Abba - In Concert 1979
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Movie Reviews of Abba - In Concert 1979
Movie Review: Worth The Price
Summary: 4 Stars
I just bought my copy of this DVD the other day and have had no problems with the sound. I was hesitant to purchase it due to the bad sound reviews, but it sounds just fine on my surround sound system. I am disappointed that some of the songs were cut short, but if you only like ABBA then you'll regret not buying this while it is available, especially at this price. I'm sure it won't be too long before it is sought after on e-bay at greatly inflated auction prices.Movie Review: ABBA (Another DVD for collectors!!!)
Summary: 4 Stars
Hi this time is for presents the new DVD for ABBA, i lock the VHS version the video is poor in this DVD version the audio and video is great, the bonus videos is the special from this ithem Thank you For The Music clip is great. In Essential this DVD is good im expected is the released ABBA-The Movie Next Year?.Movie Review: My opinion on this DVD, as their biggest fan ...
Summary: 3 Stars
I consider myself one of ABBA's biggest fans, since 1975. Australia put ABBA on the map when in that year (1975), our TV rock show "Countdown" gave considerable exposure to the video clips "SOS" and "MamaMia", before any other country had noticed them. The latter went on to be a huge No. 1 hit and ABBAmania took over Australia. This is a significant point, because in 1977 they toured Australia and Swedish film-makers followed to capture the concert and turn it into a movie titled "ABBA: The Movie". The film featured stunning concert performances of early ABBA material and their then new album "Arrival". In between this concert footage was a storyline about an Australian journalist desperate to secure an interview with the four super Swedes, which sees him following them all around Australia until he gets his wish. This movie, in my opinion, is the best way to capture the concert atomosphere of ABBA. The problem is, this movie is still unavailable on DVD. I am not even sure if it was released to the American public, but it was a No. 1 box office smash in Australia and Europe in 1978.Now, on to this new DVD release : ABBA in Concert. I read many negative reviews of this DVD, but as a true ABBA fan, wanted to make up my own mind, so purchased the DVD. This DVD is basically a documentary from 1979 featuring ABBA's tour of America and UK. Much of it has been seen before on American TV (apparently). The American concert footage is brief and consists more of backstage stuff and sightseeing trips. The UK footage is better because you get more concert footage even, although some songs are noticeably edited (eg. Chiquitita). This is because the documentary was originally made for TV and had time limitations. The total amount of songs listed is 12. To me, the best part of this DVD is the inclusion of "The Way Old Friends Do", previously unseen in Europe, Australia and America. This is part of the bonus material on the DVD, and is worth the high price tag of the DVD alone. Other bonus features include interviews with the documentary producer ... but this did not appeal to me. There is also edited footage of "Thank YOu for the Music" which is interesting because much of the concert footage for this track remains missing, so the DVD producers have done some splicing etc to give a complete finish to the song. It has been well done in my opinion, and you cannot tell that footage is missing.
Overall, the DVD overall is disappointing in my opinion. It left me wanting more, and it is too expensive for what you get. I urge American fans to purchase the VHS of "ABBA: The Movie" (until it's released on DVD). It's the best way to see incredible concert footage of this band. Plus you will experience the impact that ABBA had on Australia back in 1977 when it was filmed. As ABBA once said about their tour of Australia "we had never experienced some frenzy, such excitement".
Movie Review: Great Picture Quality/Very Poor Sound...But Still Enjoyable
Summary: 3 Stars
Most ABBA fans know this was originally filmed for Swedish televison back in 1979. At one time it was available on VHS. Bootleg copies have been traded, sold, etc. for years. Now it's finally available on DVD. As my review title states, they did a great job with the picture quality, but really screwed up badly with the sound. It's a little less noticeable in mono, but in stereo it is very irritating. It does indeed sound like someone is constantly fooling around with the volume control. The original VHS sound was fine. How they screwed up the sound and released it this way,
is beyond my comprehension. I would've given this DVD 3 1/2 stars if it wasn't for the poor sound quality. Hopefully, one day they will re-release this with the audio problem fixed.
And yes, it is not a "complete" concert. You only get about half the songs ABBA performed onstage during this tour. The first 30 minutes of the DVD in mainly a lot of behind-the-scenes type stuff with a few snippets of concert footage. It is not until the get around to their performance at Wembley do you get to the true concert footage, but as stated before, it's only about half the show.
Fans who recommend "ABBA: The Movie" over this, forget that it too also does not show a complete concert either. It also has songs cut off, and even during some of the complete songs, it often cuts away from the stage performance to the idiotic subplot of the dj trying to get and interview with ABBA.
What is so frustrating is that is that we know complete concerts of ABBA were filmed for both of these, but the extra footage is problem long gone or lost in a vast vault somewhere. I doubt if we will ever see a complete ABBA concert on DVD.
I'm just happy that what little there is of ABBA in concert is available on this DVD and ABBA - The Movie (which hopefully will be released on DVD soon). They are both enjoyable despite their flaws and are "must-haves" for any true ABBA fan.
Movie Review: A TV Production Never Meant For DVD
Summary: 3 Stars
I have have been a ABBA fan since 1974. It would be very easy for me to say great things about this long awaited DVD. When you wait so long for anything new that is available from a group that split-up 22 years ago..ANYTHING is a blessing. This DVD though is a pretty poor. To be honest, they did not have much to work with. The original footage was designed for a limited television program and was edited very tightly. The sound on the DVD is pretty bad as well. I realize that it was a live concert, but the sound was better on the original TV produced version. All the new sound enhancement did was to make the sound extremely uneven and sounding like someone is turning the volume up and down at different intervals. I am surprised that this DVD was allowed to be sold because of the awful sound quality. With all the technology availabe today ... a MUCH better job could have been done than was shown in the end result. A person could have re-worked the original sound better on their home computer with very little expertise.
The only plus to this DVD are the bonus tracks. Let us all hope that when ABBA THE MOVIE makes it out on DVD, we get a bit more attention to the sound than we got on this one. Someone really dropped the ball here.