''ABBA Live'' is an album of live recordings by Swedish pop group

ABBA ABBA ( ) were a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. They are one of the most popular and successful musical groups of all time, and are one of the List ...

, released by

Polar Music Polar Music is a Swedish record company founded in 1963 by Stig Anderson and his friend Bengt Bernhag. Background The first act that Polar Music signed was the Hootenanny Singers featuring Björn Ulvaeus. Polar eventually gained prosperity pr ...

in 1986.

History

A live album was something that many ABBA fans had demanded for several years. ABBA themselves had toyed with the idea on a couple of occasions, but always decided against it. Finally, four years after the members went their separate ways, a live collection was released after all. The resultant album, ''ABBA Live'', contained recordings from 1977, 1979 and 1981. The tracks were mostly taken from ABBA's concerts at Wembley Arena in London in November 1979, with a few additional songs taken from the tour of Australia in March 1977 and the '' Dick Cavett Meets ABBA'' television special, taped in April 1981. When this LP/CD was released, the band's popularity was at an all-time low and none of the members themselves were involved in the production of the album. Much to the dismay of both music critics and ABBA fans it also had 80's synth drums overdubbed on most tracks, taking away the true live feeling of the performances. Neither did it feature any of the tracks that the band had performed live on their tours but never included on any of their studio albums, such as "I Am an A", "Get on the Carousel", "I'm Still Alive", or the original live versions of the songs from the 1977 mini-musical ''

The Girl with the Golden Hair ''ABBA: The Album'' (also known as simply ''The Album'') is the fifth studio album by the Swedish Pop music, pop group ABBA. It was released in Scandinavia on 12 December 1977 through Polar Music, but due to the massive pre-orders the UK pressing ...

'': "

Thank You for the Music "Thank You for the Music" is a song by the Swedish pop group ABBA. It was originally featured on the group's fifth studio album, '' The Album'' (1977), and was released as a double-A sided single with "Eagle" in May 1978 in limited territories ...

", "

I Wonder (Departure) "I Wonder (Departure)" is a song by ABBA, released on their 1977 album '' ABBA: The Album''. It was originally part of the ABBA-produced mini-musical ''The Girl with the Golden Hair'', which they performed at the end of each of their 1977 concert t ...

" and "

I'm a Marionette "I'm a Marionette" is a song recorded by the Swedish pop group ABBA from their fifth album, '' ABBA: The Album''. Written by Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson, the song was originally part of a mini-musical called ''The Girl with the Golden Hair ...

", all of which had slightly different lyrics and/or musical arrangements to the subsequent studio recordings included on '' ABBA: The Album''. Several tracks had also been heavily edited, in the case of the 1979 live recording of "

Does Your Mother Know "Does Your Mother Know" is a song by the Swedish recording group ABBA, recorded for their sixth studio album ''Voulez-Vous'' (1979). It was taken as the second single from the record on 27 April 1979 via Polar Music; in North America, the song wa ...

" by as much as five minutes since it originally was performed on that tour as a medley with " Hole in Your Soul". ''ABBA Live'' was the first ABBA album to be simultaneously released on LP and CD, the CD having three "extra tracks". The album did not perform very well, internationally or domestically, peaking at #49 in Sweden and only staying in the charts for two weeks. It was remastered and rereleased by

Polydor Polydor Limited, also known as Polydor Records, is a British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in ...

/ Polar in 1997, but is currently out of print.

Track listing

All tracks written by

Benny Andersson Göran Bror Benny Andersson (; born 16 December 1946) is a Swedish musician, composer and producer best known as a member of the pop group ABBA and co-composer of the musicals ''Chess (musical), Chess'', ''Kristina från Duvemåla'', and ''Mamm ...

and

Björn Ulvaeus Björn Kristian Ulvaeus (; born 25 April 1945) is a Swedish musician, singer, songwriter, and producer best known as a member of the musical group ABBA. He is also the co-composer of the musicals ''Chess (musical), Chess'', ''Kristina från Duve ...

except where noted.

Charts

References

External links

''Abba Live'' on The official ABBA site discography

''Abba Live'' on Allmusic.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abba Live 1986 live albums ABBA live albums Live albums by Swedish artists Polar Music albums