2 years as partner to ABBA Voyage

After two years as an official partner to ABBA Voyage, we can conclude that some things were hard to foresee. “Two different worlds but still trying to do something that hasn’t been done before” says ABBA member Benny Andersson.

2 years as partner to ABBA Voyage

After two years as an official partner to ABBA Voyage, we can conclude that some things were hard to foresee.

“Two different worlds but still trying to do something that hasn’t been done before” says ABBA member Benny Andersson.

To be perfectly honest, the partnership in the beginning wasn’t crystal clear. It started with an ABBA Voyage-branded Oceanbird vessel sailing to the tones of “Eagle”, which Benny Andersson is playing beautifully on the piano in the film above, and naming a premium section in the ABBA Arena to the Oceanbird Lounge.

This is just what is seen on the outside, but on the inside, it is even more. Regular meetings about anything from how to best give back to the local community, to setting a sustainability roadmap.

“It has become a friendship more than anything else”, says Ludvig Andersson, Producer ABBA Voyage. “We strive at ABBA Voyage, as most of us do I suppose, to be as sustainable as possible. And there is Oceanbird who specializes in that. Suddenly we had access to a lot of knowledge and knowhow through our partner.”

“ABBA has never had a partner or a sponsor or any such thing because they never wanted that. But then this happened and suddenly we did want it because it was something else” says Ludvig Andersson.

Richard Jeppsson, Wallenius

Something worth going for

It was formed around shared values between pioneers: ABBA Voyage and Wallenius owner family (Oceanbird is a joint venture between Wallenius and Alfa Laval). Both ABBA and Wallenius have pushed the limits on what is possible in their fields, whether it´s new ways of making pop music and stage shows, or developing wind-powered ships.

“We realize more and more how similar our values are. We have expanded each other’s competences to new areas,” says Richard Jeppsson, SVP Wind Powered Projects at Wallenius Lines.

Benny Andersson, ABBA

ABBA member Benny Andersson also express how much he appreciate the partnership.

“Oceanbird is a great, great, great project. Such a fantastic innovation. It’s really something worth going for”.

ABBA Voyage supported 5,000 jobs

In the first year of the show, with 1 million tickets sold, ABBA Voyage contributed to a capital injection of £322.6 million to the local area in East London and supported more than 5,000 jobs, according to the independent study “ABBA Voyage, Economic Impact & Social Value Assessment” by Sound Diplomacy and social value consultancy RealWorth.

Other initiatives to benefit social sustainability are:

Calmer Concerts: an evening with accessibility for neurodiverse and autistic audiences with extra trained staff, reduced arena capacity and chill out zones

An educational workshop for 800 schoolchildren at the ABBA Arena during the summer months

Collaboration with the lesbian and gay mental health charity ELOP for Pride month

Sign-language shows: ticket holders receive a seat in a booth with the best view of the interpreter

“The success of ABBA Voyage shows how London is the music capital of the world,” he said. “I’m proud that City Hall was able to help ABBA bring this pioneering show to east London, providing huge benefits to both the local area and London’s wider economy” says London mayor Sadiq Khan, in Wallenius magazine Our Way.

Record Collector Magazine Issue 539 Christmas 2022

 

 Issue number: 539

Christmas 2022

Abba, Exclusive Benny Andersson interview Plus Their 40 Best Songs!

"WE LEARNED FROM

THE BEATLES"

And now to meet the man behind those 40 (plus one) amazing songs... Along with Björn Ulvaeus, ABBA's chief melodist, Benny Andersson, comprises what is finally - after years of being dismissed as pop lightweights – regarded as one of the great songwriting partnerships, up there with Lennon-McCartney, Jagger-Richards, Holland-Dozier-Holland and Wilson-Love. And with the Voyage album, their first for 39 years, and the ABBA Voyage concert spectacular featuring virtual avatars going on 'til well into 2023, ABBA are poised at last to be hailed as true immortals. But what was it like to make their first ABBA music since 1982? How have they managed to pick up after so lon-----g? "It was like it had been three weeks, not 40 years," Andersson tells Pete Paphides in this rare interview.

|Through the lens of a MacBook camera, the high eaves and variously shaped windows of Benny Andersson's RMV Studio studio in Stockholm, Sweden reveal what may have once been a church. The light that streams through the windows this afternoon reveals a grand piano and at least one studio console. Just out of shot (for now) is the trusty Synclavier which has withstood four decades of daily music-making from the only member of ABBA who witnessed the group's imperial years from a seated position.

After ABBA ceased trading at the end of 1982, a total of 39 years elapsed before their spectacular resurrection with the Voyage album and the eponymous shows in East London's specially created ABBA Arena, which presented a digitally recreated version of the group's younger selves alongside a hand-picked 10-piece live band. During that time, Benny and Björn Ulvaeus collaborated on two musicals - cold war drama Chess and Swedish literary epic Kristina Från Duvemåla – and saw the ABBA songbook slowly but surely come to be regarded as comparable to the very greatest pop music produced in the 20th Century.

For the guy who wrote those melodies, though, a line of continuity runs through the manic years of megastardom depicted in 1977's ABBA The Movie in somewhat nightmarish terms, right through to the present day. Every morning, this is where he comes every day, panning for melodic gold.

"Sometimes you come away with nothing,”

he says. "But if you don't try, then you're definitely not going to come up with anything.” Unlike the other three initials who make up ABBA, it's Benny who most closely corresponds to the description of a jobbing musician. He tours regularly with his Nordic folk ensemble Benny Anderssons Orkester, for whom he more commonly defaults to accordion. Back in 2010, at ABBA's induction into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame, he talked about his early years listening to music on the single radio channel that was available to him: "We didn't have any blues like you would call it blues in Sweden, we had some kind of blues because above [59 degrees latitude]... from eastern Russia, through Finland into Scandinavia, there's this 'melancholy belt', sometimes mistaken for the vodka belt [laughter]... It's definitely in the Swedish folk music, you can hear it in the Russian folk songs, you can hear it in the music from Jean Sibelius or Edvard Grieg from Norway, you could see it in the eyes of Greta Garbo, and you can hear it in the voice of Jussi Björling. And actually, you can hear it in the sound of Frida and Agnetha on some of our songs, too." While he happily acknowledges ABBA's early hunger for international success, also detectable is a certain pride taken in the fact that, when their songs ascended the charts all around the world, they did so on their own terms. Almost all their biggest disco hits, he beams, were written in a minor key.

Let's start with Voyage, because even though the album appeared at the end of last year, the album almost certainly wouldn't exist were it not for the ABBA Voyage shows and the ABBA Arena for which you built those shows. So much of this hugely secretive series of undertakings happened in plain sight. Didn't the auditions and rehearsals take place in Kentish Town in North London? 

Yes. Jamie Righton [formerly of The Klaxons] helped us to reach the musicians. We said to him that we want people who like to be onstage: we didn't particularly want people who were used to sitting in a pit. It was important to have people who liked to perform. So, he found these guys. Victoria [Hesketh aka Little Boots] was one of them and we liked her. The funny thing is, there are seven women and three guys in the band, and that's not a feminist thing; that was just because they were the best musicians.

It's amazing that this was all happening on the outskirts of Camden, and no one knew. I cycle through Kentish Town most days, and the idea that you guys were there, just rehearsing, is mind-blowing. How did no one know? 

Normally, we don't tell people where we are!

At that point, had you recorded any of the new songs? 

Yeah, the first two, Don't Shut Me Down and I Still Have Faith In You. We played it to

(100 Record Collector) page1

--------

The Voyage begins: Benny Andersson backstage in 1975: "It's great to have more than one singer, like The Beatles, Fleetwood Mac and Eagles"

--------

page2 - 102 Record Collector

them, so they knew what was coming up. Those two were not in the setlist that we gave them: we had a set-list, but we had excluded those two because they weren't out yet. But we played the two songs for them, so they knew what was coming.

When you recorded those songs, did you have a good idea in your head of what ABBA Voyage was going to look like; what the shows were going to be like?

No, not at that time, because we obviously had ideas and how everyone working on this were looking at it, especially Ludvig [Andersson, Benny's son] and Svana [Gisla, who, with Ludvig and Benny, co-produced the Voyage shows], and also Johan Renck [director, best known for his work on Chernobyl- as well as being one-time rapper, Stakka Bo] was involved in the beginning. We recorded I Still Have Faith In You three years ago. And he filmed a video, with stand-ins for us.

So, you have these two songs, they're incredible. Who was the first person to say, "Why don't we keep going"? 

Maybe me! It could be me! Then we spent another year after that, trying to come up with music, sending it to Björn, or he could come here to my office where I'm sitting now. I'd play it to him and then he'd write the lyrics. And then we maybe did  three or four songs, and when we had those, we were saying, "Well, maybe Universal Music would be happy if we made a whole album" - they needed to have something to sell when this was going to happen. That was good thinking, in a way.

