It's been over twenty years since I bought my last ABBA bootleg. To this day, I still receive email missives from ABBA hoarders begging me to sell a copy of Little White Secrets or the three volume Missing Pieces. And you know what, despite my previous responses in the negative, I've decided it's time to upload files of these bootlegs to this here Internets (sic) so ABBA fans the world over can enjoy them as much as I have. No money need change hands.
The first files to drop are the tracks from Dream On. This cd is subtitled Solo Rarities & Guest Appearances and it lives up to the moniker. From the remixes to a healthy sampling of songs vocalized by Michael Tretow, ABBA's long-time engineer, this cd is one of my personal favorites. The sound quality runs from very good to tolerable (the Tretow songs). Most of it was recorded directly from vinyl. Dream On Too is the companion CD and will be available soon.
SOS (3:17)
This, Agnetha's Swedish solo version of the ABBA classic, is commercially available on other compilations, specifically På Svenska.
Yo No Fui Quien Dijo Adios (4:06)
This is the Spanish version of Agnetha's single I Wasn't The One Who Said Goodbye.
I Won't Let You Go (5:54)
An excellent remix of one of my favorite Agnetha songs. The original is on the album Eyes Of A Woman.
Let It Shine (3:44)
This mix, subtitled The Bright Remix, is just that, a brighter, more dance-oriented mix of the cut from Agnetha's final album I Stand Alone.
The Last Time (6:50)
This extended remix is also off Agnetha's album I Stand Alone.
Shine (6:23)
This extended remix is taken from the title tune of Frida's 1984 album Shine.
Fernando (4:09)
This, Frida's Swedish solo version, is commercially available on other compilations, specifically På Svenska.
Chiquitita (5:19)
Recorded live at the United Nations, this cut was released only on the UNICEF concert album The Gift of Song; now out-of-print. The best part is hearing Gilda Radner introduce the group in her best put-upon Swedish accent.
Bravo Tu As Gagne (4:37)
A beautiful French version of The Winner Takes It All by the esteemed Mireille Mathieu - she of the black hair helmet and glasses. Her voice has a timbre similar to Agnetha and with Benny, Bjorn and Frida providing backup one could almost swear ... A real find on this cd!
Paper Dolls (3:23)
Bottom Coming Up (2:47)
Moonbeams (2:49)
I Can See What You Mean (3:25)
Sandwich (2:57)
The five songs above feature Michael Tretow, ABBA's long-time engineer, on lead vocals. Benny and Bjorn play piano and guitar, respectively and Agnetha and Frida sing back-up. Curiosities at first, I enjoy listening to them, especially Moonbeams; a song that only lists Agnetha on piano and Frida with backing vocals.
Email me or leave a comment if you'd like a link to download a ZIP of the music and CD art.
9/10/14 : I received a cease and desist order so unfortunately the download is no longer available. Enjoy the text, add a comment telling me how much you enjoyed it and sign it with an email address so I can say thanks.
It's 1993. I want to learn HTML. What subject do I have the depth of knowledge needed to create a web site and accomplish my goal?
Seven years before Mamma Mia the musical and right after the late 1992 release of ABBA Gold, ABBAnatic: The Alternative ABBA Web Page was first conceived and uploaded to the domain servers at http://www.sirius.com/funnyguy/abbanatic.html. ABBAnatic is an amalgamation of ABBA and fanatic. (ABBAholic was also an option.) Over the next five years, I added many ABBA related sections to the site until I had nothing left to say (or I learned HTML - whichever came first). I still receive email from folks happening upon ABBAnatic now at www.AManAndAMouse.com.
Download For ABBAnatics
In recognition of this 20 year milestone, here's a gift for ABBAnatics worldwide: a rip of a two (Licorice Pizza) record set called The ABBA Special. Although the cardboard gatefold cover and the vinyl LPs inside are not dated, it was made after The Visitors (music included) but before Under Attack or The Day Before You Came (not included). The record labels have the recognizable red and green Atlantic imprint.
