1. The World Tour 1977

2. Dancing Queen in Japan

3. Additional filming for "ABBA The Movie" in Stockholm - June 77

4. That's Me - Japan July 77

5. The videos & The Skeppsbron photo session - late summer 77

6. ABBA in the studio working with "The Album" - autumn 77

7. Annifrid meets her father

8. The Name of the Game - the single

9. Peter Christian Ulvaeus

10. ABBA The Album

11. The Swedish premiere of "ABBA The Movie"

The World Tour 1977

The new musical period in ABBA's artistic life started in March 1977 when the group embarked on their first world tour. The concerts in Australia were recorded for a possible live album. Even an idea of making a documentary from the Australian part of the tour was born. This part of the tour was filmed and used later for a full-length movie which would be called simply "ABBA The Movie".

go.to/

Awards in Hamburg, February 77

During their stay in Hamburg on 8 February, ABBA were awarded with several prizes. They received gold records for their latest album "Arrival" and the prize Gold Hammer founded by the German music paper "Pop". 

During their stay in West Germany ABBA's records were on the top of West German charts. The album "Arrival" topped the German LP chart followed by the 2LP compilation "The Very Best of ABBA - ABBA's greatest hits". The single "Money Money Money" topped the single chart at the beginning of February but in the middle of the month it lost the fight against "Sunny" performed by Boney M.

Knowing Me Knowing You - Australia

The single "Knowing Me Knowing You" b/w "Happy Hawaii" was released in Australia in February 1977 and it entered the single chart on 2 March 1977 at #24. It stayed on the chart for 11 weeks topping at #5.

More gold records

Gold records for sales in Finland.

ABBA in Sovjet Union

The 1975 album "ABBA" saw its release in Sovjet Union in 1977 (with later re-releases in 1980 and 1987). The LP featured the same track listing but completely different cover. The song titles were translated into Russian. The limited edition of the album was available for a very little group of ABBA fans in Sovjet. The group was very popular in Sovjet by that time thanks among others "ABBA The Movie" which was shown in the cinemas and Moscow and other big cities.

Dancing Queen in Japan

"Dancing Queen" was a new single released in Japan on 25 April 1977. A picture of ABBA in the "Money Money Money" outfits was chosen for the cover. "Tiger" was on the B-side. The single reached #19 on the Japanese chart where it stayed for unbelievable 55 weeks!

Funny ABBA

The ABBA caricature published in the  Easter issue of Swedish weekly "Allers" in 1977.

The annual spring party

All four members of ABBA participated in the annual Spring party at the Operakällaren-restaurant in Stockholm on April 18th, 1977. Several photos of ABBA and Ingemar Stenmark, well-known Swedish ski-racer were taken during this evening. ABBA was awarded the Golden Wasp by the newspaper "Expressen" for the TV special "ABBA Dabba Do" which had been voted by the readers as the best TV show of 1976.

Sweden was represented by the group "Forbes" in Eurovision Song Contest in London. ABBA helped with some promotion of the group by posing together with "Forbes" on the same photo during the spring party in Stockholm on 18 April 1977. The Swedes had though bad luck this year in the Eurovision Song Contest and took the last place.

The Paris Match session

French magazine "Paris Match" took several unique photos of ABBA without make-up in the spring 1977.

Arrival in Japan

The LP "Arrival" was released in Japan at the end of May 1977.

Greatest Hits including Fernando - the LP

The second edition of the Asian compilation album "Greatest Hits including Fernando" was released in 1977 in Malaysia. This version of the LP contained 14 tracks. The side 1 contains old hits released between 1973 and 1975: Waterloo, Ring Ring, Honey Honey, Mamma Mia, Nina, Pretty Ballerina, I Do I Do I Do... and SOS. The side 2 features Fernando and 6 tracks from the album "Arrival" - three chart hits: Money Money Money, Dancing Queen and Knowing Me Knowing You and three no single tracks: Why Did It Have To Be Me, Tiger and Dum Dum Diddle.

In the studio & in the office

Recording sessions for "ABBA The Album" started at the end of May. The first song recorded for the forthcoming LP was "The Name of The Game". Pictures from the recording studio were taken and published in the press all over the world.

Pictures below taken at the beginning of June 1977 at the Marcus Studio during recording sessions for "Eagle".

More recording sessions

ABBA in Stockholm

ABBA were caught by Swedish photographers in Stockholm City in the early summer 1977 in Stockholm. Several photos for were taken at several occasions.

