Carl Magnus Palm is regarded as the world’s leading authority on ABBA.
The Swedish author has spent the past three decades researching and writing about ABBA, co-producing acclaimed television programmes on the pop group, participating in the reissuing of the band’s music on CD and DVD, and contributing to Stockholm’s ABBA — The Museum.
In 2001, he released the first true, full-scale biography ever written about the group, Bright Lights Dark Shadows – The Real Story Of ABBA, which amassed rave reviews worldwide and brought Palm much acclaim.
Now, more than two decades after its initial release, a new updated and revised edition of the book has been published.
I caught up with Palm in Stockholm recently, and asked him what led to his decision to publish an updated version of his book.
“As Bright Lights Dark Shadows is the only major ABBA biography out there, regularly used by researchers for newspaper and magazine stories, television documentaries and such, it’s very important that it’s accurate and up to date,” he says.
“The book was first published in 2001 and the most recent edition was in 2014, so it was high time to revise and update the book again.
“So many new stories from the ABBA years have emerged and so much has happened since 2014, not least ABBA’s spectacular reunion with the Voyage album and digital avatar show.”
With each passing year, interest in ABBA’s music continues to grow, something Palm believes is due largely to the very melodies that underscore much of ABBA’s music.
“My main theory is that although you get lots of great things from the artists of today, you don’t get melodies in the same way that ABBA would provide,” he says.
“And hearing melodies is a human need, going back hundreds if not thousands of years, so if the ‘bards’ of the 21st century won’t give you strong tunes, then we have to go back to 1970s music to get them.”
Australia was pivotal to ABBA’s success story in the mid-1970s, and one wonders if not for the mass popularity of ABBA in Australia, would ABBA’s trajectory to worldwide commercial success not have reached the heights it did?
“ABBA were very successful in continental Europe even before the mind-blowing success in Australia happened, but I think your country showed record companies in other countries exactly how big ABBA could be if they only received the right support,” he says.
“So, yes, Australia was very important, and your almost insane Abbamania is a major part of the ABBA story.”
Finally, I asked Palm, if push came to shove, what one song from ABBA’s musical catalogue would he choose that defined the band.
“The Winner Takes It All is the one I keep returning to,” he says.
“It’s got everything: the tune is quite simple, if you think about it, yet through variations in the arrangement and in the lyrics, it feels like something new is happening throughout the song.
“That’s a recipe for perfect pop.
“And Agnetha’s lead vocal is incredible — the whole package is so emotionally affecting.”
For further info go to carlmagnuspalm.com
The view from here
Having just returned from my UK and Sweden tour, I am now able to reflect on the past few weeks.
Touring is an integral part of being a musician, but it’s no glamorous life — it’s one of the hardest tasks one can do.
Yet, it’s also one of the most rewarding in one’s musical life, with the benefits felt in one’s personal life too.
To get up on stage, in another country, and perform to an appreciative audience; there are no words to describe the feeling.
It’s beyond words, really.
While much of the time was spent travelling and waiting for a flight, waiting for a train, waiting to go onstage, rehearsing and preparing, those brief hours on stage were, and are always, worth the tedious whiling away of the hours.
An interesting aspect to touring outside Australia too, is seeing how audiences compare to the ones back home.
I have found English, European and Scandinavian audiences whole-heartedly welcoming and open to all styles of music, something that I have personally found to be lacking in Australian audiences.
Also, touring overseas brings a fresh perspective on things.
One goes outside their own familiar environs, and thus those new experiences inform the creative side of making music and the way one approaches it, while at the same time, deepening one’s appreciation for music of all styles and cultures.
In other words, it shapes a musician into one that is well rounded and open-minded to ideas that may not come from the usual sources of inspiration.
So, I’ve come home with a richer musical vocabulary, a deepened appreciation of music and a gratitude for having had the opportunity to work with a calibre of musicians who shared a common work ethic and musical outlook.
As the ancient Greek philosopher Plato once wrote, “music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and leads to all that is good and just and beautiful”.
Music news
Just in time for Christmas this year, a 40th anniversary version of Band-Aid’s charity single Do They Know It’s Christmas? will be released.
Famed producer Trevor Horn put together a special mix of the song that cleverly combines star-studded vocals from three previous versions of the song from 1984, 2004 and 2014.
Released later this month to streaming platform Disney+, is Beatles 64, a Martin Scorsese-produced film that documents The Beatles’ arrival in the USA 60 years ago.
And while on the subject of The Beatles, the 50th anniversary editions of George Harrison’s Living in the Material World, the highly praised second solo album of original music following The Beatles’ 1970 dissolution, is released this week.
Songs of a Lost World, the new album by goth-rockers The Cure, is this week’s best-selling album in the USA, based on physical sales alone.
Californian punk dynamos Pennywise and Swedish punk rock trailblazers Millencolin will embark on a co-headlining tour of Australia in February and March 2025, with the tour to include both metro and regional shows.
Fun fact
Inspiration can come from anywhere, as famed Italian composer Gioachino Rossini affirmed.
In 1813 while waiting for his risotto to cook one day in Venice, he composed the aria (a melody sung by a single voice) titled Di Tanti Palpiti for his Tancredi opera. The aria is usually referred to as the “rice aria”.
Joe Matera is a local singer-songwriter, recording artist, guitarist and music journalist providing readers with all the latest music news.