The ABBA Special
The ABBA Special is an hour and a half edit of solo interviews with Agnetha Faltskog, Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus, Anni-frid Lyngstad and Stig Andersson about their early lives and the beginnings of ABBA. Interspersed amongst the interesting questions (including Björn, do you think ABBA is hip?), a bunch of ABBA hits are played en toto. The interviewer is Bob Hamilton of Radio Report and, at the program's end, he seems to call it The Story Of ABBA although the LP cover and four record labels are stamped The ABBA Special. Either way, if you like ABBA you won't want to miss this ready-for-radio autobiography of their humble beginnings.
Click to download a ZIP that contains 4 MP3 files, one for each LP side. I also included this video of ABBA singing California Here I Come in cowboy/saloon girl drag as a bonus. Let me know if there are issues with the download or the ZIP. Enjoy!
Is it true you're going to Sweden to find ABBA? my boss asked me.
No, I said. I don't think they're lost. But I am going in search of ABBA.
The difference: I'm not Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction. I didn't HAVE to "find" ABBA. It was enough for me to go to Stockholm and search for the very place in Old Town that ABBA had their picture taken some twenty years ago. The poster above has traveled with me, hanging in homes in major American cities, since it came folded in the book ABBA The Ultimate Pop Group by Marianne Lindvall, published in 1977. I wanted to know that I had been there.
Arrival
I flew into Stockholm on March 29 and took a forty minute bus ride from the airport. Sweden reminded me of upstate New York except for the fact that all the highway signs seemed to be written in Pig Latin. (Everything seemed to end in an a.) My first order of business, after visiting the requisite palaces, museums, Skansen and WASA, was to scour the used compact disc stores for all the rare ABBA music I was not able to find in the United States. But what I learned was: if you want rare ABBA - don't go to Sweden! I found ABBA-The Tribute, Josefin Nillson's Shapes and The Ainbusk Singers Från När till fjärran but not one real ABBA record that I did not already own. The treasured haul I had hoped for never materialized but unbeknownst to me, it was right around the corner.
Suzy Hang-A-Round
Within walking distance of the last music store I went to was Polar Studios. I was there to take a picture of the building and the plaque above the doorbell that read POLAR STUDIOS. I turned the corner, saw the building and took a few pictures. When I walked up to the door to take a picture of the plaque, I realized that the front of the studio was actually mirrored glass. Those on the outside could not see in...BUT I SAW SHAPES MOVING INSIDE. After wiping the drool off my lower lip, I put my nose to the glass and watched the people inside. At this point, a woman came to the front door, opened it and asked me a question in Swedish. I'm sorry, I said. I don't speak Swedish.
Can I help you? she asked.
Oh, not really. I stammered. I'm an ABBA fan from the United States. I have a web page on the Internet devoted to them. I just wanted to stop by, take a picture of your door jamb and walk where I know they have walked. But thanks for asking.
I turned to walk away when she said, Would you like to come in and have a look around? Let me see if Agnetha is around.
She closed the door and left me, once again, with spittle pouring out of my mouth. Did she say Agnetha? I thought. Oh dear, I am getting a tour of Polar Studios from Agnetha. I am going to die, right here. Right now.
She came back to the door and said, Please come in. Annika has a few moments. OK, so I had misunderstood her accent. But Annika was good. I could deal with a tour of Polar Studios by Annika. So I learned to use my legs again, followed her to the reception desk and was introduced to Annika.
The first thing Annika showed me was a big wooden piano-looking, glockenspheel kind of thing. She said this was an instrument that Benny and Bjorn had invented that they had used on some of their records. That's when I asked the inevitable question, Are they here today?
No, she said. They aren't recording today. But we can look in the studio. Thomas Ledin is in there. Annika knew she didn't have to explain that Ledin had recorded some duets with Agnetha in the eighties. Today he was solo. Darn it.
After leaving the studio, someone walked by us wearing a Polar Studios t-shirt. I said to Annika, who at this point had become my best friend in the world, I must have one of those shirts. I have 1000 kroner on me right now. It's yours.
Oh, Michael. Don't be absurd. What size are you?
