In Japan Review

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(More customer reviews)For those of you that have seen or !gasp! purchased the bootleg version of this TV special, here's a chance to own not only a remastered version of that special, but all the little extras that come along with this (2) disc version. First off, a description of what this is...this is a TV special. They shot this for Japanese television in 1978 and what was customary then was that not all the songs are performed live. Some are lip sync. Note-this is not a live concert! They only perform for the television cameras and not a live audience. Some of the songs are clearly the recordings while others are performed with musicians behind them (Thank You For The Music) as an example.
The extras include a 'fly on the wall' documentary on the second disc, and on the first a behind the scenes of ABBA in Japan doing promotion and preparing for this TV special. It is in Japanese but english subtitles are available.
Picture quality and sound are great -the bonus track which is 'If it Wasn't For The Nights' is already in the special. The bonus is a remix of that same track
**Also note this is full screen not letterboxed. What more can I say? If you love ABBA and haven't seen this pick this up! If you have, take a look again, this remastered version plays beautifuly and worth having in your collection.
**UPDATE 11/6 - This review is for the 2 disc version, it is my understanding that there is also a 1 disc version that does not include the fly on the wall documentary which by the way is 'ABBA in Japan 1980.' That bonus documentary is a behind the scenes view of ABBA's tour of Japan in 1980. Sound quality on that is fair and includes snippets of there live performance but no complete songs. The second disc also contains a gallery of photographs set to music and a gallery of record sleeves for both LP's and 45's released in Japan.



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After the amazing success of ABBA "The Movie" comes the next ABBA Live DVD event for 2009... ABBA IN JAPAN. This special show was made for Japanese television in 1978 and comprises 15 hit songs including special bonus track "If It Wasn't For The Nights" performed by ABBA. Extras include 2 exclusive behind-the-scenes documentaries with TV performances and interviews with press and radio. The content is based on their 10-day visits to Japan in 1978 and 1980.

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ABBA The Movie (2006) Review