Frida in May & June

In the middle of May Frida was one of the guests attending the premiere of the Cirkus Scott show in Stockholm. Later the same month Frida and Benny's daughter Helene were seen at the Kungliga Teatern in Stockholm. They attended the premiere of the ballet show "Ishavet". Two weeks later Frida was in Gröna Lund in Stockholm watching together with Lill-Babs and her daughters the new Lasse Berghagen show (pictures to the right).

The red car session

The photo taken someday in the summer of 1977 outside the Polar Music offices in Baldersgatan (see ABBA related places) with Frida's and Benny's car.

ABBA The Movie - additional filming

In June the group was filming additional scenes for "ABBA-The Movie" in Stockholm.

go.to/ABBA The Movie for more

The Drottningholm session (summer 1977)

An extended photo session was arranged in the summer 1977 in the park around the Drottningholm Castle outside Stockholm. A lot of pictures had been taken and lots of alternative shots from this session were published in the papers, books and magazines all over the world.

More about the "Drottningholm session"  in ABBA related.

That's Me - the single in Japan

"That's Me" was chosen as the second ABBA single in Japan with "Money Money Money" on the B-side. The single was released in July 1977 and entered the Japanese chart on July 25 reaching #75.

Polar Music was forced to make a video clip for the song very quickly. Lasse Hallström used some footage from the videos "Money Money Money" & "Knowing Me Knowing You" and mixed them with some new shots of Agnetha and Frida sitting and miming to the song.

ABBA in black - the classical photo sessions

One of the most classical ABBA photo sessions with the girls posing in the very traditional Agnetha-Frida style. These photo sessions taken in early summer 1977 showed ABBA on their absolute top visually.

Alternative shots

Agnetha & Frida - more alt shots

The "happy colours" session

The boat photo session - July 77

This session was taken in the summer of 77 in the Stockholm archipelago.

Two new videos

Two new videos "The Name Of The Game" and "Take a Chance On Me" directed by Lasse Hallström were filmed in September.

ABBA for easy piano

A new notebook saw its release in 1977 - "ABBA arranged for easy piano by Lennart Brage". It featured 8 ABBA hits: Waterloo, SOS, Fernando, I Do I Do I Do I Do I Do, Mamma Mia, Honey Honey, Money Money Money and Dancing Queen. The songs had been re-arranged by Brage who was musician and music teacher.

The "allt om mat" session

This photo session was taken in the summer 1977. One of the shots appeared on the cover of the German LP "Honey Honey" re-released in 1979.

The "box" session

The classical 1977 photo session taken during Agnetha's pregnancy in early autumn. Many pictures from this session were used on the ABBA wrapping paper which was on sale in Sweden at the beginning of 1978.

The ABBA necklace

In 1977 the Swedish company "Sporrong" started producing an ABBA necklace. Both Frida and Agnetha wore the necklace on most of the photo sessions in 1977 and 1978. The "chess" session below was one of the first ABBA photo sessions with the girls wearing the ABBA necklace.

Recording sessions for ABBA The Album

The recording sessions for a new album continued in the late summer and autumn. They were held in various studios.

The Skeppsbron photo session - late summer 1977

This session was taken in the late summer of 1977 in the heart of Stockholm in Skeppsbron Street on the Eastern side of the Old Town. (Check ABBA related places). More pictures were taken the same day in the studio (see below) and in some other locations in Stockholm.

Recording sessions - early autumn 1977

More recording sessions

Another day in the recording studio. This time Björn was shaved...

Lill-Babs show & Bond premiere - September

Benny and Frida attended the show of Lill-Babs in the beginning of September. Frida wore a big hat.

One week later the new Bond film "The spy who loved me" had its premiere in Stockholm. Frida was one of the special guests who received a Bond-car.

The Bobbs

By the time ABBA had become one of the biggest pop acts in the UK. One of the first cover albums with ABBA songs was recorded in England by the group Bobbs. The LP was entitled "Salute to ABBA" and it featured 10 songs chosen from the first four ABBA albums (from Ring Ring to Arrival). The album was a part of the "Stereo Golden Award" series celebrating the top pop artists. The recordings were maybe not the top vocal achievements but the album became a kind of acceptation of ABBA as a top pop group in England. The nice cover illustration had been painted by Rowen Smith.

