Customer Reviews

Abba: The Name of the Game

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Dear Mr Oldham,

your book is so full of mistakes that it makes the average ABBA-fan scream for justice. Here are just a few of your inaccuaracies:

You write: "No more carefree laughter..Agnetha sings mournfully on Knowing Me Knowing You"...well, it was Frida who sang lead on this one- a fact that was even mentioned in the liner notes on the "Arrival"-album.

You write:"At the end of their 1979 tour ABBA knew they would never tour again...well, Mr Oldham, tell me then, who toured Japan in spring the following year- impersonaters???

You write: Opus 10 died of boredom before delivery- but the one track they recorded for that album- I Am The City shows that ABBA had lost none of their vitality...well Opus 10 was never recorded because such a project didn't exist and I Am The City was recorded way back in 1982- and not in 1986.

Dear Mr Oldham, you don't even know the bare facts that one can look up in any "Gold" compilation inner sleeve. A man who doesn't even know who sang lead on the worldwide hit Knowing Me Knowing You is surely not the right person to write an in-depth biography.

Save time and effort next time !

I don't like this book at all! First of all, I don't think that interfering of the authors of the book into private lives of Agnetha, Frida, Benny and Bjorn was very nice of them. And then I don't think that these people really can know what they are talking about. I mean, it can be interesting to read about the behind-the scene lives of ABBA members but how can these people write what Agnetha was thinking about sitting alone in her hotel room? No one but Agnetha can know it , and I don't think it was she who told Andrew Oldham about her feelings. I suppose that the authors really did a big research before writing this book but there things they just couldn't know about. They give their idea of private lives of Frida, Agnetha, Bjorn and Benny, told some gossips and rumours but most of those things can't be proved. You may think that I think so `cause I'm ABBA fan and I just don't like reading some rather unpleasant things about the members of the group. It isn't so. Being ABBA fan I'm interested in knowing as much as possible about their lives, even if sometimes I don't like what I hear. But it should be facts, not rumours! Though I have to admit that this book can give you a lot of fun if you don't take it seriously! I gave it 2 stars only because of the pics. Some of them are really cute!

To this day, the original Swedish Fab Four -ABBA- remain one of Europe's most popular music groups. Not bad for a group that hasn't recorded together in over 15 years. Their albums continue to sell well, especially in the UK, where their ABBA Gold/More ABBA Gold albums have remained in the top 40 album charts for close to 5 years! And with the success of the smash London musical Mamma Mia!, co-produced by Bjorn Ulvaeus and chock full of ABBA's greatest hits, which has played to sold-out performances since its debut in April 1999, ABBA's popularity is nowhere near ending. The book, ABBA: The Name of the Game, provides the ABBA fan with a great detail of the behind- the-scene lives of Agnetha, Benny, Bjorn and Anni- Frid, some of which could be debatable as painstakingly honest or tabloid trash. Obviously written as an unauthorized biography, the book places a great deal of emphasis on the "feud" that seemed to exist between Agnetha and Frida, a far cry from the happy smiles and wholesomeness you'd see in their videos. (Agnetha Faltskog went so far as to write a book of her own in 1997, "As I Am", to deny those allegations.) While praising most of ABBA's songs, the authors' criticisms of the few songs "they" didn't like was the equivalence of catty office gossip. At times, the book can be factually informative, but a good deal of it looks like it was written with a poisoned pen.

This is a triumph of style over substance. The research is very poor with the result that there are a lot of factual errors in this book. I counted three in the first chapter alone (an example is the scoring system used in Eurovision in 1974). The main one, of course, is the repeated reference to Frida and Agnetha hating each other, which simply wasn't (and isn't) true. Nevertheless, this book is a fun quick read and the author's opinions, which range from comments on ABBA's music (which, in general, they rave about) to pop lyrics in general and musicians in the movies, are lively and entertaining. If you just cut out the personal stuff between the girls, the rest of this book will tell you as much as you ever need to know about ABBA, unless you're more than a casual fan. For those wanting more, 'Bright Lights, Dark Shadows' fills out the details, in a less tabloid fashion - but that still has it's moments of wrong-headedness (the comments in regard to the failure of Chess, in particular)

Just as the "Melody Maker" puts it, this book is "outrageously entertaining". I've had my good laughs with it. There is no question about it, these people know what they are talking about and they are not just talking. They might be a little exagerating at times, but they definitely know the music business and I do believe they also know what went on in ABBA throghout the group's life. It has to be true, simply because it fits. When this book first came out in 1995 it was rejected by many ABBA fans as a complete misinterpretation of the actual situations within the group's circle. I can tell you this right now: this book is not written by ABBA fans and is not for ABBA fans. It is written objectively (sometimes a bit sarcastically) by three people who did their research and are also connosseurs of the music business. In the book there are separate chapters for each of the four members, and even one for their manager Stig Anderson (now recently passed away), a character it studies extensively. On each biography there is not only the description of their lives, but also their mentality and (very important), the historical context. Chapter 2 does an excellent comparison between ABBA's music and most other legends and comes up to the conclusion that Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson are the greatest songwriters in history. The book is polemical, but nevertheless a very interesting read and very well structured. If you want to have one book about ABBA, which also allows you the possibility of insights into many other artists, then get this volume which becomes even more mouthwatering every time you read it.

I am an avid Abba fan, and I found this
book to be a very worthwhile read indeed.
This humorous rock-bio gives a rare behind-
the-scenes look at the Swedish Quartet
Supreme's days before the formation of the
group, during the rocky times
post-Eurovision 1974, at the height of their
frenzied world success, and the events and
tensions that led up to their disbandment in
the early- to mid-eighties.

The matter-of-factness of this work will
deepen the die-hard fan's connection to the
group, its excellent prose will convince the
would-be or novice of Abba's true pop
supremacy, and its satirical edge will keep
the non-fan or even the headstrong Abba-
hater in stitches. I liked it because of its
compassionate frankness and also
because it increased my knowledge of the
Scandinavian phenomenon with mini-
biography chapters for each member,
including a bit on their illustrious manager,
Stig Anderson.

I now refer to the group lovingly as the
"Fabba Four," for reasons which should
become obvious after reading this
magnificent piece of prose. Photos and
discography included!

Even if you're not much of an Abba fan, this book is definitely worth your time. It provides much more insight into Abba than you would expect. Each chapter offers insight into the music, into the members' lives and feelings, into the world's reaction to the music and the members...expect a lot. The writing style is chatty and witty, à la Joan Rivers but not excessively so. There are a number of pages of photos which supplement the text; some include Abba members in private moments, such as the one of Agnetha "scraping through saucepans." All in all a fine collection.