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(More customer reviews)After a couple of false starts, the most anticipated DVD for all ABBA fans is about to be released.
ABBA the Movie was filmed in 1977 in Australia during the band's tremendously successful tour of that continent. In 1976 ABBA dominated the Australian charts like no other act has done before or since, so when the band decided to stage its first world tour the following year, Australia was one of the (very few) destinations.
The movie is basically a documentary following the band as they perform and thrill Australian audiences of all ages, from Sydney all the way to Perth. The majority of the footage consists of the band performing most of its early classics in front of thousands of ecstatic fans. We also get some backstage shots and a thin storyline that runs throughout the movie, about a radio DJ who is trying to get an exclusive interview with the band. Thankfully, the scenes involving the reporter are short and don't interfere with the real show, ABBA's performance.
From the very beginning, when the band arrives at Sydney's airport, you get the sense that ABBAmania has swept Australia. The view of so many screaming fans lining up the streets all the way into the city is just breathtaking. You will have to look back to old footage of the Beatles arriving in the US to see anything comparable.
One of the early scenes, a the press conference, the band gets to answer the standard questions, and we learn nothing new other than the fact that Agnetha speaks English with a heavy (sexy) Swedish accent, an accent that is much stronger than it sounds on the records.
If you are looking for some insights about the band and their private lives away from the spotlight, you won't find it here. We do see the band in a Sydney hotel, after the first performance, as they review the press and tabloids. Frida wonders out loud what does "kinky" mean and Agnetha, tired of reading about her famous behind (which is far more impressive than J-Lo's) she says "Don't they have bottoms in Australia?"
And that's it, that's all you get as far as "behind the scenes" or anything "intimate and personal". This is definitely not "Truth or Dare".
Thankfully the concert footage is excellent and will serve as a lasting reminder of how great ABBA is. There are no special effects, no million-dollar stage sets, no cheap shock tricks like today's artists who try to impress the audience with technology rather than their performance.
The movie was directed by Lasse Hallstrom who also directed most of the band's videos and who eventually became a successful Oscar nominated director for films like "The Cider House Rules" and "What's eating Gilbert Grape" among others.
As far as the songs, we get most of ABBA hits from 1973 to 1977 as well as a couple of songs from ABBA the Album (the movie was intended to support that album - note the similarities in the titles).
Some of the songs performed throughout the movie are:
Tiger
SOS (Agnetha gives her best performance during this segment)
He is your brother
Waterloo
Intermezzo #1
I've been waiting for you
Mamma Mia (the chopsticks ending)
Money Money Money (watch for Agnetha's famous asset as it is in full display here)
So long
Rock me
Why did it have to be me? (Frida's turn to shine, as she duets with Bjorn)
When I kissed the teacher
Get on the carousel (Unreleased song, part of the "Girl with the Golden hair" mini musical)
I'm a marionette (Different from the album version, with a very energetic performance by Agnetha and Frida)
Dancing queen (complete with a full orchestra)
Fernando (great scene with the audience singing along at the end)
Thank you for the music
From ABBA The Album we get a couple of "Video-like" performances - "Eagle" in an elevator scene as the storyline wraps up, and "The name of the game" in a dream sequence. Also, "Hole in your Soul" can be heard briefly during the opening credits.
Unfortunately the movie fails to present a complete record of the 1977 shows. During this tour the band performed a "mini musical" called "The girl with the golden hair". Three of the four songs from the musical are on ABBA the Album, but the complete presentation (with the narrator and choir) can only be heard on bootlegged cassette tapes. "Thank you for the music" and "I'm a marionette" are not shown within the context of the musical and the fact that Agnetha and Frida are in identical outfits and blonde wigs is never explained (they are supposed to be the same character, the girl from the title of the musical). The narration between the musical's songs is cut down to just a 10 second introduction of "I'm a marionette" (which sounds completely different and more energetic than the album version). Worst of all, the one song from the musical that never made it to any ABBA records, the brilliant "Get on the carousel", is cut in half for some interview montages.
It would have been great to include the entire four song musical as it was presented back then, even if the backing chorus sings such clichés as "She is a star shining, shining" between the songs. And since we can't get "Get on the carousel" on any ABBA CD, why not present the song in its entirety rather than chopped up. The song has been a fan fave for years and requests to have it released officially on a CD got nowhere. One more song from the musical (the only one not in the movie), the brilliant ballad "I wonder" was recorded live during these shows and ended up as a b-side to "The name of the game". Why wasn't this song included in the movie?
Also not included, the introductory song "I am an A" where each band member gets to introduce themselves to the audience. Again, the song was never released officially so including it as part of the film would have been a great bonus especially since it is part of this historic tour.
For ABBA fans who have been waiting for years for this DVD release a few added features would have been welcome, especially any additional concert footage, the inclusion of the entire "Girl with the golden hair" mini musical and the impossible to find "I am an A".
Overall though, the movie is thoroughly enjoyable and a MUST for any ABBA fan. The concert scenes are brilliant and capture the band at the height of its popularity. Even Agnetha seems to be happy when she is on stage (contrary to her recent interview) and both her voice and Frida's voice sound amazing - there is no lip-syncing here, unlike most of today's pop stars. Most of the songs stay true to the studio versions, with some notable exceptions like "I'm a marionette".
Great movie, great performances by the world's best pop band EVER, but a few added scenes and some additional performances would have made this an even better DVD than it already is.
The DVD's release will coincide with the release of Madonna's new single that heavily samples ABBA's "Gimme Gimme Gimme", a fact that proves yet again that ABBA's music is timeless.
One last comment: Rock & roll hall of fame - WAKE UP.

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Item Name: ABBA The Movie; Studio:Polydor / Umgd

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Chess in Concert (2009) Review

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(More customer reviews)Four items make this a must-have. The first is Josh Groban singing the classic "Anthem", where, as the Russian chess champion, Anatoly, he avows his love for his homeland. As Anatoly's discarded wife, Svetlana, the amazing Kerry Ellis totally nails "Someone Else's Story." There's "The Story of Chess", where the Chorus perform Tim Rice's witty take on the evolution of the game. Finally, the Quartet, where Florence (Idina Menzel), Anatoly, his minder Molokov and the Arbiter deplore how chess has sunk from "a model of decorum and tranquillity" to "a battleground for rival ideologies to slug it out with glee."
Having seen the original London West End production in 1986 with Elaine Paige, I was lucky enough to witness this superb 21st Anniversary production in the Royal Albert Hall, London, last year. Tim Rice has tightened up the plot of love and betrayal played out in the setting of chess championships in the Cold War. Florence, who manages the American champion, falls for the Russian; complications - political, ethical, personal - ensue. From the moment the outstanding Chorus bursts into "Merano" - blending chess with commercialism as a tiny Central European town prepares to welcome the world - right to the devastating "Endgame" and final twist, the dramatic pace never lets up.
In this DVD, hopefully the sound difficulties of this production will have been ironed out. As to the cast - they were fantastic!! Groban is a revelation: a brilliant actor as well as singer. Kerry Ellis was a showstopper. As Florence, Idina Menzel, (so good in Wicked (2003 Original Broadway Cast), was too strident for my taste, lacking subtlety and roundness in acting. ("Heaven Help My Heart" doesn't register, and "Nobody's Side" pales away.) However, her "You and I" with Groban still tugs the heartstrings: "we go on pretending / Stories like ours Have happy endings."
The wonderful David Bedella (Jerry Springer: the Opera), makes a great, sinister Molokov. And Adam Pascal gives his charismatic ALL as Freddy, the tormented American bearing luggage from the past: "Pity the Child." Marti Pellow (of pop group Wet Wet Wet) was a disappointment as the Arbiter, a little under-performed I felt.
Rice's lyrics are trenchant, tender, intelligent, witty. The music, by Benny and Bjorn of ABBA, is a perfect rock score, conveying all the emotions and tensions necessary and fully matching the lyrics.
In the main, this is a superb production of a classic and underestimated musical.