Did Agnetha and Frida know you were continuing to write a whole album?

Yes, it was step-by-step: first the two songs and then another three or four, then the rest. So, they came here in three... not sessions, but during three periods. Maybe they spent a total of 10 days in the studio.

It was almost business as usual.

It was. That was the funniest thing of all. Once they came in and recorded the first two songs, they came into the studio, and it hit me that I hadn't really asked them if they could still sing! I thought they could, but we hadn't really talked about it. But they were getting into the studio, we were playing through the songs, and they had the lyrics - of course, I sent them before. They started to sing, and it was all like we were [last here] three weeks ago, although it was 40 years ago. Quite a nice thing. I think we felt the same, all four of us.

There are a couple of songs on Voyage that reference other ABBA songs. The most striking is the reference to SOS at the end of Keep An Eye On Dan. 

Yeah, that's on purpose.

You were clearly having fun.

We were. That was the only way to get through with this. We said from the beginning, "OK, we're going to do an album, we're not pop musicians anymore." I mean, we're 75 and older than that, even. There's no point in trying to emulate or keep on track with what's going on musically today, because we don't understand it. I could only do what I think: "This is a good tune, these are good harmonies, this is good, we'll keep that." It has to come from inside and not from what's going on around. In the 70s, it was different, because then we were trying to keep on track with what was going on. "Oh, there's a snare drum sound on Rod Stewart's latest single," things like that.

I wanted to ask you about that, because looking back at ABBA's years as a productive studio entity, I can see that you were taking notes on what was working for other successful artists - especially in the beginning - because in the early years, when you didn't know if you were going to have a successful pop career internationally, it was important that the music was commercially successful as well as artistically successful, right?

Well, yeah, I guess. Because once we were out there, once we had been in Brighton, winning the Eurovision Song Contest with a pop song, then we just said, "Well, now we need to start working; now we can work, because people know that we exist, all over Europe." But it's more a matter that you sit there, and you say, "Is this good or is it bad? Do we like this? Is this good?" If we both say yes, we keep it. If only I say yes, I'll play it to Björn again and again until he gives up. But normally Björn and I would be happy with the result. First when we wrote the songs and then once we were in the studio, and then it was me and Björn and [engineer] Michael [B. Tretow], all three of us... [we all had to be] happy with the final result. We didn't give up until we all were. It wasn't enough that I liked it, or Björn liked it, or Michael... That's the way it worked. Very Swedish.

If I listen to those pre-Arrival ABBA records, it's a bit like you're trying different styles and almost waiting to see what there's a public appetite for. So, a song like Another Town, Another Train, is very different to My Mama Said. It's almost like you're spreading your bets, just to see what catches fire.

That's something we learned from The Beatles. They were always with their style in a way, much more so than we were, but what they did was, you heard a song with them, then the next

single was nothing close to the previous one, or the third, or the fourth, or the fifth. At that time, you needed to have some diversity, no? So, you have Fernando, then you don't want another Fernando, you want a song like Dancing Queen or My Mama Said, or whatever on that album, to give it some listening value. And another great thing, I have to say, that goes for many of the bands that I like, is that you have more than one singer; it helps you. You have John [Lennon] and Paul [McCartney] or you have Fleetwood Mac, you have the Eagles: it's great to have two singers, because that makes a difference between the tracks as well.

You're huge fans of Phil Spector and also Brian Wilson. 

Oh, yes, especially Brian Wilson.

Did you recognise something of yourself in Wilson's obsessive attention to detail?

Yes, I do, but I can't compare with him. They [The Beach Boys] were in a different situation, they had three or four tracks to use, and when we finished, we had 32 tracks in the studios, which made it a little easier to do overdubs, to add things. I don't know how he did that, it's incredible. But it's more the heart of the songs. It's the way he treated them.

------------------------------------------------------------------

"I THINK MAMMA MIA WAS WHEN WE REALISED, ‘THIS IS SPECIAL, NOW WE FIND OUT WHAT WE CAN ACHIEVE””

-----------------------------------------------------------------

What was the first song of yours that had "the ABBA sound"?

I think Mamma Mia was when we realised, "Well, this is special, now we find out exactly what can we achieve with a song if you work enough on it," you know? You're in the studio, and you see, "Oh, there's a marimba there, let's see if we can use it" - that's sort of special, there's not much marimba [in other pop songs]. But then also it was really arranged, you know? It wasn't just strumming along. Everyone was playing exactly the notes that were needed.

Around the same time, Money, Money, Money was also released. That's such a strange song. I remember as a child feeling frightened.

Ha, yeah?

Can you understand why?

Maybe it's because the bass is playing the melody line [sings]. It's almost like [the movie] Jaws! It's a funny song, that one. It's more like a ragtime tune for the piano.

The sentiments of Money, Money, Money were relevant to a lot of economic migrants who had left their native countries in the hope of getting a job that would allow them to return home someday. They're enduring years of hardship, delaying the gratification that their savings will one day allow them to enjoy. Is that Björn trying to put words to the feeling of the melody that you've given him?

Photo: Baillie Walsh

--------------------

page 3

Money, Money was one of the first lyrics he wrote for ABBA. Stig Anderson [manager] was writing the words to our first songs, and that changed with Fernando and Money, Money, Money. Stig wrote a Swedish version of that for Frida's [Anni-Frid Lyngstad's] solo album that I produced [in Stig's early lyric, the narrator is consoling the titular protagonist of Fernando, who has lost his lover]. Björn totally changed that. Over time, he realised there was no need for him to try to write lyrics before we knew what the backing track music was saying to him. So, we did the backing track, did some sweetening, did some overdubs to make it come close to what it would be like at the end, and then he would take it and see if it spoke to him or not.

The intro of Knowing Me, Knowing You is fascinating, because it grabs you immediately with very few notes: this very high keyboard and then the guitar in a much lower register – the sound of conflict. What do you remember about that?

I remember coming up with the verse, we had the chorus, and I think the verse is so special, kind of brilliant, because there are no notes, it's just [sings the minimal top-line of the verses]... it's very good.

And then you have that minor-to-major transition on the chorus, when Frida sings, "Knowing you," which is very dramatic. 

Yes, it goes from minor to major.

Let's talk about your band back in the day. You had this amazing rhythm section, and the rhythm section on songs like The Name Of The Game and Lovers (Live A Little Longer); they were almost like your own Muscle Shoals. You must have known, around the time of Voulez-Vous, that the band was on fire... 

Yeah. Especially Rutger Gunnarsson, the bass player. I've been around and walking into the pit for Mamma Mia, the musical, several times, in New York or London or whatever, I go down to the pit to say hi to the band, and everyone is talking about Rutger Gunnarsson. They find him the finest bass player in the world. He's dead now, unfortunately. They were all - Lasse Wellander and Ola Brunkert, the drummer - a solid band.

That bassline on The Name Of The Game is something else, isn't it?

Yeah, it's good. But the bass playing on Voulez-Vous or Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! all those songs, it's just incredible, because that comes straight from him. A normal bass player will play like [sings] and he will play [sings more notes, arranged differently] and you won't hear it. I don't know how he did that.

I would say that song for song, as a beginning-to-end experience, Voulez-Vous just about edges it over the other albums. Oh, you think? 

That's interesting.

-----------------------------------

page 104 Record Collector

I wonder if in the same way that Brian Wilson would hear Rubber Soul and be inspired to write Pet Sounds, something similar happened with Saturday Night Fever and Voulez-Vous? 

Possibly, yeah.

Because the first sessions for the album saw you take a break from your base in Stockholm, Polar Studios, and use Criteria Studios in Florida, where the Bee Gees recorded most of their disco-era music. 

We did, because Björn and I were trying to have a week of songwriting in the Bahamas. And we said, "If we're down here, why don't we call [engineer] Michael Tretow and ask him to fly down and we go into the studio in Florida and record?" - which was a bad idea. It was a good band, someone brought some musicians together and there was nothing wrong with them, they were good, but it wasn't our band, you know? It was difficult to

communicate. Normally, we would come in, I'd play the piano, Björn would play the guitar, we would sing them the song with rubbish lyrics and I would write down the harmonies on a sheet of paper so they knew what they were doing; maybe start a bassline so they knew there would be a bass note, and then we just went from there. But meeting new guys and trying to explain to them or make them understand what we were after, that wasn't so easy. But I tell you one thing: [the song] Voulez-Vous we recorded down there, the original backing track. Well, we came home, and it's totally redone, so we got in Rutger and our guys to do what you hear is our band. But the original was done in Florida.

Is there a version somewhere with theAmerican musicians on it? 

I think they're credited still, because they were in it from the beginning. I don't know. It should be somewhere on a roll of tape.

