ABBA: In Performance on AllMovie

Co-founded by Swedes Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus, Anni-Frid Lyngstad, and Agnetha Fältskog (and named as an acronym of their first initials) , ABBA qualifies, by a long stretch, as the most commercially successful international music ensemble of the 1970s -- not only because of Andersson and Ulvaeus' ability to write slick, flashy pop tunes with catchy hooks ("Mamma Mia," "Dancing Queen," "Waterloo," "Fernando,"), but because the bandmembers reportedly re-recorded their singles in numerous languages, and thus charted transcontinentally. The two couples quickly married, and in time divorced, leading to the group's formal disbandment by 1983, but Andersson and Ulvaeus remained friends and collaborators (on such works as the short-lived Broadway musical Chess and the touring repertory show Mamma Mia!) and ABBA retained a massive international fan base -- much of it brought about by P.J. Hogan's hit 1994 film Muriel's Wedding. Now, the home-video release ABBA: In Performance provides a critical overview of the band's musical accomplishments -- as music commentators discuss ABBA's career atop rare concert footage of the group culled from international television programs.