Anni-Frid and her father

Anni-Frid did not know her father. She knew that he was German and his name was Alfred Haase. He disappeared from Norway in 1945 and Frida thought that he had died during the trip back to Germany at the end of the second world war in 1945. In 1977 "Bravo" published a big article about ABBA and the story of Anni-Frid's life..

The story of Anni-Frid's father was read by Andrea Buchinger, an ABBA fan, who realized that it had to be about her uncle Alfred Haase who was in Norway during the war. She called her uncle and he ... called Stockholm trying to get in touch with Anni-Frid.  

Some weeks later on September 9th, 1977 Alfred Haase came to Stockholm where he met his daughter. Haase stayed in Stockholm a couple of days but the press decided to leave them alone. Only some photos were taken during the stay by the "Bravo" photographer Wolfgang Heilemann.

The parrot session

One of the most famous photo sessions from 1977 featuring the ABBA members with parrot birds.

Two classical 1977 photo sessions

The red session

One of the most favorite 1977 photo sessions with several alternative shots.

The "chess" session

Probably one of the most famous ABBA photo sessions ever - the "chess" session, taken in the autumn of 1977 which would be used on the cover of the second single from "ABBA The Album" - "Take A Chance On Me".  This photo session has been spread out all over the world and lots of different shots have been published during the years.

The Name Of The Game - the single

The first single from the forthcoming LP was "The Name of the Game". The B-side was a big surprise for all ABBA fans as it contained a live version of "I Wonder" recorded during their Australian tour in March in Sydney. The studio version of "I Wonder" would be released on the forthcoming "ABBA The Album".

The single was released in Sweden on 17 October 1977 and it entered the Swedish chart at the beginning of November where it stayed for 18 weeks reaching #2. The single was even successful in Norway (#3), in Finland (#5) and Denmark where it was released at the same time.

The single was released in Great Britain on 22 October 1977 where it reached the top on the British chart on 5 November where it stayed there for 4 weeks. Totally "The Name Of The Game" was on the UK chart for 12 weeks.

In Germany the single entered the chart on 31 October and it stayed there for 20 weeks reaching #7, in Austria #12 and in Switzerland #6.

"The Name of The Game" was not so successful in France where it reached #12 staying on the chart only 10 - which was relatively short comparing to many other countries. It went better on the charts in Belgium and Holland where the single reached #2.

The single spent 19 weeks on the Australian chart where "The Name of the Game" reached #6 and #4 in New Zealand.

 In USA "The Name of the Game" entered the chart on 24 December 1977 and stayed there for 16 weeks reaching #12.

In January 1978 "The Name of the Game" saw its release in Mexico. The single reached #10 on the Mexican chart.

The single was released in Japan in November 1977. The cover had different layout than the European and Australian editions but the same photo shot from the "Drottningholm photo sessions" was used.

The photo for the single cover was taken from the "Drottningholm session" shot earlier the same year.

ABBA and art...

At the end of October 1977 ABBA bought an art gallery "A H Grafik" in Strandvägen in Stockholm. Björn, Benny and Frida came on the inauguration. Agnetha stayed at home because of her advanced pregnancy.

Heinz Angermayer's new studio

A well-known Swedish photographer who had even taken a lot of pictures of ABBA opened his new studio in the Old Town in the Österlånggatan Street at the beginning of November 1977. Frida & Benny represented ABBA. Even Frida's daughter Liselotte was there. Agnetha & Björn did not attend any parties during this time because of Agnetha's tougher and tougher pregnancy.

ABBA - 24 Greatest Hits - Japan

In October 1977 a double album with 24 ABBA hits was released in Japan. The album featured even the latest up-to-date hits in Japan: That's Me and Dancing Queen.

ABBA on SVT without Agnetha

At the end of November Anni-Frid, Björn and Benny were interviewed on Swedish TV in the show "Nöjesliv".  

The secret premiere of ABBA The Movie, November 1977

The film was shown in one of Stockholm's cinemas at the end of November for buyers from all over the world. Benny and Stikkan participated in this event making promotion for ABBA The Movie.

Peter Christian Ulvaeus

Björn and Agnetha's second child Peter Christian was born on 4 December 1977 at the Danderyd hospital in Stockholm. The photos were taken some days later at the hospital. These pictures were published in newpapers all over the world.