As big as they come.
She walked around her desk, handed me a t-shirt and said, Think of it as a gift from Benny and Bjorn. So I flew out of Polar Studios on gossamer wings and decided, even though it was 4:30 pm on the Friday before Easter, to take a bus to Mono Music. Who knows, maybe I would meet Gorel Hanser?
The bus trip took about an hour, from one end of Stockholm to the other. I got to the Mono Music building (picture below) at about 4:55 pm and saw this woman walking from a car to the front door of the building. I followed her inside the building and introduced myself.
Well, it's nice to meet you Michael. I am Gorel but I am running to get to the airport so I have no time to speak to you now, she said.
I didn't even expect to meet you, I said. But here is my card. It has my web page address. Check it out if you have the time. And tell Benny and Bjorn about it too. Thank you so much.
She left. I left. (I have yet to receive an email from Gorel. Gorel, are you out there?
Move On
I spent my last day in Stockholm in Old Town looking for the infamous place where ABBA had taken that fateful poster picture. I spent hours walking around asking people to take my picture in front of fountains, buildings and squares, knowing in my heart that none of these was the square that I wanted. I had one hour and one picture left and started to walk to the train station. As I was leaving Old Town I passed this woman with two children. As I had the one picture left I asked her if she could take it. She said, Absolutely and retraced her steps to get a bigger background. I smiled and left for the train station, disappointed but realizing that Old Town would always be in my heart, if not on my film.
I rode to Malmo to wait for the ferry to Copenhagen. One of the ABBAnatic places I saw was the State Theater which, at the time, was in between its engagements of Kristina Från Duvemala. I took some pictures of the theater to live vicariously through the Kodak moment.
Hasta Mañana
I arrived in Scheidam the evening before the Day of the ABBA convention, the 12th of April, 1996. I wanted to get myself settled and get a good night's sleep before the pomp and circumstance. Now Scheidam has some lovely parts (canals, windmills, architecture) but on a Friday night there's bupkus in terms of evening entertainment. I spent the night sitting in front of a statue in a lovely little park and going back to the hotel to watch Streets Of Gold starring Klaus Maria Brandeaur. Thankfully, it was not dubbed from its original English. As the sound of bones breaking and blood gushing lulled me to sleep, I thought It's okay. Tomorrow is the real reason I came to Scheidam.
The Visitors
I awoke bright and early and had myself a hearty, hotel breakfast. Thankfully too as this was, it turned out, the only food I had until dinner. With camera in hand, I left the hotel. I turned the corner at 10:30 am and saw about 100 ABBAnatics. Muriel was even there. (Actually it was a four foot cardboard cut-out promotional piece from Muriel's Wedding but I can dream can't I.)
We congregated around the entrance, chatting among ourselves until 11:00 am, when the doors finally opened. As a non-member of the ABBF fan club I paid 7.50 guilders and, as everyone did, received an ABBF fan club 10th anniversary cloth bag in which I was able to drop all my ABBA goodies.
There was an immediate scramble to get to the sale tables first. I was specifically looking for bootleg recordings so I made my first round just looking for the treasures. I found exactly what I had hoped to find: ABBA 1970-1982 and Dancing Queens, both 50 guilders (about $33 dollars US). Not a bad price since later in the day I saw both cds for 70 guilders and upwards. Much of the merchandise, not including the ABBF fan club and the couple selling Made In Sweden for 25 guilders, was very over-priced. I guess those of us who made it there are what one would call a captive audience.
After my purchases I was able to relax and take a stroll around. I first visited the ABBA Museum, in which I was NOT allowed to take pictures. It was quite entertaining. I saw the four ABBA dolls, gold records presented to Gorel Hanser for sales of ABBA Gold, rare LPs, newspaper clippings, an ABBA belt and the infamous ABBA soap and perfume. In addition, they had Agnetha's, Benny's and Bjorn's blue satin tuxedo jackets on display. I could not believe it when I saw Benny's tails. I had coveted them from afar for many years and now, to see them in person, I realized that, in fact, it would never fit me. He seems so much bigger on a dust jacket.
