Search - Music in Review Abba 1973-1982 2DVD Book Set on DVD

Not the greatest ABBA dvd out there.....

S. Fennell | Somewhere out there.....beneath the pale moon ligh | 04/18/2006

(2 out of 5 stars)

"This 2-disc set has several pros and cons. There actually is some decent analysis of the music by a few people (mainly the guys from the ABBA cover-band, "Bjorn Again") who know what they're talking about. They deconstruct several of the songs and demonstrate just how complex the arrangements really are. That's the good part. The bad part is that some of the other reviewers make some glaringly obvious mistakes; naming the incorrect lead singer a couple of times, (there is one instance where someone refers to Frida's lead vocals on "The Day Before You Came", all the while showing Agnetha singing the song on stage), incorrect references to album content and song listings, and over-simplified ratings of the albums themselves. (Super Trouper is only a 3 star album on a 5 star scale?? You're kidding, right??)
There is also one instance when a recording of a cover band called "Waterloo", (sheesh, that's original...) is played for discussion of the song "One of Us" instead of using the original ABBA recording. Licensing problems, maybe?? Picture quality is questionable throughout, and is inexplicably letterboxed, given that none of the ABBA clips were originally filmed in that format. Last but not least, the entire program runs a little over 2 hours and could have easily been presented on one DVD without interruption, but instead is spread out over 2 discs, presumably to drive the selling price up. Except for the worthwhile segments by the "Bjorn Again" guys and one or two other commentators, plus some rare "live" ABBA clips I'd never seen before, (which, by the way, contain audio and video that are occasionally out of sync with each other), you'd be better off buying either of the documentaries, "The Winner Takes It All: The ABBA Story", or "Super Troupers: 30 Years of Music". This one is good for a rental, only."

Not bad...for new ABBA fan

J. M. Gonzalez | Vineland N.J. USA | 12/22/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This is what it says. Just simply a review of ABBA's biggest hits and a general review of each album. If you are a die hard ABBA collector and have every tape of every rare performance and TV appearances you may pass this up. But if you are new to ABBA you may find interesting the clips used in this presentation. Much of these clips have never been on DVD before, TV appearances in Japan, Germany, ect. However they are not complete and only highlights. Still this is an interesting collection since it speaks only about the music, the reviewers some that belong to an ABBA tribute band give very good insight as to the songs construction. If you are a fan, this is interesting stuff, 2 DVD's , extras include photo gallery and a book. Not bad."

Thank you for the music

MacDigger | 05/09/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I grew up with my sister constantly dancing around and singing along to Abba, so got her this for her birthday. She totally loved it, and i was a star! She has all the albums so appreciated this as something new and different as it examined and reviewed the her favouite band."

Some Interesting Commentary & Rare TV Appearances Makes This

E. Valero | Woodbridge, Ontario Canada | 12/30/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

""ABBA: Music in Review 1973-1982" is a 2 DVD collection that asks several experts; music critics, performers etc to evaluate ABBA's individual albums and their most famous singles.

This collection may appeal to the die-hard ABBA fans because it does feature some rare television performances and interviews that have not appeared in any of ABBA's recent DVD releases. They show very little of ABBA's actual promotional videos (the ones that have appeared on countless DVD's and videotapes) and concentrate more on their rare appearances; "Abba-Dabba-Doo", "ABBA in Japan", "ABBA in Germany"...etc. However, the actual ratings of the original albums are what may surprise several of their most passionate fans. I was pleased to find that ABBA's much loved "Arrival" (considered to be one of ABBA's finest studio albums by many fans and music critics) received a perfect 5 star review and that the runners up; "Waterloo", "The Album", "Voulez-Vous" and "The Visitors" all received no less than 4 stars. What was surprising is that their 1975 album titled "ABBA" received a lower rating (3 stars) than their 1974 effort, "Waterloo" (4 stars). Many fans and critics agree that the 1975 LP was superior to their previous record in almost every way. But the biggest surprise came when the much loved "Super Trouper" album received only a 3 star rating therefore reducing it to the same level as ABBA's first studio album "Ring Ring". That doesn't make sense to me.

For the most part, several of the people interviewed do nothing but praise ABBA for their talents (Benny/Bjorn are praised for their songwriting abilities and Agnetha/Frida are admired for their considerable vocal talents) and their contribution to the world of popular music. However there were some errors in research and evidence of sloppy work. One of the things that bothered me was that they referred to ABBA's 1977 hit "The Name of the Game" as "What's The Name of the Game?" It may be a minor issue but there is more to come. When analyzing the "Voulez-Vous" album, they concentrated mostly on "Summer Night City" and "Gimme Gimme Gimme", 2 great songs but they were not a part of the original 1979 studio album (In later re-issues of "Voulez-Vous" these 2 songs were inserted as bonus tracks but what about the other songs that made up this particular record originally? "Angeleyes"? "I Have a Dream"? "If It Wasn't For the Nights?" etc). When making reference to "One of Us", one of ABBA's last glorious recordings, they chose to play, not ABBA's original but another version sang by some unknown singer that sounded inferior to ABBA's and did not do the song justice. Another annoying bit on this documentary was when one of the experts referred to the 1974 song "Honey Honey" as "Money Honey" (wrong). This same individual later makes reference to "Frida's vocals" in "The Day Before You Came" (wrong again) when it is in fact Agnetha who sings the lead in that track.

"ABBA: Music in Review 1973-1982" is somewhat informative, somewhat interesting and when the group is revealed doing their thing, always compelling. But it may not be to everyone's liking. A lot of these commentators do nothing more than confirm what ABBA fans have been saying for the last 30 years, that they were amazingly talented musicians who crafted and performed ravishingly beautiful music enhanced by rich, intricate vocal harmonies. We don't need a panel of 10 people to tell us this. The ratings of the individual albums are also inconsistent. However, if you have the extra cash to spend, this 2 DVD collection is worth it if only for the rare archival footage, especially the live performances (even though there is constant talking over the footage).

Keep in mind that there is a 3-DVD pack titled "ABBA: The Ultimate Review" which contains these 2 DVD's along with "ABBA: In Performance" and it's about the same price (minus the books) so you may want to purchase that instead. That is, of course, if you don't mind losing the literature.
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