ABBA: Number Ones

Are you familiar with ABBA? Whether you are or not, you will immensely enjoy this DVD of their #1 Hits. These are Official Videos of their #1 songs, not footage from concerts.ABBA was formed in 1972. Two years later in 1974, ABBA won the prestigious Eurovision music contest singing "Waterloo", which is one of the songs on this DVD. ABBA had Official Videos of their songs made to introduce themselves to the rest of the world, one of the first groups to do so. Their #1 Hits, including "Dancing Queen", continued to spiral upwards on the music charts.ABBA made only one tour here in the U.S; however, their music found its way into the minds and hearts of millions of American fans who read accolades from international fans around the world.ABBA was a major force on the Disco scene for a decade. Then members got divorced and broke up the group. They then followed solo endeavors in music, both performing and song writing.Recently, almost after 50 years, ABBA's sales eclipsed those of The Beatles, propelling them to #2 in Pop Music. Not too shabby for a little group from Sweden, right? (The group Queen still holds the #1 honors in sales.)ABBA has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.If you're unfamiliar with ABBA, or wish to expand your library, then this DVD of ABBA's #1 Hits is for you.ABBA was, and still is, a major force to be reckoned with in terms of their competition!Pro: This spectacular, enjoyable DVD is worth every penny! You'll be playing it repeatedly! Introduce young ones to the magic of ABBA!My only Con: This DVD isn't available in Blu-Ray or 4K and probably never will be; otherwise, it's perfect!

Was pleased with video and sound quality.

Abba has always been a favorite of mine whether on vinyl, CD, or radio. Albums produce a lot of excellent good sounds.

I received the ABBA: Number Ones disc and enjoy it very much. I have viewed it a couple times, now I play it like a CD and listen to it while working around the house. I also bought the ABBA: Gold DVD. I think both of them are very similar. If you buy one and money is a factor, you may not want the other. But I like having them both. The music is great and the girls are beautiful. And they have such a great sound.

In 2006, Polar Music remastered the original recordings in 24/96 digital stereo. This was used on the new version of ABBA Gold but that is a CD and probably sounds better than the original ABBA Gold but it is still 16/44 digital and is limited by the format. This DVD has a PCM 24/96 soundtrack that is indeed high resolution even if it is the most basic hi-res format. It sounds quite quite amazing!! Just to be complete in this review, the only exception is Dancing Queen, which was apparently so "processed" in the original recording, that it is not as clean the the other songs, but still sounds the best I have heard in digital!! I may be wrong, but I do think that this is the only disc available in hi-res

I collect ABBA DVD's and I believe have them all to date now that I added this one. ABBA: Number Ones will be and has been compared to ABBA: The Definitive Collection DVD. Both offer the original music videos and some extras. It would be hard to go wrong with either. I will go with the abbreviations of ABBA #1 for ABBA: Number Ones and ABBA:TDC for ABBA: The Definitive Collection in my review to offer customers a comparison if this is helpful to them for making a purchasing decision. If you are a collector you will want both but if you only want one I hope I can help you. ABBA #1 sticks solely to songs that were considered #1 hits at some point in some part or parts of the world. Its hard to argue with the songs that made the list. Each song is presented with a cool picture of the 45 RPM sleeve the records were released in and I like this alot. The videos are very familiar but in a new way that can be jarring for those who are accustomed to the way they have looked for 30-40 years. You will either be pleased or unhappy if you are a purist. First, the sound is outstanding. I think they added a little more oomph to the songs compared to ABBA: TDC but both sound good. There just seems to be more thump to this version. The thing that hit me immediately, and I must admit I thought I was seeing things and did multiple double-takes, was that the videos are zoomed in a great deal and not presented in the original format we have seen for years. There is no doubt it is very noticeable. Many songs looked rather cool this way. ABBA has always been bigger than life in many ways and this new way of seeing them puts them in a new light. Having said that this new zoomed in look can be fantastic on some videos, OK on some and downright poor in others. After watching them you will know what I mean. Folks who have never seen the originals won't probably notice. Summer Night City by far looks the worst. It is very grainy in the original and that only makes it look much worse zoomed in. Its such a fantastic song but the video now is pretty hard to bare. As I said, its a matter of taste as to which version you will prefer if you have seen both DVD's. The ones that were less vivid or sharp as originals will suffer in this version. There are some however I really liked zoomed in. The extras included are clips of TV specials. The videos look pretty poor but given they were shot decades ago on TV probably little could be done but it does appear no effort was made to spruce them up in sound or picture. The sound can be hit or miss at times. I did like them however. One version of Waterloo was done live and is as close to seeing the actual Eurovision performance as I can imagine as they wore the same costumes. The other TV clips were not live and ABBA mimed the words which is something they do in most videos. They do such a good job its hard to believe at times its not live. Its noteworthy to point out that the section containing I Have a Dream was the last time ever they appeared together on TV making this a must-have DVD. It was cool to see them at their peak with Waterloo in their youth and wind up with Under Attack as you can see how they had aged. Even in their 30's some looked older than that. Maybe they knew the band would soon disband or the stress of two divorced couples was showing? One thing to note is there are no subtitles or option for them which isn't a big deal as there is only a brief portion where Bjorn was talking to the audience. ABBA: TDC has a great deal more songs including personal favorites like Eagle, Thats Me, The Day Before You Came, When I Kissed the Teacher and their classic Thank You for the Music, so this DVD has much more content if you are more interested in the music. The videos are presented in their original format and the sound is very good. In conclusion, it all comes down to your preference. ABBA: #1 has the major hits with videos presented in a new way and some nice TV content and ABBA: TDC has lots more music and nothing really extra. You really can't go wrong either way. Enjoy.