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Starring multiplatinum artist Josh Groban, Tony-winning Idina Menzel (Wicked) and Tony nominated Adam Pascal (RENT), Chess In Concert revives the eclectic yet wonderfully pop 1984 concept album featuring the music of ABBA's Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson and lyrics of Tim Rice (Jesus Christ Superstar, The Lion King, Evita). Recorded at London's Royal Albert Hall in May 2008, this spectacular Chess In Concert - introduced by Rice and with the 50- piece City of London Philharmonic and 100-voice West End Chorus - finally fulfills the promise of the popular cult musical.

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Abba - In Concert 1979 Review

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(More customer reviews)Hey, fellow ABBA fans, let's relax a little bit! You're being WAY too hard on this DVD. Remember it's a 25 year old DOCUMENTARY, not a concert, and it was shot by a network that didn't religiously archive the footage because nobody at the time expected people 25 years later to care! There's plenty of full length numbers, and they rip! Having been lucky enough to have seen ABBA at the Music Hall in Boston during this tour (as did most of Aerosmith, the Cars and the J. Giels Band down in the front rows), I'm delighted now to own this DVD because it proves a point I've long tried to make to my sceptical friends. ABBA WERE UNDENIABLY A GREAT, GREAT LIVE ACT.
I've been professionally involved in the concert business for three decades, I've seen everyone pretty much, and though my personal tastes run more towards The Beatles, The Cramps and Garbage, I rank ABBA as one of the best live bands I've EVER seen on a stage. The vocals were spot on, the band rocked and were very tight, the energy level was through the roof. The group, especially Frida and Agnetha, were very lively, generous and vivacious with the audience, and the songs were just great. Frankly, it was an incredible, indescribable rush to see them live, especially if you'd waited five years for it.
For ages ABBA have been a guilty pleasure for those of us supposedly hip rockers, but unless you're a frigid snob you'll have to admit upon viewing this show that ABBA weren't a corny plastic disco machine - they absolutely delivered the goods. A totally legitimate act with nothing to apologize for. What's also great is that ABBA were based not just on unforgettable hook-laden songs and astounding voices, but there was a genuinely warm and mature sexuality exuding from that stage. Agnetha and Frida were women, not little girls. There bodies may not have been perfect (J-LO fans, you'll see a startling similarity between she and Agnetha in a certain way) but their talent and their sensuality knocks Britney's lip synced teasing schoolgirl trip right off the stage. ABBA actually sang every note live, mistakes and all - what a concept.
As to the extras, "Thank You For The Music" is probably my least favorite ABBA song, but on this disc Agnetha is just incredible, she nails it. Frida was the darker, more european side of things, handling more mature themes, and my fave, but if God ever put a more attractive woman on a stage than Agnetha in this film, I've never seen her. As to the sound complaints, if you run the disc through a good amplifier and speaker system there's no problem, if not some of the bottom is admittedly missing. But on the plus side the clarity of the vocals is astonishing, and within the instrumentation lots of little surprises I'd never heard.
Visually it's incredible - you can count eyelashes and pores, and the color is rich and true. So c'mon - lighten up everyone - a very well directed documentary, a very well edited piece of history at a pretty low price. It's a great disc of a truly brilliant band. Let's be happy for a very nice little gift to us all.

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Item Name: Abba - In Concert 1979; Studio:Polydor / Umgd

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Bao on Tour Review

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(More customer reviews)With his wonderful "track record" Benny Andersson has nothing left to proove. He just does what pleases him most, which, thankfully, seems to be playing with his "Orkester". And it shows. Of all music and all recordings I can think of, nothing displays the pure joy of playing music more than this live record from the BAO summer tour of 2005.
It is really a shame I did not know about BAO's tour, since I live only 100 km from Örebro where most of this CD was recorded.
PS: Sheets of music for many of the songs are available for downloading from from the web site of Bennys company Monomusic.

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This Album features Two Exclusive Tracks that Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus (Abba) have Written Together!

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