Rating: 
Summary: Sure is thorough...
Review: Exhaustively researched, this weighty tome is for the certifiable ABBAmaniac only. Casual fans looking for a frothy snapshot of the sunny Swedes would be well-advised to keep looking. Ultimately, gloomier than a Jonkoping February.
Rating: 
Summary: ABBA fan forever
Review: I own this book, I purchased it via ABBA fan club. I have read it and saw that their life wasn't eternal festival and happiness. I discovered some really new facts about all foursome and it's a little shame because I considered them ideals without any bad habbits. But unfortunatelly they are also ordinary people despite very famous ones.
I reccomend this book as an obligatory item for all true ABBA fans.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best biographies published.
Review: I read many books, including many biographies. I am not an ABBA fan per se. However, this book, I DEVOURED. It was simply an outstanding read. For its length, I raced through it, eagerly yearning for the next page.The writer's style reminds me of the best of Michener's writing, like Hawaii. PS> I also highly recommend "The Day Paul Met John" or vice versa.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best biographies published.
Review: I read many books, including many biographies. I am not an ABBA fan per se. However, this book, I DEVOURED. It was simply an outstanding read. For its length, I raced through it, eagerly yearning for the next page. The writer's style reminds me of the best of Michener's writing, like Hawaii. PS> I also highly recommend "The Day Paul Met John" or vice versa.
Rating:
Summary: Polar Music indeed!
Review: Someone said it's as difficult to write about music as it is to dance to architecture, and I guess Carl Magnus Palm faced a tougher task than most. As any "Behind The Music" aficianado knows, your typical pop group creates plenty of drama, even when their music isn't all that good. Abba is unique in that their story is devoid of drug arrests or lurid groupie tales. Divorces, yes, they had that going in spades, as the band mates were all husbands and wives who broke apart and eventually ended the band, but the partings as described by Palm seem almost antiseptic, even when Benny cheats on Frida with (gasp!) a journalist. The dissolutions feel more like a Bergman movie than "A Star Is Born," but that's not Palm's fault. Palm does a fine job with the story at hand, telling it in a Joe Friday "just-the-facts" kind of way that commands respect and a healthy amount of interest. He takes care to give us a perspective of the band in its time and place, and notes how badly Abba's music was received in its own homeland because of its excessive commerciality. (People digging your sound meant something was wrong with you, comrade.) He analyzes key moments in the band's creative development with commendable detachment and fairness. It's nice to see he doesn't pile on the negativity over the 1979 album "Voulez-Vouz" or praise 1977's "The Album" as the band's finest hour as others do. He's an especially biting critic after the band breaks up, even ragging on "Chess," but he's careful to always give credit to Benny's tuneful genius, Bjorn's often-clever way with a lyric, and the way Frida and Agnetha's voices, when joined together, created a unique "third voice" which gave the band much of its urgency and power. I wish he was more willing to take us inside the band by painting some individual scenes in greater detail, making us feel like actual witnesses rather than readers of a police report, even a very good one. Guess the Swedes don't practice New Journalism too much. I didn't get much of a feeling of who the Abba band members really were, except that beyond their era-defining brilliance they seem a bit cold and dull. The only vibrant character, manager Stig Anderson, blusters and rants on the sidelines much of the time as Palm focuses on the band. But what's here is good enough. Its an absorbing, thorough, and sober-sided account of the life and death of one of pop's most successful and misunderstood bands. If you like Abba even a little bit, you will like this book.
Rating:
Summary: Polar Music indeed!