After the museum I did some more shopping. I picked up a t-shirt and some pictures. I also saw a multitude of t-shirts that fellow ABBAnatics had made themselves, from silk-screened pictures of Frida and Agnetha to a hand-painted shirt that said Take A Chance On ABBA. There is so little out there for the average ABBAnatic, it is nice to see how resourceful we have become.
Throughout this time I met and spoke with many people, some of which I had met through the internet and my ABBAnatic page. Anita and Helga, the women who run the fan club and organized the day; Jeffrey de Hart, American correspondent of the ABBF fan club; Tamara Bakker, who bought and sent me my first bootleg; Bart from Amsterdam whom I never got to tell about Egbert and Egberta; Richard and Lester who came in from England and stayed at The Windmill Hotel also; Kevin Fletcher and his lovely wife, a guy from North Carolina, a girl from Holland, a guy from Belgium, a singer from France. It was an endless parade.
After my second shopping spree I went to check out the video room. Playing in the room was A Is For Agnetha, the special made for the release of Eyes Of A Woman and A Is For ABBA, the 1993 John Peel special. Both were quite entertaining, especially the video Agnetha made for I Won't Let You Go, one of my favorite solo numbers. I also saw Frida and The Real Group, Frida and Marie Fredricksson and Frida alone singing Saltwater. In addition, there were numerous ABBA live performances and the quartet of corny commercials the group made for the Australian electronics company, National.
Following the videos I took one more shopping stroll and bought something,which will most probably be one of my most useful pieces of ABBA memoribilia: an ABBA umbrella. Now I have one more reason to be happy when it rains. I then went back to the hotel to drop off my spoils and ready myself for the dinner and ABBA disco.
Dance (While The Music Still Goes)
The dinner was for members of the club only but, as I had traveled so far and Jeffrey is so persuasive, I was able to attend. As there were no open restaurants in the area I considered myself very lucky - although I had to throw away my vegan ways for the evening and eat the pork chops. The desert was an incredible simulation of chocolate pudding.
Around 7:00 pm, they started what I had been waiting for the most: the ABBA disco, one long night of dancing to just ABBA-related music. Until 11:00 pm, it was non-stop. I was a ball of sweat by the time everyone joined hands for the last song, The Way Old Friends Do.
The one problem though was the song choices. In four hours I heard Gimme Gimme Gimme (A Man After Midnight) three times but never heard Does Your Mother Know. The DJ played If It Wasn't For The Nights only after I requested it three times; yet when the first strains wafted through the speakers, the floor became wall-to-wall people. I heard Voulez Vous four times but never heard Fernando or I've Been Waiting For You. Granted these songs are slow numbers but I did hear Chiquitita. And there were couples who would've danced to these ballads anyway. Hell, I would've danced to these alone. I believe that the crowd there would have danced to anything by ABBA. So why play only disco ABBA (The Visitors and Lay All Your Love On Me)? I was a DJ in a nightclub for three years and annually held an ABBA night called ABBArama. As part of the evening I played ABBA: The Movie, ABBA videos and a night of ABBA-related music. As this was prior to the resurgence of ABBA in the public eye not more than twenty people ever showed up but, I never repeated a song. Hey Hey Helen was right beside Super Trouper; Bang-A-Boomerang back with The Name Of The Game. There is so much ABBA music to enjoy on a dance floor! So I say to Anita, Next year, I'll be the DJ. Although now I don't know: would I rather DJ or dance? AAhhh, I can do both. Just give me a call, Anita.
When All Is Said And Done
All in all, I did get my four hours of dancing in and ABBA Day was a resounding success. I met a lot of great people and had a lot of fun. And, if I might toot my own horn, my Polar Studios t-shirt made me the envy of everyone who saw it (You'll notice the gentleman above trying to rip it off my back!) So who's up for November 23 in Bristol? I'm checking airfares as you read.
So what is left? Oh, the irony of it all...
