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Post by Alan on Apr 13, 2024 13:03:48 GMT
Interesting that you have the picture disc studio albums available in shops, HOMETIME. If I saw them in HMV or Rough Trade or whatever, and at that price, I might be tempted. At least the odd one or two anyway.
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Post by Alan on Apr 13, 2024 9:39:45 GMT
We do have the Album CD Box but the Albums on CD are hardly available. A Deluxe Version here and there, but I think it would be great to have new propper Versions of each Album on CD. I rarely see the albums CD box in HMV. It’s quite expensive anyway. The 2008 version was better. No Voyage of course, but the bonus disc had more tracks on. It was better value for money, sometimes retailing for £15. I’d like to see new versions of the studio album CDs too. The current ones are from 2001 and use the inferior and very loud Jon Astley remasters that have long since been discredited. What’s odd now is that the vinyls use the original Polar artwork while those CDs use modern artwork with standardised text and the ABBA logo (presumably because they thought at the time that more people would buy them if they all had the logo). If they can sell Ring Ring on vinyl without even the ABBA name then I don’t see why they can’t re-issue the CDs using the original Polar artwork as well. They could use a similar tracklisting to the deluxe CDs, but perhaps removing the Spanish versions (being as two deluxes didn’t include them anyway due to timing). However, the music industry isn’t interested in the CD format anymore. They begrudgingly keep it as it still sells. They try to force-feed vinyl on us and tell us it’s better sound quality than CD (even though, in the 1980s, they were telling us precisely the opposite).
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Post by Alan on Apr 13, 2024 7:33:16 GMT
I wonder about the general availability of the "physical Versions" of ABBA Albums and Singles is in the UK? Here in Germany you see rarely picture discs or singles boxes in the shops. Vinyl Albums are also rare apart from ABBA Gold and some copies of the latest half speed master. With CDs, it is also rare, ABBA Gold of course… We only really have HMV as the one mainstream shop covering the whole UK but if I’m in one, I tend to check the ABBA sections. The emphasis is very much on vinyl now - you’re unlikely to see all nine vinyl studio albums at once, but there’s usually a good selection of them, plus, as you say, the latest half-speed remasters. Gold is also readily available, both in picture disc and coloured vinyl. In terms of CDs, you’re likely to see Voyage. The deluxe box thing is still available (so much for that being a limited edition!). Again, a selection of albums plus Gold, More Gold and a couple of budget albums (not 18 Hits but other cheapo ones). Gold appears to be back in its black artwork, after years of being reversed (black text on gold). I don’t think I’ve ever seen the picture disc singles in an HMV. The picture disc studio albums are only available online I think.
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Post by Alan on Apr 12, 2024 18:47:23 GMT
johnny, Summer Night City got two different releases. The first in 2018 as a Record Store Day exclusive, and the second in 2019 as part of the reissue series in standard artwork picture disc. I’m assuming the charts company combined the two, as in your list it’s only shown in 2018? I’m assuming the chart placing shown is really for the 2019 issue, as the 2018 RSD version was much less widely available. Also, I’m assuming the two issues of Voulez-Vous (standard and extended, the latter with If It Wasn’t For The Nights as the b-side) were similarly combined? I notice the chart positions for The Visitors singles are lower than the others… guessing their December release meant there was more competition. And Waterloo’s position must be a combination of the English and Swedish versions (again, different b-sides).
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Post by Alan on Apr 12, 2024 13:27:24 GMT
It could just be that Björn and Benny/ABBA have some right of veto over these things. Polar is owned fully by Universal but perhaps ABBA are given slightly more control of certain things than we might think.
The original Now compilations from the 1980s are being reissued - they’re now at Now 17 from 1990 - and just about every reissue so far has omitted one or two tracks. Phil Collins is one that’s been missed off a few and Now 16 missed out Kate Bush. Both of those artists owned the rights to their recordings. ABBA don’t, having all sold their shares in Polar prior to the PolyGram acquisition in 1989, but I would hope they’d still have some say.