Review: Someone said it's as difficult to write about music as it is to dance to architecture, and I guess Carl Magnus Palm faced a tougher task than most. As any "Behind The Music" aficianado knows, your typical pop group creates plenty of drama, even when their music isn't all that good. Abba is unique in that their story is devoid of drug arrests or lurid groupie tales. Divorces, yes, they had that going in spades, as the band mates were all husbands and wives who broke apart and eventually ended the band, but the partings as described by Palm seem almost antiseptic, even when Benny cheats on Frida with (gasp!) a journalist. The dissolutions feel more like a Bergman movie than "A Star Is Born," but that's not Palm's fault. Palm does a fine job with the story at hand, telling it in a Joe Friday "just-the-facts" kind of way that commands respect and a healthy amount of interest. He takes care to give us a perspective of the band in its time and place, and notes how badly Abba's music was received in its own homeland because of its excessive commerciality. (People digging your sound meant something was wrong with you, comrade.) He analyzes key moments in the band's creative development with commendable detachment and fairness. It's nice to see he doesn't pile on the negativity over the 1979 album "Voulez-Vouz" or praise 1977's "The Album" as the band's finest hour as others do. He's an especially biting critic after the band breaks up, even ragging on "Chess," but he's careful to always give credit to Benny's tuneful genius, Bjorn's often-clever way with a lyric, and the way Frida and Agnetha's voices, when joined together, created a unique "third voice" which gave the band much of its urgency and power. I wish he was more willing to take us inside the band by painting some individual scenes in greater detail, making us feel like actual witnesses rather than readers of a police report, even a very good one. Guess the Swedes don't practice New Journalism too much. I didn't get much of a feeling of who the Abba band members really were, except that beyond their era-defining brilliance they seem a bit cold and dull. The only vibrant character, manager Stig Anderson, blusters and rants on the sidelines much of the time as Palm focuses on the band. But what's here is good enough. Its an absorbing, thorough, and sober-sided account of the life and death of one of pop's most successful and misunderstood bands. If you like Abba even a little bit, you will like this book.
Rating:
Summary: An indepth look at the rise of ABBA
Review: This is perhaps the first book to ever go into the depths of the Story of ABBA. Whereas in the past there have been many books and recently only rather vague overviews of ABBA's highly successful career, but very few books have examined ABBA in such depth. The author manages to go to the very root of their formation, their success and their eventual demise as a collective group. The author's insight into their formative years, the people that worked with and alongside them, as well as the impact of the Swedish cultural climate of the time give a valuable perspective that effectively gives an understanding of the way they worked and they way they approached their career and lives as ABBA. It's also interesting to note how the international press has long regarded ABBA as rather distant media-shy figures, which was not the case. It's surprising to read how frank they have been with the press over the years. There are many revealing and personal quotes from Agnetha, Frida and Benny and Bjorn regarding their personalities, their conflicts and the marital strain of their work. Looking back on the book one will find it quite amazing to look back on their accomplishments and how far they had come in the 10 years that they worked together. Overall a very worthwhile and provocative read. This book may not be recommended for casual ABBA fans, who may find all the intricate references to Sweden and Swedish culture as well as the many surrounding details just a little dry and confusing. Although it's definitely essential for fans who have background on the ABBA story and who wish to gain further insight on the people; their lives and sacrifices, and the wonderful music which built the success of ABBA.
Rating:
Summary: Everything you wanted to know...but did not know who to ask!
Review: This is the most complete work on the Swedish super group yet. This book is for the true ABBA fanatic. It gives great insight into the early history of the group members and their everyday struggles in trying to balance fame, fortune and a personal life. Sure it may not always paint a rosey picture of their lives, but guess what? They were just artists facing everyday troubles with personal relationships like the rest of us. The book illustrates the difficulty in getting a group from a small country launched into the international music arena. The work well describes the plan of the group and Stig Andersson, their manager, to achieve success in a industry dominated by the English and American groups of the period. This book is far more complete than Carl Magnus Palm's other book on the group. I believe it takes a resident of Sweden to describe the events and the issues of the music scene in Sweden at the time, and in this respect his book is a real good piece of work.
Rating: 
Summary: New Abba biography - a failure
Review: Unfortunately, this new biographical opus about Abba written by their ardent Swedish fan (with the help of numerous other Abba addicts listed in the book) is a resounding flop. It is true that the book offers a lot of details about group's personal and professional life, but most of them are recycled from other publications, and just a few are really new. The major problem of the book, however, rests in its complete lack of effective analysis of prime Abba asset - their music. At best, what's written in the book approaches the level of Introduction to Music Appreciation from Junior High School course, and at worst - fanzine-type wide-open prose. Carl Magnus Palm should have enlisted a help from a music writer or, alternatively, should himself have conducted a thorough research of what's already written about the group's music. Bibliography section of the book, however, is rather limited and indicates a very superficial approach from the author. Larded with biased, one-sided judgements and conclusions, this book is hardly enjoyable also because of its bland and clinical language, which makes reading even about such an exciting subject as Abba almost boring. Bright Lights, Dark Shadows is a heavy volume boasting 554 pages and its publisher claims the book to be an instant biography classic. But in reality it's nothing more than a vivid example of appalling lack of professionalism and lost opportunities. Sadly, for general reader this book will be a waste of time, for Abba aficionados - a disappointment.
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