In a parallel universe where Robert Stigwood had asked you to write the theme tune to Saturday Night Fever, Voulez-Vous would be that song.

But not as good as Stayin' Alive! Stayin' Alive is great. We were inspired by the Bee Gees, because suddenly they became another band. They were good, they did Massachusetts and all those songs in the 60s, then all of a sudden, they were back with a totally different approach. It had to do with...

[Producer] Arif Mardin? Yeah. I suppose he had something to do with that. And it was very inspiring.

I think Ahmet Ertegun, who was in charge of Atlantic, hooked them up with the musicians that could give them the confidence to reinvent themselves.

Yeah. Those were the days, when people in record companies had some musical instinct, not just handling money.

The impression I got when the Voyage show happened is that it was just something you wanted to do anyway. Finally, technology had caught up with the only way in which you were willing to "come back" - and that was to create a sort of time-travel experience. That way, you didn't have to compromise. 

Yeah, you're right. It gave us the chance to pretend to be pop guys again.

I was happy to see that Summer Night City made it onto the setlist for the ABBA Voyage shows. Does that mean that you like it a bit more these days? I had the impression that, for a long time, you weren't so happy with it. 

No, I wasn't so happy with the recording, because we had problems. We took away our long beginning. And it's very compressed. But I think it's a good tune. I have to say, in Voyage, that's the best moment, going from, in the disco section, Lay All Your Love On Me to Summer Night City. The whole stage becomes a totally different thing, and it's an amazingly beautiful design.

"WE MET JOHN CLEESE, AND SAID, 'WE'RE WRITING A MUSICAL, WOULD YOU WRITE THE BOOK?' HE SAID 'NO'!" 

Can I ask you about Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight) and what Madonna did with it to create Hung Up? You must like it because you allowed her to do it.

Yeah. She didn't come [to Sweden], she sent her right-hand woman. She had to come because we said, "We're not going to say yes until we hear it." Then she said, "Well, I'll let you hear it, but I don't want to send it over via the internet, so I'll send someone with a CD." We listened to it in my room here, and I thought it was bloody great. So, we said, "OK," and split the copyright.

Madonna did an interview on the Song Exploder podcast recently where she talked about the process of writing it. She said she was nervous about the prospect of getting your permission: she loved it so much but couldn't bear the idea that you might not let her use it.

I can understand that, because it's such a vital ingredient in that song. If you swap that for something else, then it becomes something totally different. I think it was a clever thing to do.

You never wrote a Christmas song until ABBA Voyage: Happy New Year was the nearest you got. Happy New Year is a very beautiful song. It feels very Swedish.

Yeah, well, we are Swedish!

The sentiment is very fatalistic, with the suggestion that, in 10 years' time, the entire human race might have destroyed itself. 

It was written in Barbados. Björn and I went out for a week, to the same house that Paul and Linda McCartney hired a year before. I heard about this wonderful place, and I thought, "We must go there." We met John Cleese, by the way, in Barbados. We said, "We're thinking about writing a musical about New Year's Eve. Would you be interested in writing the book for that?" and he said, "No"! We didn't get any further with that idea. But we liked the song.

Let's talk about the title track of The Visitors. It's one of your most extraordinary songs - and, at the time, a brave departure from a recognisably 'ABBA' sound. In the ABBA Voyage shows, it's the first song. That's quite a statement.

That was Ludvig's idea. We had a list of maybe 30 songs, and we tried to think how would this be if we actually did it live, if we had that to play? So, we eliminated a couple of songs, and we added another one, and we had a setlist. And Ludvig was really [lobbying] for opening with The Visitors, and then Hole In Your Soul. And we said, "[Hole In Your Soul] is the song we used to end with, and now I think you should put it in the beginning." Listen to it. It's a good opening.

Most groups would have started with a huge hit. But by starting with The Visitors, it establishes a relationship. We meet you on your territory, quite a confident thing to do. 

Yeah, well, we knew that we had songs coming up.

Around that time, groups like The Human League were very vocal in their love of ABBA. Do you know their song Don't You Want Me? 

Yeah, yeah.

You know the intro is inspired by Eagle, right? 

No. I have never listened to it that way.

They admitted they got the idea from listening to Eagle. It is almost the same... 

Yeah, I'm going to listen to it.

How about Oliver's Army by Elvis Costello? The piano motif is inspired by

Dancing Queen... 

I didn't know that. I do know Elvis is very fond of SOS.

Oliver's Army was going to be a B-side when [keyboardist] Steve Nieve heard Dancing Queen and had the idea of doing a similar- sounding piano part throughout. At that point, they realised they now had an A-side.

---------------------------

page 4

Cool, I like that. It's nice when what we do is inspiring other people. Like Brian Wilson inspired us, or Paul McCartney.

I hear Pete Townshend came up to you in a restaurant to tell you how much he loved your music... 

I like his music, too. We also have the Synclavier [synth] in common [walks across his studio to show us his Synclavier]. Pete Townshend and I both got them maybe 40 years ago. He also has a GX-1: the big Yamaha synthesiser that I use. He's also interested in the folk music side, so we have communicated a little.

The Day Before You Came is a song you're clearly fond of. You featured it on your 2017 solo album, Piano. I guess a lot of these songs must have started out that way. I interviewed Billy Joel in 2007 and he said all his songs start out as solo classical piano pieces, then he decides what sort of a pop song to make out of them. Have some of your songs started out like that?

Nowadays, everything [starts out that way]. Even in the earlier days. Some songs are sort of 'pianistic'. Not so much a song like Waterloo, not even Dancing Queen. But a lot of the other stuff is, you know, like My Love,

My Life or the songs I have on my piano album. Some of [ABBA's songs] are more pianistic and I didn't record them... But you're right, if it sounds OK when you sit alone at the piano, it's probably worth keeping.

What's an example of a song we know that would have started as a solo piano piece? 

SOS? They all started on the little old piano in Stockholm, where Björn and I used to sit, day after day.

Did you watch [Beatles documentary] Get Back? 

Oh, yes, the best documentary ever made. It's fantastic. Like a fly on the wall, you know? Wonderful. I've seen it twice.

It's the story of all bands, isn't it? 

In a way, I guess. 

What did you recognise about yourselves in it?

 I recognised a part of myself in Paul: he never gave up, constantly wanting to move things forward. Sometimes, nothing happens, but he keeps on feeding the band with stuff. I like that. I'm not saying I'm the same, but I recognise the method.

Just to see the song Get Back appear out of thin air was incredible, wasn't it? 

Yeah, wonderful. You never see these things. I've never seen that.

A lot of the responses to the ABBA Voyage shows were very emotional. Was that expected?

No. We did not know at all. That's the thing with all of this: you never know until afterwards. You write the song, how will it be after it's recorded, and once it's recorded, once it's out there? Will it be accepted for what we think it is, a bloody great recording? Or will people ignore it? No one ever knows. People think they know... people in the business. And it's the same with this. How about coming onstage as 'ABBAtars'? Of course we don't know [how it'll be received]: they don't know shit! No one knows until it happens.

Your son Ludvig talks about the ABBAtars. In the programme, he said they have an "emotional voodoo power". 

Yeah, yeah.

Do you know what he means? 

No! I don't, but maybe he's right. I have an interesting take on this, because I've seen a number of performances with an audience, and

(CIn transition: the band in their motion capture suits preparing to be turned into digital entities aka ABBAtars))

-----------------------------------------------

page 5

before we had an audience at all, no one knew how they would react. Would they think that they were watching a film and that they weren't needed? Because normally, when you see an artist, you're there for them, you're there to show your enthusiasm for their music, or their artistry or their voices or whatever they're doing up there. In this case, we didn't know, but I think the audience recognises the fact that, OK, so we're not there, but we've made this for them, which is absolutely true. They don't have to lift us up, because we're not there; all they can do is absorb what we are trying to do for them. And I think that makes them... I don't know, relax.

You said you watched a few times: where Did the response to any particular songs surprise you? were you watching from? Were you among the crowd? 

Yeah, yeah, I was sitting just a couple of rows below the sound desk.

 So, you were watching people as much as you were watching the band?

Yeah, yeah.

That must have been amazing.

 It was. It was with only a third-full house, for invited people. Just to see that they were getting it, that and they were accepting what was going on, was such a tremendous relief, because then [we realised] it will work.

Did the response to any particular songs surprise you?

Don't Shut Me Down, because that's a new song, it hasn't had time to travel around for years. But they took to it, so that was good.

It sounds like a classic ABBA song, like it's always been there.

Yeah. I like it for its progress through the keys. You start in one key, you end up in a totally different one: I like that.

You held some songs back, didn't you? Isn't the set going to be changed at some point? 