Personally I’m quite glad that ABBA songs don’t appear on these compilations. In the age of streaming, and even the average person being able to listen to any song by any act on the likes of YouTube, I don’t really see the point of them anyway.
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Post by Alan on Apr 10, 2024 21:50:55 GMT
It’s a bit déjà vu… 20 years ago, a photo from the same session was used on the Radio Times cover, and again referring to them getting nul points from the UK judges. It’s inexplicably gone up from 90p then to £4.50 now.
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Post by Alan on Apr 10, 2024 20:24:30 GMT
Just watched When ABBA Came to Britain. Really enjoyed it! It probably helped that the reports on here weren’t encouraging. They helped to lower my expectations. Glowing reviews would have done the opposite and I’d have been disappointed!
It was just the two bands that I didn’t really see the point of, especially the one with the guy with hair like Richard Beckinsale in Rising Damp. And not sure I believe the other band’s story about Agnetha randomly ringing them up. Everyone else on the programme had been connected to ABBA in some way (even the two fans who had at least met them), so the two bands stood out like a sore thumb.
The fans were interesting though, was good that they dug out the Late, Late Breakfast Show lad, and the Liverpudlian guy who met them in a hotel. And I’m impressed that they found some people from CBS Records from the time to hear their take. It’s a slight re-telling of the story though, as they signed ABBA well before Eurovision.
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Post by Alan on Apr 9, 2024 19:15:15 GMT
I have finally seen the 1974 contest. Simpler, shorter - and better than more recent years I can’t disagree! There was a sense that it was genuinely about the song (and who’s singing it). These days it’s too much about what’s going off on stage and what special effects they have. And 17 songs is about right - maybe they should have quarter finals as well as semi finals in today’s contest!! I even enjoyed the Wombles bit. I remember the TV show more than the pop act, but in this it was fun. I wonder… is the intro of Just A Notion on Voyage really a nod to Remember You’re A Womble? And is “No Doubt About It” a reference to what Katie Boyle said when she was announcing ABBA as the winner?
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Post by Alan on Apr 9, 2024 18:06:20 GMT
Moved a couple of posts to this thread from the main 50th anniversary one.
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Post by Alan on Apr 9, 2024 17:57:26 GMT
Moved some posts from the main 50th anniversary thread to this one, being as we already had a separate thread.
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Post by Alan on Apr 9, 2024 12:42:27 GMT
Regarding the Honey Honey single, well the Box is limited to 2800 pieces, how many boxes will count for UK? And the Honey Honey picture disc is (at least for my taste) one of the least well looking ones from the whole "Albums-The Singles" boxes. I didn't order it. Agreed: the singles/picture discs for the Waterloo set are the least inspired so far. But I think there are enough completists out there to push them into the vinyl chart for a week (maybe lower positions than previous sets?) That is a low number isn’t it? I can’t remember how many there were of the Arrival one, but I think it was the lowest and any subsequent box was produced in higher quantities than the previous. And with no Amazon sales and seemingly only official stores selling it, it must limit it. I haven’t ordered it yet as I spent my money on that one old I Have A Dream single, but come payday I’ll be ordering if its still available. I imagine though that it won’t be available for long and could end up as sought-after as the Arrival one, despite the company sleeves. Yes, Honey Honey picture disc is again unkind to Björn, just as the Head Over Heels one was. And I think he’ll quite literally get it in the neck again on the SOS one next year. Edit: I can only find issue limits for four of the previous singles boxes: Arrival - 2,000 The Album - 3,400 Voulez-Vous - 4,500 The Visitors - 3,000 Super Trouper - not known but I’ve seen a photo of one with the number 4,104, so must be more than that. It still appears to be readily available.
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Post by Alan on Apr 9, 2024 8:14:37 GMT
I watched More ABBA at the BBC last night. Thought it was OK. I noticed a mistake on the captions when they were referring to Glasgow and Super Trouper. It stated that Björn was missing Agnetha when he wrote it… it was his then future wife Lena wasn’t it?
