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Post by wombat on Nov 5, 2018 19:09:20 GMT
I dont see it that way. Abba had Take a Chance on Me, a big hit in the States in 1978, a number one in 76... what was yet another disco hit going to do? Are you saying Take A Chance On Me is a disco song? I've never thought of it as a disco song and never heard it described as such. Not really. Its sort of a disco song, yeah, kind of - it has certain disco-ish elements running thru it here and there..altho the bass line at times starts to sound like a german beat oom-pah schlager! However I wasnt really meaning that.... what I was trying to say (and obviously failed) was that Abba already had major hits in the USA AM pop area right around the time of this disco song by the BeeGees. I'm not sure a disco hit would have made any difference in their desire, or perhaps small desire, of becoming a huge act in the USA.
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Post by wombat on Nov 5, 2018 15:53:46 GMT
wombat , you're right, the song is not especially good and as for the Saturday Night Fever, I've never cared for it much. But since it was so huge, it might have given ABBA that little something that was needed to really break through in the US. And they certainly wished that, even if they had the rest of the world at their feet. But maybe it's good they didn't do it as they would be blamed (again) of calculations and being in it just for the money… I dont see it that way. Abba had Take a Chance on Me, a big hit in the States in 1978, a number one in 76... what was yet another disco hit going to do? From what I've read, especially from Benny, the only thing that would have "broken them thru in the States" was face time. Spending a long time in the USA and they didnt want to do that. Benny said so. I dont see another disco single, regardless of who wrote it or how big of a hit that might have been... as changing that. Back then in the late 70s, there was basically one way for a rock group to make it on top in the USA. Touring. A lot. the scene was different back then as well. Abbas songs were seen as pop or disco and they were seldom heard on the more important FM stations, which played the big rock bands. the Who, Zeppelin etc. Sure bands like Fleetwood Mac and the Eagles also had AM pop hits (like Abba) but they got tons of airplay also on the FM. AND they toured the country fairly often. Abba wasnt going to get the FM market by coming over once every 18 months and doing a couple of TV shows. Another disco hit wasnt going to make much difference in that. Just my opinion of course... but I lived in the States then, always have, and I went to concerts, bought albums, listened to the radio.... I was there.
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Post by wombat on Nov 2, 2018 14:07:15 GMT
Did they really need help in the US at that point? When they were more or less taking over much of the rest of the world?
I'm glad they didnt do it, as I hated the song anyway... but that is just my opinion.
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Post by wombat on Oct 3, 2018 14:18:44 GMT
OK, some of this talk has lured me out of "semi-retirement." I have a couple of thoughts/speculations. I would be shocked if anyone thought it was a good idea to broadcast "I Still Have Faith In You" in December and hold off on releasing it until January. Yes, January is a traditionally quiet month that allows some new releases to shine a little brighter. But if the TV special is big and important, it is likely to draw big pre-Christmas viewing figures. Moot point now I guess, but, yes I completely agree. I remember back in the 90s, Neil Young appeared on a Saturday Night Live and debuted his song, "Rockin the Free World". The performance was quite good and I remember the CD set some sort of sales record for purchases on a Sunday... the very next day. Think about now, where you dont even have to go to a store! Bjorn and Benny arent idiots, they know full well the songs MUST be available for download at the same time the songs are premiered. Its almost certain they will be.
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Post by wombat on May 22, 2018 16:42:50 GMT
^^^^
thats interesting to hear that B&B called in their old guitar playing friend for the new tracks.
Does anyone know if they called anybody else we might know? Some of them arent around any more....
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Post by wombat on May 8, 2018 19:24:12 GMT
Is Tretow still working, or too ill?
I wonder if he worked on the singles... I'm guessing Benny has an entire staff now anyway.
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Post by wombat on May 4, 2018 17:46:23 GMT
So if we all stream that should help. Not sure why the album chart and physical sales should be different from the singles chart. Streaming seems to de value the number one title. Does this happen in the USA charts? I dont know. This is the only forum I read, where charts are even discussed. On every other music forum I read, its as if charts do not exist or have no relevance. Back in the day we had a radio show, Kasey Kasems Countdown, and I think he went by the Billboard 100 and a LOT of people listened to that and enjoyed it. Today? I have no idea. Everytime I even glance at the Billboard 100 I see tons of rap and hip hop and bunches of artists I've never heard of. So I dont really care if the new Abba songs make the USA or the UK charts. If I like them, great, I dont care what the mainstream music audience likes.
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Post by wombat on Apr 27, 2018 13:09:25 GMT
its all over the interwebz.
I guess its the real deal!
Who knows what will happen now... maybe it will be a huge hit and we'll get even more music!
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Post by wombat on Mar 13, 2018 14:15:24 GMT
As an american, I have to wonder why things like this still get made for the UK.. .these awful "docudramas" about abba, dwelling on the tawdry events of their personal lives, the soap opera aspect of it.
Here in the States, we had a somewhat similar soap opera with a VERY popular band, Fleetwood Mac. I realize there are substantial differences between the two bands and the soap opera story, however, the point remains...
all music fans know of the Fleetwood Mac soap opera, and it would probably make good tv... yet it never does. Except for the odd thing that gets dragged out very infrequently, such as the VH1 Behind the Music things, those were many many years ago.