Head over Heels
...After all this you might think, Wait a minute. In Part 4: Move On, the guy said he never got the picture. So where did the one above come from? Well, when I wrote Part Four on the train to Malmo as far as I knew I never got the picture. When I arrived back in the United States I developed my film and upon looking at the pictures I was flabbergasted to see that the last picture of me in Old Town taken by the wonderful woman with the two children was actually taken in the very spot that ABBA had stood almost twenty years earlier. And I never knew it! (FYI, I'm standing in Björn's spot.)
So remember be careful what you wish for, you just might get it. Wait...that isn't the right moral for this allegorical story. I'll go think of another one and tell you later.
This piece was originally published in 1996 as a rondelay where each click of a (relatively new thing called the) hyperlink resulted in the display of a new section. It has been updated for this 2012 publication.
I'm also the proprietor of Shhhh! The Official ABBA Bootleg Page, an archive of detailed information regarding more than twenty ABBA bootleg collections and hundreds of tracks.
After years of (a much-ignored) silence, I have decided to comment on the explosion in ABBA interest that took off in 1996, the year I stopped pushing modifications to the Internet's own ABBAnatic: The Alternative ABBA Web Page. (More on that later.) The ABBA interest skyrocket culminates this summer with the release of Mamma Mia!, the movie musical based on the Broadway musical based on the songs of ABBA. Now sure Mamma Mia! is a whole lot of fun to watch (especially with an audience so get some friends to go with you) but as a dramaturg I say to you: it's ABBA but is it a musical? Don't let your bell bottoms ring too loudly yet because, before getting into the meat of the thesis, I display my ABBA cred.
1975: I've been a fan since I first saw them perform on the Mike Douglas Show. (Toby, my mother, was a big Douglas fan - thanks, Toe.) I bought Greatest Hits although, due to the geographical location of my parent's house (North America), I did wonder how a first album can also be a Greatest Hits collection.
October 2, 1979: a dream come true when I see ABBA live at Radio City Music Hall in New York City from the tenth row. None of my friends wanted to go so I ended up taking a boyfriend from the night before. Good times.
1996: visit Minnesota for the two performances (Oct 12 at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis and Oct 13 at Chisago Lakes High School in Lindstrom) that make up the North American premiere of the Swedish pop opera Kristina från Duvemåla, written by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus. I meet the two artists although they don't look as excited as I do.
I am currently writing a musical. Sorry no link yet. Can't let Sondheim get wind of it.
Do I need more? Then let's on.
I've gone to see Mamma Mia! three times now. (I do that with film musicals so Hollywood will continue to finance them.) The book - spinning the tale of a single mom, her nineteen year old daughter, and the three men who, one of which, might be her father - bears a close resemblance to the story line of the film Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell.
So, I wonder why the book couldn't be more arresting if it was aping this charming (from my misty memories) film. The Mamma Mia! book exists for the sole purpose of moving the viewer from one ABBA song to the next. Although the bright and bouncy tunes of Benny and Björn (and sometimes Stig Anderson) shine through, these musical vignettes (the word video is already taken) differ in how they adhere to the rules of musical theater and dramaturgy.
The ABBA songs that work best as show tunes in this musical comedy are Money, Money, Money, Mamma Mia, Chiquitita, Dancing Queen, the Gimme, Gimme, Gimme (A Man After Midnight)/Voulez Vous medley, Does Your Mother Know and Slipping Through My Fingers. These are character-driven songs which propel the plot (as it were) forward while further revealing layers of the emoting characters. Money, Money, Money as sung by Donna (Meryl Streep) is a paean to the working class and introduces us to those in her life, her friends Tanya and Rosie (Christine Baranski and Julie Walters) and the characters of Villa Donna in the Greek Sporades Islands (a Greek chorus, if you will). It's an excellent song, used wisely within the context of the book, that is also an old-fashioned production number with some stunning shots of La Streep and a twenty foot train at the bow of a ship (a la Titanic).
I've got you now, my pretties!
Meryl follows Money, Money, Money with Mamma Mia, a spotlight production that reveals Donna's deep, dark passion in an energetic and humorous ensemble piece. Although it seems to come a bit too early in the story, it does play an important role in the characterization of the relationship between Donna and possible dad Sam (Pierce Brosnan). Mamma Mia is followed by an interesting and very satisfying version of Chiquitita in which Tanya and Rosie offer humor and pathos to a forlorn Donna. The song works unexpectedly well within the musical comedy framework and is performed brilliantly by the leading ladies. (And with its inclusion seems poised to generate more dinero for UNICEF. In 1979, ABBA donated all royalties received from Chiquitita to UNICEF, raising millions with the gesture.) Shockingly, Chiquitita is NOT included on the CD soundtrack. My guess is that Meryl's crying and her mucus sniffing got in the way of the vocal. The song also doesn't technically end - the last line is replaced with Meryl's dialog, "It's her Dad." Here is the scene.
This clip from the movie was pulled from YouTube because of copyright violations a few days after its upload. If it's gone from this embed window again, click here to open it in a new window from my web site.
It is obvious that these three older actresses are carrying this movie - an amazing feat of accomplishment by the creative team in agist, sexist Hollywood. Kudos to director Phyllida Lloyd, writer Catherine Johnson and producer Judy Cramer - three, if I may be so bold, older women themselves. Ain't nothing wrong with that!
These female-driven songs are followed by the ultimate production number to the ultimate female-driven ABBA song, Dancing Queen. The give and take between the femme cast members, the Greek chorus, and the whole town involved in this newly-minted anthem about empowerment becomes uplifing and relevant. The number also boasts the first appearance in the film of a member of ABBA: Benny takes to the 88 for the famous Bada bada bada, looking suspiciously like a seafaring W.C. Fields. The video below mashes up the Dancing Queen sequence from Mamma Mia! with footage from the original ABBA video. It's an excellent example of how close the orchestrations used on the soundtrack are to the originals. Most of the songs are faithful renditions with the actors fronting an orchestra that contained many of the same musicians that played on the original recordings with Benny producing. Kudos to the videographer. (Benny can be seen at 2:58 in the video.)
The Gimme, Gimme, Gimme (A Man After Midnight)/Voulez Vous medley is a perfect complement to the bachelorette/bachelor parties the night before the wedding. The ladies start the party with the former tune and are then joined by the men for the latter as all hell breaks loose. The Name of the Game, sung by Amanda Seyfried (Donna's daughter, Sophie) and Stellan Skarsgard (possible dad Bill) was removed from its place between between Gimme, Gimme, Gimme (A Man After Midnight) and Voulez Vous. (The track appears on the soundtrack CD in the correct sequence.) The former scene's inclusion between the latter songs in the film would've definitely slowed down the party. As edited, it is a ball joined in by the entire company. Here's the actual music video (not film vignette, remember?) with Amanda singing Gimme, Gimme, Gimme (A Man After Midnight).
Meryl and Amanda's Slipping Through My Fingers is a lovely duet between the mother and daughter. Originally sung by Agnetha Falkskög, it's always been a meaningful song when heard as an ABBA track; it's placement in Mamma Mia!, as Donna readies her daughter to be married, adds phenomenal depth to the book and the characters' relationship.
Immediately following this moment of poignancy, Christine gets loud and raunchy singing her distaff version of Does Your Mother Know to a slew of hot, young men on the beach. Although her campy delivery and the crazy dance steps (which I secretly covet) seem a tip o' the hat to the gay community (with La Baranski herself something of an icon from her performances in Cybill), the lyrics are also surprisingly relevant in expanding character depth. Tanya is just a riot! But, let's flip the coin here and show a video of ABBA performing Does Your Mother Know live with Björn on lead, real instruments and everything!
Not so lucky in the dramaturgy department is Honey, Honey which Sophie sings about her unknown father. Considering this is the first full-length song of the film, the lyrics are laughable and immediately oft-putting. You're a doggone beast? You're a love machine? To a man who is supposed to be her father? Maybe Ring, Ring would've worked better. Maybe Take A Chance On Me to the three men who don't know they have a daughter? Or even, although I'd have to re-read the lyrics to be sure, I've Been Waiting For You has a song title that seems ready-made. Although it was probably a mandate to start the film with an uptempo tune, some extra thought might have made the scene work better.*
Even one of my favorite ABBA songs, The Winner Takes It All, stops the film's forward motion. Streep sings the song powerfully but the plot points have already been addressed in the songs Mamma Mia and SOS. More importantly, it makes Donna seem flighty and feels as though her character development is taking a step back. Even Sophie gives her mom an exasperated look when she arrives late to the wedding (because she was singing The Winner Takes It All); here is, unfortunate to write, a song that should have been relegated to a deleted scene on the DVD.
Hurry, girlfriend! You're late!
The dancified Lay All Your Love on Me is sung on the beach by Sophie and her fiance, Sky (the invisible Dominic Cooper). It contains what seems to have become the most controversial scene in the movie: Sky's bachelor party friend's in flippers and swimsuits dancing on a pier. The dance is funny and cute, working in the same vein as Tanya's aforementioned hoofing. And the song works fine here but, to tell the truth, they relegated Waterloo, arguably ABBA's greatest hit (and 1974 Eurovision winner), to an encore over the credits when it could have been used as the couple's love song to better effect...unless the author felt that teens today would not know what Waterloo was. Not buying it though. (If true, teens today are not studying.) The encore version of Waterloo does though include the second appearance in the film of a member of ABBA: Björn can be seen as a Greek god holding a lute. In honor of the song itself, here's ABBA singing Waterloo in French.
Colin Firth (possible dad Harry) takes the first swing at the beautiful Our Last Summer to sing (sounding a little like Björn) about his history with Donna. Though not initially called out as a top-notch show tune, Our Last Summer works brilliantly with three lead vocals when Sam and Bill take over the lyrics to reminisce about their history with Donna. It's a sweet take on a lovely song that provides further details about these men and their history with Donna. Pierce also does a good job speak singing When All is Said And Done which deserves applause because my favorite ABBA song is finally used in Mamma Mia!. It doesn't deserve the applause though because the song is about breaking up and neither Pierce nor Meryl are going anywhere. (It does appear towards the end of the movie so maybe that is what is done.) Pierce also duets with Streep on SOS; he has been drubbed for his vocals but I think he sounds...um...not unlike Benny. (Irony or cause and effect? I'm just asking again.)
Mamma Mia! Men!
Super Trouper is an interesting song and another personal favorite. In a musical comedy format, it can really only be sung by an entertainer - considering what a super trouper actually is; so the leading ladies get it together to sing the song they used to perform when they were Donna and the Dynamos. It fits well in context - unlike Rosie's Take A Chance on Me which seems to have been stuck at the end because it was a number 3 United States hit and would've disappointed the fans if not there.
Take A Chance on Me does not feel integrated with the rest of the story. Julie is freakingly funny (loved the Bangles t-shirt she wore upon her arrival on the island) and the scene, with Skellan, adds a light touch to the tune although it might have been better placed, in this context, earlier in the film. Another option would have been to make more of a possible relationship between the two lone wolves earlier in the film. Even more disappointing than how the song was integrated into the book is that the version of Take A Chance on Me available on the soundtrack CD is different from the version used in the film. On the CD, Julie's voice is almost unrecognizable, mixed with the comapny - in the film, her vocal is sweet and nervous and front and center. Speech. Speech. That is the version that should have been immortalized on the soundtrack CD just as they did with Does Your Mother Know?, the other 'older woman that isn't Meryl' solo. Maybe someone thought it wouldn't sell records (yes, records) but isn't it selling tickets?
I guess he's not that invisbile.
Portions of other ABBA songs used throughout the film include:
Amanda's version of I Have A Dream begins (in a prologue version) and ends the film's narrative.
An instrumental Gimme, Gimme, Gimme (A Man After Midnight) is scored over a montage of the lead hommes arriving in Greece and at Villa Donna (and finished during Honey, Honey).
An instrumental Waterloo is scored over a montage of the lead femmes arriving in Greece and at Villa Donna.
There is an interpolation of Knowing Me, Knowing You as Sophie shows her three dads into the Old Goat House. As an aside, Knowing Me, Knowing You is glaring in its absence from the film.
Streep hums Fernando as she walks into the Old Goat House.
I Do (x5) is partially sung by Pierce and Meryl towards the end.
A wet and wild reprise of Mamma Mia follows Aphrodite's eruption at the story's end.
Donna and the Dynamos, dressed in platform boots and sparkly, spandex clothing, perform Dancing Queen as an encore after the end of the film's narrative. It is as redundant as this bullet point.
The encore Waterloo follows the encore Dancing Queen with the rest of the cast in spandex joining the Dynamos; this song deserved integration into the book. Knowing Me, Knowing You could have then been the final encore.
We just have to face it This time we're through (We're really through)
Thank You For The Music is sung sweetly by Amanda over the end credits unlike this version.
Rare footage of the aforementioned Thank You for the Music finale from my 1994 multi-mediacal [sic] show, Funny Guy. Yes, its multi-mediacal (just look at the mediacals behind me) but even I admit that it sounds like a duet between Benny and Agnetha.
Possibly the only non-ABBA music in the film (not non-Benny/Björn, I suppose) is the interstitial wedding music played as the bride walks down the aisle. I didn't recognize it as an ABBA interpretation. Couldn't they have used Arrival? I also heard some tick, tock type music when Donna is setting the table that didn't sound particularly ABBA-esque either.
Hypnotically beautiful black and white photography
From a cinematic point of view, Greece has never looked so flat; it doesn't come off as hypnotically beautiful as one would assume. Maybe it was the movie theatre. (Same one. 3 times.) Even the black and white Never On Sunday (also filmed in Greece) had more depth and beauty to its cinematography. Except for the lighted path to the church and the Dancing Queen number, the scenery seemed uninspired. On the other hand, the choreography, though cheesy, works in context and the cast is uniformly good. Meryl was born to play this role although I can't see her getting the Academy Award - the movie is just so much fluff and it doesn't really seem a hard part to play. Colin was quite adorable. Love Amanda (Veronica Mars, Big Love). I predict Christine to pick up a prize at year's end. Julie - always a pleasure from as far back as Educating Rita. Pierce - lucky dog. Skellan - token Swede whom I loved in The Exorcist: The Beginning. (Not really but I did see the movie.)
Prince of Wales Theatre (London) where Mamma Mia!, the show, premiered.
Mamma Mia! is delightful fun (uh, 3 times) and everyone involved has the world's appreciation for bringing ABBA's timeless tunes to the fore but to answer the titular question, Mamma Mia! doesn't get high marks as a musical. The story is a pastiche - never digging deeper than needed to propel us to the next ABBA song. I understand that Mamma Mia! is part of a genre referred to as jukebox musicals and people go for the music but I've always been a lyrics kind-of guy. I believe the story kinks could have been worked out and possibly put Mamma Mia! on a par with CHESS and Kristina från Duvemåla - neither of which, in the spirit of disclosure, has made anywhere near the amount of money that Mamma Mia! has.
Wait. I've got it. I'll write The Winner Takes It All: Another ABBA Musical. It'll be about a couple living in Las Vegas and going through a divorce and one of them wins the lottery. There will be so many levels to these characters and the book will be deep and involving. Oh, but it's got to be after the one I'm writing now. (Is Sondheim reading this?)
I deserve a Ph.D. in ABBA for this.
* UPDATE: I received an email from a friend that read simply: I thought that Amanda was supposed to be reading from her mother's diary, and that's where the [Honey, Honey] lyrics were coming from. Well blow my nose with a rubber hose. As Emily Litella used to say:
Hell just might've frozen over yesterday (July 4th, 2008) when the four members of the super group came together for the Swedish premiere of Mamma Mia, the ABBA film musical. Hasn't happened in over twenty years! Unfortunately, there was not one picture found that featured the four members alone.
