The titles of hits compilations always deal in superlatives: "Greatest," "Best," "Very Best" -- but the compilers of this
ABBA
collection have a special problem justifying the release of yet another such album after the multi-platinum success of 1992's
ABBA Gold: Greatest Hits
and its 1993 follow-up,
More ABBA Gold: More ABBA Hits
. (Indeed, the band was never shy about repackaging, issuing a
Greatest Hits
LP in 1976 as only its third U.S. album, followed by
Greatest Hits, Vol. 2
in 1979 and
The Singles [The First Ten Years]
in 1982.) They have settled on
The Definitive Collection
and done their best to live up to the name. The 37-track double CD contains "for the first time exclusively collected in one package, each and every single as conceived and released by
and their record company
Polar Music
between 1972 and 1982," writes annotator
Carl Magnus Palm
. That accounts for 30 tracks, with another five consisting of songs individual countries released as singles, notably
"When All Is Said and Done"
and
"The Visitors,"
which
Atlantic
in the U.S. put out for chart entries. The remaining two tracks are a single remix of
"Ring Ring,"
being given its first American release, and an extended dance remix of
"Voulez-Vous,"
not previously released commercially. The remastered sound is excellent, and the nearly chronological order of the sequencing allows an appreciation of the band's development from light
Europop
to a
disco
-influenced sound and onto a more energetic,
new wave
-influenced approach, all with compelling melodies and dense arrangements in a
Phil Spector
Wall of Sound production style.
Palm
's informative liner notes tell the
story single by single. (Who knew that
"The Visitors"
is about "the fears of dissidents in the Soviet Union"?) If this doesn't satisfy you, go ahead and buy the group's entire catalog. ~ William Ruhlmann