ABBA blog

Because my forthcoming book ABBA On Record (abbaonrecord.com) has been delayed so many times - for which I apologise once again - I don't like to announce a publication date until I have something solid to say. However, my designer Maria Nicholas and I are pretty much on track with the book, although unforeseen complications turn up every now and then to throw a spanner in the works. At the moment, it looks like we will be able to deliver the files to the printer in mid-January, which means the book will be ready for shipping in the first half of March. But please don't hold me to the specifics of those date estimates - at this stage there's no sense in rushing anything, so there might be a slight delay, although I really don't hope so. I will keep you posted, and all the up-to-date details about the production and delivery of the book are available on the Basic Facts page.

Now, I would imagine many of you are wondering about the images included in the book. Similar to ABBA - The Complete Recording Sessions, this is a text-driven book, and it is not littered with pictures, but I'm happy to say that we've managed to include quite a few images anyway. For instance, 1976 was a very important year in ABBA's career as this was when they truly became superstars and made a number of high-profile promotional trips. This prompted us to splash out a bit and include representative images from the visits to America, Poland and the UK, along with one or two vintage ads.

The book features detailed stories about the album sleeve designs, so, in addition to showing the back and front of the album sleeves and the inner sleeves, we've tried to include one or two alternate images from the sleeve photo sessions. For example, I'm pleased to report that I have located a previously unpublished photo from the sessions for 1975's ABBA album sleeve. It's not taken in the exact environments seen on the front and back of the sleeve, but very close to one of those places on the same day.

Another example of a photo I was excited to get my hands on hails from the famous promotion stunt of a team from Epic Records in the UK, who promoted I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, dressed as a wedding party. I've interviewed all of them for the book, so it's cool to be able to show a good-quality picture from that occasion. The chapter about The Michael B. Tretow Tapes also features a few images that haven't been printed in too many books or magazines.

As we're sprinting to get the book finished and delivered to the printers, I am happy to say that to me, the book looks really good: Maria Nicholas certainly knows how to design a story-heavy book so that it invites you to start reading it.

Pre-order your copy at abbaonrecord.com.