Abba Gold: Greatest Hits

Product Information

Although PolyGram had made all of the original studio albums available (along with the 1986 live album which had originally been issued by Polydor worldwide), all previously released ABBA compilations had been deleted.

In 2002, Gold: Greatest Hits was released in mainland Europe (though not in the UK) with a bonus second disc. The 1992 compilation rounded up all of the Swedish pop band’s international smashes into a refined package with surprising emotional range. Erasure had released a 4 track ABBA cover EP, Abba-esque, in summer 1992 which topped charts around the world showing there was still a strong interest in ABBA's music.When Anderson’s Polar Music Group (and, consequently, ABBA’s songs and masters) were acquired by Polygram (now part of Universal Music Group) in 1989, the label had to wait for Polar’s patchwork of licensing deals to expire before devising a coherent strategy with which to approach ABBA’s library of hits.

Erlewine wrote that greatest hits have a way of “sand[ing] away the artists’ quirks,” and the same is true for Gold. A Man After Midnight)” are marked by quiet urgency: “Half-past 12/And I’m watchin’ the late show in my flat all alone/How I hate to spend the evening on my own,” Faltskog moans.Ulvaeus said of Fältskog and Lyngstad: “I was completely floored by the way they delivered those songs,” with Andersson saying: “I think hearing Frida and Agnetha singing again is hard to beat.

Having formed in 1972, at the height of their fame in the mid-1970s six out of seven singles in a row reached No 1 in the UK: Fernando, Mamma Mia, Dancing Queen, Knowing Me Knowing You, Name of the Game and Take a Chance on Me.

In 2010, the DVD was remastered with six bonus clips, including five "split-screen" versions of the clips to show which improvements were made by remastering the old videos.