For I Know There’s Something Going On, it mentioned she didn’t like Björn and Benny coming into the studio during the making of that album, and that they were making unnecessary comments that she was “fragile”. To be fair, they did show a 1982 interview with her promoting her solo album and she clearly wasn’t happy.
Not looking forward to When ABBA Came To Britain after Johnny’s review! I was hoping they’d got the message that no one really wants to hear celebrity talking heads (or indeed fans).
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Post by Alan on Apr 9, 2024 6:25:44 GMT
I think I’d read that somewhere before, jj but well spotted! Guessing it’s because the Wembley dates were 5 to 10 November and the single was released on 7 December, so there was only a month to get everything done. I checked the other Epic label variants and none of them have it. However, the Polar single does, where it’s given as 4:25 (which is accurate). The studio-recorded version of the track is 4:05. I’m assuming the applause must make up the difference as the live version is faster and, as you say, should therefore be shorter.
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Post by Alan on Apr 8, 2024 15:25:31 GMT
Saturday was ABBA’s 50th Eurovision anniversary, and I marked it (by complete coincidence) by taking delivery of this little beauty. The holy grail of ABBA collecting for me - more coveted than the original Epic Ring Ring single from 1973, which I still don’t have - was the Dutch pressing of I Have A Dream. A friend got it years ago and had never otherwise seen it for sale. A couple of weeks ago one finally turned up on the ‘Bay. Not taking any chances, I put a bid in that was nearly £100 more than I actually paid for it, though I still paid a lot! Thankfully I won it against two other bidders. This version of the Epic label, pressed in the Netherlands, is common for Super Trouper and Head Over Heels, and there’s also a (different) album version of it. For some reason, the I Have A Dream one is extremely rare.
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Post by Alan on Apr 7, 2024 22:07:34 GMT
I really enjoyed Eurovision 1974 on BBC Four tonight. I wasn’t expecting to. What struck me was how far ahead ABBA were in terms of looks and sound. There was nothing else like them. And I know the scoring system used that year had seemed odd - ABBA could have won a maximum of 170 points and only got 24 - but they still finished a clear six points ahead of the runner-up and no other country was ever ahead of them.
Apparently the British commentary for the scoring was lost, so we got the Dutch commentary instead. I remember David Vine primarily for snooker and skiing presentation so it still seems a little odd hearing him commentate for Eurovision in the pre-Terry Wogan days.
Poor Olivia. She was given a terrible song. She all but said so herself, preferring a song called Angel Eyes of the eight she performed for the UK’s Song For Europe. And that dress was questionable. David Vine said she sold the song well. I’d agree, but it was wasted on it. Long Live Love has largely been written out of her recording history - its accompanying album is better remembered for I Honestly Love You.
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Post by Alan on Apr 7, 2024 19:00:54 GMT
Not seen great reports on social media about the SVT gala.
Have to say though that without much support (if any) from ABBA, it’s extremely difficult for any of these celebrations to generate much interest.
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Post by Alan on Apr 7, 2024 15:14:40 GMT
ABBA in Switzerland looked like it has been restored - everything looked so crisp and vibrant. Is that since the last time it was on? Wasn’t all that long ago, I recorded it that time (think it was 2021). It’s struck me more on recent viewings that ABBA In Switzerland was belated promotion for The Album as much as the forthcoming Voulez-Vous. I think only one song - Mamma Mia - dates from before The Album. It makes sense though. Similar with Greatest Hits Vol 2 and the 1979/80 tour both heavily mining The Album (five tracks in each).
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Post by Alan on Apr 7, 2024 8:44:52 GMT
Excellent, baab, you’re such a regular as a guest that it’s great to see you’ve registered!
