Abba: Thank You for the Music: The Stories Behind Every Song Review

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(More customer reviews)This book does not tell "the story behind every song" as the cover claims. It is, rather, Scott's own review of every song. The reviews are chaptered by album. There is some lightweight "scene setting" early on - basically, potted histories of the four group members - and some preamble before the individual reviews in each chapter.
As with so many other books purporting to be authorities on ABBA, this is littered with inaccuracies and tedious, regurgitated "factoids". To his credit, Scott has tried to inject some humour into his writing but the results are merely glib and the tone throughout oscillates between sneering and fawning. His instinct to avoid taking his subject too seriously would be laudable if it weren't for the sheer laziness apparent in this book. Sleeve notes appear to have been ignored or, at most, speed-read. He even contradicts himself on a number of occasions: e.g., having acknowledged Benny's decision to quit lyric writing after a few early howlers, he goes on to castigate Benny for lyrics he never wrote. Also, the identity of the lead vocalists on songs is occasionally inaccurate - and sometimes confused within a single paragraph.
The blurb makes much of the "rare" photographs used in the book. True, some of them have not previously been published. Mostly, there is a very good reason for that. They are clearly the also-rans from otherwise successful shoots. These "rare shots" catch their subject mid-blink or they are badly composed, images that other picture editors would have bypassed. None of them has any historic value. Even so, it wouldn't have been too difficult to arrange them chronologically to illustrate the period being "discussed" in each chapter but absolutely no effort has been made on that front either. The cover is sloppily designed and the internal layout is dull and dated.
There is very little on which to recommend this book. Anybody wanting to find out more about ABBA should check the following titles: "Bright Light, Dark Shadows" (Carl Magnus Palm); "ABBA - The Complete Recording Sessions" (Carl Magnus Palm); "ABBA The Book" (Jean Marie Potiez); "From ABBA to Mamma Mia" (Anders Hanser/Carl Magnus Palm).
ABBA completists should do what I did: find this book in a bargain bin.

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Everybody loves ABBA—as proven by the blockbuster success of Mamma Mia! the movie. Thank You for the Music traces the story of the Swedish supergroup—which has sold an estimated 350,000,000 records, tapes, and CDs—through their songs. Starting with their world-conquering 1970s disco hits, it travels through to the more reflective 1980s, with "The Winner Takes It All" marking a watershed in their output. Every tune from the musical and movie is covered, and glorious photographs form a sublime gallery of Abba's most dazzling costumes. This is a unique in-depth study of the places, events, and characters that inspired an enduring catalog of classic songs.

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