This sensitive, smart, tiny book is amazingly comprehensive, dealing with everything from recording history to the gay following the band developed. Vincentelli, an astute critic and a rabid fan, is just the writer to grasp the many-layered experience that is ABBA.
Claire Dederer
Newsday, 4/11/04
Vincentelli is an intriguing sociologist (calling Abba one of the few band ... Read moreto link ‘European drag queens and Midwestern housewives, New York hipsters and Japanese students') and a funny critic (‘Lay All Your Love on Me,' she says, ‘may well be the gayest song ever recorded by two clean-cut heterosexual couples').
Mike Miliard
The Boston Phoenix, 7/8/04
With Elisabeth's personal anecdotes thrown into the mix of ABBA's history, quotes from contemporary critics and musicians, and analyses of the songs that make up ABBA Gold, it's hard not to read the entire book in one sitting. And for me personally, Elisabeth Vincentelli is the kind of writer I aspire to be- full of musical knowledge, yet passionate and personal about the subject she takes on.
Cha Cha Charming, June 2004
Vincentelli's study of Abba Gold is a valiant effort.
Jason Dropor
Record Collector, October 2004
The idea was simple: to ask a group of authors to each write a book about a classic album. What emerged became Continuum's 33 1/3 series. Without guidelines or rules, each author embraced their own favorite album and chose exactly how they wanted to write about it.As a result, each book is by turn anecdotal, obsessive, technical and personal, but always passionate.
Swell Music, December 2006
The author doesn't mind telling you that her favorite song EVER is Abba's "SOS," which is admirably candid (although wrong
"Knowing Me, Knowing You" is the peak of Abba-ness), and she totally gets the blissful unhipness that makes the band beloved by everyone from "European drag queens to Midwestern housewives."
Austin American-Statesman, 10/17/04
Throughout her meticulously researched, song-by-song exploration of Abba's most famous moments, Vincentelli examines with insight, wit and unabashed fanaticism everything from "Knowing Me, Knowing You"'s domestic drama to, well, the shoulder pads, tights, and foil shirts worn in the "Voulez-Vous" video. In the process, she not only makes a compelling, sincere case for all things Abba but also for pop music itself.
San Francisco Bay Guardian, 5/19/04
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