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1983

At the beginning of 1983 it was Agnetha's turn to record a solo album. The LP entitled "Wrap Your Arms Around Me" was recorded during the first three months of 1983. Björn, Benny and Tim Rice started writing musical together in January 1983. On 23 January 1983 Agnetha gave an interview to the newspaper "Dagens Nyheter" where she said that ABBA had split up. The article and Agnetha's words became a big sensation all over the world. Agnetha was the first ABBA member who said to the press that the ABBA era is over.

Under Attack - more single releases

Even if Agnetha stated in the newspaper that ABBA did not exist any more it was not officially confirmed and the group's new single "Under Attack" was released in Sweden on  February 21st, 1983. The single did not make the Swedish hit chart though.

The record company Vogue in France released the "Under Attack" single with two different covers - perhaps it was difficult to choose which photo was better for the French single.

In Poland "Under Attack" entered the hit chart on January 15th, 1983 and stayed there for 5 weeks. "Under Attack" on the Polish chart: Jan 15: #18, Jan 22: 319, Jan 29: #17, Feb 5: #11, Feb 12: #16.

EP in East Germany

An EP with "Under Attack" was released in East Germany (DDR) in 1983. The other tracks on this EP were: "Super Trouper", "Head Over Heels" and "One Of Us".

One of Us - the single in USA

The promotion of the latest album "The Singles - The First Ten Years" in USA was made with the help of the single "One of Us" b/w "Should I Laugh Or Cry". The single which was released in February 1983 flopped on the US chart and it became the last ABBA single released in USA.

Äntligen sommarlov

A new Polar compilation the album called "Äntligen sommarlov" (Finally holidays) was released on 13 June 1983. The album contained some ABBA rarities which were unavailable on any other ABBA album. One of them was the live version of "Summer Night City" recorded on Wembley in 1979. Another rarity was Benny's solo composition "Den blomstertid nu kommer" and performed by Stig and the Polar office choir traditional "Sommar sommar sommar" (Summer Summer Summer).

Video - Music Show 3

The third "Music Show" video contained 6 ABBA songs: Super Trouper, Happy New Year, Head Over Heels, When All Is Said and Done, The Day Before You Came and Under Attack. For the first time two solo songs recorded by Agnetha (The Heat Is On) and Frida (I Know There's Something Going On) were included on an ABBA video.

The ABBA stamp

On 1 October 1983 the UNESCO International Music Council (IMC) had proclaimed World Music Day, and in 1983 it was celebrated in Stockholm in connection with the biannual General Assembly of the IMC. The Swedish Post Office issued a minimum sheet with five stamps. The motifs featured music in Sweden for the last 100 years. One of the profiles featured was ABBA.

I Love ABBA

The compilation album "I Love ABBA" was the first in the "I love..." series and it was released at the end of October by Polystar in West Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The LP/MC contained 16 songs - 14 performed by ABBA and 2 performed by respective Agnetha and Frida solo. The track listing featured both ABBA hits and several songs which never had been released on singles as for example "Andante Andante", "Move On" and "Arrival". Agnetha's "The Heat Is On" was extended with 4 seconds and Frida's latest hit by that time "To Turn the Stone" was remixed down to 3.24. The album entered the chart in Switzerland on 6 November 1983 where it stayed for 3 weeks reaching #14. In Austria the LP reached #5 and stayed on the chart 4 weeks.

Greatest Hits Vol. 2 on CD

The hit compilation album "Greatest Hits Vol. 2" originally released on LP & MC in 1979 saw its CD release in 1983 on Polar, Polydor and Atlantic.

Thank You For The Music - the single in France

At the beginning of September the single containing "Thank You For The Music" (the LP version from 1977) on the side A and "Our Last Summer" (from LP Super Trouper 1980) on the side B. The single reached #58

Thank You For The Music - the single in UK

In Great Britain the single "Thank You For the Music" b/w "Our Last Summer" promoted the compilation LP with the same title.  The single entered the British chart on 12 November 1983 where it stayed for 6 weeks reaching #33.

Thank You For The Music - the album in UK

The LP "Thank You For The Music - A Collection of Love Songs" entered the UK album chart on 19 November 1983 and stayed there for 12 weeks peaking at #17. The 14 songs included on the LP (MC) were mixed together. The album featured some rare tracks as "Should I Laugh Or Cry" or the Spanish language version of "Fernando".

