Customer Reviews

The Winner Takes It All - The ABBA Story

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ever since i heard my first ABBA song (which was "Fernando") when i was 11 years old i became an instant die-hard ABBA fan. this documentary, hot on the heels of the "Mama Mia" craze, is something wonderful for those of us who have loved the band and continue to find precious gems in their music.

As ABBA has been a constant fixture in my life for more than a decade, this documentary was wonderful to watch, i was surprised at how little i really knew about the lives of the four members and the rare footage of their careers before ABBA was a true treat to watch (Agnetha singing "I don't know how to Love him" from "Jesus Christ Superstar" in Swedish was definately worth it!). with more than 20 years separating the members from the end of ABBA, the older/wiser rememberances by Benny, Bjorn and Frida are poignant and almost sad. Agnetha, whose english has apparently waned over the years, did not agree to be interviewed on camera-- instead she supplies audio commentary for her experiences within the group as well as her heartbreaking decision to choose raising her two young children than persue international stardom.

The British rehearsals for the opening of "Mama Mia" which are interlaced throughout the documentary seem a bit tedious at times, yet they serve as a great catalyst for tying all the members memories into a coherent narrative. Clips of songs ("If it wasn't for the Night", just as an example) which are not easily available on such albums as ABBA Gold are also a great added pleasure.

I would most heartedly recommend this DVD for anyone who loves ABBA as much as i do, you will not be disappointed!!!

For any really fanatic Abba fan around the world this video must be pure heaven. I miss the clips of songs like Take a Chance on Me and some songs from The Visitors album, but the whole video is a wonderful gift for Abba fans, with interviews with Benny, Frida and Bjorn as they look now, and with many of the persons involved in the work behind Abba along the years. And with the original video of the presentation of band singing Waterloo at Eurovison contest in 1974. Is not a good option for a new Abba fan and for those fans that want to enjoy the Abba most famous song's video clips because it shows only a bit of every video and every one of them is interrupted with the narration of the story of the band, but is really good for those people who want to know more about the story of the band related in the own words of the memebers of the group (each of them abord many subjects, like their divorces sand their feelings like persons and stars during and after Abba) and about technical aspects about their music and their way to create the songs, but for a really fanatic that already have seen all the videos and only want to know more about the band and enjoy with previously unreleased images of the group at stage and in the studio -even in their own island where Benny and Bjorn created most of the songs of the group-, and that ask for a long ttime to see how each member of the group looks today (except Agnetha, that only read with her voice in off parts of her book Just as I am), is a precious and unvaluable thing. Is good too for those people who remeber the live concert in 1979 because it shows many of the songs during the concert. Splendid, precious, but just for hard Abba fan..like me!

I remember seeing this special when it originally aired on Bravo in 1999 or 2000 and enjoying it, so when I saw it on DVD, the Abbaphile in me had to buy it.

What you get is a 90 minute documentary about Abba with extensive new interviews with Benny and Bjorn (both of which speak excellent English nowadays) as well as some with Frida and a few audio bites of Agnetha while we see her walking by a pond.

There's nothing in here that most Abba fans don't know already, but to see it come to life instead of reading it is worth it. We see bits (though not all) of several tv performances, including the infamous 1974 Eurovision awards that started it all for them, a 1979 tv performance of If It Wasn't For The Nights, and also them singing Thank You For The Music in late 1982, probably from their final performance on tv together.

The biggest complaint is that despite how much Abba loving we get on the special, it keeps comign back to talking about "Mamma Mia", which at the time (mid 1999) was in the rehearsal stages. It gets annoying, but anyone who loves Abba enough to buy this DVD will be entertained regardless.

Having first listened to ABBA in early 1970's, I was thrilled to find their story on DVD some 30 years later. This DVD does a great job of telling their stories, both as a group and individually. I remember the wild clothes they wore when they sang Waterloo at Eurovision, so seeing how they have changed in the last 30 years and how their lives changed was real special for me. The music is great and so are the interviews. The most telling comment I can make about this DVD and the music they performed over the years is to use the title of one of their song, "Thank You For The Music." The songs you're singing, Thanks for all the joy you're bringing. Buy it, watch it, and remember the music.

It is important to be aware that this is a career-spanning documentary, not a collection of Abba videos or concert performances. There are snippets of videos and concert footage, but the major portion of this DVD is a history of the band - before, during, and after their heyday - with extensive interviews of the four members. This documentary was produced for television as a promotional tie-in with the musical "Mamma Mia", so there is coverage of the conception and preparation of that show. Extra footage, about 30 minutes worth, not shown on television is included here. A fine keepsake for fans. Still waiting for the collection of videos, but this is a nice place to start.