Could be done. It would take some work for ILM [Industrial Light & Magic, the visual effects company with whom ABBA collaborated for the Voyage shows]. It's a million pounds a minute or something to make avatars of us. They have everything that we did two years ago here in Stockholm, when we were recording everything, doing the filming. We did a couple of other tunes as well [for the Voyage show], so they don't need us for that: they can just start working with the information they have. But we

shall see. We'll let this run for a while, so people have a chance to get their money back, the people who invested.

 This issue of Record Collector is going to feature a list of the 40 best ABBA songs. What do you think should be No 1?

I Still Have Faith In You.

Is that your favourite right now or do you feel that that's your all-time peak?

 It's because it represents who we are now, you know? It's not very commercial, it's not catchy, but it's quite intricate, a great lyric and a good recording. I'll put it there. And then maybe Knowing Me, Knowing You, Dancing Queen, Mamma Mia, SOS, The Day Before You Came...

The thing with the Voyage album that people found moving is it felt like it was something you were doing for each other.

 It's absolutely true.

-----------------------------

"WE DO IT BECAUSE WE WANT TO DO IT, AND THE LADIES CAN STILL SING AND WE CAN STILL WRITE MUSIC"

--------------------------------------

PAGE: 6

It felt like a private moment that we were being allowed to listen in on. That made it very different to any other reunion I can think being allowed to listen in on. 

Yeah. As I said earlier, we couldn't try to emulate what's going on nowadays, being modern, we could only do what we can do, and there's nothing to prove here. People probably will say, "Well, I think they were better in the 70s." So fine, maybe we were, but it doesn't matter, because this is what we do now, and we do it because we can and we want to do it, and the ladies can still sing, and we can still write music. This is what it becomes when you're 75 years old.

Tell us something about ABBA that no one knows.

Oh, boy. There's nothing to know! Nobody knows anything about us! They know what we've been doing, they know the records, they know the pictures, they know what we say in interviews, but they don't know anything about how [our personal] life is, which is quite conscious. They don't know I walk the dog in the morning and late at night, I go shopping for food, I cook every day, stuff like that. I live a normal life: I have always done.  I think that goes for nearly all of us. 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Q&A with Björn And Benny.

 Polar Music & UMPG Proudly Presents The Q&A With Björn And Benny.

Recorded at Atlantis Studios, Stockholm, March 1, 2022
Moderator Jan Gradvall
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXXD4MeowIs

The Historic Island Spot Where ABBA Reunited

The Historic Island Spot Where ABBA Reunited

RMV Studio

Photo : Josefin Bakos

Riksmixningsverket — better, and more simply, known as RMV Studio — is “an impossible name, also for Swedes,” admits co-owner Ludvig Andersson. But there’s a good reason for its lengthy, official moniker. Ludvig’s father, ABBA’s Benny Andersson, who co-owns the Swedish studio, had wanted to use the name (a suggestion by ABBA’s former engineer, Michael Tretow) for the group’s Polar Studios, but was legally unable to use the word verket, meaning “institution.” “At the time in the ’70s, you weren’t allowed to call anything that wasn’t an actual institution or department that. But in this day and age, they don’t care anymore,” says Ludvig, who helps his dad with myriad aspects of ABBA’s business. Thus, the National Institutional Department of Mixing was born. “It’s a joke,” Ludvig explains, “and it sounds kind of nice.”

Housed in a 150-year-old former naval warehouse on the island of Skeppsholmen in the center of Stockholm, RMV overlooks the waters surrounding the city and features a restored Neve 8068 console from 1977, formerly owned by Max Martin. Since opening in 2011, RMV has hosted Coldplay, Cat Stevens (aka Yusuf), Daniel Caesar and many local acts — including ABBA, which recorded Voyage, its first album of new music in 40 years, there. “It’s in Stockholm, and I’ve done a lot of recordings in there with my band,” says Benny matter-of-factly. “So it was obvious. Why would we go anywhere else? Besides, the money stays in the family!”

Ludvig Andersson: Benny and I, both being musicians, had been saying for a while that one should really have a studio, shouldn’t one? I think we knew that it was going to be difficult to run it as a commercial, profitable operation. But we both love studios, and here was an opportunity to build one and to have our own.

Benny Andersson: To have a studio available when you need it is vital. Before [ABBA] built Polar Studios, we had to go to find time in the studios that existed in Stockholm, and sometimes, there was no availability. Obviously, RMV is open for booking for anyone, as long as they’re not Donald Trump fans.

Ludvig: I think our main selling point is that we’re not in a basement. We have big windows overlooking the inlet of Stockholm. We have daylight in this building that has a lot of character, and it has a very good soul. I remember when we had just opened, it kind of felt like that studio had been there for 200 years. It hadn’t, but it somehow married and matched with the existing building in a way that [gives] it a very welcoming, warm atmosphere.

Benny: It’s full of French doors all the way around. Normally, when you go into a studio, it’s down in a cellar somewhere. There’s no light because of the sound isolation. But we did that anyway, and it works, as long as there’s not a bus standing right outside — but then we just wait for a minute until it disappears.

Ludvig: What was fascinating [when ABBA reunited] was that they walked through the door, and from an outsider’s perspective, it was as if it was yesterday. There was no, “Oh, wow. How cool is it that we’re back together?” It was just like, “OK, hello, let’s have a coffee and do our COVID-19 tests and then get to work,” which was really lovely to see. [They were there for] a month and had quite reasonable working hours for 75-year-olds.

Benny: Yes, that’s absolutely true. Once the ladies came into the studio and we started recording and going through the songs and all that, and they went to their mics, all of us said, “Wow. It’s like no time has passed.” It’s just continuing from when we last met. It was quite amazing, actually, I have to say. And the fact that they can still sing.

Ludvig: Most of the time, not to say all of the time, it works because we’re very similar. [Benny and I] share the same sort of morals and values and views on what music and art is. He and I have a very good relationship, and it’s nice to see your father often.

Benny: It’s wonderful for me, too. Of course it is. And he’s right. He knows what I feel and think about everything. If he needs to, he can answer for me whoever asks him a question about what’s going on. That feels very comforting. —CHRISTINE WERTHMAN

https://www.billboard.com/lists/best-recording-studios-music-global-photos

Thanks Monique Hoevens - ABBA Newsflash on facebook

Abba Voyage - Benny In interview with STV

Abba Voyage - Benny In interview with STV

 

Benny Andersson: ”Det är bra – det låter som det alltid har gjort” UPPDATERAD 2 SEPTEMBER 2021PUBLICERAD 2 SEPTEMBER 2021 Abba släpper ett nytt album med tio låtar och håller digital konsert med ”abbatarer” där digitala versioner och ett liveband om tio personer uppträder i en specialbyggd arena, berättar Benny Andersson för SVT.

Redan i april 2018 kom nyheten om att Abba skulle släppa ny musik. Deras manager bekräftade att två nya låtar – Don't shut me down och I still have faith in you redan då hade spelats in. I maj i år meddelade gruppen att det rör sig om fem låtar.

– När vi hade de här två låtarna så kändes lite tunt, ”ska vi inte göra några till?” och vi gjorde några till och det blev bra och sen tänkte vi att vi kör vidare och kör ett helt album, säger Benny Andersson.

Albumet Voyage blir det första studioalbumet på 40 år, sedan The visitors från 1981 med låtar som Head over heels och Slipping through my fingers.

Abbatarer Som tidigare ryktat blir det också en scenshow med ”abbatarer”. Ursprungsidén var en turné med hologram, men i och med det stora scenbygget blir det stationär scenshow i London i maj nästa år.

– Det vi jobbat med de senaste fyra och ett halvt åren är att göra en konsert med oss själva som digitala figurer, med ett liveband på tio personer i en arena, som vi bygger, som tar 3 000 personer.

När beslutet väl fattats att någon typ av turné eller hologramkonsert skulle äga rum föddes idén till nya låtar, men Benny Andersson trodde först inte själv på den.

– När vi väl kom så långt att vi skulle göra något då sa vi att ”hade vi gjort det här på riktigt och åkt ut som 75-åringar, skulle vi haft åtminstone två nya låtar”. Jag ringde Frida och Agnetha och frågade om de ville sjunga in nya låtar och de sa ja. Jag blev lite överraskad.

Varför?

– Abba har ju inte varit på tal för nån av oss. Agnetha har ju försökt hålla sig iväg från att vara med, jag också! Jag vill vara jag, jag vill inte vara en Abba. Det gick out the window när Mamma Mia började.

Inget Drake-fan Enligt Benny Andersson kommer de nya låtarna att låta som de gjorde förr. Efter att ha hört de första två låtarna i färdig format tänkte han:

– Va fan det är bra, det låter precis som det alltid gjort – Abba i kubik fast det gått 40 år.