1984

Thank You For The Music - the single in Holland

Even in Holland the record company "Polydor" tried to keep ABBA alive on the charts at the beginning of 1984. The idea was about the same as in Great Britain the year before, a kind of "final" single. The Dutch single release contained "Thank You For The Music" b/w Medley: Pick a Bale of Cotton... The single entered the Dutch hit chart in May 1984 and reached #38.

From ABBA with love - the album in Holland

This compilation released by Polydor in Holland was one of the most interesting ABBA compilations available in the early 80s. It was released as LP, MC and CD and it contained some rare (by that time) remixes of well-known ABBA hits. The album featured 14 songs. Among remixed rarities there was a short version of Eagle - remixed down to 4.21 which appeared on CD for the first time. Even two single B-sides: Cassandra and Elaine had their CD debut here. Frida's hit from "Something's Going On" - "To Turn the Stone" appeared in a shortened version of 3.24 and Agnetha's "Wrap Your Arms Around Me" was cut down to 3.50. Even "The Day Before You Came" was slightly shortened to 5.44 (the full length was 5.50). The CD was digitally remastered. The release of the album was promoted by Dutch TV.

TV promotion

ABBA International - West Germany

One more interesting compilation entitled "ABBA International" was released in the mid 1980s as MC and CD. Among the tracks there were German version of "Ring Ring" and "Another Town Another Train" (Wer im Wartesaal der Liebe steht), French version of "Waterloo", live versions of "Take A Chance On Me" and "I Wonder" previously released only as single B-sides. Even Spanish version of "Chiquitita" was added as well as edited version of "Eagle" (4.23) and "Happy Hawaii" (B-side of the single "Knowing Me Knowing You").

I Love ABBA - France

The French edition of "I Love ABBA" album was totally different to the West German one released in 1983. It contained songs released mainly between 1979-82 with three exceptions: Fernando (76), Eagle (77) and Thank You For the Music (77). Even Frida's "I Know There's Something Going On" and Agnetha's "The Heat Is On" were included. None of the tracks appeared in edited version.

The Best of ABBA - USA

Warner Music in USA released a 16-track-compilation entitled simply "The Best of ABBA". The album contained ABBA's two last US singles "When All Is Said and Done" and "On And On And On".  The compilation was manufactured by Warner Special Products for Silver Eagle Records.

ABBA remixed

The 1980s saw a real explosion of remixes and 12" singles on the music market in Europe. All artists who started their career in the early 80s released their singles on both usual 7" singles and 12" maxi singles. ABBA indeed released some maxi singles but the versions released on those singles were neither extended nor remixed. The Polydor/Vogue maxi singles released by ABBA between 1979 and 1982 were: Chiquitita, Voulez-Vous, I Have a Dream, The Day Before You Came and Under Attack.

In 1984 Epic released a compilation album "EnergHighs" which featured two real remixes of ABBA songs: The Visitors and Lay All Your Love On Me. It was the very first ABBA remixes released officially on an album.

Greatest Hits - the CD

"Greatest Hits" saw its release on CD in 1984 in USA. CD releases were still very unusual by that time and this item became one of the biggest rarity in the ABBA world as it was deleted quite quickly and at the beginning of 1990s replaced by all "Gold" and "More Gold" releases.

I Love ABBA - USA

The last album in the series "I Love ABBA" was released in USA in 1984. It featured probably the most interesting track listing of them all with songs as: Cassandra, Should I Laugh Or Cry, My Love My Life or I Wonder. Several songs were edited: Eagle (version 3.36), The Name of the Game (3.52) and Chiquitita (4.36). No solo tracks of Agnetha and Frida were included.

The Story of ABBA - Canada

If you do not look carefully you can think that you see the well-known compilation "The Magic of ABBA" released in many countries in both Americas in 1984. But it is not right even if the cover is almost the same. The Canadian LP entitled "The Story of ABBA" was released in 1984 and it contained 16 ABBA hits which had been successful in Canada and USA - from Waterloo to When All Is Said and Done.

