Everyone thinks they know about ABBA. They were the glittering Swedish foursome who created an apparently endless stream of catchy, charismatic songs which - like the work of Lennon & McCartney before them - refuse to become obsolete, thanks to their simplicity, emotional power and sheer singalongability.

There was the blonde, the brunette, the beardy and the non-beardy: everyone has their favourite. And for those who want to know more, there are various books available which deal with the phenomenon from purely musical, entertainment or celebrity perspectives. But the wider story of their social and cultural impact has never been available - until now that is, with the publication of the remarkable Bright Lights, Dark Shadows.

The author - who devoted over a year of full-time research to the book's 550 pages - has managed to place the group in its Swedish environment, and by doing so has painted a picture more evocative and accurate than previous works. His style is clean and concise (there's no undisciplined hyperbole to muddy the text here), which clarifies the many levels of narrative.

These include the detailed background of the performers; the changing face of popular music over the time span covered by the book (the mid-1950s to the present day); how the public perception of ABBA developed; and how the performers themselves passed through youthful naiveté, via a cautious kind of high-life excess, through to their current status as venerated, slightly mysterious elder statesmen.

Although the four musicians declined to be involved in the project, the author has succeeded in portraying them in depth, along with their prominent associate Stig Anderson, as well as building up a vivid picture of the milieu in which the various players moved. Bright Lights, Dark Shadows is an illuminating story, providing the reader not just with the story of a single group of people, but bringing a whole era - specifically the uneasy, vivid 70s - to brightly-coloured life.

It's a deeply impressive work, and unreservedly recommended.

Joel McIver

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Carl Magnus Palm on the making of an epic

RC - One of the advantages you have as a Swede is that you could use interviews ABBA gave in Swedish for research. They seem to be more forthcoming in these than in the interviews they gave to English-speaking journalists.

CMP - That's absolutely correct. One of the reasons I wanted to do this book is that in most of the English-language interviews they gave to the TV and magazines, I could tell that they were taking the easy way out - especially the girls - just because their command of the language wasn't great at that time.

RC - The Eurovision-style "I just want world peace" response?

CMP - Yes, exactly - and when you read Swedish interviews or hear them on Swedish radio, they were much more eloquent and had a lot to say.

RC - One area is Anna-Frid's family background (her father is a German soldier who fought in World War II). How did you attempt to deal with the subject?

CMP - Well, when I wrote this book, I had to ask myself, what and where is the story - and I knew from the beginning that this was going to be an interesting, dramatic part of it. So I just tried to find out as much as I could, and visited public archives to find out exactly when the Germans arrived in Sweden and where they had lived. It was pretty straightforward - easier than I'd expected. A lot of that information is public in Sweden anyway: I think you're a bit more restricted in the UK.

RC - Many biographers become either more attracted to or repelled by their subjects while writing their books. Did this happen in your case?

CMP - I became more attracted, actually. My admiration for them grew. I was surprised by how much they had revealed of themselves in all those interviews.

RC - What are your impressions of the members of ABBA as individuals?

CMP - I think they're basically very easy-going, down-to-earth people - which sounds like a cliché, but it's my genuine impression. They had to be affected by the fact that they were such big stars, obviously, but they don't have a Michael Jackson lifestyle and live behind big walls. They're also not interested in going over their past history - they just want to be left alone.

RC - Why are ABBA still so popular?

CMP - Well, in terms of the number of hits, you can only compare them to the Beatles, Elvis and the Stones, and to current people like Madonna. But it's also the quality of the hits - it was well-crafted music. They also had their own niche: no-one was like them. People also like light relief, as well as worthy music like Bob Dylan. You can also relax and have a laugh with ABBA, because of the accents and the clothes, which is definitely part of the attraction.

RC - Do you think that their legacy is cheapened at all by current ABBA tribute shows such as Mamma Mia?

CMP - It's hard to say. Mamma Mia doesn't really do anything for me. I don't mind it, but it's not going to do anything for their reputation as a serious band. On the other hand, I think that cause was lost a long time ago - they'll always be that Eurovision band who were actually quite good.

RC - One or two journalists have referred to Steps as 'the new ABBA'.

CMP - Yes, but I think that's because Pete Waterman is an ABBA fan and was thinking of them when he created Steps. They actually have no similarity to ABBA, other than you can hear ABBA's influence in some of the songs, but then you can hear that in zillions of manufactured teen acts like that.

RC - Finally, why should we buy your book?

CMP - A difficult question! Well, it tells the complete story in a fairly digestible way, and I think it brings ABBA out of the vacuum where they've been placed before. I was really happy to be able to give the background and to say, this is our musical tradition, this is how Swedes are. When journalists write about ABBA, they tend to try to force them into their own country's showbiz format - which is understandable, because what else can you do? - but the social and cultural context is slightly different in Sweden.