När det gäller nya influenser förhåller han sig skeptisk.

– När jag lyssnar på Drake eller you name it så tänker jag: ”vad håller de på med, vad är ingredienserna i det som funkar bra nu”? Det förstår inte jag.

https://www.svt.se/kultur/benny-andersson-det-ar-bra-det-later-som-det-alltid-har-gjort

"Piano" Deluxe Edition

Now "Piano" Deluxe Edition on november 23 ... with bonus tracks... “Money Money Money” and “Jag Hört” Both songs will also be available digitally from October 12th.

“Money Money Money” — Fan-Edition von Benny Anderssons Album “Piano” mit zwei exklusiven Bonustracks




10.10.2018
Mit der Band ABBA kann der schwedische Pianist Benny Andersson auf eine Weltkarriere sondergleichen zurückblicken. In den letzten Jahrzehnten hat er sich auch als Komponist einen Namen gemacht. Mit seinem im Herbst 2017 veröffentlichten Album “Piano” offenbarte der Pianist eine neue Facette seines musikalischen Könnens – ein Album gestückt mit kleinen, eleganten Piano-Balladen, die dem Klassikliebhaber wie auch dem leidenschaftlichen Popfan träumen lassen.
Zu Evergreens avanciertes, ausgewähltes Repertoire der ABBA-Zeit wie “Embassy Lament” oder “Thank You For The Music” erstrahlen in neuem Gewand.
Nun darf man sich auf eine Zugabe freuen: Die am 23. November erscheinende "Piano" Deluxe Edition fährt mit den zwei exklusiven Bonustracks “Money Money Money” und “Jag Hör” auf. Beide Songs sind ab dem 12. Oktober außerdem digital verfügbar.
Auch beim Opus Klassik wir der schwedische Pianist vertreten sein: Ex-ABBA-Mitglied und Pianist Benny Andersson, der den Musikpreis in der Kategorie “Klassik ohne Grenzen” für sein Album “Piano” verliehen bekommt, wird mit einem Auftritt bei der Preisverleihung im Konzerthaus Berlin glänzen. Zu verfolgen am 10. Oktober ab 22:15 Uhr im ZDF.

https://www.universal-music.de/benny-andersson/news/money-money-money-fan-edition-von-benny-anderssons-album-piano-mit-zwei-exklusiven-bonustracks-248469

Benny Andersson and Tim Rice interview

Benny Andersson and Tim Rice interview
Listen the full interview of Benny Andersson and Tim Rice for the BBC Radio recorded live from the rehearsal room of Chess The Musical (March 22nd, 2018)
Collaboration Nina Rios

"Piano" incluye música de 50 años.

Sonntag, 07. Januar 2018, 18:25 Uhr
Verlosung handsigniert: ABBA-Benny im Interview
Mit „Happy New Year“ veröffentlichte die schwedische Popgruppe ABBA (380 Mio. verkaufte Tonträger) im Jahr 1980 einen weiteren Musik-Klassiker. Denn auch zum diesjährigen Jahreswechsel durfte das Stück auf keiner guten Party fehlen.

Verlosung handsigniert: ABBA-Benny im Interview
Foto: Universal Music




Der Song findet sich auch auf dem „Piano“-Album von ABBA-Mitglied Benny Andersson (71), für das er wichtige Stücke seiner Karriere als Klavierversionen neu eingespielt hat. klatsch-tratsch.de-Autorin Katja Schwemmers traf die Legende in Hannover, wo Andersson seinen trockenen Humor durchscheinen ließ, als er über eine Reunion von ABBA auf der Bühne, den Film „Mamma Mia! 2“, sein Hotel in Stockholm und seine Vorliebe für schnelle Fortbewegungsmittel plauderte. Außerdem signierte er uns drei „Piano“-Alben, die klatsch-tratsch.de-Leser mit etwas Glück gewinnen können (siehe unten). So beginnt das Jahr dann wirklich gut!



Mr. Andersson, Sie sind das dritte Mitglied von ABBA, das ich zum Interview treffe, und das zweite B!
Genau genommen bin ich das erste B! Ich bin das B, das auf einigen Albumcovern rückwärts guckt. Wir hatten mal ein Fotoshooting mit Bubi Heilemann für die „Bravo“, da hielt ich mein B versehentlich verkehrt rum. Daraus hat sich das dann entwickelt. Ich war also das erste B.

Und nun steht das B für sich allein.
Ich fand es war an der Zeit, dass ich ein Soloalbum mache. „Piano“ beinhaltet Musik aus 50 Jahren. Nicht nur von ABBA – da ist auch vieles anderes dabei, was ich gemacht habe. Ich bin froh, dass ich diese Klavier-Versionen aufgenommen habe. Ich fühle mich gut damit, ich erkenne mich darin wieder, und das nicht nur, weil ich die Lieder selbst eingespielt habe. Ich war dabei, als sie das erste Mal passierten. Und ich bin immer noch da. Es fühlt sich richtig an – egal, ob es 1973, 1987 oder 2018 ist.

Mit dem anhaltenden Erfolg nie gerechnet
Ist es für Sie wichtig, der Nachwelt etwas zu hinterlassen?
Ach, nein. Niemand von uns Vieren hat überhaupt damit gerechnet, dass nach so vielen Jahren ein Bedürfnis nach ABBA bestehen könnte und die Musik immer noch relevant ist. Als wir 1982 aufhörten, dachten wir, dass wir vielleicht noch in den Genuss von Tantiemen aus Spanien, Argentinien oder Japan in den nächsten zwei, drei Jahren kommen könnten. Pop war damals schon kurzlebig. Aber bei uns hörte es nie auf. Man kann nur dankbar, bescheiden und glücklich darüber sein, dass wir auf unsere Art immer noch da sind.

Wie erklären Sie sich den andauernden Wunsch des Publikums nach einer Wiedervereinigung von ABBA?
Mir gefällt der Gedanke, dass es diesen Wunsch gibt, weil wir damals gut waren. Viele Songs und Aufnahmen waren gut. Und wir hatten Hits über einen ausreichend langen Zeitraum von zehn Jahren. Es hilft natürlich, dass die Lieder in Filmen wie „Muriels Hochzeit“ auftauchten, dass Erasure und Madonna sich Songs annahmen und große Hits damit hatten. Dann kam vor 18 Jahren das Musical dazu. Vieles hat also für unseren Song-Katalog gearbeitet, obwohl ABBA seit 1982 nicht mehr existierten. Das ist ein bisschen wie bei den Beatles, die auch zehn Jahre durchgezogen haben und bis heute präsent sind.

Verlosung handsigniert: ABBA-Benny im Interview
Foto: Universal Music
Die Rolling Stones gehen sogar immer noch auf Tour. Fragen Sie sich manchmal, wie Mick Jagger das macht?
Ich kann es nicht fassen – der Typ ist einfach unglaublich! Es muss daran liegen, dass die Stones wirklich mögen, was sie tun. Sie lieben es, auf der Bühne zu stehen. Anders ist das nicht zu erklären. Ich habe mir ihr Konzert in Stockholm angesehen und hallo gesagt. Das war ein toller Abend.

Es schlägt also immer noch ein Rocker-Herz in Ihrer Brust, so wie in Ihren musikalischen Anfängen in den Sechzigern als Mitglied der Band The Hep Stars?
Ja, absolut! Eine Vorliebe für die alten Typen im Rockbusiness habe ich immer noch.

Die Hologramm-Tour ist ein Missverständnis
Was ist dran an den Gerüchten um eine ABBA-Hologramm-Tour?
Das ist ein Missverständnis. Denn ob das in Form von Hologrammen geschehen wird, wissen wir noch gar nicht. Es sind digitale Versionen von uns Vieren, so viel ist sicher. Unsere Körper wurden dafür sogar schon vermessen. Die Technik erlaubt uns verschiedene Möglichkeiten, auf der Bühne zu stehen, ohne wirklich da zu sein. Wir sondieren das gerade. Es ist mehr Arbeit, als wir am Anfang annahmen. Aber es soll ja auch etwas Unvergleichbares werden. Es soll so nah dran sein am ursprünglichen Konzerterlebnis wie nur möglich.

Verlosung handsigniert: ABBA-Benny im Interview
Foto: Universal Music
Ist es ein komisches Gefühl, dass die Show Sie überleben wird?
Das ist ein interessanter Aspekt, nicht wahr? Deshalb wollten wir es tun, so lange wir leben, um Einfluss darauf nehmen zu können. Es wird eine höchst technologische Angelegenheit, in der wir mit der Zukunft flirten. Und doch ist es ein bisschen wie in den Siebzigern, wo wir, anstatt selbst zur „Starparade“ oder zu irgendeiner TV-Show nach Australien zu reisen und aufzutreten, ein Video von uns schickten. Wir waren mit solchen Platzhaltergeschichten also eh früh dran. Und nun wollen wir etwas machen, was noch nie zuvor gemacht wurde.

