Victor Gischler Needs this Book!

I’ve mentioned my affection for ABBA before. I’m a sucker for vocal harmony, and when you combine great harmonies with amazing pop-music hooks, I’m completely happy. So it was only right that I read (thanks to George Kelley) Bright Lights Dark Shadows: the Real Story of ABBA by Carl Magnus Palm. I thought the book might be just another puff piece, one of those celeb bios that doesn’t get down and dirty, but the “dark shadows” part of the title isn’t a misnomer. It’s not that the group was wild and crazy. No trashed hotels here, no mistreating of the roadies, no drunken orgies. (Dang. I was sorta hoping for drunken orgies.) But the book doesn’t play down the group’s problems and conflicts, and especially the problems some members had after the group broke up. It’s well written and easy to read (a good thing, considering its length), and it has a lot of b&w photos. I believe ABBA has been offered a billion dollars for a reunion tour. That’s right, a billion dollars. And they turned it down. Now that’s what I call integrity. Either that, or they’re completely nuts. One or the other. I report, you decide.