ABBA/LIVE 77

This flexi-disc was released in December 77 and distributed as a bonus to children magazines selling door to door for Christmas. It contained a medley of 5 songs recorded live in Australia. Probably still one of the rariest ABBA items in the world as these songs are still unavailable on any other ABBA issue.

The photo session

ABBA The Album was released in Sweden and other Scandinavian countries on December 12th, 1977. The Swedish and English covers were different but they featured the same painting - a collage associated to "ABBA The Movie". The official photo sessions for the album had been taken in the late summer of 1977 on the island Riddarholmen in Stockholm (go.to/ABBA related for more details).

"ABBA The Album" contained 9 songs and both sound and style of this album was totally different to the previous ABBA LPs. The songs were longer and they had more advanced melody line. The opening song "Eagle" was the longest song ever recorded by ABBA with the length of 5.51 minutes. The biggest chart hit from "The Album", "Take A Chance On Me" featuring Agnetha in lead vocals was the second track on the album and it was followed by a beautiful ballad "One Man One Woman" performed by Frida. The A-side ended with the first single promoting the LP - "The Name of The Game".

The opening track on the B-side of the album is "Move On" with Agnetha in lead and Björn in speaking preface. The rocky "Hole In Your Soul" became very popular on the World Tour 1979 when it was performed in a medley together with "Does Your Mother Know" and sung by all four members of the group. The three last songs were part of a "mini-musical" "The Girl With The Golden Hair". The first one "Thank You For The Music" became very quickly one of the ABBA classics but never a single hit even if it was released as a single in the UK 6 years later as a part of promotion of the compilation album "Thank You For The Music". The second track from the mini-musical was  "I Wonder (Departure)" beautifully sung by Frida telling a story about a girl leaving her boring and "dull" hometown and going to the big city to start a new life, just like Frida herself ten years earlier. The "live" version of the song was released on the flipside of the single "The Name of The Game". The last song on the album was "I Am A Marionette" - a great musical piece absolutely stunning performed live during their world tour in 1977. The "live" performance of this song can be seen in "ABBA The Movie".

"ABBA The Album" was released world-wide at the beginning of 1978.

ABBA The Album in the world

Great Britain

"ABBA The Album" was released by Epic in Great Britain on 13 January 1978 and it entered the UK chart on 4 February 1978 and debuted there on #1 where it stayed for 7 weeks and totally on the chart for 61 weeks. The British edition of the album featured different gatefold cover with blue background on the front, the lyrics and two photos in the middle and an extra photo on the back cover. All songs from "ABBA The Album" which were featured in "ABBA The Movie" got film symbols in the track listing.

South Africa

ABBA The Album was released in South Africa and Zimbabwe in January 1978. It featured the same cover as the Scandinavian version with some slightly changed lay-out. Copyright for these territories was owned by Breakaway Music Co Ltd in Johannesburg.

West Germany

"ABBA The Album" was released in West Germany by Polydor in January 1978. The album entered the German chart on 1 February 1978 and it stayed there for 55 weeks peaking at #2.

Netherlands

In The Netherlands "ABBA The Album" entered the chart on 7 January 1978 and stayed on it for coming 38 weeks peaking at #1.

Japan

The Album was successful in Japan where it stayed on the chart for 66 weeks peaking at #9. The LP entered the Japanese chart on 25 February 1978. The funny thing with the Japanese release is that the track lengths on the back cover were different to the other issues of the album. For instance "Eagle" 5.47 (should be 5.51), One Man One Woman 4.32 (instead of 4.25), I'm A Marionette 4.03 (instead of 3.54).

Czechoslovakia

"ABBA The Album" was released in Czechoslovakia in 1978 with different back cover by the record company "Supraphon". All song titles were translated into Czech language.

The photo session

Promotion & more

"ABBA The Album" was promoted by traditional ads in the press and notebook entitled "ABBA The Folio".

ABBA - The Movie - The Swedish premiere

On 26 December 1977 ABBA attended the Swedish premiere of their film "ABBA The Movie". The premiere took place at the China Theatre in Stockholm. The premiere was attended by 1200 people. A lot of special guests were invited and as soon as ABBA came on the red carpet a big ovation could be heard. Before the film started, Claes af Geijerstam presented the world stars on the stage. After the premiere Gudrun and Stikkan Anderson had a party in their new house, "Villa Ekarne" in Djurgården in Stockholm. The journalists were mostly very critical but Expressen gave 4 points (out of 5).

(see even ABBA related places)