THANK YOU FOR THE MUSIC contains 3 discs of previously released material and a fourth disc of demos and live recordings.

ABBA: Bjorn Ulvaeus (vocals, guitar); Benny Andersson (vocals, keyboards); Anni-Frid Lingstad, Agnetha Falksog (vocals).

Additional personnel includes: Lasse Wellander, Finn Sjober, Janne Schaffer, Michael Arkelew (guitar); Raphael Ravenscroft (saxophone); Rutger Gunnarsson, Mike Watson (bass); Ola Bunkert, Roger Palm, Rolf Alex, Per Lindwall (drums); Malando Gassamma, Ake Sundquist (percussion).

Producer: Bjorn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson.

Compilation producer: Chris Griffin.

Recorded between 1973 & 1982. Includes a 66-page booklet with photographs, a discography and liner notes by Stig Anderson, Fred Bronson, John Tobler and Denis McNamara.

Released in Europe in October 1994 and in the U.S. six months later, Thank You for the Music is the ABBA box set retrospective, tracing their ten years of record-making, 1972-1982, including 52 previously released tracks on the first three discs, plus a fourth disc of rarities. Listening to all the singles, plus scattered album tracks and B-sides, provides a clear picture of the group's development. Early on, there is considerable stylistic experimentation, as these pop dabblers ape everything from Phil Spector's Wall of Sound rock to big-band swing. But after "Dancing Queen," they find their niche in disco, and the second disc is loaded with hit songs anchored to the familiar bass-heavy walking beat and swooping synths-meant-to-sound-like-strings that defined that most '70s genres. On the third disc, covering their last years, ABBA returns to the more propulsive pop/rock of early classics like "SOS" and "Mamma Mia," revving up the tempo in acknowledgment of the arrival of new wave. Wracked by romantic discord, they also achieve somewhat more meaningful lyrics before calling it a day. In the album's liner notes, the bandmembers register mild protest at the inclusion of unreleased material on the fourth disc -- what they finished and liked, they released, they note. Fair warning. Most prominent in a collection of alternate takes, miscellaneous B-sides, foreign-language recordings, and TV soundtracks is the 23-and-a-half-minute "ABBA Undeleted," a medley of 15 song fragments and Swedish studio chatter that suggests ABBA had a few more hits in them if they had found the time to finish them off. Nevertheless, this remains fan-only material. [This album is not to be confused with the 1983 compilation of the same title released by Epic Records in the U.K.] ~ William Ruhlmann

Released at the height of ABBA's mid-'90s renaissance, when the Swedish foursome became fashionable again after years of critical and commercial neglect (thanks in part to films such as Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and Muriel's Wedding), THANK YOU FOR THE MUSIC is a four-CD treasure trove of hits and obscurities. The fact that the fourth and final disc consists entirely of rare and unreleased gems should entice those who still own the band's original releases.

The first three discs--52 tracks in all--consolidate all of the group's chart-topping singles, adding the best of their album tracks and a handful of live recordings and alternate mixes. Disc four is an intriguing collection of demos, outtakes, and multi-lingual versions of popular singles. Exquisitely packaged and well annotated, THANK YOU FOR THE MUSIC shows why ABBA is considered by many the pinnacle of '70s commercial pop.

Rolling Stone (8/10/95, p.60) - "...does much to counter the notion that Abba's output was all light-weight pop..."

Entertainment Weekly (4/21/95, p.57) - "...The second greatest-hits collection in as many years out-distances GOLD by almost 50 tracks. What rescues this set from being a mountain of Velveeta is a groovilicious disc of unreleased and obscure B sides reaffirming the Fernando-loving Swedes' place in the pop music firmament. Fabbalous..." - Rating: A