Last Wednesday I came home from work in a bad mood, flipped open the laptop, and read a line in the news feed that I have been waiting to hear since 1982: "Swedish Pop Group ABBA To Reunite." Then I fell to my knees and wept with joy.
Seriously, though, this has been a long time coming. And I do not exaggerate when I say that it has been my habit to follow ABBA news closely online, with the hope that perhaps one day they would get back together. It has been a long road. On August 20, 1982, Agnetha Faltskog (the blond woman) laid down the vocal tracks for what would be the group's last recording for three-and-a-half decades, a song called "The Day Before You Came." There was never an official announcement of a breakup, which initially led to speculation that a new album was in the offing, but as the '80s rolled into the '90s this started to look more and more like a pipe dream. In the early '90s ABBA had a revival with the Broadway musical Mamma Mia! and the release of the ABBA Gold collection, and for a while there was talk of a reunion, but it came to naught. Most of the group would probably have been on board, but Agnetha was not interested and made a point of saying so whenever she was interviewed.
And so it went for years. 2014 was viewed by many ABBA fans as the last, best chance for a reunion, being the 40th anniversary of ABBA's winning the Eurovision Song Contest and launching their career into the stratosphere. But still the members balked. Then, suddenly, Agnetha's tone began to change. Now in interviews she was saying that a reunion might be fun, and that she would be interested in taking part if it were to come up. Glory of glories!
And then, earlier this year, all four members appeared on stage and performed together for the first time in 34 years. It was at a private function in Stockholm and had not been something scheduled ahead of time. The crowd went crazy. Shortly thereafter the group began talking to British music impresario Simon Fuller, creator of American Idol, about a possible reunion. And here we are.
Full details of the project have yet to be released. But right now the plan is for new music and a "virtual experience" unlike anything previously seen. This is entirely consistent with the group's history. ABBA have always been pioneers. They were the first group to record digitally, and invented many of the techniques of modern pop-music recording. They were also one of the first groups to embrace music videos, long before MTV was a thing. I can't wait to see — and hear — what they come up with. Release date is set for 2018.
More to come...
