Abba: The Definitive Collection [DVD]

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Happy New Year”, filmed in Hallstrom’s apartment, is a depressing video, and the first real sign that the end is near. Collection of music documentaries focusing on Swedish pop group ABBA, including live performances and critical reviews of their eighth studio album, 'The Visitors', and the compilation album 'ABBA Gold'. But for all the brilliance of their music, Abba are remembered as much for their glittery costumes and general 1970s appearance - and perhaps this part of their legacy was never better exposed than in their groundbreaking music videos. The dvd features some never-seen-before videos, such as When I Kissed The Teacher and That's Me, as well as several of their songs sang in Spanish. On “I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do” Benny and Bjorn mime playing saxophones (there is actual sax playing on the track) and the girls are shot in soft focus, giving them an angelic glow.

Eagle”, shot in 1978, was the first video in which Hallstrom shot the group directly onto videotape, giving the clip a real video look that is a precursor to the look of ’80s videos. The last really great video is “Super Trouper” which features circus performers and Agnetha holding her hand up in a “Number One” salute during the “onstage” portion of the video. Nowadays, you can’t even make a video until you get to the point in your career where you’ve been totally made over and dressed by the record company.All clips have been digitally remastered from the original negatives and synchronized with 24 bit remastered sound, making them look and sound better than ever before.

A Man After Midnight)” and “On And On And On” show the band in the studio and in live performance-sort of. Plane trips to Australia (where ABBA was very popular), taking 30 hours at the time, were not something they wanted to do often, and besides, they could be exposed to many more people with a filmed performance broadcast on the right TV program. There’s also the weird shoulder-leading Greek/Russian dance the girls do, and the scene of the four riding around in a convertible, which does always remind me of Liza Minelli and Michael York tooling around in Cabaret. Couple that with a very different style of song writing and the subject matter of the songs change from the upbeat feel of songs like 'I Do, I Do, I Do' and 'Mamma Mia' to the heartbreaking 'The Winner Takes It All', and you feel like you're an eye witness to the pain of their breakups. I would rate this 4 star for anyone who doesn't have anything ABBA but am not going to give the product anything as its not definitive at all.Over the years to follow, I slowly discovered more and more great songs by ABBA, until it became official. As for the girls, Agnetha manages to look pretty despite a succession of unflattering costumes, some of which must have been fashion mistakes even in the 1970s. My friends back in the day would put ABBA down, but I felt so strongly about ABBA I did not care what they thought.