A case of wasted potential, but still interesting
Rich | 09/22/2008
(3 out of 5 stars)
"Though enjoyable, this could have been so much better with one childishly simple change: turn down the background music! When the disk started, I was immediately pleased by the infectious opening track, a disco instrumental (synth hand claps, high-hat cymbals, and all) which, I assume, is pulled from the mix of an ABBA tune unfamiliar to me. At the very least, it's ABBA-esque, perhaps like a component part of Dancing Queen. Perfect. A minute into the interview I found it curious that the music was still playing (albeit at a lower level), and assumed surely it would fade out soon! But ten minutes in, I realized this loop -- maybe a minute long -- wasn't going away, and from that point on became increasingly annoying. It's very distracting to someone like me who really gets pulled into music (especially a catchy track with such a pronounced beat) while at the same time wanting to focus on the spoken content! Worse, it's way too forward in the mix; almost at the level of the speaking voices. And the repetition could be maddening to some, given that this loop goes on for half an hour.
But peeling my mind away from that tune, which will be burned into my brain for hours, let me say that the spoken content was interesting; even more so on second play. The performers are all here, and they speak of meeting one another, and of touring... of writing (including who wrote the lyrics and the music)... of favorite musicians... and of how they influenced and were influenced by some of the music and music-business trends of the day. Music videos having become popular only later, Benny (or is it Bjorn? -- I can't tell!) laughingly says he thinks they started the whole thing, out of "laziness" over touring the world. They speak of the name -- it could have been BAAB -- and of their wild success all over the world... other than in their native Sweden, where they had "only" three platinum albums. Yet they'd each been known there individually before BAAB... I mean ABBA.
The Beatles come to mind numerous times, partly because Bjorn (or is it Benny?!) makes repeated reference to them. John & Paul, they point out, were among the first acts to write their own music, and this seems to have inspired Benny & Bjorn to follow suit. At another point one of the girls (Frida, I think) recounts the excitement of arriving at an airport packed with fans and being surprised it was all for them, not the president, a story reminiscent of the Fab Four's arrival in America. But I also can't help notice that Benny (or...) sounds a bit like George Harrison.
Agnetha, not surprisingly but unfortunately, doesn't seem to speak much; Frida and *the other guy* only slightly more. (Identifying each voice is much trickier than I expected since I'd never heard them speak before, and they only introduce themselves briefly! The guys are the worst. Sometimes they sound very different; other times alike. Are these guys playing a trick on us? Is it the whole Beatles Walrus thing all over again?) At any rate, the voices are interspersed enough for variety. Agnetha -- who varies the pronounciation of her name Ani-ta, Anyeta, and once just Ana -- has a soft and sexy voice, as does Frida. (I'll defer to someone else to characterize the mens' voices in that regard.) What can I say; I'm a sucker for an accent. The softness is almost at odds with expectations, belying both ladies' powerful singing voices. The girls' sound, by the way, is rightly credited as being a big factor in the group's sound and popularity, and it's pointed out that the group spent a lot of time working on harmonies (which clearly paid off).
The disk title is a bit misleading, though I'm hard-pressed to come up with a better one. An interview suggests a question-answer format, but no voices are heard asking questions; just the four performers. This is more of an audio pastiche; a collection of *answers* from multiple interviews (and perhaps other sources). It's both a benefit and a handicap, the benefit being 100% concentrated ABBA with no ADDI-tives. But without questions to guide the listener, and with the phonically-seamless editing found here, the topics seem to jump around haphazardly, without warning, with no chronological order, and with some minor repetition. Though we heard twice, for example, about the introduction of Waterloo at the Eurovision Song Contest, and that Benny is a Beach Boys fan, I have yet to figure out who it was who told him, in his formative years, that someday he and Bjorn would have a worldwide hit. Benny considers this mystery man a mentor. Since I replayed it several times, I suspect this confusion speaks more to an editing mishap than to my lack of focus.
Even without words this jumping around would sometimes be apparent in the changing acoustics, as interviews evidently moved from place to place (with birds even audible one or more times) and likely with different microphones. And the ever-present audio loop does nothing to help one focus, making the flow of subjects even more disorienting. None of this is to say the speaking sound is *bad* -- not at all -- just that it's needlessly obscured by the music. (I can't help but notice it's almost poetically fitting -- for a group who broke up decades ago but whose music is perhaps almost as popular as ever -- that the performers are somewhat hidden behind the music.)
From before Waterloo to their decision, in 1982, to "take a break," a good bit of the history of the 70s most commercially successful pop band is covered in a short time. The group seems to be having a pleasant, if not thrilling, time, and for superstars, seem very grounded and likeable. There are a few laughs -- such as when Frida, during one take of a promo recording, introduces herself as Bjorn -- and some genuinely interesting moments, if you can follow along through the din. (A video interview would have been helpful, here, as well as more fun.) More than a few times I found myself wandering in and out of the topics being discussed, my focus being pulled away by the incessant dance track. Potential buyers would do well to click the Amazon link that allows you to listen to samples. The sample currently selected -- indeed, any possible sample! -- contains that loop, which I found was much more evident on big speakers with good bass. On the plus side, the music was a little less distracting on second listen.
Too bad this couldn't have been a video interview. But overall a pleasant and mildly interesting package that could have been much better, still. Certainly worth a few bucks."