1986

For Stikkan

The four ABBA members met each other in front of the TV cameras on 16 January 1986. The recording of the folk song "Tivedshambo"  was a surprise  for their manager Stig Anderson. Swedish TV had by that time a TV programme "Här är ditt liv" (Here is your life) which featured the biggest profiles in the industry and culture in Sweden. In January 86 it was time for Stig. The special was aired from Malmö and ABBA participated just with the pre-recorded video clip. The video had been filmed at the Polar Music office in Hamngatan 11 in Stockholm. It was the last recording featuring all four members of ABBA on TV. Björn and Benny were special guests in the show.

ABBA Live

In the spring of 1986 ABBA's engineer Michael B. Tretow was back in the Polar Studios remixing tracks for a new ABBA project.

The ABBA members had never enjoyed live albums and that's why it was strange that Björn and Benny suddenly accepted the idea of releasing a half fake live album. The tracks chosen for this project were taken mostly from the concerts on Wembley in 1979, the TV show "Dick Cavett Meets ABBA" 1981 and the Australian tour in 1977. It is unknown why it was decided to mix together songs from three so very different events on the same album. The track listing was strange as well. The opening track was... "Dancing Queen" which used to be one of the last songs performed by ABBA on their concerts. "Two for the Price Of One" sounded funny among the other hits as the song had never been a hit itself and it was performed in the Dick Cavett show only because it was one of the first songs being ready for the forthcoming album in 1981. It was even funnier that the "phone effect" when Björn sings "Alice Whiting" was taken from the studio recording and mixed into the live one. The tracks were remixed and overdubbed in the studio and it was very hard to know what was the real live sound and what was the studio overdub.

The LP contained 11 tracks and the CD version 14 tracks (the CD bonus tracks were: Money Money Money, The Name of the Game/Eagle mix and On And On And On). The album was released in Sweden was on 18 August 1986. It did not become a hit reaching #49 on the LP chart. ABBA Live was not released in the UK.

CD

MC

The Story of ABBA - the video

The video "The Story of ABBA" was released in the UK in 1986. It contained the original show from the Dutch TV "Veronica" recorded with ABBA in the studio in 1982. An interview with ABBA and Stikkan Anderson was mixed with ABBA videos and 4 pre-ABBA appearances.

1987

The Best of ABBA - Poland

The period 1983-1990 was probably the worst time for ABBA and their fans. The band was almost forgotten and the ABBA compilation releases in the world were extremely occasional. A very odd release in Poland came out in 1987 - a double LP "The Best of ABBA" which was nothing but the Polish version of "The Singles the first ten years" originally issued in late 1982. The cover was slightly changed but the same photo as on the original issue was used here as well. Both LPs had the same track listing as well.

The Collection - UK

The double album "ABBA The Collection" was released in Great Britain and France by the record company Castle Communications in the series "The collector series". Two LPs contained totally 24 tracks and the CD 18 tracks.

The Hits - UK

Another low-budget compilation "ABBA The Hits" was released in England - firstly as LP in the spring 1987 and in December as CD. The album contained 12 songs - mostly single hits but even "The Visitors" which never appeared on a hit chart as it was only B-side of the single "Head over Heels" in 1982. "The Hits" did not make British album chart but the record company Hallmark did not give up and even volumes 2 & 3 would be released in 1988.

1988

The best of ABBA in Holland

The compilation "The Best of ABBA" was released in the series "25 Jaar Pop Muziek" in Holland. Both the LP and the CD contained 13 songs including "The Day Before You Came" which did not appear very often on compilation albums

The Hits 2 & 3

The year 1988 saw two new album releases in England - "The Hits 2" and "The Hits 3" which were continuation in the series released by the low-budget record company "Hallmark". Both albums were released both as LP, CD and MC. "The Hits 2" contained edited version of "The Name of The Game" (edit 3.55) and 13 other songs featuring mostly ABBA's hit singles but even some odd selections as "Andante Andante", "Arrival" or "Kisses of Fire". One of the biggest ABBA hits "The Winner Takes It All" appeared first on "The Hits 3"

The Hits Box

All three CDs were collected in a box.

