ABBA blog

Thoughts and observations on the Swedish foursome

Recording session stories in ABBA On Record

published October 16, 2023

Only five days left to pre-order ABBA On Record - Packaged Promoted Reviewed if you want your book personally signed by me (just place your order and you will automatically get it signed). Saturday 21 October is the deadline. Copies of ABBA On Record bought after this date will not be signed for as long as this edition remains in print. 21 October is also the deadline date for UK customers to buy the book at the current UK price. After that it will be Europe prices (please visit abbaonrecord.com for more details about the prices and to place your order). The book is scheduled for publication in early 2024.

ABBA On Record has two major appendices, both of which explore ABBA's recording work. If you enjoyed ABBA - The Complete Recording Sessions, then you will find these sections of ABBA On Record essential too:

• The Michael B. Tretow Tapes – hours of unheard recordings from the archives of ABBA’s trusted sound engineer. These include Tretow's on-the-side tapes, capturing in real time what was going on during a recording session; alternate versions of familiar songs; previously unheard tunes that were never recorded properly; tracks that were considered for the 1994 box set Thank You For The Music and/or that box set’s 23-minute medley of outtakes, ABBA Undeleted, including some recordings that were rejected, and some that made it into the medley but are featured on the Tretow Tapes in more complete form. There really is a wealth of new information about ABBA's recordings in this chapter.

• Voyage – ABBA’s 2021 album is discussed in the book, using the same diary format as ABBA – The Complete Recording Sessions. Please note: Because of the nature of the creation of the Voyage album, it has not been possible to access quite as many details as were available for the 1972-1982 recordings covered by ABBA - The Complete Recording Sessions, but thanks to sound engineer Bernard Löhr and ABBA representative Görel Hanser, I at least have the dates when the four ABBA members have been in the studio together, and most of the session musician dates as well. Together with interviews and information from other sources, I feel I have pieced together a chapter that gives us a good view of how ABBA's unexpected comeback album came to be.

Read more about the contents of ABBA On Record in these blog posts. Place your order at abbaonrecord.com.

The making of ABBA's Voyage album and the contents of the Michael B. Tretow Tapes are revealed in ABBA On Record.

The making of ABBA's Voyage album and the contents of the Michael B. Tretow Tapes are revealed in ABBA On Record.