Ein Museum in Stockholm haben ABBA ja bereits. Dort steht ein Telefon in den Besucherräumen, auf dem angeblich die vier ABBA-Mitglieder ab und zu anrufen. Hand aufs Herz: Wie oft ist das bei Ihnen vorgekommen?
Drei Mal! Einmal hatte ich einen Museums-Besucher aus Venezuela am Hörer, ein anderes Mal einen aus Deutschland. Es ist nie geplant, ich mache es einfach. Ich habe die Nummer in meinem Handy gespeichert – es gibt nur drei weitere Personen auf dem Planeten, die sie auch haben. Eine ziemlich lustige Idee, oder?



Benny Andersson ist Hotelbesitzer
Apropos Telefon: Was ist das letzte Foto, dass Sie mit Ihrem iPhone aufgenommen haben?
Lassen Sie mich mal nachschauen. (blättert im Handy) Schauen Sie, das ist Jessica. Ich züchte Rennpferde. Und Jessica ist die derzeitige Trainerin. Sie und ihr irischer Ehemann haben uns letztes Wochenende Zuhause besucht. Das Bild entstand, bevor sie wieder wegfuhren.

Ist das ein Hobby von Ihnen? Oder wie ernst nehmen Sie das mit der Rennpferdezucht?
Sehr ernst! Es ist weit mehr als ein Hobby für mich. Ich mache das ja auch schon seit 25 Jahren und guck mir regelmäßig die Rennen an.



Ist der Mann mit den leisen Tönen am Klavier im Privaten also eher ein Geschwindigkeits-Junkie?
Nein, aber es ist schon zwei Mal vorgekommen, dass sie mir den Führerschein abgenommen haben! Es ist immer verlockend, wenn ich mit meinem Porsche Macan unterwegs bin. Aber ich bemühe mich, jetzt immer ganz entspannt hinterm Steuer zu sein, denn ich will den Führerschein nicht noch einmal abgeben müssen.

Wo wohnen Sie in Stockholm?
Ich lebe nah am Zentrum auf einer Insel, die sehr grün ist. Nicht viele Leute wohnen da, es gibt vielleicht 100 Häuser. Es ist eine sehr nette Gegend von Stockholm. Ich bin ein glücklicher Junge.

Sie besitzen seit 2003 das Hotel „Rival“ in der Stockholmer Innenstadt! Wie laufen die Geschäfte?
Gut, denn ich habe sehr gute Geschäftsführer. Sie rufen mich jede Woche an. Aber eigentlich ist das nur erforderlich, wenn sie mal nicht wissen, was zu tun ist. Und wenn sie Dinge verändern wollen, die man als Gast wahrnimmt, will ich das natürlich wissen und lege gegebenenfalls ein Veto ein. Ansonsten läuft alles geschmeidig. Wir haben sehr gutes Personal, das jedem das Gefühl gibt, willkommen zu sein – was der wichtigste Faktor bei einem Hotel ist.


Was ist das Beste, wenn man ein Hotel hat?
Man hat immer ausreichend Platz, um eine Party zu feiern, und muss den Dreck später nicht wegmachen. Ich habe im „Rival“ meinen 70. Geburtstag gefeiert. Wir waren 25 Leute – meine Familie, Kinder und Enkelkinder und einige Freunde waren dabei. Es ist so schön einfach, dort zu feiern. Ich bekomme Prozente auf alles. (lacht)

Wenn Mick Jagger in der Stadt ist, übernachtet der dann auch im „Rival“?
Ich weiß gar nicht, ob er das schon getan hat. Ich vermute, die Stones steigen eher im Grand Hotel ab. Aber viele Schauspieler und Musiker übernachten bei uns, weil es so ungezwungen und entspannt zugeht.

Sie haben mit ABBA-Kollege Bjorn Ulvaeus einen Song für das Hotel geschrieben: „2nd Best To None“.
Ja, für das Personal des „Rival“. (lacht) Sie performen das Lied als The Rivals. Erst sollte es nur ein Jingle für die Hotel-Webseite werden, dann wurde es eine Single mit Video. Das Lied war sogar ein Mini-Hit in den schwedischen Charts.



Warum ist der dann nicht mit auf Ihrem „Piano“-Album?
(lacht herzhaft) Das wär’s gewesen! Alle Songs, die eine Rhythmussektion aus Bass, Schlagzeug und Gitarre benötigen, sind nicht auf diesem Album. Deshalb kamen auch „Dancing Queen“, „Waterloo“ oder „Take A Chance On Me“ nicht in Frage, weil man dafür eine Band braucht, um denen gerecht zu werden. Die Songs sind also so ausgesucht, dass sie nur mit dem Piano funktionieren.

„Mamma Mia 2“ bringt wieder viel Spaß
Ist „Dancing Queen“ der perfekte Popsong?
Ja, der ist ganz ok.

So bescheiden?
Es gibt viele Songs, auf die ich stolz bin. Sie sind alle anders. Aber ich stimme zu, „Dancing Queen“ ist ein echter Popsong. Er hat einen guten Anfang, der sich eher wie die Mitte eines Liedes anhört. Das Stük hat einen netten Groove. Aber „Knowing Me, Knowing You“ ist auch ein echt guter Song. „Take A Chance On Me“ macht Spaß. Ich mag „The Winner Takes It All“. Von „The Day Before You Came“, was der letzte ABBA-Song war, habe ich für die „Piano“-Platte eine sehr schöne, melancholische Version aufgenommen. Ich kann deshalb nicht sagen, dass „Dancing Queen“ mein Favorit ist.

Momentan arbeiten Sie am zweiten Teil des Musikfilms „Mamma Mia!“ Die meisten bekannten ABBA-Songs haben Sie doch schon im ersten Teil verbraten. Was kann da noch kommen?
Es wird einen ganzen Song und zwei halbe aus dem früheren Film geben, weil diese so gut zur Story passen. Der Rest, es sind 18 Songs, dürfte für Leute, die keine Hardcore-ABBA-Fans sind, nicht unbedingt geläufig sein. Es sind Lieder wie „When I Kissed The Teacher“, „I Wonder“ und „Angeleyes“. Sie funktionieren in dem Kontext des Films prima, um die Geschichte zu erzählen. Und sie bringen eine Menge Spaß.

Verlosung handsigniert: ABBA-Benny im Interview
Foto: klatsch-tratsch.de
Pierce Brosnan postete stolz ein Foto von Ihnen beiden im Studio. Wie ist es für Sie, mit Nicht-Sängern an dem Soundtrack zu arbeiten?
Pierce kann singen, er hat eine angenehme Stimme und gibt alles. Die Leute kriegen bei ihm nur den James Bond nicht aus dem Kopf. Die behaupten dann, dass ihm so was Romantisches wie „SOS“ nicht stünde. Meryl Streep kann definitiv singen. Amanda Seyfried ist eine großartige Sängerin. Und Lily James, dass Mädchen, das die Hauptfigur spielt, die junge Donna und damit Meryl Streeps Rolle, denn der Film erzählt ja die Story vor dem ersten Teil, ist sogar unglaublich gut bei Stimme! Man tut diesen Leuten also unrecht. Mir machen sie im Studio gar keine Probleme.

Ist es komisch, wenn Sie all die Hollywood-Legenden im Studio haben?
Nee, das macht Spaß. Denn sie sind ja raus aus ihrer Komfortzone, sie sind in einer Umgebung, die ihnen nicht wirklich vertraut ist. Und mir sind diese Leute auch nicht wirklich vertraut. Beide Seiten sind also gleichermaßen gespannt, was passiert. Der Umgang wird dann ganz schnell cool und easy, und alle geben ihr Bestes.

klatsch-tratsch.de verlost 3 handsignierte CDs!
Um teilnehmen zu können, musst Du Fan unserer Facebook-Seite oder unserer Twitter-Seite sein oder einfach unseren Youtube-Trailer-Kanal abonnieren! Schreib uns bis zum 20. Januar 2018 in einer Mail Deinen Facebook- oder Twitter-Namen und im Betreff bitte „Benny Andersson“

Deine Mail geht an: gewinnspiel@klatsch-tratsch.de. Der Rechtsweg ist ausgeschlossen.

http://www.klatsch-tratsch.de/2018/01/07/verlosung-handsigniert-abba-benny-im-interview/330313

“EVERY SONGWRITER NEEDS TO SIT THERE, KEEP GOING, AND WAIT FOR ‘IT’ TO HAPPEN”

“EVERY SONGWRITER NEEDS TO SIT THERE, KEEP GOING, AND WAIT FOR ‘IT’ TO HAPPEN”

JANUARY 17, 2018

BY DAVE ROBERT

BW’s World’s Greatest Songwriters series celebrates the pop composers behind the globe’s biggest hits. This month, we talk to Benny Andersson, the founding member of ABBA who co-wrote the Swedish band’s timeless hits. The World’s Greatest Songwriters is supported by AMRA – the global digital music collection society which strives to maximize value for songwriters and publishers in the digital age.

Benny Andersson is confident that ABBA will be back in concert halls, together, some time this year. Sadly, it will most likely be as guests at the opening night of their own show.

That intriguing/baffling prospect will (hopefully) be made possible by the VR/digital ‘experience’ currently being worked on by Simon Fuller’s XIX Entertainment and Universal Music, with Andersson and his fellow band members as creative directors.

It will be the latest project/product to make the Swedish band even more successful than they were when they were together – a remarkable achievement made possible by, amongst other things, 1992’s ABBA Gold compilation and Mamma Mia, the eighth longest-running musical on Broadway and the West End, and the most successful British musical film of all time.

The band’s afterlife as a widely adored commercial juggernaut didn’t always look so assured – or even especially likely.


For a long time after their breakup (which was never actually announced; “we’re still on a break”, Andersson jokily insists), their legacy was wrongheadedly tarnished with that ludicrous phrase ‘guilty pleasure’.

Maybe it was the outfits. Maybe it was the videos. Maybe it was because they weren’t British or American. It certainly wasn’t the songs – mini masterpieces of pop perfection shot through with subtlety and sadness.

The idea that such a glorious band (and catalogue) ever needed reassessing or rehabilitating is a nonsense, of course, but, there’s no denying the shift in cultural appreciation that may well have started with a slight nudge from Erasure’s Abba-esque EP in 1992, followed by the battering ram of ABBA Gold that same year – the greatest hits compilation went on to sell over 30 million copies worldwide, all guilt-free.

There was still room for a few misreads, however, such as the one about ABBA starting off as shiny but shallow before, worn down by life, divorce, fame, pressure and much else, becoming more nuanced, more interesting, more Fleetwood Mac.

Andersson’s not buying it. ABBA were always pretty melancholy, he asserts. And he has a point. The chorus of first single, Waterloo bounces along deceivingly:

I was defeated you won the war/Promise to love you forever more/Couldn’t escape if I wanted to/Knowing my fate is to be with you/Finally facing my Waterloo.

Not exactly the most upbeat start to a relationship, or a career. I mean, if they were your wedding vows…

And SOS? Literally a cry for help! Mind you, no one believed John Lennon when he made an equally stark statement whilst apparently living the dream, either.

MBW meets Andersson not long after the release of last year’s Piano album, featuring new versions of songs from all stages of his career.

The idea, he says, was to see if they still worked, when stripped bare, returned to the state in which they entered the world, one man teasing chords and melodies from a piano.

Guess what, they do. The back to basics test is one that has proved the mettle of great songs throughout the years, so it’s no surprise it is passed with ease time and time again by truly one of the world’s greatest songwriters.

WHICH SONGWRITERS INFLUENCED AND INSPIRED YOU AS A YOUNG MAN?

The first record I bought was Elvis Presley’s Jailhouse Rock – and the B-side, Treat Me Nice, which has a nice piano introduction. But I wasn’t aware that someone was writing these songs, someone who wasn’t Elvis.

I never thought much about the process of song writing until The Beatles. Because all of a sudden, here was a band and they were writing their own music. Before them, you needed a band and you needed a songwriter; they didn’t need anyone else.

AT THAT STAGE, DID YOU HAVE MUSICAL AMBITIONS?

Not really, I was playing my piano and I got asked to join a band when I was maybe 15, and then another band, and then a band called The Hepstars asked me to join them in about 1964. So I quit school to join them.

WERE THEY ALREADY SUCCESSFUL THEN?

They weren’t; not until I joined [laughs]. We recorded a few covers and they were all top 5 in the [Swedish] charts, it was overnight. It was rock n roll, we played Chuck Berry, we played Eddie Cochran, we played Rolling Stones – we were almost a punk band, really.

WERE YOU WRITING AT THIS STAGE?

Not at first, no. But, like I say, the Beatles were around, so I saw what could be done and I decided to try. The first song I wrote was called No Response – not good. I didn’t know what I was doing, it was sort of this stompy thing, I’m not sure what it was. But I played it to the band, they liked it, we recorded it and we had a minor hit.

The second song I wrote, I was sitting at a piano in a hotel in Norway in the middle of the night and I wrote this song called Sunny Girl, which is not a rock song at all, it’s more like a minuet. I don’t know why I did that or where that came from, but I connected to what I was doing for the first time. It talked back to me and I could fee in my body that this is good stuff – even though it’s me, it’s good!

It was very different for us, a very noisy band, this was sweet and slow, but we recorded it and it went to No.1.

I remember thinking, if I can write one good song, I can probably write two. And if I can write two, I can probably write three. There and then I knew what I was going to do in the future, I was going to concentrate on writing songs, songs that I was actually connected to.

DID YOU CARRY ON WRITING SONGS FOR THE BAND?

I did, but they were not so good, not really. We thought they were good at the time, but not really. Once the Hepstars quit, I wasn’t really sure what I was going to do, but I had already met Bjorn [Ulvaeus] on the road – 5th June, 1966 [Ulvaeus was touring with his own band, The Hootenany singers].

We were strumming guitars, playing Beatles songs. I knew he was writing, he knew I was writing, and we said, maybe we should do something together some day.

Initially we wrote songs for other Swedish singers and we were fairly successful. And then we wrote 10 or 12 songs together for an album that we recorded, as Benny and Bjorn, called Lycka, which means Happiness – and we thought that wasn’t too bad.

By now, he had met Agnetha [Faltskog] and I had met Frieda [Lyngstad], and on one song, called Hello Old Man, we thought maybe it needed some backing vocals. So the girls came in and sang and we straight away thought, ‘Oh, this is what it should sound like.’

We ended up touring, the four of us, as a cabaret band, playing while people were eating and drinking – only doing covers. It was so fucking embarrassing. But in the middle of the set, we would sing a 10-minute medley of songs from that record, and that was the only bit we felt good about. That was the bit we liked, never mind about the audience, we knew that we liked those 10 minutes.

So Bjorn and I decided we wanted to write pop songs, ourselves, in English and try and get over the Swedish border – and the girls should sing; we shouldn’t.

But we were asking ourselves, How can we make people outside Sweden know we exist? Which is why we entered the Eurovision Song Contest. We wrote a song called Ring Ring, which came third in the Swedish competition. But we didn’t give up.

Next year we wrote Waterloo, we won the Swedish competition and we ended up winning in Brighton in 1974.

DID YOU KNOW IT WAS GOING TO WIN?

No…. Well, actually I had a £20 bet on it, in Brighton, at 20/1. There were some good songs, but I did think ours was better.

I was standing there, and I’m good at mental arithmetic, so I knew exactly the moment where we would win even if we got no more votes, and I told the others, “That’s it, we’ve done it.”

DID YOU AND BJORN ALWAYS WRITE TOGETHER, PHYSICALLY TOGETHER, IN THE SAME ROOM, RIGHT FROM THOSE EARLY DAYS, OR DID YOU BRING EACH OTHER IDEAS?

We were together most of the time. We would sit together, I’d play piano, he’d play guitar and we would hum along with Swedish nonsense or rubbish English – and all of a sudden, something would pop up.

We always said we both must feel the same. It would happen many times: I would say this is good stuff Bjorn, and he would say, No, I don’t think so.

I’d try again the next day: still no. I would work on it and sometimes win him round, but we always had to agree; we had to agree, with every ABBA song, that this was as good as we could get. If someone said no, it could be better, then we just kept working.

WHERE WAS THE LINE OF DEMARCATION BETWEEN MUSIC AND LYRICS?

I only ever wrote one or two lyrics, I hated it. And I was really bad at it. He was like that [snaps fingers], he could write a brilliant lyric in a minute, he still can.

BUT YOU SET THE TONE AND LEAD THE WAY MUSICALLY?

Probably, yes – well, piano is louder than guitar [laughs].

SOMEONE ONCE SAID THAT YOU NEVER WROTE ALBUMS, YOU JUST WROTE POTENTIAL SINGLES AND COLLECTED THEM ON ONE RECORD…

Well, sort of. What is true is that you start with thin air, and then, somehow, you write a song. And if that song is SOS, then, when you’re back to thin air, the next song must be anything but SOS, or anything like SOS.

DO YOU THINK THAT THE SUBTLETY AND THE MELANCHOLY OF YOUR SONGS IN THOSE EARLY DAYS WAS MISSED, INITIALLY, OR PERHAPS RATHER SNOBBISHLY OVERLOOKED?

Maybe, yes.

AND DID THAT ANNOY YOU?

No, not at all. Life was good. You do everything the best you can. We write it as best we can, and then we try and record it as best we can and we try and make it match the vision that we had for it. So, let’s say we recorded 100 ABBA songs: I’d say 20 weren’t as good as we dreamed of, 60 came out okay, and 20 were actually better than we dreamed of.

And I think those 20, or whatever the number is, were good enough, and came over a period long enough, for us not to be neglected. Because we were there for such a long time – and did good, I think.

PEOPLE ALSO SAY THAT ABBA’S SONGS BECAME MORE REFLECTIVE OVER THE YEARS BECAUSE THEY WERE INFLUENCED BY THE BREAK UP OF YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH FRIDA AND BJORN’S WITH AGNETHA. DO YOU THINK THAT IS OVERPLAYED?

I think so, I think the melancholy was there from day one, there is a strain of melancholy through all that work. It is dressed up as pop, but it was never just pop.

WHICH SONGS ARE YOU PROUDEST OF IN THAT ABBA CATALOGUE?

I’d say The Winner Takes It All is good. I’d say Knowing Me Knowing You is a great recording.

I think Take A Chance On Me is a good recording. Dancing Queen is okay. Fernando is okay.

HOW CRAZY WAS THE HEIGHT OF ABBA’S FAME FOR YOU FOUR?

Not too bad. We were living in Stockholm, ordinary lives, with families and dogs. We didn’t tour much.

Altogether, over the 10 years, we did maybe 60 or 70 days on the road, because we knew, Bjorn and I knew, that we needed time to write. It takes so long, to sit and wait it out, until it happens.

ONCE THE HITS WERE COMING THICK AND FAST AND YOU WERE SELLING AN AWFUL LOT OF RECORDS, DID YOU AND BJORN FEEL THE PRESSURE TO DELIVER THE NEXT ONE, AND THE NEXT ONE…

No, we were confident, we didn’t let ourselves be pushed by anyone –because what can they do? We’ll work and when there are two songs left to write for an album, you can set a release date, we can do that, and maybe that’s a little pressure, but that was our decision.

When we did the album Super Trouper, we actually needed just one more song and time was running out, so we stayed in the studio overnight and we wrote the song, Super Trouper, there on the spot. That’s never happened before or since!

AT THE HEIGHT OF YOUR FAME, OF COURSE, PUNK CAME ALONG AND DECIDED EVERYTHING THAT HAD GONE BEFORE, INCLUDING YOU, WAS CRAP.

That’s a good attitude! I like that. I wasn’t that keen on the punk music, but that’s a good attitude and in hindsight there was some fun stuff in there as well.

BUT THEN, ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS PUNK TRACKS OF ALL TIME, PRETTY VACANT, IS FAMOUSLY STOLEN FROM ABBA.

Is it?!

YEAH, GLENN MATLOCK, WHO WROTE IT HAS CONFESSED THAT THE MAIN RIFF IS LIFTED STRAIGHT FROM SOS.

Ah, good, well he was very welcome!

WHEN YOU BROKE UP, WAS THERE A SENSE OF RELIEF AT ALL?

I don’t know, we just felt, and had maybe felt for some time, perhaps it’s time to try something else.

ALL FOUR OF YOU FELT THAT?

No, me and Bjorn, maybe me more than Bjorn, but he agreed with me. And we both thought, wouldn’t it be nice to write for the theatre? Then, of course, Tim Rice showed up out of the blue and said I have these ideas: one about King Saul and one about chess. Chess – there can’t be a more boring subject for a musical, let’s do that one.

So we said to the girls, Let’s take some time off. We think it will take us maybe two years to write this, and then we’ll see what happens.

But it took more than two years, it took four years until we actually made it to the West End. And then coming back and saying [claps hands], Right girls, shall we continue? It wasn’t on the map any more.

THAT’S RIGHT, YOU NEVER ACTUALLY ANNOUNCED YOU WERE SPLITTING UP, DID YOU?

Not at all, no. We took a break; we’re still on a break.

WHAT WOULD YOU SAY YOU ARE, A PERFORMER OR A SONGWRITER?

Oh I am not a performer, I’m a songwriter.

DO YOU ENJOY THE PERFORMANCE ASPECT AT ALL?

What I enjoy is playing with other musicians, that’s the most joyful thing you can do in life. I sit on my own, in my room, trying to write music, and that is great, I enjoy going to work every day – but it’s sort of lonely.

So that’s why I formed my band [The Benny Andersson orkester: six top five albums in Sweden since 2001, with Bjorn on co-writing duties], to have friends and other musicians to play with.

DO YOU WRITE EVERY DAY?

Yes, every day, I at least sit down and try. Most of the time it won’t happen, but if I’m not there it definitely won’t happen. I just wish I could come to terms with what it is.

YOU MEAN WHY IT DOESN’T HAPPEN?

No, that’s easy to understand! But why, all of a sudden [clicks figures]. Why, after three weeks of playing rubbish do I suddenly have eight bars coming out and talking to me, like it was in the hotel in Norway in 1966? If that doesn’t happen, nothing will happen – but what is it?

If I knew what it was I would go straight there at Monday morning, but it doesn’t work like that. Maybe it’s the same for everyone who creates, every painter, every writer, you need to sit there, you need to keep going, you need to wait for ‘it’ to happen.

It sort of feels like someone all of a sudden feels sorry for you: look at him sitting there at his piano, getting nowhere, let’s send him eight bars today.

WHO ARE YOUR FAVOURITE SONGWRITERS FROM ANY ERA?

Well if we extend it to include composers, it is Johan Sebastian Bach at number one – and then comes nothing for a long time. Then people like Richard Rodgers, Irving Berlin, Lennon and McCartney, of course, Brian Wilson, one of my heroes, Ray Davies, Tony Hatch. I won’t be able to remember all the names. And I like the work of [fellow Swede] Max Martin, he knows what he’s doing.

But, so many songs are now written by committee and I don’t understand how that works, because for me a song starts with melody combined with chords. I arrange the song, with bass and drums, after the song is finished, not the other way round. If I start with the drums and the bass and then add some chords, randomly, and then try to write a melody… I don’t know how that works, I don’t get it.

What that lacks, I think, is a ‘sender’. If someone likes my music, that’s me, it’s me sending it to you. If there are seven people behind it, are they all honest? Do they all mean it?

IT MUST BE STRANGE FOR YOU, HAVING FELT YOU WERE IN A BACKWATER IN SWEDEN 40 YEARS AGO, TO SWEDEN NOW BEING ONE OF THE CENTRES OF THE POP UNIVERSE – AND HOME TO SPOTIFY. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE WAY THEY TREAT SONGWRITERS, FINANCIALLY AND GENERALLY?

Well, financially, it’s better than nothing; it’s better than it being downloaded for free, so the idea’s good.

What they could do is, at the moment, when you click on a song, you see it’s Katy Perry and you see the title, but there should be another button that you click on to see the songwriters, the musicians, the producers, etc. get some information.

Songwriters should be credited for their work.

HOW TIRED DO YOU GET OF BEING ASKED THE ABBA QUESTION?

I don’t get tired of it, it’s just that the answer’s no [laughs].

BUT THERE IS THIS DIGITAL PROJECT, ISN’T THERE, WITH SIMON FULLER?

Yes, and it will be digital but it will be live. If we were going out again for real, we would do everything to make that a real event, we would not try to save any money in any corner, and that is what is going to happen here – but we’re not going to be there. We will be there in digital form, as holograms or in the Augmented Reality world. We won’t be there, but you will think we are there.

AND YOU AND BJORN ARE CREATIVE DIRECTORS, CHOOSING SET LISTS, DECIDING ON HOW EVERYTHING WILL LOOK?

Yes, absolutely, we’ve been working on it for a year already. It will be another year and a half before we can open – April 2019, I think. But only if it’s good. If it’s not good we won’t do it at all and everyone knows this, including Simon Fuller.

HOW OFTEN ARE THE FOUR OF YOU IN THE SAME ROOM THESE DAYS?

About this? A couple of times, and before that, yeah, we meet occasionally.

AND IT’S ALL GOOD?

It’s all good, it has always been all good.

AND ON THAT FIRST NIGHT, IN A CONCERT HALL, WILL ALL FOUR OF YOU BE THERE, WATCHING AN ABBA CONCERT TOGETHER?

I think so. I can only speak for myself, but I think so.

AMRA is the first of its kind — a global digital music collection society, built on technology and trust. AMRA is designed to maximize value for songwriters and publishers in today’s digital age, while providing the highest level of transparency and efficiency.Music Business Worldwide

https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/every-songwriter-needs-to-sit-there-keep-going-and-wait-for-it-to-happen/