ABBA’s best year looks-wise

For me it would be 1976 until 1981, Their 1977 tour costumes are one of my favourites and the cat costumes and the blue costumes from 1976.

Frida thinks the same ? Please tell more I have never heard  about that.

Also, in 1977 they filmed the clips of  Eagle and The name of the game in The movie. Those clips are rarely spoken of but the group look incredibly good in them and that is why I enjoy the clips. (  The clips are IMO the best things in The Movie ).  The moments in TNOTG where Frida laughs make me feel good. Her laughter comes from the heart. When she embraces the guy ? and when they play cards Frida points at the cards ? and starts laughng.

It may be one of the reasons they looked so good in 77 was that Greatest  hits  was the biggest selling album of 76 in the UK and Australia. The success gave them confidence and they do look confident and relaxed in the 77 photos .

For me, it is 1975 - around the 'cat costume' times.

For me, they looked great during certain photoshoots, which of course could be during any year. But it's 1977 without a question. Their zenith.

I liked how Agnetha and Frida looked in the ABBA The Movie promo poster- Frida, eyes closed in ecstacy, Agnetha looking up with a somewhat daring, to me highly sexual, look in her eyes.

I despaired when Agnetha and Frida got their mumsy perms and started wearing boring, drab clothing. They were still so young!

As for Björn and Benny, I rarely took notice of what they looked like/were wearing. Occasionally they looked cool and stylish, but they mostly looked like well, I don't know...a couple of janitors who had wandered onstage by accident? 😆

  I liked how they looked in 1976 & 1977. 

  ABBA themselves think that they looked 'best' in 1979. Which is why the 'Digital ABBA Copies' - AKA The ABBAtars - are based on how the Group looked in 1979. 

  We should be able to see this for ourselves. Even if The ABBAtars 'Project' does not go ahead, they are being used in at least 1 ABBA Video...

I can't remember the source but she said (probably in one of the books I read) that she thinks she looked her best in 1977.

After viewing ABBA's appearance on the "The Mike Yarwood Show" only recently on Youtube and watching their stunning performances (although mimed) of IIWFTN and TYFTM, I surmise both A&F were absolutely beautiful especially wearing those glittery jumpsuits. Although this was filmed in 1978, it seems like only yesterday.

Yes, they were consummate professionals in that respect.

I remember seeing an interview with all four by Noel Edmonds and the tension between Frida and Benny was noticeable. Agnetha was delightful, Frida self-deprecating and rather shy and Björn as cagey as ever. I remember Frida paid the guys a compliment and Benny pulled her up saying she'd never said that before. I thought that was really mean of him. After all, she'd sang the bloody songs and even cried at the beauty of Dancing Queen.

There was mutual attraction between Noel and Agnetha, Michal, notice the way she looks at him!  It’s not believed to have gone anywhere, but she was back on his show within a year to promote a solo single.

A bit like Nick Ross on Breakfast Time, some interviewers were a bit unprofessional.  Mike Smith joked that Nick had been “sent for a cold shower” after interviewing Agnetha and making it rather obvious he fancied her.

I'd like to think she recognised that leaving the band would have risked diluting the impact of her perfect two-fingered salute - 'I Know There's Something Going On'.

Whatever the tension between them, I guess it's all water under the bridge now and they clearly all hold each other in high regard and affection (I hope). Despite difficult times, I thought the group looked quite good during the Edmonds interview. Agnetha looked years younger having ditched the perm- she looked like a young girl. I hated her flirting with Noel Edmonds though, I found it cringey. Plus, I noticed the slight towards Frida which I felt was unprofessional and really rather rude. Frida looked heaps better than she'd appeared in the One of Us video and seemed to be regaining her sparkle more and more. Even BennyBjörn looked smart and trim.

I’ve just watched it again as well. It’s a really odd interview. I don’t get why Noel directs the beard question at Benny. The clip they showed before then had Björn beardless so it was more a question for him (though still a dull one).

I always think it’s Benny that gives the game away about the songs being chosen for them beforehand (as he can usually be relied upon to be the grumpy one) but it’s Björn. And Noel saying “you are getting old!” to Frida after her earlier comment is a bit insensitive and completely uncalled for.

ABBA were never good at being interviewed. The Swedish seriousness is one thing, but idiot interviewers like Noel Edmonds really don’t help.

There is a sense from watching this that ABBA needed putting out of their misery (which is indeed what happened shortly after).

Wouldn't it be great if that dreadful 'Late, Late Breakfast Show' interview hadn't been their swansong so we didn't have to keep torturing ourselves with it?! Quite horrible, on very count. It has that 'ill-conceived school reunion' feel where everyone turns up, realises it wasn't such a good idea after all, just feels massively awkward and immediately starts thinking of a good excuse to leave early.

SO...where are we to find just a little light relief in it? For me (as this thread is about looks), I'd say it's in Frida's appearance. The hair/make-up give her a real 'woman not to be trifled with' persona. In fact, she looks like she's about to audition for a role in 'Blake's Seven' - and not as one of the galactic good guys, either. Great stuff! It certainly helped keep NE at bay.

I've watched that Edmonds interview again. I don't think Frida is bothered in the slightest that Edmonds didn't reach for a kiss (she should consider herself lucky). The jokes/banter seems light-hearted enough at times. ABBA were good sports, I don't think they took themselves too seriously. The treat at the end was hearing Agnetha sing live so sweetly but I do think they could have chosen a different song that featured joint lead vocals.

As for fans being like children.. well, I can't speak for others but I think it's true of any extremely popular artist that they attract fans who adore them to distraction and can't stand any criticism. I'm not one of them. However, it depends on how it's done. Mud-raking benefits no one- what's done is done. Besides, everyone's entitled to a private life. Besides, it's no one's business, even if most of us have an opinion. I also feel Agnetha and Frida WERE friends. There are different kinds/levels of. Besides, if they weren't back then they sure are now, otherwise why vacation together and reminisce?