Gold: Greatest Hits

Editors' Notes The regal, romantically tangled best of Sweden’s greatest pop band. ABBA revolved around two scintillating partnerships: Frida Lyngstad and Agnetha Fältskog shaping their lush vocals to the heavenly melodies their husbands Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus forged in luminous Europop (Take a Chance On Me) and disco (Dancing Queen). When each couple divorced in the late ’70s though, things really went up a notch. “The Winner Takes It All” encapsulates the prevailing melancholy and lyrical richness by laying out the wreckage of separation with tear-jerking detail and, inevitably, a monster chorus.