Gracias por la música Deluxe Edition – ABBA’s Spanish recordings on CD and DVD
The celebrations of ABBA’s 40th Anniversary year of 2014 continue with the latest release in the acclaimed ABBA Deluxe Edition series. In April of this year, Waterloo Deluxe Edition was released, attracting 4-star reviews in the music press, and in November, ABBA’s Spanish-language 1980 album Gracias por la música will receive the Deluxe Edition treatment. The original album has been expanded with 5 bonus tracks, plus a 40-minute DVD featuring vintage promo clips and previously unreleased television material. Gracias por la música Deluxe Edition will be released November 10, 2014.
ABBA’s Spanish adventure began in 1979, when it was suggested that the group should record a Spanish-language version of their latest hit single, ‘Chiquitita’. This was in order to facilitate a breakthrough in Latin America, where ABBA hadn’t yet achieved success on the level of the Abbamania that gripped the rest of the world. The results of this single release were astounding: ‘Chiquitita’ rushed to the top of the charts all over Latin America, and became the biggest hit in 25 years in this part of the world.
In 1980, an entire album of Spanish-language ABBA songs was recorded. Appropriately entitled Gracias por la música (“Thank You For The Music”), this also became a huge hit – even entering the charts in the not-very-Spanish-speaking Japan! Since then, ABBA have been consistently popular in Latin America.
The first disc in the 2-disc Deluxe Edition of Gracias por la música is a CD, which features the original album plus five bonus tracks. The bonus selections are the remaining Spanish tracks recorded by ABBA, four of which were originally included on the albums Super Trouper and The Visitors in Spanish-language territories. The DVD features the five official promo clips ABBA did for ‘Estoy soñando’ (“I Have A Dream”), ‘Conociéndome, conociéndote’ (“Knowing Me, Knowing You”), ‘Gracias por la música’ (“Thank You For The Music”), ‘Felicidad’ (“Happy New Year”) and ‘No hay a quien culpar’ (“When All Is Said And Done”). Additionally, there are three previously unreleased TV items: two performances of ‘Chiquitita’ from 1979, plus a 1980 interview with the group made for Spanish TV, which also features a unique – in every sense of the word – performance of ‘¡Dame! ¡Dame! ¡Dame!’ (“Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! [A Man After Midnight]”).
The package also includes a 20-page illustrated booklet featuring a personal greeting from Frida, as well as an essay on the making of the album. The essay includes brand new insights from Buddy & Mary McCluskey, who instigated the Spanish-language recordings and wrote the Spanish lyrics for ABBA, and Ana Martinez del Valle, who coached Agnetha and Frida in the studio. In the booklet, Frida’s greeting and the essay are featured in both Spanish and English.
Don’t miss out on this unique celebration of an often overlooked part of ABBA’s glorious career!
GRACIAS POR LA MÚSICA – DELUXE EDITION
Disc 01, CD:
1. Gracias por la música
– Thank You For The Music –
2. Reina danzante
– Dancing Queen –
3. Al andar
– Move On –
4. ¡Dame! ¡Dame! ¡Dame!
– Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight) –
5. Fernando
6. Estoy soñando
– I Have A Dream –
7. Mamma mía
8. Hasta mañana
9. Conociéndome, conociéndote
– Knowing Me, Knowing You –
10. Chiquitita
Bonus tracks
11. Ring ring
12. Andante, andante
13. Felicidad
– Happy New Year –
14. No hay a quien culpar
– When All Is Said And Done –
15. Se me está escapando
– Slipping Through My Fingers –
Disc 02, DVD:
1. Chiquitita (300 millones, TVE)
2. Chiquitita (Aplauso, TVE)
3. Estoy soñando (promo clip)
4. ABBA On Spanish TV (Especial Aplauso 100, TVE)
SONGS PERFORMED:
Conociéndome, conociéndote (promo clip)
Gracias por la música (promo clip)
¡Dame! ¡Dame! ¡Dame!
5. Felicidad (promo clip)
6. No hay a quien culpar (promo clip)
