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Post by gary on Jul 19, 2017 7:49:41 GMT
^I think the trouble is there isn't much of a sense of 'community' here, at least not from my perspective. The old forum abba4ever had it's flaws but it did have a cohesive feel and seemed friendlier. There was more interaction and humour, imo. Still, it's not nearly as bad as some Facebook groups where some people post photoshopped/fake pictures of the ABBA members and get all touchy when you correct them. Not to mention the endless stupid emotjis of rabbits presenting huge bouquets, etc instead of real discussion and interaction. I guess for some English isn't their native tongue but even so, it's irritating, especially when you look at the comments and see there aren't actually any, just silly hearts and flowers. I do like a forum layout so I hope it continues. You could argue that everything ABBA-related has been said and done but I disagree. The group may have split many years ago but the music is still alive (as are the members lol) and new fans are born every day. There's even going to be a new Mamma Mia! film! Hurrah! Not. Only joking, the jury is out, we shall see. Yes, I agree with everything you say here. The previous forum, abba4ever, was more interesting and seemed friendlier. (Not that this forum is unfriendly.) Still, I guess any forum is only what its members make it. I also noticed recently that a few stalwarts seem to have disappeared (Alan in particular comes to mind), which is sad. I hope they are OK.
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Post by gary on Jul 4, 2017 9:25:03 GMT
Björn has that "Benny, what did you do?" look though That's a great photo for a 'caption competition'!
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Post by gary on Jun 24, 2017 21:41:33 GMT
ABBA or not, I always prefer studio versions.
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Post by gary on Jun 24, 2017 0:19:46 GMT
I'm certain you already knew how the reference of the ratings would go, but here's my reference: 1-2-3-4 = Poor 5-6-7 = Don't care 8-9-10 = Like I must say I approached it differently. Even if I rated some of the songs 3 or 4, it doesn't necessarily mean I don't like them. It's just that when I compare, say, Ring Ring to e.g. Dancing Queen or The Winner Takes It All, there is a huge difference in how I feel about the songs and even if I like Ring Ring too, I felt it would be unbalanced to give it more points. Generally I like all ABBA songs (I don't skip even I Saw In In The Mirror, which I rated 1) and it would be immensely difficult to score their songs with regard to other groups or singers. It would take me definitely much longer and I guess I would need a much wider scale. Yes, I agree. That's pretty much how I approached it. There are only two ABBA songs I actively dislike, and those are the only two I gave one point to.
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Post by gary on Jun 22, 2017 20:04:44 GMT
I probably took a bit longer than 15 minutes but certainly nothing like seven hours! (Mind you, I can think of worse ways of spending seven hours if those seven hours involved listening to ABBA!)
Yes, it's fun seeing other people's rankings, particularly if they give a song 10 and I give it one (Two For The Price Of One, anyone?).
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Post by gary on Jun 22, 2017 19:00:16 GMT
Like wombat, I've just rated the officially released stuff in English. I don't consider She's My Kind Of Girl, Santa Rosa etc to be 'proper' ABBA songs. I like a few other artists as much as, if not more than, ABBA, but no-one else would score such a high average.
