Disco de ABBA: “The Definitive Collection”

It was interesting to hear the songs in chronological order. Also the inclusion of the slower, throatier, American single version of Ring Ring was something only a die-hard ABBA fan that actually HAD the original American LP release of Waterloo(which is where it originally appeared) would appreciate. The major disappointment here was the trebel-heavy, bass-deprived remastering of these songs for this compilation. They were not remastered at the same standards as the "Thank You For the Music" Box Set or the REissue of ABBA GOLD. I would not recommend this when higher quality ABBA collections are available. Instead, pick up Forever Gold and get a thoroughly entertaining, quality compilation.

This collection includes all the songs that were released as singles in Sweden, plus re-mixes of two of them. All their British and American hits can be found here, though some songs were not released as singles outside Sweden, while others were released in some other countries but not others.

The set begins with the pre-Abba track People need love - all four members perform this but Agnetha and Frida are credited as Svenska Flicka. Ring ring was Abba's first real single, while He is your brother is an interesting song, but Abba only really hit the big time with Waterloo, which was their first British number one and also reached the top ten in America. Subsequent singles met with varying degrees of success and it was not until Dancing queen was released in 1976 that Abba had another hit that could be called truly international. It went all the way to number one in Britain, America and many other countries.

Their other British number ones were Mamma Mia, Fernando, Knowing me knowing you, Name of the game, Take a chance on me, Super trouper and Winner takes it all. Many of their other singles went into the top five, including I have a dream, which spent a month at number two. In America, Take a chance on me was a huge hit but the others were markedly less successful.

This is a wonderful collection of Abba's music. If you only want one Abba collection, this is a good one to choose.

Despite being labelled uncool by pointy headed music pundits, the swedish quartet ABBA still managed to sell millions of records throughout the 1970s' and early 1980s'. The fact that they're today considered cool by even Rolling Stone is proof that they're popularity is still very much intact, not to mention the phenomenal Broadway smash "Mamma Mia", written by former group members Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeuss and centered around their songs.

That being said, a band this popular is bound to have countless amounts of greatest hits and best off collections released. The first was "ABBA Gold". It was a 20 song, single disc collection that featured mainly the classics and sold millions of copies around the world. Then, in 1994, came the four disc "Thank You For The Music" boxed set, which featured all the songs on the "ABBA Gold" collection plus 46 others. It is currenty the best ABBA compilation available. Then in 2002 came the two disc, 37 track "The Definitive Collection", which sort of straddles the filed between the two previous collections.

If you're a beginning ABBA fan, than "The Definitive Collection" is you're best starting point. You'll get all the essential ABBA classics, which include "Waterloo", "S.O.S.", "Mamma Mia", "Fernando", "Dancing Queen", "Knowing Me, Knowing You", "The Name Of The Game", "Take A Chance On Me" and "The Winner Takes It All". Even better you'll get a bunch of lesser known songs that are just as great and some even better, such as "Honey, Honey", "Summer Night City", "Eagle", "Angel Eyes" (my all tie favorite), "On And On And On", "When All Is Said And Done", "The Vistors (Crackin' Up)" and "The Day Before You Came". Best of all, you get several very early singles on disc one; "People Need Love", "He Is Your Brother", "Ring Ring" and my personal favorite, "Love Isn't Easy" (But It Sure Is Hard Enough)". You'll also get remixes of "Ring Ring" and "Voulez - Vous".

So if you're just getting into ABBA, than "The Definitive Collection" is the collection for you. Hardcore fans should stick with "Thank You For The Music", but beginners should without a doubt get this.

Having just seen the excellent musical "Mamma Mia", I wanted to purchase some Abba music. I almost bought the sound track sold at the theater-----but then luckily decided to do research first. Instead, I bought this CD----and love it. I play it in my car, sing to all the songs,picture in my mind what the actors on stage were doing and have the terrific voices and music of Abba instead of the group from London-----(group on the soundtrack). I'm very glad I bought this------great tunes.

I am one of the biggest Abba fans in the world, and have purchased many compilation sets by Abba, This is truly one of the best. It has all the hits from both UK and the US, and if they added 'Rock Me' it would have included all the big Australian hits too. I love that it's in chronological order giving the listener the chance to hear the progress of the group from the beginning to end. My favorite track is 'The Day Before You Came'. You hear all the pain the group is going through from Agnetha vocals, to the howling background vocal and the simple use of percussion-simply brilliant- I put it on a lot of mix tapes I give to friends. If you haven't purchased an Abba album, this is the one. You get all the great songs, and it leaves off the misses that might be on a few other albums (though that's rare in my opinion). Enjoy! Buy early, buy often