LOS ANGELES (Polar/Polydor/UMe) - ABBA fans rejoice! Thirty years after they debuted, Agnetha, Bjorn, Benny and
Frida have reunited! Well, sort of.
Speculation on an ABBA reunion for the group's current 30th anniversary celebrations culminated in a most unexpected way during the live May 12th globally-televised broadcast from Istanbul of the semi-finals of the Eurovision Song Contest, the same annual event that launched ABBA into pop music in 1974. That night, each member of the quartet appeared separately in the world premiere of the comedy short ABBA - THE LAST VIDEO, sharing the screen with, believe it or not, their look-alike doll-size puppet versions created by the renowned Jim Henson's Creature Shop (The Muppets, etc.).
Now making its DVD premiere, ABBA - THE LAST VIDEO (Polar/Polydor/UMe) will be released August 31, 2004. The DVD (with a running time of approximately 40 minutes) contains the very funny and charming six-minute short film as well as the original ABBA videos of the four hit songs featured: "Take A Chance On Me," "Dancing Queen," "The Winner Takes It All" and "Waterloo" (the song which won ABBA the Eurovision Song Contest and launched their superstar career). In addition, the DVD contains the behind-the-scenes feature "The Making Of 'The Last Video'" with director's commentary, and a photo gallery.
The Eurovision Song Contest wanted to celebrate ABBA's 30th anniversary milestone with a performance by the group but ABBA has declined all offers to reunite since they disbanded in 1982.
So ABBA suggested another idea. ABBA - THE LAST VIDEO is a film about four hopeful musicians (the ABBA-ish puppets) in search of a record contract in where-else-but Sweden.
They pay a visit to the Big Record Company Boss and his oily assistant, performing one hit after the other, cheered on by their manager. But things don't work out as planned ...
Celebrating the legacy of ABBA, with Benny Andersson, Agnetha Faltskog, Bjorn Ulvaeus and Anni-Frid Lyngstad making special appearances, as does pop icon Cher, ABBA - THE LAST VIDEO stars Rik Mayall, Robert Gustafson, Sissela Kyhle, Cecilia Frode, Loa Falkman, Michael Nyqvist and Per Svensson. The short was written and directed by Calle Astrand and produced by Radical Media UK.
For fans of one of the biggest-selling and most popular music groups in history, ABBA - THE LAST VIDEO is a DVD must-have.