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Post by Alan on Apr 6, 2024 11:00:52 GMT
Posts relating to The Day Before You Came (which appeared to have been based on misunderstandings and a desire to cause trouble by some parties, and those with an apparent agenda) have been moved to an old topic for that song: abbachat.com/thread/1052/day-before-came
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Post by Alan on Apr 6, 2024 10:17:17 GMT
You’ve missed the point entirely, Tiger76. No one was slamming The Day Before You Came. The point that was being made that it’s supposed to be the nation’s favourite ABBA song, not fans giving five votes to one song (though that is allowed). And there was no hostile reaction to janabbafan’s post, but again they were missing the point, and expressed what I considered to be anti-UK sentiment when it was uncalled for, and therefore I defended the forum. Worse, they thought they were agreeing with Hometime, when he made no such comments, he was merely stating a fact. If you don’t post much on here and then come on with an attitude, expect to be responded to in the same manner. In any case, I do like Two For The Price of One (and The Day Before You Came for that matter) so if your comment was aimed at me, it misfired. Also, the forum is actually Australian and the admin is from that part of the world. OK, still Anglosphere or whatever you’d want to call it, but, hey, it’s an English-language forum!
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Post by Alan on Apr 5, 2024 20:43:11 GMT
Dutch Top 40 chart Head Over Heels #4 TDBYC #3 UA #5 Dutch Top 100 chart HOH #1 TDBYC #3 UA #7 I know you’re right on this, johnny, as I’ve read it before but for those of us that don’t understand the logic, why are the chart positions different? And which is “official”? I’m assuming the one that has Head Over Heels at number one, being as it’s the one Wikipedia uses. Is it like the UK “network” chart (as it was once known - no idea what it’s called now, or even if it still exists) compared with the official chart?
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Post by Alan on Apr 5, 2024 20:37:34 GMT
It wasn't an ABBA announcement. It was a person from BBC Radio 2 annoucement. BTW: "The day before you came" peaked at 3 in Holland. And "Under attack"at 5. It was claimed to be an “ABBA announcement” beforehand, so that’s what we thought it would be. It was indeed a Radio 2 announcement. Yep, I stand corrected on The Day Before You Came, it was number 3. The number 5 was West Germany. But STILL a decline compared to what went before. This forum is no more UK-centric than you are anti-UK. I would not consider a number 32 placing a “flop” in any case. Not great for ABBA but the decline had been slowed. It was Head Over Heels that marked the drop. A genuine “flop” is a single that doesn’t make the top 75 or whatever, though it’s acceptable to use the term for a single that doesn’t make the top 40.
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Post by Alan on Apr 5, 2024 19:47:35 GMT
This forum is actually too much an English forum. For UK people. It took me some time to discover this. There was the discussion about "The day before you came" and "Under attack" being flops in the UK. They were not in Holland. They were in the top 5. So: I realise that when I read this forum, I must be aware that it is (only) how the Britts are looking to ABBA. A huge fanbase though. But not representing the complete fanbase. So, that was all I wanted to say. Also a bit referring to that BBC radio 2 annoucement about huge ABBA news. That’s a bit unfair? Belgium and the Netherlands were the most loyal of ABBA markets and you pretty much made anything number one. Even Head Over Heels, one of only two countries to even make it top 10 within the ones covered by the Wikipedia ABBA discography. So, compared to Head Over Heels at number one (second single from The Visitors, after the album release), a number 5 [edit - later correction: number 3] placing for The Day Before You Came (a brand new single) is STILL a decline. Head Over Heels was number 25 in the UK, so The Day Before You Came at 32 is relatively comparable with the Netherlands. And in the UK, Under Attack did better at number 26, whereas in the Netherlands it did worse than its predecessor, at number 7. We assumed that this ABBA announcement was something “huge” as was claimed, such as a worldwide release of unreleased track(s). The fact that we thought the BBC had the exclusive on the reveal was entirely coincidental. Nothing whatsoever with being UK-centric. We just hoped that the BBC had been chosen as the platform for a major announcement, but had it been anywhere else it would have made no difference. But, in any case, it wasn’t to be.
