If ABBA's early efforts look a little primitive compared to big-budget modern music promos, the songs themselves now sound even better than ever, having been digitally re-mastered in 24-bit format. As well as featuring the digitally re-mastered promos for the majority of their single releases, exclusive previously unreleased material is also incorporated here, such as the extended original mix of "On and On and On".

On the DVD: ABBA--The Definitive Collection on DVD squeezes in all 30 videos, plus five bonus tracks which include the promos for the Spanish-language versions of "I Have a Dream", "Happy New Year" and "When All is Said and Done". The video for the never released "When I Kissed the Teacher" is also included, too, as is a camp recording of "Dancing Queen" filmed at a gala tribute for Sweden's King and Queen. The 20-minute picture gallery is an excellent and comprehensive photographic record of the group through the years. Background information about all of the material, is discussed in the accompanying biographical booklet.--John Galilee

This band were the first to take the promo video and use it as the primary method of showcasing their songs to the world. Other bands might have released classic video promos before them, most noticeably The Beatles with those weird videos for 'Strawberry Fields' and 'Penny Lane' among others dating back to the mid to late 1960s. But it was Abba who made this artform the norm. They didn't perform their new single on 'Top Of The Pops'. They just produced a marvellous video. And this was before MTV was even invented.

Their videos are not very sophisticated, by modern standards anyway. They were simple. But What An Impact they had at the time. And 30 years later they are even more irresistable. For several reasons. Their '70s clothing is obviously a highlight, and not as dated as you might think with massively flared trousers now returning triumphantly to the fashion parade. But fashion aside, these videos perfectly capture the glorious age which was the 1970s. When Abba were the biggest band in the world, when Bjorn Borg was Wimbledon champion for more than 300 consecutive weeks and Sweden could make a decent claim to be about the most important country on the Planet!

These collection of videos, especially on DVD with the related upgrade in sound quality are marvellously uplifting, almost without exception. Highlights are way too numerous to mention but if you need a few then quite apart from the all the hit singles on display here, we have superb promos for lesser known gems such as 'When I Kissed The Teacher' (Hilarious), 'Happy New Year' (Tear Jerking), and 'Eagle' (Serene). And even the lesser hits have such a charm and happiness about them: 'Bang A Boomerang' (1974) with Bjorn smiling wonderfully like a chesire cat throughout, 'I Do I Do I Do I Do I Do' (1975) with Bjorn and Benny on saxophone, and 'Head Over Heels' (1981) with Bjorn out shopping for clothes with Frida and Bored Out Of His Mind. I can relate to that!

And of the monster hits, perhaps the greatest videos are 'Knowing Me You Knowing You' (who can forget those heartbreaking farewells in the snow??), 'The Winner Takes It All' which is about as heartbreaking a record and video as that from Anyone. Then there is 'Chiquititta' with Frida almost cracking up with hysterics as the fake wind of that snowman landscape constantly blew her hair across her face! And the video for 'Name Of The Game' is so perfect, and heartfelt.

And if I haven't mentioned some it is simply because there are so many class videos here that it is difficult to fathom. 'One Of Us' is heartbreaking. 'The Day Before You Came' is a latter day Abba classic, with a video to match it, well ahead of its time. The final scene of their last single and video 'Under Attack' (1982) with the four of them walking out of that dark warehouse into a bright light is incredibly moving. And Sad.

The bonus tracks include a wonderful Spanish video for 'I Have a Dream'. Or whatever that is in Spanish. Never recorded in English, but I'll take the Spanish version and cherish it.

If you are an Abba fan and you (and your friends) need cheering up ever in this sometimes stressful and complicated world then there is No Better DVD out there. This band brought and bring such happiness to the world that it is about time it was officially recognised. Thank You! :-)


A full collection of ABBA videos   June 11, 2004
 31 out of 31 found this review helpful

This DVD is made with ABBA fans in thought. It contains "almost" every video ABBA ever made, but it does not contain some excellent ABBA TV appearances that sometimes look much better than the videos. It also contains their hastily made Spanish videos and their (not intentionally) funny performance of Dancing Queen for the Swedish, well, Queen. Also you can view the excellent slide show while the music keeps playing. For the "surprise of the DVD" part you can fall of your chair while hearing the extra verse in mono quality of On&On&On which is quite a treat.
This DVD is really excellent and a must. I owned Gold and More Gold on VHS but some videos were ruined with changed intros and stuff like that. I give this 5 stars, but i truly hope one day we'll have the TV appearances on DVD and solo videos of Frida & Agnetha (there are some funy videos like I Won't Let You Go). There is simply more DVDs that we would buy and I guess this marks a good start because I remember that it took forever to release first ABBA DVDs.
Anyhow, a great, great buy! Excellent quality, many videos and a picture gallery with a modest booklet. 9/10 if you will.


Abba...EXTRAORDINARY!!!   May 13, 2004
 5 out of 6 found this review helpful

Well, I'm an italian girl and here in Italy I couldn't find anything about ABBA. When I found this site I was enthusiastic because here I could finally find something about them, but I didn't expected to find so much!
This dvd contains almost every video that ABBA made. They are simply fantastic! If you already have the Dvd gold, you have to buy also this one: it contains many more videos.
There are 30 videos of their most famous songs, like, for example, chiquitita, dancing queen and waterloo, but also of less known songs, as
Bang-a-boomerang (That is fantastic!) and
Head over heels (you do have to see this one!!)

There are also 3 bonus tracks of three songs that they sang in Spanish, that are:
Estoy sonando (I have a dream),
Felicidad (Happy new year) and
No hay quien culpar (When all is said and done).

There is also the video of "When I kissed the teacher" and a video of "Dancing queen" that they sang at the Royal Swedish Opera.


ABBA Profiled   April 23, 2004
 16 out of 16 found this review helpful

With thirty-five videos to view on one disc, this truly is the ultimateABBA collection. Although music videos were progressive in the seventies,these still look very dated. Most are just poor lip-synching with badsets, but that's okay. ABBA was about the music more than anything and thequality of the sound is fantastic. The video that truly stands out is,"The Day Before You Came". The song has always been under-rated and itseems like a lot of thought was put into this filming.
It's too bad this is not available on DTS Surround Sound, but maybe in thefuture it will be available on that and SACD! To top it all off, theprofiling against face-on head shots is hilarious. You know they had funwith those. In the end, however, it is all about what four Swedesaccomplished in a very short period of time. ABBA made a huge mark on theworld of music and this is a great way to celebrate it.


OOOOH YES!   January 11, 2004
 4 out of 4 found this review helpful

This is so totally brilliant! I wasn't born when ABBA were famous, and all I had was a couple of compilations for a birthday and then Xmas two years ago. Now I've got everything they did, and this is the icing on the cake! My favourite track (That's Me) is here as well even though it wasn't ever a single, so how happy am I? AND The Day Before You Came is on as well, which I love but hadn't EVER seen. There's maybe one or two things that are a bit odd, like only a Spanish version of I Have A Dream, no Hey Hey Helen at all and no Lay All Your Love On Me, but that's okay as long as they get released some time soon! The vidoes of other songs that aren't so well known like Eagle and When All Is Said And Done, Happy New Year and Under Attack were great to see.
I liked Eagle most of all. It ties in so well with my favourite book which any ABBA fan HAS to buy!!!! The Odessa Stone is brilliant, and Linda (it's her story) is a devoted ABBA fan. And all through the story there's ABBA quotes and all kinds of obscure references which most people wouldn't even know were there. The website says there's an official number, and I managed 36. Anyway, it made my ABBA songs more personal to me, and I made my own souindtrack to go with the story!
Buy them both and have some fun.