Abba gold, paperback/elisabeth vincentelli

Perhaps more than any other Greatest Hits compilation, Abba Gold has come to define a bands career on one disk.

More than that, its release in 1992 heralded the critical rehabilitation of a group which had, since its demise a decade earlier, become little more than a memory of trashy costumes and cheesy tunes to many people.

Here, Elisabeth Vincentelli charts the circumstances surrounding the birth of Abba Gold , looks at the impact it had on the music world, and tells the stories behind some of the greatest pop songs ever recorded.