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Post by Alan on Apr 5, 2024 19:31:42 GMT
As expected, we non-UK types can't vote. Gosh, sob, etc. Really? Is it linked to BBC iPlayer or something? My phone remembered my log-in details so I didn’t think much of it. A load of nonsense really as, even with a UK address, you can’t view content on iPlayer when you’re outside the UK.
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Post by Alan on Apr 5, 2024 18:46:03 GMT
I’m not sure what makes those people "experts", but OK. That reminds me of the French and Saunders sketches where they’re doing breakfast or daytime TV and Dawn’s character is the “expert” on whatever they’re discussing that week, and subsequently talks drivel as she knows nothing about the subject.
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Post by Alan on Apr 5, 2024 16:24:28 GMT
Your Ultimate ABBA Song - Full Shortlist
Andante Andante Angeleyes Another Town, Another Train Chiquitita Dance (While The Music Still Goes On) Dancing Queen The Day Before You Came Does Your Mother Know Don't Shut Me Down Eagle Fernando Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight) Happy New Year Hasta Mañana Head Over Heels Honey, Honey I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do I Have A Dream I Still Have Faith In You I’ve Been Waiting For You If It Wasn’t for The Nights Kisses Of Fire Knowing Me, Knowing You Lay All Your Love On Me Mamma Mia Money, Money, Money My Love, My Life The Name Of The Game One Of Us Our Last Summer Ring Ring Rock Me Slipping Through My Fingers So Long SOS Summer Night City Super Trouper Take A Chance On Me Thank You For The Music Under Attack The Visitors Voulez-Vous Waterloo Why Did It Have To Be Me The Winner Takes It All
Our shortlist has been chosen from ABBA’s 28 UK Top 40 hits, plus a selection of ABBA classics as chosen by our expert panel:
Lauren Brennan, Music Editor, Radio 2 Ste Softley, Head of Mostest Productions Helen Thomas, Head of Radio 2 Sara Cox, Presenter Radio 2 Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Singer, & Presenter, Radio 2 Robert Gallacher, Commissioning Editor, BBC Pop Fiona Day, Editor, BBC Audio Catherine Johnson, writer Mamma Mia book Carl Magnus Palm, ABBA Historian
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Post by Alan on Apr 5, 2024 16:20:25 GMT
For the record, my votes in the HUGE story went to Dancing Queen Knowing Me Knowing You Lay All Your Love On Me SOS Summer Night City Yes, I heard something this afternoon that you can only vote five times. How do they police that? Many people have more than one email address. And people can vote for, say, The Day Before You Came five times. It’s not over yet. I’m still clinging to the fact that the 1994 boxed set wasn’t released until the end of October and Live at Wembley in 2014 not until late September. I’m not sure when either of those were announced though. If there is an announcement of something interesting, hopefully it will be completely out of the blue and not built-up like this non-event was. I’m thinking nothing is going to happen though. The Waterloo releases, the documentary and the BBC stuff tomorrow might well be as good as it gets…
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Post by Alan on Apr 5, 2024 11:17:49 GMT
Nicked off PopJustice:
The new Dolby Atmos version of Waterloo sounds absolutely horrendous. The alternative language versions new to streaming sound like they’ve been remastered.
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Post by Alan on Apr 5, 2024 10:32:08 GMT
So what was the big reveal then? Owt or nowt? Radio 2 listeners get to vote for their favourite ever ABBA track or something, like it’s never been done before and can’t be rigged by people voting multiple times for The Day Before You Came (as has happened before). As soon as the Mamma Mia! party lot came on (and stayed far too long), my heart sank but this was far worse than I could ever have imagined.
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Post by Alan on Apr 5, 2024 10:28:40 GMT
It’s starting to seem like this is going to be the worst ever major Waterloo big anniversary year unless they pull something out of the bag.
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