Official Extended Versions

Hi Justin.. welcome..

You may know all of the following....

Only going from memory, I think as a rule ABBA did not do extended ( 12 inch ) versions , So there are NONE.... That said I do think in the USA , Voulez Vous  was extended and is the only Semi official one ? ( but only done for the night clubs I believe , so again unsure if available to the public ). Think the boys knew  though ?

There have been a few singles released on 12 inch, The Winner Takes It All with its famous gatefold version, alas it was only the 7 inch version.
More famously though was Lay All Your Love On Me..  a 12 inch version was released in the UK and was the only format that we were able to buy, it made number 7 and is one of the highest 12inch selling tracks..solely on 12 inch... again poor value really as it was only a copy of the 7 inch.

Im not sure how official this is, if at all, but its pretty good LAYLOM  on disconet.. its on you tube... personally i thought was great, again its USA and done for the club charts i believe at the time.....so probably not official...

Otherwise there are lots of unofficial extended /remixes out there as you probably know, most are not that good , but you do come across a good one....

I know some hate..lol...but Matt Pop Mix do an aray of tracks with probably an incessant beat for some, but again I find some very good, especially The King Has Lost His Crown...

I'm sure there are others on here who may know more..

Following the success of The Visitors and Lay All Your Love On Me in the American gay charts, Michael B Tretow was commissioned to remix four tracks. Ultimately, they weren't liked (by Benny and Bjorn, I expect) and have never been released. I've always hoped that they'd relent for some kind of anthology or box set or whatever.

There was a compilation in 1984 called Energhighs that featured extended remixes of both The Visitors and Lay All Your Love On Me. They were cross-faded to make a medley. The album was released on Epic (ABBA's UK label), so they must have gotten the thumbs-up from Polar at the time. 

See it on Discogs: www.discogs.com/release/1370222-Various-Energhighs

Even in those shady days, Epic knew their audience, @alan ! And yes, I remember Charlie's comments about the "Boystown" charts - perish the thought that anyone might doubt his butch hetero credentials!   

The videos you posted are of some really highly regarded club mixes - probably even the ones that inspired Polar to ask Micke Tretow to twiddle a few knobs. The medley itself only ran for 9:55 - shorter than the combined running time of the two originals. Why did I think they were extended? I suppose the vinyl running time limits had to be respected.

I had to rummage about for the published version to check my muddy memory and I found the mix. Turns out I was wrong: it wasn't a cross-fade, but a splice. The originals were very close in tempo it seems - only 3 BPM between them according to the labels in Alan's video - so the splice doesn't seem too clunky.



I'd love if a remixer like Julian Mendelsohn had gotten his hands on The Visitors. The remix he made for Agnetha's The Last Time is great and he did some superb work with Pet Shop Boys among others. 


EDIT/UPDATE: I was browsing in Discogs and found this 1984 compilation. Similar approach, similar title even. Just The Visitors this time - and the mix that @alan posted. The product info says it's the uncredited Hot Tracks remix. www.discogs.com/release/203577-Various-Hi-Energy. Here's the whole album to listen to...


It goes to show that releasing The Visitors as a single in 1982 might have been a good idea. Remember the loose talk of making it a double-A-side following the critical response in America? A 7" edit and a thundering 12" remix and a video by the post-Hallstrom team could have been uh-mazing.