Knowing me, knowing you….Aha! Benny, Bjorn, Agnetha and the other one, whose name no one remembers, are back! Sounding like a wife swap collective, they catapulted the fabled land of Sweden into the musical stratosphere after their 1974 Eurovision success. The truth is, Abba have never been away, despite splitting in 1982.

They were the soundtrack to any 1980s formative night out, providing verve, danceability and lashings of cheese. Even those of us who are openly derogatory of their musical pedigree cannot deny copious occasions where we have driven through the shires attempting to sing along to Mamma Mia and Fernando as we watch that scene, digging the Dancing Queen.

With that in mind, I was saddened to learn that, for the first time since their conscious de-coupling, they will soon be releasing some new material. Musical career reprises never work for one-time super heavyweights. If you once reached the hallowed land of the celebrity D-list, you can revisit the glory days again: see Rick Astley, All Saints and Kim Wilde.

For the icons though, despite protestations to the contrary, the bar was raised so high in their prime that they will never get within spitting distance of such an exalted level again.

Star Wars should never have travelled beyond the Return of the Jedi cinematic galaxy, but money talked and the franchise walked. Queen, after Freddie’s demise, recorded with 5ive and their reputation was somewhat tarnished forever after. Surprisingly, the untouchable legacy of the best of the best, The Beatles, was put in jeopardy with the release of Free as a Bird in 1995. Even more questionable was the use of Jeff Lynne as producer in place of the fifth Beatle, George Martin.

The ‘shouldn’t have comeback comebacks’ traverse all areas of culture and the media. Dean Gaffney is another point in question. After a semi successful stint in EastEnders, he left at the peak of his powers in 2003, despite many years of being out-acted by ‘Wellard’. He then entered the acting wasteland of The Bill, before appearing in ‘Extras’ and pantomime in Grays, culminating in a money spinning Daz advert. Now he is back on the square, a fact I only became aware of after forgetting to turn over after the middle-class niceness that is the One Show.

I hope Abba prove me wrong although I understand why they want to keep the ball in the air despite the recent film, exhibition and stage show. With 73 singles, 9 number ones, and one of the biggest studio albums of all time: Gold: Greatest hits shifting a staggering 28 million copies, they now crave another bite at the fame cherry. Self-enforced exile has been their fare after the hits dried up and the decree absolutes hit the doormats outside Stockholm some years back. Aficionados will, no matter how dire the fayre dished up, rave about it being the best ever! Sometimes if you want something bad enough, you must justify your faith by convincing others that it is very good indeed despite evidence to the contrary. I have a family member who does this. Every film this person sees is ‘brilliant!’ and ‘The best film ever!’. I kind of gave up on their judgement long ago after unadvisedly attending a screening of ‘Police Academy 5: Assignment Miami Beach’.

So good luck Abba, you deserve another crack at scaling the fame ladder. Like a punch-drunk boxer, it looks like the mind is willing, but the body and voice less than thrilling as they urge the drought stricken creative juices to get us to have one last anthemic bop. Thank you for the music, but I believe we will ultimately end up disappointed as we collectively sigh "Manma Mia…here we go again…"