What does Sweden sound like?
Michael B. Tretow knows. He tuned it.
He started his career in the 1960s as a sound engineer, producer and song writer together with Ted Gärdestad, Lill Lindfors, Pugh Rogefeldt, Jojje Wadenius, Lill-Babs and Tommy Körberg. He contributed to radio programmes such as "Eldorado" and "Metropol" and climbed the Swedish music chart with swinging - and sometimes secret - hits under his own names "Den makalösa manicken" (The fabulous machine) and "Hubba hubba zoot zoot". He and Ted Gärdestad called themselves Caramba, a pseudonym revealed many years later.
Gold record "Super Trouper"
But most of all Michael B. Tretow is known as sound engineer on all recordings with one of the biggest pop music acts in history - ABBA. Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson wrote the tunes, Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad sang the songs and Michael B. Tretow packaged it all in a legendary sound. A search online for "the ABBA sound" will give you 18 700 000 hits.
Benny Andersson has described Tretow as a person full of ideas and always doing things. The experimentation to find the ABBA sound was inspired by Beach Boys singing and Phil Spector's so called wall of sound productions.
"Sång till Görel"
Crafoord Auktioner in Stockholm are pleased to present the sale of a number of items from Michael B. Tretow's personal collection. Among the lots you will find a test record with three versions of "Dancing Queen", the maxi single "Sång till Görel" in blue vinyl made in 50 examples which was a present to the guests of Görel Hanser's 30th birthday party, and a BBC and Eurovision Song Contest portfolio from 1974, the year ABBA won with "Waterloo".
Welcome to place your bid on a part of pop music history!