From "Abba" to "Mamma Mia!"

SHIPS FAST FROM CANADA. With over 500 photographs (most never previously published) taken by the band's official photographer and close friend Anders Hanser, and text by longtime band associate Carl Magnus Palm, those craving background dirt on the phenomenon that was once Sweden's biggest export should probably look elsewhere--as the title says, FROM ABBA TO MAMMA MIA! is decidedly an official, band-authorized biography. The emphasis here is therefore on the positive, from the band's post-Eurovision Song Contest success to some of its members' later, post-breakup Broadway triumphs. But, despite the lack of scuttlebutt, Hanser's sumptuously glossy pictures, in combination with Palm's detailed breakdown of the circumstances behind many of ABBA's finest moments, add up to a finely-tooled artifact for band completists and new fans alike. BOOK VERY HEAVY.