So why is it that Abba gets into the UK as a soap opera, more than Fleetwood Mac here? Perhaps Mac has better lawyers, I dont know.
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Post by wombat on Mar 12, 2018 19:25:17 GMT
the Visitors
I really dont think they're much of a Halloween band....
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Post by wombat on Feb 15, 2018 18:57:19 GMT
an example of the problem - a certain segment of the public DOES associate Abba as being gay.
heres a quote from another forum, not saying who or which forum - this was concerning whether or not something seemed gay.
...."all the closet Roxette fans who wont go public. Come out and own it. Not like its Abba. Jeeeezzzz"
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Post by wombat on Feb 9, 2018 21:44:57 GMT
..... Or - if it really does not work at all, they may not care about time & cash, & they may simply scrap the entire thing. .... as they have done, so many times before
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Post by wombat on Feb 8, 2018 22:10:12 GMT
thats a good point
almost everybody likes Abba now, some more openly than others. I'm not saying everybody is a hard core fan - but even on other forums I read, where 20 years ago Abba would have been scorned and written off as lightweight pop drivel - even there, a LOT of guys acknowledge how good Abba was and how much they like their music.
I know at least agnetha acknowledges the big time gay connection, but, its not like "only gay people like Abba now". That's ridiculous.
So I dont know why Hollywood continues to use Abba as a symbol of "this is gay".
old stereotypes die hard I guess.
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Post by wombat on Feb 7, 2018 20:34:56 GMT
Ha!
Well, there are lots of gorgeous lady singers in the history of pop, that didnt have anywhere near the success of those two. So it obviously wasnt about glamour and beauty and mini-skirts... altho I, for one, am delighted they chose the mini-skirt as their flag to wave... as it were.
I mean, I knew they were gorgeous when they were popular in the 70s. But I hated Abba then. I was a punk rocker.
I dont know. Without those songs.... would they have achieved all that?
Who knows. I dont understand the Abba/gay connection either.
But it is there, or, appears to be, enough that Hollywood sometimes "uses" Abba to suggest "gay".
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Post by wombat on Feb 7, 2018 18:47:47 GMT
that shouldnt surprise anybody - a lot of people see Abba as gay icons.
It's a stereotype but in part, at least here in the States, formulated on truth. The vast majority of real Abba fans that I know, are all gay. I'm the only straight one that I know of.
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Post by wombat on Feb 7, 2018 14:36:32 GMT
you mean as a gay reference, or something else?
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Post by wombat on Dec 14, 2017 19:31:22 GMT
^^^^
good post, yes I agree, its often difficult to tell what was live and what wasnt... unless its obvious (Frida on the Australian TV special with the mic nowhere near her mouth for example)
I always assumed the Don Kirschner TV performance was completely canned because in the USA, there were no live mic rules (at the time). But hey I could be wrong about that too.
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Post by wombat on Dec 11, 2017 16:31:44 GMT
I liked the Made in Sweden special, particularly the performance of So Long That was a great performance I like that special also - and the Seaside Special from UK - and particularly the Don Kirshner's Rock Concert from 1975. They give us a really good look at how ABBA performed in the earlier times - before they became more kind of 'refined'. I love these performances Agree... anything in 1975-76 from them was generally good, often great. The Seaside Special is unique because the song was re-recorded and apparently Agnetha's vocal is, for once, actually live. Or at least it sure seems that way... and at the time, broadcast rules from the UK would require at least one live microphone and so usually it was the singers mic. The Kirschner performance is the exact opposite. Totally lip sync'd. Usually those are dull for me. The Made in Sweden special is lip sync'd but the girls are breathtakingly beautiful there so.... thumbs up. Plus Frida's enthusiastic gyrating in that mini-skirt. wow! My favorite special is probably Switzerland. Worst is a tie for me.... some of the lip sync'd performances from the Australian TV thing. Frida isnt even trying to pretend her mic is live, she's holding it like an ice cream cone and half the time it isnt anywhere near her mouth... she's just dancing around. LOL! However its entertaining if nothing else... I think the saddest is the simul-cast from Stockholm to the final Late Late Breakfast show. Consider that apparently as soon as the cameras turned off, the band members got in their separate cars and drove away and that was the end of Abba.
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Post by wombat on Oct 20, 2017 15:18:46 GMT
in the US charts, neither he, nor abba, are anywhere to be found. I guess thats not surprising Look here and prepare to be nauseated. My goodness. And they wonder why I listen to "old stuff". www.billboard.com/charts/billboard-200
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Post by wombat on Oct 18, 2017 16:05:57 GMT
Have you thought about trying to release this as a VST plug in?
If it works as well as people here are saying, you might be in for a pleasant surprise. There are lots of people who edit songs for their own purposes in DAWs or freeware like Audacity.
You might be sitting on a gold mine.
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Post by wombat on Oct 2, 2017 13:46:00 GMT
I cant remember, but I know I did read that. On the night they used for the album, one of the drum mics failed or fell off the stand or something... whatever the reason, they had no track for that drum. So Ludwig patched in that drum mic track from one of the other nights.