Massive MC release in Sweden

The year 1988 saw a massive release of music cassettes with ABBA songs in Sweden. The record company TMC AB released totally 9 cassettes partly with the same track listings but with different covers. The record company TMC AB was a short lived daughter company to Sonet Records originally a Danish record company which today belongs to Universal Music. The track listings were quite odd at that time when the ABBA popularity in the world was on its lowest level and nobody thought that any ABBA release would sell good.

The first series

The first series was made up of 5 cassettes:

1. Showtime - ABBA - which featured well-known hits in its original versions as well as the Swedish version of "Ring Ring".

2. Money Money Money - which was a repackaged version of the above mentioned release with exactly the same track listing.

3. Dancing Queen - another compilation featuring all the biggest hits as well as some no single hits as "When I Kissed the Teacher" or "Tiger".

4. ABBA - included 14 songs from the period 1977 - 1979 (mainly from ABBA The Album and Voulez-Vous).

5. The Winner Takes It All - featured 14 songs from the period 1980 - 1982. This tape contained an alternative remixed dead-end version of "Under Attack" STILL NOT AVAILABLE ON ANY OTHER ABBA RELEASE.

Guld Hits

The second series of the ABBA cassettes released by TMC got the common title "Guld Hits" (Golden Hits).

1. Guld Hits Vol. 1 contained 14 early songs of ABBA taken from the albums Ring Ring and Waterloo.

2. Guld Hits Vol. 2 had the same track listing as "Dancing Queen" (see above).

3. Guld Hits Vol. 3 = MC "ABBA" (see above) with the songs 1977- 1979.

4. Guld Hits Vol. 4 = MC "The Winner Takes It All" - even here with the remixed version of "Under Attack".

CD releases in Sweden

The first three ABBA albums ("Ring Ring", "Waterloo" and "ABBA") saw their CD release in Sweden in 1988. This low budget release covers were scanned from the original LP with some parts of the text covered with yellow strips. Nowadays hard to find rarities.

The Collection Vol. 2 - UK

The follow-up to the 1987 "ABBA The Collection" was "The Collection Vol. 2" released in England in 1988. It was a very strange compilation album which in fact contained two ABBA records mixed with each other - never released in England LP "Ring Ring" and "ABBA Live".

Absolute ABBA - UK

One more double LP compilation saw its release in England in 1988. The album entitled "Absolute ABBA" featured 24 greatest UK chart hits of ABBA and a very nice gatefold cover with various ABBA fan items. The album was even released on double CD. "Absolute ABBA" entered the British album chart on November 19, 1988 and stayed there for 7 weeks reaching #70.

An ABBA The Golden Box was released in Sweden in 1988 and it contained all studio ABBA albums except "Ring Ring" Even the double LP "ABBA The Singles The First Ten Years" was included in this package. The cover pictures were taken from the "Voulez-Vous" photo session. The albums were listed in slightly different order than their original release years. The first LP was "ABBA" referred to the years 1974-75, the second LP was "Waterloo" surprisingly referred to the year 1976 as well as "Arrival". The only explanation can be that the LP "Waterloo" included in the box was the 1976 re-release of the original album. The box was issued by book company "Bokorama" and it was only a club release not a commercial one. It can explain why this box is extremely rare and hard to find.

The Christmas compilation

Stikkan Anderson was executive producer for a new Christmas compilation that was sponsored by Swedish furniture company "Polarator". The album released on red vinyl was entitled "Polarator Jul" (Polarator Christmas) and contained Christmas carrols performed by Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad as well as ABBA's "Happy New Year".

1989

Love Songs

In October 1989 the Dutch record company "Dino" released a new ABBA compilation entitled "Love Songs" in 1989. The album and MC contained 14 songs and the CD edition additionally 4 bonus tracks. The album entered the Dutch album chart on October 28, 1989 where it stayed for 11 weeks peaking at #38.

Love Songs in the UK

After the ABBA Hits 1, 2 and 3 series Pickwick came up with a follow-up entitled "Love Songs" in December 1989. The album contained only two single hits from ABBA's career: "Under Attack" and "So Long" and the other 12 songs were chosen from different albums. Even two songs previously released only as B-sides of ABBA singles - "Should I Laugh or Cry" and "Lovelight" were included on the compilation. This release remains as a kind of odd song collection.

