - possibly more, but we'll see what happens as we fine-tune the page designs.
I certainly don't want this to turn into a massive, unmanageable book, so in order to keep the page count on a sensible level, some of the new features I intended to include in the book are now in jeopardy. After all, the story of ABBA's recording sessions, and how they created their music in general, is what this book is all about, so my number one priority will be to make sure that all those stories and details are included in the book.
That said, the features revealed in my previous blog will definitely remain. And another new feature that's also a sure-fire inclusion is the "sidebars", or "separate articles", focusing on interesting aspects related to ABBA as a musical entity. For instance, one such article could be entitled "Agnetha and Frida as vocalists". This article would focus on ABBA's two lead singers, their special qualities and methods, and so on. Another article could be "Janne Schaffer", giving the reader some background info on one of ABBA's most frequently used studio guitarists. If you have the original edition of ABBA - The Complete Recording Sessions, you will perhaps remember that the subjects mentioned as examples here are already featured in the text, but I think the book will benefit from presenting these indepth features as separate articles in the book - and with more detail, of course. I also have ideas for completely new themes to explore in these articles.

I will return with more information about the book in a future blog. As I'm writing this it's only 17 days until the crowdfunding campaign starts on Wednesday 28 January - exciting...!
More information about the updated version of ABBA - The Complete Recording Sessions can be found here. It's easy to be notified of updates about the book by following me on Facebook or on Twitter. (If you're worried that you're going to be inundated with updates and tweets, fear not - I seldom post things not related to my work, and you will usually only hear from me a few times every week, at the most.)

ABBA The Museum Friend's Day !



















  


We are very excited to be organizing a special day for our friends and fans!
The museum will be open only for you during this afternoon, March 13.
Tickets will be released for pre–purchase during January.
The day will include:

* We will reveal our biggest attraction since opening!
* A never before exhibited costume from 1973.
* Preview and pre-purchase of fine art photos never exhibited before, by Torbjörn Calvero....
* A unique walk through inside the Polar Studio, with guide.
* Competition; one happy person will also get to sing in the original studio and microphone!
* Get your own ABBA The Museum backstage pass/Friends Card. The card will give you special offers and discounts.
* Premiere of our curator’s audio guide. An ABBA The Museum tour in depth.
*Mingle and drinks


The day at the museum will start around 3 p.m but all visitors are welcome earlier as well.
We will be able to offer good pricing on hotels nearby, such as Hasselbacken Scandic and Melody Hotel.
Keep posted for updates.
A warm welcome and we hope to see you here!

https://www.facebook.com/#!/AbbaTheMuseum

http://www.abbathemuseum.com/en



 

Tuesday 13 January 2015

Frida & Dan Daniell '1865' Will Be On CD !

Frida & Dan's new song '1865' will be available in Digital format worldwide on 13 February 2015.

A CD version will be available in stores on 13 February 2015 - only available in Germany, Austria & Switzerland.

Official Pressrelease January 12th, 2015:

"Dan Daniell and former ABBA singer FRIDA present new song"

The Swiss singer and the Swedish/Norwegian world-star collaborate in the official song for the 150th anniversary of the legendary first ascent of the Matterhorn.

It is a story of heroism and tragedy: On July 14th 1865 the British mountaineer Edward Whymper was the first man to reach the top of the Swiss mountain the Matterhorn. But on the way down four of the seven men in his team lost their lives. The dramatic events surrounding the first ascent are legendary and introduced Zermatt – a small village at the bottom of the mountain – to the world. They also mark the beginning of modern alpinism and subsequently made Zermatt a famous ski resort. The 150th anniversary will be celebrated with a series of festivities and events in 2015.
Zermatt’s own Urs Biner presents the official song for the jubilee, “1865”. The owner of the gourmet restaurant “Chez Heini” is a renowned cook, author of several books, and a singer. He performs under the moniker Dan Daniell and has recorded several albums over the last twenty-five years. He sings the song together with a world-star: Anni-Frid „Frida“ Lyngstad, former member of the legendary Swedish pop group ABBA. “Of course it’s a dream come true”, says Dan, “she could sing with the biggest stars in the world, but she has chosen to sing with me – that’s quite an honour.” The song captures the drama of the chase to the top of the Matterhorn with a hymn-like song and very emotional lyrics – it is indeed the perfect soundtrack for an anniversary that will echo around the world.

“I will be 70 this year, that’s a good time to make things other than music”, Frida explains, “but I enjoyed being part of this. Though the story is very tragic, Edward Whymper and people like him fascinate me. Their message seems to be that if you never try anything you will never achieve anything. I identify with that in a strong way. When I was a child I was very shy – looking back I am amazed at the courage I had to perform all the singing competitions I took part in until I played in my first band. I simply knew I wanted to sing – in a way, music was my saviour.” The rest is history: Frida joined ABBA and became one of the most famous singers of all time.

But she has another reason to sing on “1865”. All proceeds of the sales go to Fridas and Dans’ foundation “Kinder in Not” (“Children in need”). The foundation gives money to small-scale projects in Switzerland that support children in need. “When I was very young and started to work as an actor I promised myself to give a big part of the money I’d be earning to children in need”, says Dan, “I love children very much – since I had a very safe and sheltered childhood I wanted to pass on some of the luck I had.”

Dans’ talents are manifold. The renowned chef is also the author of several books and a recording artist. In his restaurant, he combines cooking and singing and performs every night to celebrity guests like Phil Collins, Mick Hucknall and Robbie Williams. “Both cooking and singing are part of me – I want to show that. I know I am swimming against the tide, but that’s what I have always done. You swim much slower like that, but you get to see more.”

Frida is a frequent guest at “Chez Heini”, too. She has been living in Zermatt since her husband, Heinrich Ruzzo Prinz Reuß von Plauen, died in 1999. „In Zermatt I found my solitude in a different way because I became part of a community that took me to its heart just like I took it to my heart. I am what people call a celebrity – I have been talked about and gossiped and written about. People may recognize me here but my past isn’t important. That’s very liberating to me.”

The world star and the creative cook, the anniversary and the legendary tale, the song and the foundation: good ingredients for a project that will receive an echo not only from the ABBA-community but also around the world.

Worldwide digital release: February 13th, 2015

In stores (Germany, Austria, Switzerland): February 13th, 2015

Monday 5 January 2015

Agnetha Faltskog Lollipop Pics !

Some fabulous alternate shots from Agnetha's 'lollipop' shoot.

With thanks to Andy Ball for sharing these images :)

I am thinking the photographer was enjoying this session a little too much ! lol

















Suzi Quatro Big ABBA Fan !

FAMOUS ABBA FANS TALK: SUZI QUATRO


QUOTE: “Beethoven 'was' the pop writer for the classical era. ABBA were influenced by this. It’s in every song they ever wrote.”
 
Undoutably, Suzi Quatro broke down the barriers for many female rock stars with her
tough leather-clad look and catchy pop/rock tunes during the glam rock years of the
early 70s. A big ABBA fan herself, Suzi enthusiastically accepted the offer to join our
Famous ABBA Fans Gallery. With her fantastic cover of Does Your Mother Know that
she recently recorded, she certainly deserves her place in the ABBA annals. I met
Suzi at the Stag Studios in Essex (“It's a nice little studio. On my new box set there is
the track Desperado with Jeff Beck, and I recorded the piano and the vocals here”),
where she rehearsed for her upcoming BBC radio show in celebration of her 50 years
in the music business.
 
Read the complete article here: