Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight) surpasses the milestone

 ABBA scores second Spotify Billions Club song

Buddy Iahn — 

“Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)” surpasses the milestone

ABBA’s iconic 1979 hit “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)” has officially surpassed one billion streams on Spotify, marking the group’s second track to enter Spotify’s coveted Billions Club after “Dancing Queen” in 2023.

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More than 40 years after its release, “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)” is finding new life with a new generation of Gen Z listeners, who have accounted for 50 percent of the 11 million discoveries of ABBA on Spotify in 2025. Gen Z also makes up half of ABBA’s global audience on Spotify.

Streams of ABBA have increased 150 percent on Spotify globally over the past five years, with their music featured in nearly 130 million user-generated playlists.

The song, written by the group’s Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, was released on October 12, 1979, as the sole single from their album Greatest Hits Vol. 2. It was also later included in reissues of their sixth studio album, Voulez-Vous.

The song tells the story of a lonely woman longing for a romantic connection. The narrator describes being alone at night, watching TV, and feeling depressed by the gloom outside. She yearns for “a man after midnight” to “chase the shadows away,” seeking a romantic relationship to escape her solitude. It reflects a desire for companionship and highlights the stark contrast between her lonely existence and the happy endings depicted for movie stars.

The song’s disco sound was reportedly inspired by Donna Summer’s hit “Hot Stuff,” released in 1979.

The song topped the charts in several countries across Europe and Australia, gaining significant popularity in Japan.

https://themusicuniverse.com/abba-scores-second-spotify-billions-club-song

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This '70s pop band wins over Gen Z (again) with 1 billion Spotify streams

Edward Segarra

USA TODAY

It's not 1979, but ABBA is bewitching a whole new generation with its disco magic.

The iconic Swedish pop group, beloved for its infectious blend of Europop and danceable grooves, has made Spotify history with its late-'70s hit "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)." The song, cowritten and coproduced by members Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, entered Spotify's Billions Club on Sunday, July 20, after surpassing one billion streams on the music platform, Spotify exclusively confirmed to USA TODAY.

This isn't the first time ABBA has dominated the streaming universe with its timeless tunes. The band's enduring anthem, "Dancing Queen," entered the Billions Club in July 2023.

Released in October 1979 as part of the group's compilation album "Greatest Hits Vol. 2," "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!" peaked at No. 1 in several territories, including Europe, Denmark, Japan and Switzerland, and cracked the top 20 in ABBA's native Sweden.

The song has received a number of revivals over the years thanks to various covers and samples. '80s diva and "Queen of Pop" Madonna featured the track's opening synth line in her 2005 song "Hung Up," which peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100.

ABBA book revelations: AC/DC connection, the unlikely inspiration for ‘Mamma Mia!’, more

Additionally, the 2008 film "Mamma Mia!" — a musical based on ABBA's hits-heavy catalog — included a version sung by stars Amanda Seyfried, Ashley Lilley and Rachel McDowall.

More recently, "Gimme!" has enjoyed a digital resurgence with Gen Z, as seen on the social media platform TikTok. Several clips show young fans embracing the song's disco sound with lively, choreographed routines.

ABBA racks up Gen Z fans by the millions on Spotify

ABBA's streaming dominance is in part due to the group's sizable Gen Z audience.

Globally, Gen Zers have accounted for 50% of ABBA's total streams on Spotify in 2025, according to the streaming service. Additionally, there have been over 11 million ABBA discoveries by Gen Z listeners on Spotify, which makes up half of the band's discoveries from all users worldwide.

See the photos: A 'very emotional' ABBA reunites to receive Swedish royal honors

The top 10 most-streamed ABBA tracks among Gen Z listeners in 2025 are as follows:

Dancing Queen

Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)

Lay All Your Love on Me

The Winner Takes It All

Mamma Mia

Slipping Through My Fingers

Money, Money, Money

Super Trouper

Chiquitita

Take a Chance on Me

https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/music/2025/07/20/abba-spotify-billions-club-gimme-gimme-gimme/85282975007

The Winner Takes It All

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wn-ATXSgDx8

Harrison Marking 20th Anniversary Of The Closing Of Stockholm’s Polar Studio

article: https://www.prosoundweb.com/harrison-marking-20th.../
Harrison Marking 20th Anniversary Of The Closing Of Stockholm’s Polar Studio
photosofthedays - notes

Harrison Marking 20th Anniversary Of The Closing Of Stockholm's Polar Studio - ProSoundWeb

PSW Staff 

Inside the control room at Polar Studios in Stockholm that was centered on a Harrison 32 Series console.

May 3, 2024

PSW Staff

Studio used by ABBA, Led Zeppelin, Phil Collins, The Ramones and more featured a Harrison 32 Series 40-channel analog mixing console, the world's first 32-bus, inline desk.

Harrison announced that the first of May (2024) marked the 20th anniversary of the closing of the legendary Polar Studios in Stockholm, Sweden after 26 years of operation, and from the beginning, it was equipped with a Harrison 32 Series analog mixing console.

The company states that the 4032 — with 40 channels — was the world’s first 32-bus, inline desk. It was given serial number 045 and was delivered to Polar Studios in January 1978. The input channel modules were modified by Harrison to allow headphones to be fed from buses 25 through 32, and the studio later added a 16-channel input extender as a sidecar.

Gary Thielman, president of Harrison Audio, says “The 32 Series at Polar really contributed to the soundtrack of an era. I recall a conversation with Dave (Harrison), with me going crazy about all this amazing music being made on our consoles…he was so focused on perfecting designs that he simply viewed it as ‘doing his job’.”

ABBA’s Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson, together with the band’s manager, Stig “Stikkan” Anderson, owner of the Polar Music recording label, opened the studio in a disused former movie theater in the center of Stockholm. Having recorded previous ABBA albums and singles at a variety of studios in Sweden, the intention was to create a modern production studio where the band could work at their own pace and to provide facilities for other Polar label artists. Anderson founded the label in 1963.

ABBA recorded their final three albums — Voulez-Vous, Super Trouper and The Visitors — and two non-LP singles, “The Day Before You Came” and “Under Attack,” at Polar. The very first song recorded at the studio was the global hit “Chiquitita,” the lead single from Voulez-Vous, which was released in January 1979. The Visitors became one of mainstream pop’s first digital releases in 1981 when it was recorded to Polar’s new 3M digital tape machine. All four ABBA members recorded solo projects at the studio after the band split up in 1982.

Most major Swedish artists recorded at Polar, as did a very long list of international artists, including the Rolling Stones, Backstreet Boys, Chic, the Ramones, Roxy Music and Celine Dion. Led Zeppelin recorded the 1979 album In Through the Out Door at Polar and Genesis recorded Duke in 1980, with the band’s lead vocalist and drummer Phil Collins going on to produce, with Hugh Padgham, ABBA singer Anni-Frid Lyngstad’s solo album, Something’s Going On, at the studio.

Anderson bought out partners Ulvaeus and Andersson in 1984 before selling the facility to a business partnership comprising his daughter, son-in-law and Lennart Östlund, Polar’s chief engineer since 1978. The building was later sold to a Swedish insurance company and it became a private housing cooperative, which raised the rent. With the business no longer economically viable, Polar Studios closed.

The console is now housed in the ABBA museum in Stockholm.

https://www.prosoundweb.com/harrison-marking-20th-anniversary-of-the-closing-of-stockholms-polar-studio

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 May Marks Polar Studios Anniversaries

May 1 marked the 20th anniversary of Stockholm’s Polar Studios closing; the facility was used to record legendary albums by Abba, Led Zeppelin, Genesis and many others.

BY MIX STAFF

PUBLISHED: 05/09/2024



The Harrison 32 Series analog mixing console used at Polar Studios.

Stockholm, Sweden (May 9, 2024)—May 1 marked the twentieth anniversary of the closing of Stockholm’s legendary Polar Studios, which famously featured a Harrison 32 Series analog mixing console, the world’s first 32-bus, inline desk, after 26 years of operation.

ABBA’s Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson, together with the band’s manager, Stig “Stikkan” Anderson, owner of the Polar Music recording label, opened Polar Studios on May 18, 1978 in a disused former movie theater in the center of Stockholm. Having recorded previous ABBA albums and singles at a variety of studios in Sweden, the intention was to create a modern production studio where the band could work at its own pace and to provide facilities for other Polar label artists. Anderson founded the label in 1963.

The Harrison 4032 console (a 40-channel, 32 Series desk) was given serial number 045 and was delivered to Polar Studios in January 1978. The input channel modules were modified by Harrison to allow headphones to be fed from buses 25 through 32. The studio later added a 16-channel input extender as a sidecar. The console is now housed in the ABBA museum in Stockholm.

Harrison Audio 32Classic Mixing Console to Launch at AES

Gary Thielman, president of Harrison Audio, comments “The 32 Series at Polar really contributed to the soundtrack of an era. I recall a conversation with Dave (Harrison), with me going crazy about all this amazing music being made on our consoles…he was so focused on perfecting designs that he simply viewed it as ‘doing his job’.”

ABBA recorded their final three albums—Voulez-Vous, Super Trouper and The Visitors—and two non-LP singles, “The Day Before You Came” and “Under Attack,” at Polar. The very first song recorded at the studio was the global hit “Chiquitita,” the lead single from Voulez-Vous, which was released in January 1979. The Visitors became one of mainstream pop’s first digital releases in 1981 when it was recorded to Polar’s new 3M digital tape machine. All four ABBA members recorded solo projects at the studio after the band split up in 1982.

Most major Swedish artists recorded at Polar, as did a very long list of international artists, including the Rolling Stones, Backstreet Boys, Chic, the Ramones, Roxy Music and Celine Dion. Led Zeppelin recorded its 1979 album In Through the Out Door at Polar and Genesis recorded Duke there in 1980, with the band’s lead vocalist and drummer Phil Collins going on to produce, with Hugh Padgham, ABBA singer Anni-Frid Lyngstad’s solo album, Something’s Going On, at the studio.

Anderson bought out partners Ulvaeus and Andersson in 1984 before selling the facility to a business partnership comprising his daughter, son-in-law and Lennart Östlund, Polar’s chief engineer since 1978. The building was later sold to a Swedish insurance company and the building became a private housing cooperative, which raised the rent. With the business no longer economically viable, Polar Studios closed.

https://www.mixonline.com/recording/facilities/may-marks-polar-studios-anniversaries

https://news.hummingbirdmedia.com/marking-the-20th-anniversary-of-the-closing-of-stockholms-legendary-polar-studios

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'Waterloo' at 50: Revisiting ABBA's charge to Eurovision victory in 1974

 'Waterloo' at 50: Revisiting ABBA's charge to Eurovision victory in 1974

'Waterloo' at 50: Revisiting ABBA's charge to Eurovision victory in 1974

Today, 19:25 CEST

ABBA in their iconic stage outfits for the release of Waterloo

'Waterloo' at 50: Revisiting ABBA's charge to Eurovision victory in 1974

As one of the most important milestones in ABBA's career is celebrated on Saturday 6 April, we take a look back at their journey towards that Eurovision Song Contest victory in Brighton 50 years ago.

By now we're all well familiar with the countless achievements that ABBA went on to collect in the wake of their unforgettable Eurovision Song Contest win in 1974. The Swedish foursome's triumphs across the globe were plentiful, they were wonderful and - my my - they were colourful!

On this Golden Anniversary of the group's Eurovision victory, we take a look back at the platform-clad steps that got them there; from the determination that was fuelled by a failed attempt, to a conductor who had the genius idea to dress himself that day via taking the lyrics of the song quite literally. 

After missing out on a ticket to the Eurovision Song Contest 1973 in Luxembourg, when their entry Ring Ring could only manage a third-place finish at Sweden’s pre-selection Melodifestivalen, ABBA decided to sit down and write a song specifically for the Eurovision Song Contest 1974. Something that would definitely smash the competition at Melodifestivalen and get them onto that international stage in Brighton.

The recording of this song with Eurovision success in mind began on 17 December 1973, with a more saccharine working title of Honey Pie having been given to it, before the more battle-worthy Waterloo was bestowed upon the anthem ahead of the two contests it was to (hopefully) be put through.

Once Waterloo was finished, however, ABBA actually started having second thoughts about it. The band became a little concerned that it was perhaps a little too risky for the Eurovision Song Contest, what with its comparatively raucous tempo, its schlager sounds, and its influences that had been taken from the glam rock of the early '70s. 

For a while, they heavily toyed with the idea of sending another song of theirs, Hasta Mañana. They’d started recording that song the day after the Waterloo session, and they felt it was more in line with the slower songs that had done so well at Eurovision Song Contests past. 

The history book on the shelf tells us that this perceived risk ended up driving the foursome in the end, and so Waterloo was submitted by an excited ABBA to Sweden’s national final for the 1974 Contest. 

Melodifestivalen took place on 9 February, with Waterloo competing against 9 other songs, ultimately coming out on top by a landslide; scoring 302 points to runner-up Lasse Berghagen’s Min Kärlekssång Till Dig and its tally of 211 points. Lasse, as with ABBA the year before, wouldn’t have to wait too long for redemption, however - he got to triumph at Melodifestivalen the following year with Jennie, Jennie, which represented Sweden at Stockholm 1975.

The Waterloo single was released in Sweden one month after Melodifestivalen, on 4 March. It may surprise you to learn that the single didn’t in fact go to number 1 for the band at home. But that’s only because back then in Sweden, there was just one chart which had singles and albums combined. As a result, the Waterloo single stalled at number 2 - kept off the top spot by ABBA’s Waterloo album, which had been released at the same time. So we can't imagine they were too dismayed by that blip on their hit-list history.

Throughout the rest of March, our Swedish friends had the good foresight to think about the charts around the rest of Europe too, while basking in the glow of their domestic number 1. That month, they got back into the studio to start work on the German and French versions of Waterloo. 

For the French adaptation of the text, they invited Alain Boublil to work his magic on their own lyrics. Alain, a lyricist for musical theatre, would go on to pen some of the most popular musicals of all time, such as Les Misérables and Miss Saigon. And the multi-lingual approach worked for ABBA too, with Waterloo going on to become number 1 for the band in both Germany and France.

For the 68th Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö, rehearsals will begin on Saturday 27 April, two weeks ahead of the Grand Final on Saturday 11 May. But back in 1974, things were done a little differently.

For the 6 April Grand Final, rehearsals began on Tuesday 2 April, with ABBA touching down in Brighton shortly beforehand. In between rehearsals, the Swedes got to lark about in the British seaside town, before retreating back to their aptly named Napoleon suite at The Grand Hotel.

Saturday 6 April was the date of the 19th Eurovision Song Contest, and it was Sweden’s 15th time competing - alas thus far without ever having achieved a win. 

Just over 1,000 attendees rocked up to the Brighton Dome that evening, down from the usual 2,000+ capacity of the venue, thanks to the lavish production of the Contest needing more space than what the Dome was used to, and with some seating therefore having to be removed.

17 countries took part that night, which was actually down from the 18 that the BBC were expecting less than one week earlier. This is because France understandably took the decision to withdraw, following the passing of the French president Georges Pompidou on 2 April. 

Amongst the 17 countries that did perform on the night, we got to see Greece participate for the very first time, with Marinella performing Krassi, Thalassa Ke t' Agori Mou. Italy's Gigliola Cinquetti, meanwhile, almost became the Contest’s first double winner. She had previously won the Contest 10 years earlier in 1964 with the song Non Ho L'età, and returned in 1974 with Sì, which would eventually go on to finish in 2nd place behind Waterloo. 

We also had Olivia Newton-John representing the United Kingdom. The artist was in the early stages of her career but already having achieved some success in both the UK and the US. Her song Long Live Love was considered the favourite to win ahead of the Contest, but finished in joint 4th place for the United Kingdom along with two other countries (Luxembourg and Monaco).

Host Katie Boyle opened proceedings, after having done so in 1960, 1963 and 1968. And 50 years on, she still holds the record for having hosted the Eurovision Song Contest the most times - with that 4th turn she breezed through that night in 1974 remaining an unbeaten haul. 

After all 17 songs had performed, and we’d had a brief musical interlude by The Wombles, we got to get down to the exciting business of the voting. Each of the 17 competing countries had a 10-person jury, with every member getting to award one point to their favourite song, with the maximum score any jury could therefore award a song being 10 points.

In the end, the most points any song got from one jury was 5 points, which Waterloo received twice - from Finland and Switzerland. Once the voting had played out, ABBA’s total points tally was 24, which was 6 points ahead of the runner-up on 18. Sweden had achieved its very first Eurovision Song Contest win - the beginning of the 7 victories that has placed the country as joint record holders for the most wins 50 years later.

After just 1 hour and 48 minutes, it was all over. ABBA’s performance at the Brighton Dome - bursting with bright colours, brimming with joy, and with conductor Sven-Olof Walldoff dressed as Napoleon - is one that cemented itself inside the minds of the millions who had been watching across Europe that Saturday night, and is still solidified as one of the most iconic images associated with the band; 50 years on and with them having achieved many more career highlights since.

Waterloo itself went to number 1 in 10 countries across Europe, charting inside the Top 10 in many more. It also became a Top 10 hit outside of Europe, too, in Australia, New Zealand and Canada. And it even reached the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 in the US, charting at 6. 

It was the very beginning of ABBA's enormous international legacy, and it's safe to say it's remained a highlight in the Eurovision Song Contest's own legacy too. 50 years on, and it's an honour to be able to toast the occasion of a Golden Anniversary and all that has happened in those 5 decades. 

See you again in Sweden in May!

You can listen to all 37 songs of Eurovision 2024 via your favourite streaming service or watch the music videos on our YouTube channel.

The Eurovision Song Contest will take place in Malmö, Sweden on Tuesday 7 May (First Semi-Final), Thursday 9 May (Second Semi-Final) and Saturday 11 May (Grand Final) 2024.

https://eurovision.tv/story/waterloo-50-revisiting-abbas-charge-eurovision-victory-1974

ABBA show reveals famous Glasgow line was dreamt up at the Apollo

 

ABBA show reveals famous Glasgow line was dreamt up at the Apollo

Ann Fotheringham 

A NEW documentary about ABBA reveals the famous line about Glasgow in the song Super Trouper was actually dreamt up on stage in the Apollo.

The legendary city music venue was also the only stop on the worldwide tour where the group had to have an intermission – so the bar could open….

In When ABBA Came to Britain, which marks 50 years of the Swedish supergroup’s links with the UK, singer-songwriter Björn Ulvaeus reveals the line “I was sick and tired of everything, when I called you last night from Glasgow” just “came naturally” to him at the Apollo.



He adds: “The song is about waiting for my new girlfriend, and I was thinking about that while up on stage.”

Super Trouper was the title of track of the band's next album, released in November 1980.

Thomas Johansson, who produced all of the ABBA tours in Britain, says he remembers the Apollo date in particular.

“We had to have an intermission in Glasgow so they could have the bar open,” he recalls with a smile. “It was the only place we had an intermission.”

Broadcaster and author Stuart Marconie says the Glasgow gig, which was the last time ABBA played in Britain, was the “end of an era”.

ABBA at Turnberry (Image: Newsquest)

He adds: “[The city] became immortalised when Björn wrote that line, ‘I was sick and tired of everything, when I called you last night from Glasgow’, and then ‘wishing every show was the last show’ – in terms of the UK, it was the last show.”

The 1979 tour, which also visited North America, Europe and Asia, was the first time ABBA had been on the road for almost three years.

They were still the “biggest-selling group in the history of recorded music”, according to their label, however, and Glasgow went wild for the satin-clad foursome - Björn, Agnetha Fältskog, Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid, or Frida, Lyngstad.

The Apollo concert, on November 13, 1979, included a performance by children from Hillhead High School. As it was the International Year of the Child, the group had choirs of young people sing with them on I Have A Dream at each concert.

A total of 25 Hillhead pupils rehearsed for four weeks, at lunchtimes and after school, in preparation for the show.

According to our newspaper’s then pop writer, later features editor Russell Kyle, the concert, in front of 3500 fans, got off to a slow start because of problems with the acoustics, but once the problems had been ironed out, the band really hit their stride.

Backed by a nine-piece band, they ran through all of their hits and introduced a sprinkling of newer songs.

He added that the biggest cheer of the night was reserved for Frida, who appeared in a Scotland football top.

“It was three years since Abba’s last show,” he wrote, “but the group seem to have lost none of their appeal.”

Ever since they were introduced on stage at the Brighton Dome, resplendent in unforgettable platform heels and satin, ABBA have held an enduring place in Britain’s hearts and in British pop culture.

The new documentary features previously untransmitted interviews with ABBA, and takes an affectionate look at the band and its fascination with British music, including The Beatles in the 1960s.

After winning the Eurovision Song Contest with Waterloo in 1974, the band would eventually find global stardom, but their relationship with the UK remains unique.

When Abba Came to Britain will be broadcast on April 6 as part of a dedicated Saturday night of ABBA specials on BBC Two.

Abba: Thank You For The Music

 Abba: Thank You For The Music

BY

NEIL MASON

ABBA may well be best known as Sweden’s worst-dressed but best-selling exporters of the 1970s, but Benny Andersson was also a bona fide synth pioneer. Don’t believe us? Read on…

Mention ABBA and what springs to mind? Dancing at weddings? The ‘Mamma Mia!’ musical? The 70s? The Eurovision Song Contest? Synth pioneers? Hold it right there… Synth pioneers?

In the revised and expanded new edition of ‘ABBA The Complete Recording Sessions’, Carl Magnus Palm, the world’s leading ABBA historian, reveals that while keyboard player Benny Andersson didn’t seem especially fussed about electric or grand pianos, playing whatever was available for recording session work, he was really interested in latest tech, and from very early on in the band’s career he began to assemble a personal synth stockpile that would go on to shape the distinctive ABBA sound.

The first instruments he bought were bagged on the same shopping trip to London in 1973. While it’s unclear when the spending spree actually was, Benny snapped up a Mellotron M400 and a Minimoog. Which is quite the haul, right? The M400 appears on the band’s debut album, ‘Ring Ring’, featuring on the the title track and ‘Another Town, Another Train’, which was no mean feat considering the record was released in March 1973. It was plain he was itching to use his new acquisition, although it is strange that he was also packing a Minimoog and yet there’s no sign of that on recordings until the following year.

While the M400 went on to appear on ‘Hasta Mañana’, ‘Dance (While The Music Still Goes On)’, and ‘Gonna Sing You My Lovesong’ from the band’s second album, ‘Waterloo’, released in March 1974, would be the final outing for the machine, with Andersson going on to describe its sound as “shrill” and “ugly”. Still, if it was good enough for The Beatles, who used the Mellotron for the intro to ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’, it certainly did a job, albeit a short-lived one, for ABBA.

The Minimoog faired much better. Inspired like many others to buy one after hearing Hot Butter’s ‘Popcorn’, it is the most frequently used synth on ABBA recordings from its debut on the ‘Waterloo’ album right up to the end of their wildly successful career in 1982.

According to Benny it was “the best synthesiser, because it’s got its very own sound, soft and musical”. It’s much in evidence on that first outing. From the thumping intro to the title track, the solo on ‘Honey Honey’, following the bassline on ‘What About Livingstone’ and helping beef up the soon to be redundant Mellotron on ‘Gonna Sing You My Lovesong’, the Minimoog was all over ‘Waterloo’ and it was apparent Benny had found a new weapon of choice.

“I actually don’t know so much about the technical side of it,” he explained in 1979. “In the beginning I would simply sit and turn the knobs until I got a sound I liked. Now I’m starting to learn roughly how to get different sounds, and as long as I know what I want I can produce them pretty quickly. But during the first years I think Michael [Tretow, their long-time sound engineer/producer] and Björn suffered quite a lot while I was fooling around with the knobs.”

It’s quite remarkable that it was only in 1979, some six years after he bought the Minimoog, that he felt he was beginning to learn how it worked! It was around this time that he acquired the “dream machine”, the prog rock big gun, the Yamaha GX-1. Weight 600lbs, the triple keyboarded beastie came ready mounted on its own platform complete with stool. Keith Emerson owned two, of course, until one was run over by a runaway tractor… but we digress. Benny first clocked the GX-1 in the hands of Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones in September 1978 while recording ‘In Through The Out Door’ in Stockholm. ”I thought, ‘What the hell is that?” he recalls. The GX-1 was made in very limited numbers between 1973 and 1977, but Benny would lay his hands on one with the help of Yamaha’s European office, using it for the first time in March 1979. “I created my first sound as soon as I got it,” he says, “the bass synthesiser you hear at the start of ‘Does Your Mother Know’.

Then I thought, ‘Worth every penny!’”

We caught up with author Carl Magnus Palm to see if he could shed any further light on Benny’s synth obsession.

The new edition of ‘ABBA The Complete Recording Sessions’ has been completely rewritten and contains a mountain of new information, what are the main new discoveries?

CMP: There are plenty of new discoveries, as I’ve been able to listen to much more unreleased material than I was able to back in the 1990s for the first edition. It’s been especially interesting hearing every surviving alternate mix in the archives, because it allows you to study how a song would evolve and how they would add overdub after overdub – usually in the shape of Benny’s synths! In the book he explains how they would overdub a lot using the Minimoog – tiny snippets, phrases and riffs that they would interweave into songs. He’d also use it to “amplify” other instruments by playing the same part again on the Minimoog. He said by doing that it gives you a much fatter sound!

Benny didn’t seem overly fussed about his pianos, but he clearly loved the Mellotron and Minimoog didn’t he?

CMP: He did. He said in an interview as early as 1974 that “electronic sounds are the future, even in pop music made for a wide audience”. He would have said that around the time of ‘Waterloo’.

What do you think he liked about synths in particular? 

CMP: I think he was attracted by the possibility of the almost endless variations, enabling him to create sounds that didn’t exist. With the Mellotron, I think he liked that it would enable him to be an “orchestra” himself. It is sometimes referred to as an early version of the sampler, it stored authentic recordings of flutes, strings and other instruments and since it was possible to play chords on the Mellotron it enabled a keyboard player to emulate, for example, a string section. Although because of its somewhat wobbly tone it rather tended to create a sound unique to the Mellotron itself!

 Would you say that it was these kinds of instruments that shaped the ABBA sound more than anything else?

CMP: If we’re talking about the instrumental side only, forgetting Agnetha and Frida’s vocals for a minute, Benny’s keyboards were definitely the basis of the ABBA sound: piano as well as synthesisers and other electronic keyboards.



 Besides the Mellotron and Minimoog, what else did he have up his sleeve? 

CMP: He was always keen to keep up with the latest synths, and it seems he was a very early adopter of the Polymoog, for instance. Even he doesn’t quite recall which synths he used, but there is evidence he used the Prophet-10 and the Yamaha GS-1 on some of the final ABBA recordings in 1982. His greatest love affair, however, was with the Yamaha GX-1, which he acquired in March 1979 and first used for the bass synth intro on ‘Does Your Mother Know’. He had acquired cartridges with Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones’ string programme for the GX-1, and he preferred that sound to live strings, so from 1980 onwards, and with ‘The Winner Takes It All’ as the only exception, ABBA never used live strings on their recordings again. The last gadget he bought was the Synclavier back in the 1980s – after that, he says, he just couldn’t be bothered reading any more manuals.

He was a pretty early adopter wasn’t he? Do you think he gets the credit he deserves as a synth pioneer?

CMP: I don’t think he does. I know there are connoisseurs out there who appreciate what he’s done, but because of the poppy nature of ABBA’s records I don’t think people notice the synths so much. Also, Benny’s use of the synths was often more AOR than the futuristic style we associate with the likes of Giorgio Moroder or Kraftwerk, so perhaps that’s another reason he isn’t held up as a pioneer.

What do you consider the best examples of the Minimoog on ABBA records? 

CMP: The intro to ‘Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)’, famously sampled by Madonna in ‘Hung Up’, for example. I also like the staccato riffing on ‘Lay All Your Love On Me’, which was played completely manually. Also some more obscure early tracks, particularly on the ‘Waterloo’ album, where there’s a lot of that early super-electronic synth sound, less polished than what would follow. So there’s the very brief synth solo on ‘Honey, Honey’; the squealy sounds on ‘Watch Out’, which is a song Benny and Björn both loathe, and the whiny tones on ‘Gonna Sing You My Lovesong’. I love hearing Benny in this experimental mode.

 I notice in the very back page of the book there’s a quote from Michael Tretow – “I’ve had enough of the Moog now”. Would you care to elaborate?

CMP: The original quote, “Nu har jag fått noog av Moog” is a play on words, as the Swedish word for “enough” rhymes with “Moog”. But there was some truth behind the joke, as Michael would be pulling his hair out in frustration at Benny’s interminable synth overdubs. They only had 24 tracks back then and those tracks would be filled up quickly, meaning that Michael had to mix several tracks down to one track to free up more tracks for Benny’s synths. Benny would never give up, there was always a new idea he wanted to try out.

‘ABBA: The Complete Recording Sessions’ by Carl Magnus Palm is published by CMP Text

https://www.electronicsound.co.uk/long-reads/abba-thank-you-for-the-music/

Björn Ulvaeu about The Day Before You Came

sep27, 2023

 lindbergbjorn

Hoy he venido a hablar un poco con Björn Ulvaeus. Estoy muy contento de haber recordado preguntar cómo sucedió cuando se le ocurrió la idea de la letra de "The Day Before You Came" que ABBA lanzó como sencillo en octubre de 1982. La respuesta de Björn Ulvaeu: "Fue el título lo que llegó primero. No sé cómo pasó, pero inmediatamente me gustó. Entonces me atrajo el desafío de escribir sobre ese día y cómo sería si alguien lo experimentara plenamente en memoria. Agité frenéticamente mis brazos y dije cosas como "GENIO" y "BLAND DET BÄSTA" y "ELEKTRONISK MUMMA" y ahí es donde estaba. Björn Ulvaeus agradeció y mostró con todo su lenguaje corporal que la conversación había terminado y que quería irse a casa. No lo culpo. Nosotros los fans de "El día antes de venir" podemos ser bastante molestos. Todos lo saben.

Idag kom jag att prata lite med Björn Ulvaeus. Jag är väldigt nöjd att jag kom ihåg att fråga hur det gick till när han fick idén till texten i ”The Day Before You Came” som ABBA släppte på singel i oktober 1982. Björn Ulvaeus svar: ”Det var titeln som kom först. Vet inte hur det gick till men jag tyckte genast om den. Sen lockades jag av utmaningen att skriva om den där dagen och hur det skulle vara om någon upplevde den fullt ut i minnet”. Jag viftade frenetiskt med armarna och sa saker som ”GENIALT” och ”BLAND DET BÄSTA” och ”ELEKTRONISK MUMMA” och allt var det blev. Björn Ulvaeus tackade och visade med hela sitt kroppsspråk att samtalet var över och att han ville åka hem. Jag klandrar honom Inte. Vi ”The Day Before You Came-fans” kan ju bli ganska jobbiga. Det vet alla.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CxtAR4ns65n/

The Day Before You Came

Björn and Frida talks about RING RING

 Ring, ring, why don't you give me a call? Ring, ring, the happiest sound of them all

Video ABBA the Museum

HAPPY 50th ANNIVERSARY!

"On this day back in 1973 'Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Frida' released their debut album 'Ring Ring'. Watch as Björn and Frida talks about the album, memories and more".

https://www.facebook.com/abbathemuseum/videos/616733479851086/

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Bono & The Edge from U2 perform a cover of ABBA's S.O.S

 

Bono & The Edge from U2 perform a cover of ABBA's S.O.S for the Radio 2 Piano Room

The Making of 'Little Things'

 The Making of 'Little Things'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hL3bZY570o4

"A family waking up on Christmas day in an old Victorian house" - that's part of the mood that ABBA wanted to set with their "Little Things" song. Director Sophie Muller says that part of her inspiration for conceiving the video came from the Swedish superstars' Voyage show - "informed by technology and ambition." The school play motif is as wise as it is cute. Several of the child actors were related to the video's creatives, and the way they take the stage as their heroes is a hoot.

source: ABBA...

‘Arrival’: The ABBA Classic That Scored A Winning Touchdown

 ‘Arrival’: The ABBA Classic That Scored A Winning Touchdown

Mark Elliott 

‘Arrival’: The ABBA Classic That Scored A Winning Touchdown

Released on October 11, 1976, ABBA’s fourth album Arrival marked the moment when everything moved up a gear for the group. The Eurovision Song Contest of 1974 was two years behind them and momentum was building. The UK successes of “Mamma Mia” and “SOS” had been something of a surprise; no Eurovision winner had managed to use that exposure to launch a career like this.

Arrival, issued just six months after the group’s first greatest hits collection, was a 10-song salute to that growing confidence – the sort of album created when fortuitous circumstances collide to create a rare supernova of opportunity.

That Arrival contains ABBA’s finest moment, the euphoric “Dancing Queen,” seems entirely appropriate. Singer Anni-Frid Lyngstad recalls that the song, originally entitled “Boogaloo,” seemed special even in its earliest demo form; it moved her so much that she cried. The song was the first from the album to be released as a single, made to No. 1 in the UK, and gave the band its biggest U.S. hit when it also topped the charts stateside.

Work had started on Arrival the previous year, but was not completed until the summer of 1976, when “Fernando” – originally recorded by Frida as a solo track, and added to the Australian edition of the album, along with its later international reissues – was topping the charts. Those final sessions included the completion of “My Love, My Life,” the sort of aching ballad that ABBA did so well – poignant, with an accessible melody that emerges slowly at first. It remains one of Agnetha Fältskog’s classic recordings and a standout of this set.

The earlier “When I Kissed The Teacher” actually opens the album with its echoes of the 60s girl-pop sound, dressed up in the 70s supersonic studio sheen that illustrated why Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus were the best of the era’s producers as well as masterful songwriters. “Dum Dum Diddle” is light and frothy: one of the breeds of nagging earworms that, for years, fed the band’s reputation as peddlers of silly, tinny pop that was to rob the Swedes of a fair critical assessment. Actually, however, at the song’s heart is the joyful melancholy that underpins the best of ABBA’s melodies: the faintly masochistic cheer at the center of so much sadness; the final dance as the world comes crashing down around you.

“Knowing Me, Knowing You” – a five-week UK chart-topper on its release the following year – is another ABBA classic. Benny believes it’s one of the band’s five best recordings, its knowing lyrics hinting at future heartbreak no one would have seen coming. “Money, Money, Money” had the unenviable task of following “Dancing Queen” as a single when it was released at the end of the year. Its strong chart placings around the world showed it actually performed the job admirably.

Elsewhere, “That’s Me” owes its lilting disco melody to the era in which it was created. It’s truly no leap to imagine someone like Olivia Newton-John singing this, but she’d certainly have failed to do it justice. Only Agnetha and Frida’s near-perfect pitch could honor the track’s range and restless energy. “Why Did It Have To Be” is a rare opportunity for Björn to take a lead vocal, joined in parts by Agnetha and Frida. On first play, this duet sounds like the sort of old-school track Benny’s former band The Hep Stars might have recorded. The song, waltz-like in its simplicity, is elevated into something rather more special on repeated listens.

“Tiger” has a frantic relentlessness. The song stalks you with an incessant riff that seems at odds with much of the rest of the album. If ABBA would ever claim to get close to recording rock music, this is an example. There are shards of musical light that draw the song towards a more familiar pop approach, but it’s a catchy oddity with throwaway lyrics that initially confused fans who were getting used to a deeper, more emotional pitch from the group. The album’s instrumental title track also sits oddly at first – Agnetha and Frida’s voices are heard only in a fleeting choral harmony as the wistful tune builds across its three minutes. It came from Benny’s love of Swedish folk and was originally called “Ode To Dalecarlia” before being retitled when the LP was named.

Across just 10 songs, this eclectic album often feels like the score of a stage musical in search of a play to wrap itself around. In many ways, that was the brilliance of the band – the songs ABBA created were canvasses upon which the whole world could project an emotional perspective. Deceptively simple in approach, fiendishly detailed in their execution, this was masterful storytelling.

Planet Earth fell pretty heavily for Arrival. It landed records everywhere and even performed well in the US – a market that would ultimately wait another generation before properly falling for the charms of Swedish pop – where it would enter the charts on January 22, 1977. In the UK, however, it was the best-selling album of 1977, and became nothing less than a national sensation in Australia – only the second album in the nation’s history to sell more than a million copies.

There was simply no better pop band so dedicated to focusing on a simple ambition: crafting the perfect three-minute pop song. Arrival sees ABBA’s four stars at the top of their game – confident and instinctive – and is rightly claimed as one of the best pop classics of all time.

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/arrival-abba-classic-scored-winning-134501901.html

the songs...

 From ABBA The New Songs

atns1

https://www.facebook.com/abbathenewsongs/posts/pfbid02dkAox3u2FouknBNhn5VTNwmEif8thfxPCTWaG7u5MnVZ5N7AMT9MBQfkzDwW7VKYl

No Doubt About It

 In her own words.

This is what Frida had to say about ABBA’s latest song ‘No Doubt About It’.
Source ABBA Instagram

Ian McKellen and Björn Ulvaeus knit Abba Christmas jumpers together

 

https://fb.watch/9rCdLerDLD/

Ian McKellen and Björn Ulvaeus knit Abba Christmas jumpers together

CultureMusicNews

Abba fans delighted as Ian McKellen and Björn Ulvaeus knit Christmas jumpers together

‘ABBA and Ian McKellen together knitting was not on my card for the 2021 holiday season,’ one fan wrote

Ian McKellen and Björn Ulvaes make Abba Christmas jumpers

Ian McKellen and Abba’s Björn Ulvaeus have teamed up for an unlikely Christmas video together.

In the clip shared to the legendary actor’s Instagram on Sunday (21 November), the pair were seen sat on a sofa while wearing matching fair isle jumpers and blue jeans.

In their hands, they both held knitting needles and Abba-branded Christmas jumpers, which they appeared to be working on making together. As the camera pans out, McKellen and Ulvaeus are shown to be seated beneath a giant Abba banner and surrounded by sewing equipment.

The words: “Merry Christmas from Abba and Ian McKellen” then appear on the screen.

Fans were left delighted – if slightly baffled – by the video, which McKellen captioned: “The most exciting (mostly) silent clip you’ll see this season.”

One commenter wrote: “ABBA and Ian McKellen, together, knitting, was not on my card for the 2021 holiday season. But I’ll happily take it. Well done!”

“What was that?!?!? Just the best video of the whole week already!!” another comment read, while another fan wrote: “Never expected to see this in my life.”

Mamma Mia star Pierce Brosnan also saw the funny side, commenting: “Now that just makes me chuckle.”

Earlier this month, Abba released Voyage, an album containing their first original material in 40 years. You can read The Independent’s five-star review here.

Among the tracks is “Little Things”, a Christmas song from the Swedish pop group which will be released as a single in December.

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/abba-ian-mckellen-bjorn-christmas-jumper-b1962051.html

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ABBA’s Björn teams up with Ian McKellen to knit festive jumpers

The Swedish supergroup's first-ever festive release features on their record-breaking ninth album 'Voyage'.

By Retro Pop

November 22, 2021

ABBA have shared a promo for their new holiday merchandise with actor Ian McKellen. The star appears alongside Björn Ulvaeus in the footage, which sees the pair knitting garments in support of the band’s festive single Little Things. The silent video ends with a clip from the song and the message: “Merry Christmas from ABBA and Ian McKellen”.

The jumpers are available to order from the official ABBA online store. Due December 3, Björn says of the track: “Benny (Andersson, co-writer) tells me he didn’t think of it as a Christmas song, but I, the minute I heard it, I said it cannot be anything else. “It is early, early Christmas morning. The stockings are hanging right there and then this couple wakes up.”

He adds in an Apple Music track-by-track: “This could be played for Christmases to come. And that would be great, because we want to own Christmas and New Year’s Eve, like with [1980’s] Happy New Year.” Little Things will be available digitally and as a limited-edition CD single. In a review of the album, Retro Pop called ‘Voyage’ “a fitting closing chapter in the tale of Sweden’s best-loved musical export”. 

https://retropopmagazine.com/abba-bjorn-ian-mckellen-festive-jumpers-little-things

Actualizada_ 22 Nov, 2021