RING RING Ring Ring 8 Another Town Another Train 8 Disillusion 4 People Need Love 4 I Saw It In The Mirror 2 Nina Pretty Ballerina 4 Love Isn't Easy (But It Sure Is Hard Enough) 6 Me And Bobby And Bobby's Brother 3 He Is Your Brother 4 I Am Just A Girl 1 Rock 'N' Roll Band 7
Merry-Go-Round 2 Ah Vilka Tider 2
WATERLOO Waterloo 7 Sitting In The Palmtree 2 King Kong Song 4 Hasta Manana 3 My Mama Said 4 Dance (While The Music Still Goes On) 9 Honey Honey 8 Watch Out 3 What About Livingstone 7 Gonna Sing You My Lovesong 7 Suzy-Hang-Around 6
ABBA Mamma Mia 9 Hey Hey Helen 4 Tropical Loveland 3 SOS 10 Man In The Middle 3 Bang-A-Boomerang 9 I Do I Do I Do I Do I Do 5 Rock Me 2 Intermezzo No 1 4 I've Been Waiting For You 10 So Long 3
Crazy World 5 Medley 3
ARRIVAL When I Kissed The Teacher 10 Dancing Queen 10 My Love My Life 8 Dum Dum Diddle 6 Knowing Me Knowing You 10 Money Money Money 8 That's Me 7 Why Did It Have To Be Me 8 Tiger 10 Arrival 6
Fernando 10 Happy Hawaii 8
THE ALBUM Eagle 10 Take A Chance On Me 10 One Man One Woman 8 The Name Of The Game 10 Move On 10 Hole In Your Soul 8 Thank You For The Music 3 I Wonder (Departure) 8 I'm A Marionette 6
Get On The Carousel 4
VOULEZ-VOUS As Good As New 8 Voulez-Vous 4 I Have A Dream 4 Angeleyes 8 The King Has Lost His Crown 6 Does Your Mother Know 6 If It Wasn't For The Nights 10 Chiquitita 10 Lovers (Live A Little Longer) 6 Kisses Of Fire 10
Summer Night City 10 Lovelight 6 Gimme Gimme Gimme (A Man After Midnight) 6 Dream World 4
SUPER TROUPER Super Trouper 8 The Winner Takes It All 10 On And On And On 7 Andante Andante 6 Me And I 8 Happy New Year 6 Our Last Summer 10 The Piper 8 Lay All Your Love On Me 4 The Way Old Friends Do 4
Elaine 6 Put On Your White Sombrero 5
THE VISITORS The Visitors 8 Head Over Heels 5 When All Is Said And Done 6 Soldiers 9 I Let The Music Speak 9 One Of Us 10 Two For The Price Of One 1 Slipping Through My Fingers 7 Like An Angel Passing Through My Room 8
Should I Laugh Or Cry 8 I Am The City 9 You Owe Me One 4 Cassandra 8 Under Attack 4 The Day Before You Came 7
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Post by gary on Jun 16, 2017 16:24:55 GMT
There's a place for everyone in this world. Even someone who likes I Am Just A Girl, Rock Me and Two For The Price Of One better than Dancing Queen, Knowing Me Knowing You and Take A Chance On Me! :-) And someone who prefers the butchered, pseudo-avant-garde laden version of Summer Night City from ABBA Undeleted as superior over their penultimate single 'The Day Before You Came'... Er, I do too. In fact, I like any version of Summer Night City better than any version of The Day Before You Came! Which is not to say I don't like The Day Before You Came...
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Post by gary on Jun 16, 2017 15:57:03 GMT
There's a place for everyone in this world. Even someone who likes I Am Just A Girl, Rock Me and Two For The Price Of One better than Dancing Queen, Knowing Me Knowing You and Take A Chance On Me! :-)
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Post by gary on Jun 15, 2017 13:36:31 GMT
I live in Brighton too (well, Hove actually) so I shall check it out!
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Post by gary on Jun 10, 2017 15:46:44 GMT
Other than that, I am trying to visit every country in the world. I'm at 105 out of 196 at the moment. Hats off! Any favourites so far? And have you been to some of the "problematic" ones such as North Korea yet? Now I feel like an absolute loser, planning (and failing) to visit Sweden for more than a decade! To be honest, I haven't been to any of the very difficult countries yet, although I have been to quite a few out-of-the-way places. Strangely, North Korea is not very problematic. There are several travel companies in the UK that offer package holidays there! The most difficult countries are either war zones (!) or have very onerous visa requirements. My favourite is probably the USA, which is not a very adventurous choice! You should definitely get yourself to Sweden - it's terrific (if rather expensive). And the best pop group ever have a museum there, in case you didn't know! :-)
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Post by gary on Jun 6, 2017 17:25:46 GMT
Just to be happy/find love Yes, that. It's happened to me twice before, but I'm a bit doubtful it will happen again. But you never know. Other than that, I am trying to visit every country in the world. I'm at 105 out of 196 at the moment.
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Post by gary on Jun 5, 2017 19:18:31 GMT
Thanks Colin. The logic is certainly a bit controversial!
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Post by gary on Jun 3, 2017 7:18:37 GMT
Thanks Colin.
I know it is an old and irrelevant issue now, but why is Elvis Presley considered to have 21 number one singles? Surely it is really only 18 (still the most by any artist!), as the last three are only reissues of previous number ones, and shouldn't be counted twice.
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Post by gary on Jun 2, 2017 20:04:45 GMT
It's nice that ABBA are behind only the two all-time greats.
Presumably Sgt Pepper is now the album with the longest gap between spells at number one, overtaking Exile On Main Street, which in turn overtook ABBA Gold?
