ABBA biography?

[mrs-leroy-brown.livejournal.com]

Hello chaps! Can anyone advise me if there is a recommended / definitive biography about ABBA?

Thanks!

"'Bleeding Love' reminds me of a Cronenberg movie."

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

That's what I said about it in comparison to "No Air," which I thought was nicely melodramatic but didn't take itself quite so seriously, or rather didn't take itself so somberly.

Roundabout way at having a go at the new Leona Lewis album, which I finally listened to after a negative Robert Xgau review in his Consumer Guide:

Simon Cowell's British Idol possesses an exceptionally delicate version of the sock-it-to-'em karaoke-champ voice Cowell has made the gold standard of '00s pop. The subtle flutter of her finest melismatics could give an open-minded person goose bumps. Her coarser melismatics, however, are the usual showoff BS and probably also a commercial prerequisite, like not having a harelip. And because she doesn't write, this is karaoke where nobody knows the originals. Of course, when OneRepublic provided your lead single and "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" is your literary highlight, it's just as well you don't write. "Forgive Me" would be a tolerable follow-up. Somehow I doubt Cowell cares.
Grade: B

( Whose gold standard? )

AYIP Supplement June 2008

[anatol-merklich.livejournal.com]

June saw 19 top-seventyfive entries that didn't reach the Fab Forty (so far), not counting Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline", which also saw 11 weeks in 1971. It's all movie and tv tieins plus sixth singles this month apparently, so not as many proper videos to watch as normal. Still, please have your say as to the worth of these tracks...

[Poll #1223913]

Lil' Mama (55.6%) leads the May poll right in front of Hot Chip (50%), with The Feeling in third (33.3%). DISQUALIFICATION ROUNDUP (because I forgot to do it last month): Flo Rida's "Elevator", FOB's "Beat It", "No Air" obv, Kylie's "In My Arms" and Lil' Wayne's "Lollipop" (all April); Maddy's "Give It 2 Me" and Mariah's "Bye Bye (both May).

Next month, along with the July crop, we'll have the HALFTIME STANDINGS, with cheers and gnashings undoubtedly.