Step into ABBA's past, present and future

I never thought ABBA's catalog would have left such an extensive unpublished loop, but I suppose this is true for most groups, where only after hours of recording and experimenting, a few songs see the light of day. When this box set was proposed to Bjorn and Benny they winced and wondered who would buy it. Well, some record breaking sales twelve years after the group's disbandment should let them know fans all over the world are still as faithful to ABBA as they were during their days of glory.

This lavishly illustrated box set not only includes some true jewels in the four discs that comprise it - such as B-sides and unreleased songs, but is a compilation of all the group's official albums. Disc 3 is almost a copy of "Super Trouper" - the album most fans consider their best, at least in its first half; although "Elaine" a song that never made it to the album, is an impressive up-tempo and one of my favorites. I have another favorite in the "Medley" of 'Pick a bale of cotton', 'On top of old Smokey" and 'Midnight Special'; which remains the only ABBA recording that was not actually written by themselves. The rhythm is great, fast, happy, especially in 'Midnight Special'.

My favorite CD has to be Disc 4 though, where we have all rarities, starting with "Put on your white sombrero", a song with hints of Spanish 'castanuelas' and full of Mexican flavor, that never made it to "Super Trouper". Fans would love to listen to improvised versions of never before heard songs in the part called "ABBA Undeleted", where their engineer Michael B. Tretow gave us probably the best gift of all. I would have loved to hear full versions of "Just like that", a song so characteristic of their sound; and the fox-trotty "Burning my bridges", where Bjorn sings the lead.

The booklet presents the history of the group by ABBA connoisseur journalist John Tobler, author of "ABBA Gold - The complete story" and the earlier "ABBA for the Record", among others; including a complete discography (anecdotes and all) by Carl Magnus Palm, who also wrote "ABBA - The complete recording sessions." I enjoyed the collection of memorabilia photographed especially for the project and commented upon by their costume manager Owe Sandstrom. The pictures are all full color and make for a packet of memories all fans would cherish forever.