ABBA: The Book [Paperback]

Jean-Marie Potiez (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2003

Worldwide, ABBA is the second biggest-selling band of all time, surpassed only by The Beatles. Now, ABBA: The Book presents the incredible story of four Swedish folk singers who went on to become one of the most influential pop groups of all time. Spanning their entire career, and featuring 250 color photos, this is the definitive book for all fans.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Reading ‘ABBA: The Book’ is like visiting a lost and very sweet paradise.” -- Newsday

About the Author

Jean-Marie Potiez is an Aurum Press author.

Product Details

• Paperback: 264 pages
• Publisher: Aurum Press (September 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1854109286
• ISBN-13: 978-1854109286
• Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 9.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,159,325 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Your coffee table needs this book., December 11, 2000

By 

T. Kavanagh "tony" (Ireland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Abba: The Book (Hardcover)

Jean-Marie Potiez has produced a wonderful book. The fantastic photos (many of which have not previously been published) are worth the price of the book alone. The photos must have been very carefully selected: they are all, unfailingly, flattering and the band never look less than achingly glamorous. The informative and enjoyable commentary, pieced together from a mind-boggling number of interviews, is clearly a labour of love and there are many surprisingly revealing and poignant quotes. Particularly sweet (and, ultimately, sad, given the couple's subsequent history) is Frida's statement that the best thing that ever happened to her was Benny, not ABBA. The history of the ultimate pop group is traced on a year-by-year basis, from the mid 1960s, following the pre-ABBA careers of each member, through the romantic encounters, to the Eurovision win, to the will-we-ever-have-another-hit? tension, to (phew!) world domination. Every step is lavishly illustrated with great photos. ABBA's story reads like a film script - humble beginnings, beautiful people in love, amazing talent, runaway success leading to a heartbreaking denoument. There is even a 'where are they now?' epilogue. This book wipes the floor with Potiez's video documentary of the band ("Thank you ABBA"). While it will certainly be a treasured luxury for ABBA's huge army of fans, this excellent book will also be of interest to anybody with an interest in perfect pop.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THANK YOU FOR THE BOOK!, October 17, 2000

By 

"johnrocker74" (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Abba: The Book (Hardcover)

What can I say! This is simply amazing. Finally we get not one but two high quality, excellent books about the best pop band of all time. If you are an ABBA fan this (along with "From ABBA to Mamma Mia") is A MUST.

The pictures are simply FANTASTIC. They range from the pre-ABBA years (late 60s and early 70s), to the ABBA days and beyond. Most of the pictures will be familiar to the ABBA fanatics, but there are enough new and previously unpublished pictures to make this tome worth while. The quality of the book (paperstock, hardcover, glossy pictures etc) is excellent, as it should be for a group of ABBA's status. The information is nothing we haven't read before, but the author has done an excellent job in combining the best material from several other ABBA books. There are no new revelations, but overall we get a well researched and accurate history of the group that redifined pop music.

I strongly recommend this book to everyone. ABBA fans, if you don't have this book already, SHAME ON YOU! To the causual pop collector, you have to get this book along with the ABBA Gold cd, otherwise you collection will be incomplete.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A celebratory tribute, December 26, 2003

By 

Peter Durward Harris "Pete the music fan" (Leicester England) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Abba: The Book (Hardcover)

Abba remain hugely popular in Britain and many other countries more than twenty years after they disbanded. This book is not an in-depth study of the different personalities and their difficulties, but it gives plenty of information about the members of Abba and their manager, including their lives before and after Abba. And (at least in my hardcover edition) there are pictures - plenty of them.

Regarding the four members of Abba, three of them (Benny, Bjorn and Agnetha) were born and raised in Sweden, all apparently having fairly normal childhoods, only their musical talent setting them apart from others. All three became hugely successful in the Swedish pop charts, Agnetha as a solo singer, Benny and Bjorn as members of separate groups.

The odd one out was Anni-Frid, better known as Frida. She was born in Norway as the illegitimate child of a German father and Norwegian mother. Frida was mainly raised by her grandmother, who took her to Sweden, where her mother joined them but died of illness a few months later, aged just 21. Frida also found it much harder than the others to achieve success in music, but she did eventually have some big Swedish hits of her own.

The author presents the main years (1969 to 1982) on a year-by-year basis, explaining the different events that occurred in each year - records, tours, TV, their personal lives - in a semi-diary format.

As far as the music is concerned, the story is quite complicated and not always easy to follow, but that is no fault of the author. Before they became Abba, they were four separate acts, each with their own careers and signed to different record companies. Once they came together as Abba, different things were happening in Japan, Australia, Germany, Sweden and elsewhere with different records - even before 1974. That was the year that Abba won Eurovision and charted for the first time in Britain and America.

There have been many books on Abba and will surely be many more. Despite being a huge Abba fan, this is the first I've read. If you're only going to have one book on Abba, it might as well be this one.