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Post by gary on Jun 1, 2017 21:22:09 GMT
A friend of mine, a Belgian guy called Jos Willems, died on May 28. Some of you may know him, or have heard of him, as he was very active in European ABBA fandom. He had the biggest ABBA collection I have ever seen (a whole room!). He was also a regular attendee at the ABBA Roosendaal days, I believe. RIP.
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Post by gary on Jun 1, 2017 21:11:50 GMT
There have been 7 performances on Top Of The Pops from 1974-6. But why not more for Dancing Queen, Money, Money, Money...? Presumably they did it once, and it was repeated as required?
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Post by gary on Jun 1, 2017 21:07:37 GMT
Not my discovery, but this is certainly ABBA-influenced. It's rather good.
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Post by gary on May 23, 2017 9:41:28 GMT
Totally agree with Colin about Muriel's Wedding. It's a terrific film. Hard to go wrong with Toni Collette and Rachel Griffiths.
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Post by gary on May 21, 2017 20:21:37 GMT
^
True.
It'll be interesting to see what songs are used in the new film, given that most of the big hits were used in the first film. I somehow feel that a character called Fernando will have to make an appearance!
I don't hate the first film as much as many ABBA fans seem to, so I'm quite looking forward to seeing the new film. But I shall keep my expectations low!
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Post by gary on May 21, 2017 18:37:03 GMT
^
You wonder what made Benny and Bjorn change their minds? Here's a clue: think of the single between Dancing Queen and Knowing Me Knowing You! 😀
But seriously, at least if B&B are involved there should be some quality control.
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Post by gary on May 20, 2017 6:30:04 GMT
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Post by gary on May 14, 2017 9:16:24 GMT
Colin - yes, I remember you explaining that before, and it's interesting to have an update. The ABBA and Queen albums are really quite close in sales terms.
However, all I was saying was that, as Queen's Greatest Hits is higher in the UK album charts than ABBA Gold, it is actually extending its lead, albeit only gradually.
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Post by gary on May 13, 2017 11:44:07 GMT
It's quite amazing, but also quite nice, that that many people are still buying it after 25 years. No chance of it getting any closer to Queen's Greatest Hits' sales, though, as that is higher in the chart than ABBA Gold.
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Post by gary on Apr 21, 2017 10:49:54 GMT
I can, but only as a result of the songwriter fessing up. When Debbie sings 'Dreaming, dreaming is free', it is copying 'Dancing Queen, young and sweet only'. It's clearer if you imagine it as 'Dance Queen, young sweet only'. One of the most important hook mechanisms in DQ is that 'young and sweet' repeats the same melody line as the preceding 'Dancing Queen'. This is pop magic only because of the accompanying chord change. The 'Danc-' is a major seventh but, here comes the science, the 'young' makes a briefly unsettling tritone with the changed chord's root note. This is unusual enough in popular music to stamp the passage with Benny's mark of genius, so that its influence on Dreaming can be detected like a dusted fingerprint. Ah, thanks Shoshin.
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Post by gary on Apr 20, 2017 8:16:31 GMT
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Post by gary on Apr 17, 2017 21:58:32 GMT
^
What do you mean? (I've always thought of CMP as a good guy!)
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Post by gary on Apr 14, 2017 21:13:40 GMT
^
It is rather pretty!
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Post by gary on Apr 13, 2017 11:31:10 GMT
Here's the Brian May version mentioned earlier:
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Post by gary on Apr 11, 2017 11:09:18 GMT
^ Seconded!
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Post by gary on Apr 9, 2017 19:02:39 GMT
It's interesting to hear first-hand reports of the event yesterday. It sounds like people had a great time. I wish I could have got a ticket!
But the reports also confirm, I think, my impression from reading the book. There simply isn't much in the vaults that is really new. Everything is early or different versions of songs we already know.
The problem (if there is one) is that Benny and Bjorn were never very prolific songwriters. I remember a quote from one of them saying that they only wrote about 12 songs a year. And if they came up with something good, it was released or it was reworked, often much later. There will never be an ABBA equivalent of Bruce Springsteen's Tracks or Bob Dylan's Bootleg Series. Those two writers often wrote many more songs for an album than were used (for example, Springsteen wrote at least 50 songs each for his albums The River and Born In The USA).
The quality of the songs that Benny and Bjorn wrote is amazing, and they maintained very high standards. But I don't think it came easily to them. It was hard graft!
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