Australian musician and author Joe Matera will release The Making Of ABBA – The Story Behind The Band’s 1975 Breakthrough Album on 30 October 2025, a detailed exploration of the record that lifted the Swedish quartet from European favourites to global pop innovators. The book charts the creative, musical and historical arc of ABBA’s self-titled third album, a release that defined the sound of the group and set the stage for their international ascendancy through the second half of the 1970s.
Matera’s book draws from newly conducted interviews with several musicians who appeared on the record. It also presents extensive research into the album’s development from its earliest writing sessions through to ABBA’s first heavy touring period outside Sweden. The project offers new insight into a body of work that still resonates five decades after its release.
Ian Cole spoke to Joe Matera. That full interview is here.
Matera says he approached the book as both a long-time listener and a working musician. He recalled buying the album at ten years old after hearing Mamma Mia on Countdown, then on regional Victorian radio, and later at a Melbourne market stall.
He still owns the exact copy he purchased for $6.99. That early connection shaped both his lifelong passion for the band and his ability to dissect the album at a granular musical level.
Matera also draws on personal creative relationships. Guitarist Janne Schaffer, who played on several ABBA recordings, previously collaborated with Matera on the tracks Take A Look and Continental Meeting. That connection gave him rare access to Schaffer’s detailed recollections from the ABBA sessions. Through Schaffer, Matera also interviewed guitarist Finn Sjöberg, who contributed further memories, musical insights and studio anecdotes. Bassist Mike Watson also features in the book, offering his perspective on the sessions that produced some of the group’s most enduring early hits.
Matera highlights the significance of ABBA’s touring activity while the album was being assembled. Recording ran from August 1974 to March 1975, overlapping with tours across Europe and beyond. That period shaped both the group’s chemistry and the eventual sound of the finished album.
He tells Cole that he uncovered previously unknown information, including details of ABBA’s European tour in November 1974. For that tour the group travelled with one of the largest PA systems available in Europe, produced by Swedish manufacturer Hagström. The system carried forty speakers powered by ten thousand watts, illustrating the scale of their ambitions long before global superstardom arrived.
Matera, a guitarist himself, has spent decades studying the compositional and technical structure of ABBA’s work. While discussing the book, he revealed to Cole that he plans to demonstrate the construction of key guitar parts from Mamma Mia and SOS during his author talks in 2026.
These sessions will include a solo acoustic performance of SOS, arranged in a singer-songwriter format to highlight its melodic architecture and to involve audiences through participation.
He believes this blend of scholarship and performance makes his book events distinct.
While Matera would be open to writing about another ABBA album, he says it would depend on the reception of this release. If he continues the series, Arrival would be his next choice.
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