The Very Best of...

Reader's Digest in the UK released a limited edition compilation album "The Very Best Of ABBA" featuring 14 hits from the period 1974 - 1980.

1992

There was something in the air in 1992 when the Swedish press announced that Björn and Benny together with Michael B. Tretow are back in the studio preparing a re-release of the biggest ABBA hits in digitally remastered versions. Exactly 10 years after the group split up the big ABBA revival started all over the world.

Dancing Queen - the single

First out was of course the biggest ABBA hit "Dancing Queen" which was released in Europe on August 24, 1992. It entered the UK chart on September 5 and stayed there for 5 weeks reaching #16. The single was released as 7", 12" and CD maxi single. The 7" featured "Lay All Your Love On Me" on the flipside, the 12" "Dancing Queen" and "Lay All Your Love On Me" on the side A and "The Day Before You Came" and "Eagle" on the side B. The CD maxi single hade the same contents as the 12".

ABBA Gold

The compliation "ABBA Gold - Greatest Hits" featured 19 newly remastered hits of ABBA. The CD/2LP saw its release on September 21st, 1992. It entered the Swedish album chart one week later on #10. In the UK "ABBA Gold" entered the chart on October 3rd, 1992 and stayed there for unbelievable 328 weeks reaching #1.

The Swedish album chart, September 30, 1992.

Voulez-Vous - the single

The second single promoting the "ABBA Gold" album was "Voulez-Vous" with "Summer Night City" on the flipside. The maxi version of the single had even "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!" and "I Do I Do I Do I Do I Do" as bonus tracks. The single saw its release on October 26th, 1992.

In the UK the single was even released as a cassette single with Voulez-Vous and Summer Night City on the both sides.

Thank You For The Music

The third and last single promoting "ABBA Gold" was a "Christmas" single featuring the ABBA anthem "Thank You For The Music" as well as "Happy New Year" and "The Way Old Friends Do". The single saw its release on December 14th, 1992.

1993

More ABBA Gold

The smashing success of "ABBA Gold" encouraged the record company Universal to releasing a follow up compilation which got a title "More ABBA Gold". This compilation featured one previously unreleased track "I Am The City" recorded in 1982. The song in the ABBA 1982 style remained of "Under Attack" and "You Owe Me One" - probably not the best ABBA song but the presence of it on this compilation made "More ABBA Gold" to a very valuable album for all ABBA fans. Besides "I Am The City" there were 19 other songs - both bigger and minor chart hits as well as some tracks from B-sides of ABBA singles. "More ABBA Gold" was released on May 24th, 1993.

Gold becomes platinum

On October 5th, 1993 Frida, Björn and Benny represented ABBA by receiving the Platinum Record for selling of 5 millions "ABBA Gold" album. The ceremony took place at Café Opera in Stockholm.

...wishful thinking...

1995

Brasil

A special exclusive picture disc compilation album saw its release in Brasil in 1995. The compilation featured 12 songs - the greatest hits from the period 1973 - 1979.

1999

Görel Hanser 50

In June 1999 all four former members of ABBA met each other at Görel Hanser's 50th birthday party in Stockholm.

2000

ABBA The Stamp

A new stamp featuring ABBA was issued in Sweden on 17 March 2000 in the series "Our 20th Century part 3". It was the second stamp with ABBA issued in Sweden (the first issue in 1983). The 2000-edition featured ABBA in the "Waterloo" costumes.

2004

The last ABBA video

The last video was created at the beginning of 2004 in order to celebrate the 30th anniversary of ABBA's victory in Brighton with "Waterloo". All former members of the group participated in the filming of the video though not at the same time. Several well-known Swedish actors played different roles in the video which was screened for the first time during the Eurovision Song Contest in Istanbul (Turkey). The premiere was followed by DVD release of the clip together with some other classical ABBA videos.

2008

ABBA The Album

To celebrate the 60th Anniversary of the long-playing record, Universal Music Group released 80 titles (in four batches) on much-loved 30cm black vinyl across 2008, starting with the first batch of 20 titles in July 2008. All were exact replicas of the original packages. Abba The Album Deluxe Gatefold 180 gram Audiophile Vinyl LP was released on August 4th, 2008 (remastered version from 2001).