Through interviews with the members of the group, this DVD does a good job of showing the rise of one of the greatest pop groups of all time. Songwriters Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Anderson take you through how the group got its start, how they wrote the songs, and talk about some of the strife near the end of their run. The only member who doesn't appear on screen for her interview is Agnetha Faltskog (the blonde). She does a voice over of scenes of her walking near her home. She's pretty much a recluse now. The brunette, Anni-Frid Lyngstad, provides some interesting insight into how the girls saw their role, and their relationship to each other. The DVD also goes into the current stage play "Mamma Mia", which Ulvaeus and Anderson re-arranged the ABBA songs for. This is not a "greatest hits" DVD, as I see another reviewer was looking for, but rather a career retrospective.

Viewers expecting a "Behind the Music" style documentary with "The Winner Takes It All: The ABBA story" will undoubtedly come away disappointed. "The Winner Takes it All," in fact, seems to be more of a tie-in to the musical "Mamma Mia" with just a dash of ABBA history thrown in. ABBA fans will, of course, already know the band's history; "The Winner Takes it All" adds nothing to this history.

However, the DVD is worth the purchase for the incredible footage of Agnetha, Benny, Bjorn and Frida, from the 1960s to 1999. ABBA fans will be familiar with Bjorn's early band, The Hootenanny Singers, and Benny's band, The Hep Stars; "The Winner Takes it All" has footage of both bands performing, in addition to early appearances of both Frida and Agnetha.

In addition to the incredible footage of the band, present-day interviews are conducted with Benny, Bjorn and Frida; the publicity-shy Agnetha is heard in voiceovers and seen in some very brief footage, but she does not appear on camera in an interview.

Perhaps 90 minutes is not long enough to do the ABBA story justice. As I noted earlier, anyone who knows the band's back-story will not find anything new here. Despite a decade's worth of potential material to draw from, there isn't much "story" to the history. ABBA's success in the United States and elsewhere is barely mentioned; instead, the focus is on ABBA's popularity in Australia.

In addition to the interviews with the group, there are interviews with ABBA's inner circle. U2's Bono is interviewed; curiously, no one else in popular music is interviewed about the band. We hear from director Lasse Hallstrom, who directed many of ABBA's early, ground-breaking "promo clips," but, again, learn nothing of the history behind the clips.

A lot of time is spent on the production of the musical "Mamma Mia." Again, "The Winner Takes it All" feels more like a tie-in to the musical, rather than an in-depth biography of the band. It is worth the purchase price for the great footage and the present-day interviews.

If you, like me, feel somewhat cheated in having missed the Abba era, then this is the video you will want to watch. I can't think of anyone who has not been influenced by, or has never heard any of Abba's hits on the radio. This is definatly the video to have if you are a fan or if you just love their music. While this video does not have full sound tracks on it, it does have enough good music and video that shows the power and history of the group from start to finish, the end of an era, in my eyes. After watching this video I felt a loss, not from the video, but, from not having experienced more from Abba. This one is a must have for anyone that loves music. Abba's music has touched all of us at some time or another. I reccommend also purchasing "Abba, The definative Collection" also on DVD, a collection of their music videos.
And just in case anyone from Abba reads this I just want to say "Thank you for the music"!! If they ever decide to create another CD I know I will be first in line to buy it and would spend days in line to get a ticket for a concert.

This video traces the history of ABBA from their early days as solo artists through to the days when ABBA ceased to be. The story is told through video performances from throughout ABBA's careers as well as interviews with all four members. Interestingly, we even get an insight into their personal lives and we see the toll of being in the glare of the media and fans for so long had on the members, particularly Agnetha. Incidently you do not see her being interviewed, only hear her voice speaking since she is a recluse these days. The footage of ABBA performing comes from a varierty of sources including some live performances and much of it is pure heaven. Have a look at the girls singing "I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do" in the grass, pure bliss. It is hard to recognise them as being the same group who later sing "Thankyou For The Music" unplugged around the piano. This video version has additional footage from the TV special, but why isn't it on DVD??

This was the story I always wanted to see as an ABBA fan... what was REALLY going on. Little did I know that those songs told the story.... "Knowing Me, Knowing You" and "The Winner Takes it All" take on a new significance now that I've seen this documentary. My heart broke for Agnetha, and I cried as I watched it. The old footage is too precious, and those songs.... oh, there's just nothing like ABBA ever!!! This DVD is a must-have if you're an ABBAphile... I was so glad I got it!