Thats the only thing they admitted to doing behind the scenes. The whole affair is so drowned in reverb and delay, I really do wonder if they are telling the truth. They might be, Agnetha doesnt sound too great at times, a friend told me he read she was ill. So if they were going to do a real patchwork thing, perhaps they would have picked another night for her vocal.
Who knows. Maybe the venue sounded like that, boomy and lots of echo and thats just the way it was. The drums sound especially bad to me.
But thats just my opinion.
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Post by wombat on Sept 29, 2017 14:51:02 GMT
Personally, I hated the drum sound on the Wembley live album. Way too much reverb and delay, at first I wondered if they were hiding something because of it.
Turns out, they were.... Ludwig had to patch in a track from another night and tons of reverb and delay is an old mixing trick used to hide stuff like that, make it all seem "together" or from the same source, when it really isnt.
This has been asked before, but I cant remember... does a complete multi-track of a 1977 concert exist in the vault?
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Post by wombat on Sept 21, 2017 19:46:40 GMT
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Post by wombat on Sept 19, 2017 14:06:50 GMT
"Supertrouper" maybe for the most important for me, because it was the first one I put under headphones and realized what recording geniuses they were. After that I think it was "Gold". Hooked after those two.
This was probably 30-40 years after hearing them on the radio and hating them for being a disco band. Time has a strange way of changing things.
I love the Beach Boys old surf music stuff, I can often hear the influence on Abba, in some ways. Beatles too of course. I wonder if Benny would say, no, it wasnt the surf music at all, it was Pet Sounds haha.
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Post by wombat on Sept 18, 2017 18:06:43 GMT
Personally, I dont think so.
I see them as having a very long-lasting legacy, particularly in Europe. However in the States they werent as influential. They were seen as pop fluff or later disco, and wasnt until the last 20 years or so that they were viewed as masters of pop perfection. So, not that influential, perhaps equals not that "important"... at least in terms of critics.
I do agree they were an historically important group, for other reasons, especially being the first group from the Nordics to have any kind of impact... without the benefit of a brit or USA manager or label or studio. Quite an achievement.
I dont care if their albums are important to critics or not. I mean, they all fawn over Pet Sounds and that one doesnt do much for me.
Critics usually make me barf anyway. I like Abba's albums, and thats enough for me.
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Post by wombat on Sept 18, 2017 17:59:26 GMT
Something like this is what I'm suspecting. This is a huge phenomenon in Japan. The band is real. The "singer" is a 3D hologram of an anime character with pre-recorded vocal.
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Post by wombat on Jul 31, 2017 19:38:22 GMT
just curious, what are you using? a DAW like pro-tools or Sonar or cubase or Reaper or something like that?
Or a free one like Audacity or Audition, using VST plug-ins... or something completely different?
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Post by wombat on Jul 31, 2017 16:06:20 GMT
There was a thread about Agnetha on another forum I read, and I made a sort of jesting comment and called her Aggie.
Somebody from Germany got their panties in a bunch and said it was "vulgar" to call her that.
Is this normal? Is Aggie a nasty word in German or something?
I thought it was simply an affectionate nickname Abba fans gave her.
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Post by wombat on Jun 26, 2017 20:14:07 GMT
I've always wondered the same. There is conflicting information on the matter - according to Björn and Benny they often urged Agnetha to write something for the group and according to Agnetha she thought her material wasn't good enough. On the other hand she said she was happy they wanted Disillusion and disappointed when I'm Still Alive didn't make it to the Super Trouper album (who made the decision then?). I kind of feel she was a bit protective of her own material and somehow preferred to keep it for her solo records too (even Disillusion was later transformed into Mina Ögon). And why she stopped completely is another thing I don't understand but all the aspects you mentioned are probably right - i.e. she was tired of it (mentioning in an interview that she struggled with I Won't Let You Go whole summer) and probably with passing years she faced the same problem as Björn and Benny - i.e. her demands on herself were growing and unlike B&B she wasn't able (or willing) to continue with songwriting that would be satisfactory for her... yes nobody really knows the answer except Agnetha and probably Bjorn. There could be a million reasons. I've often wondered if she got tired of it all, writing and producing - and simply decided it was easier to let Bjorn and Benny do it all (they were good at it) - maybe that gave her more time and freedom for whatever else she wanted to do. I guess I could understand that, but a talent like that, basically just giving it all up? Seems strange, but, plenty of musicians have grown tired of the whole thing. Maybe at that point in her life, it was easier to just show up and sing when they were ready for her. I dont know... its one of the great mysteries of Abba
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Post by wombat on Jun 26, 2017 13:16:55 GMT
I wouldn't say the chorus is stolen. The vocal melody in On And On And On is quite different. What is similar is the backing vocal arrangement which, however, I wouldn't classify as stolen but rather as inspired by. Abba stole it ;-) everybody knows Benny was a hardcore beach boys fan. its pretty obvious abba knicked that backing vocal line, probably in homage. amateurs borrow, professionals steal.
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