ABBA Voyage: General Discussion 2018

From the NBC Site (A USA Broadcasting Network):

Friday 4th May 2018


After decades of fans saying “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!” the original ABBA is reuniting for a TV special, and now NBC has a title and premiere date for it. The Peacock said today that it will air "ABBA: Thank You for the Music, An All-Star Tribute" will in December.

The Swedish pop juggernaut’s two-hour special will feature Agnetha Faltskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Anderson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad performing their brand-new song “I Still Have Faith In You” — with a twist. It will be “sung” by a virtual ABBA: digital representation of the band in 1979 but voiced and recorded by the band members today.

The special — which will be broadcast around the world, with BBC Worldwide handle international distribution — also will feature “specially invited artists” playing ABBA classics including “Dancing Queen,” “Mamma Mia,” The Winner Takes It All” and “Take a Chance on Me.”

The band formed in 1972, broke out with the Eurovision-winning “Waterloo” two years later and went on to sell tens of millions of records and storm charts worldwide before splitting up in 1982. The band has been dormant ever since, other than a one-off private party in 2016. Rock fans of a certain age might remember Lyngstad 1982’s solo hit “I Know There’s Something Going On,” which she recorded as Frida and featured its producer Phil Collins on drums.

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From Broadway World (USA Entertainment Site):

NBC to Present "ABBA: THANK YOU FOR THE MUSIC, AN ALL-STAR TRIBUTE" This December

by BWW News Desk May. 4, 2018


Paying homage to one of the most influential groups of all time, NBC is celebrating Sweden's most popular export with "ABBA: Thank You for the Music, An All-Star Tribute." The two-hour special, set to air in December, will showcase specially invited artists performing classic songs made famous by ABBA, including "Dancing Queen", "Mamma Mia", The Winner Takes It All" and "Take A Chance On Me".

The once-in-a-lifetime event will be broadcast around the world to a global audience. BBC Worldwide will handle the international distribution.

One of the bestselling music groups of all time with album and single sales of 380 million, the four members of ABBA - Agnetha Faltskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Anderson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad - will be debuting their first new song in 35 years, written by Andersson and Ulvaeus. It is set to be performed by virtual ABBA, a state-of-the-art digital representation of the band in 1979 but voiced and recorded by ABBA today.

Agnetha, Benny, Björn and Anni-Frid said: "The decision to go ahead with the exciting ABBA avatar tour project had an unexpected consequence. We all four felt that, after some 35 years, it could be fun to join forces again and go into the recording studio. So we did. And it was like time had stood still and that we only had been away on a short holiday. An extremely joyful experience! It resulted in two new songs and one of them "I Still Have Faith In You" will be performed by our digital selves in a TV special produced by NBC and the BBC aimed for broadcasting in December. We may have come of age, but the song is new. And it feels good".

The telecast will be produced and directed by Johan Renck and executive produced by Simon Fuller, with Es Devlin on board as set designer.

"There is a lot of music in the DNA of NBC and we are so proud that the iconic members of ABBA and world-class producer Simon Fuller chose us to bring this incredible tribute special to the world," said Robert Greenblatt, Chairman, NBC Entertainment.

Added Paul Telegdy, President, Alternative and Reality Group, NBC Entertainment, "This network is also thrilled to be the home of brand new ABBA music for the first time in decades. It's a gift."

Simon Fuller said: "It has been such a pleasure to work with ABBA. To see their unique talent, passion and attention to every detail has been enlightening and a true honor. In this global TV event we will be able to celebrate the music of ABBA and see other incredible artists perform their wonderful songs. I still can't believe we will also be showcasing a new song, the first in over 35 years, which is set to ignite a whole new TIMELESS journey in their incredible career."

Johan Renck said: "As an adult, to find a new relation and perspective to the music that formed your childhood is a formidable thing, I feel tremendously fortunate to engage in this journey with a group that played such an integral part of my upbringing. We can't wait to make this event come to life"

The ABBA story began in the 1960s when Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson first met in Sweden and became songwriting partners. By 1969, they had met Agnetha Faltskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad and, after musical collaboration on each other's solo and duo acts, they began their career together as ABBA, achieving superstardom with their breakthrough hit "Waterloo," winning the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest, charting at No. 1 across Europe and reaching the Top 10 in the U.S.

In the years that followed, ABBA became successful around the world, releasing eight studio albums, two live albums, seven compilation albums, four tours and 73 singles. To date they have sold 380 million albums and singles worldwide. They became the first music group from a non-English speaking country to top the charts in English-speaking countries and their distinctive '70s-style costumes became synonymous with their unique look and sound.

Topping the charts globally from 1974-82, many of ABBA's songs have become TIMELESS classics internationally. ABBA placed 20 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 with 14 making the Top 40 and 10 soaring to the Top 20. "Dancing Queen" became a No. 1 hit in 1977 in the U.S. while "Take a Chance on Me," "Waterloo" and "The Winner Takes It All" peaked at No. 3, No. 6 and No. 8, respectively. In the U.K., ABBA had nine No. 1 singles, including "Dancing Queen" and "Super Trouper," 19 Top 10 hits and 26 in the Top 40s. Collectively, their singles retained entries in the U.K. Top 75 chart for a total of 260 weeks. They were named Vocal Group of the Year by the American Guild of Variety Artists in 1981 and won nine Bravo Otto Awards between 1974-82. In 2010, they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by BARRY and Robin Gibb.

In 1999, ABBA's songs were the inspiration for the West End and Broadway hit musical "Mamma Mia!" and the film that followed, "Mamma Mia!" became a box office smash, and became the fifth highest-grossing film of 2008. The 2018 seque,l "Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again," starring Meryl Streep, Colin Firth, Pierce Brosnan, Amanda Seyfried, Christine Baranski, Stellan Skarsgård, Julie Walters and Dominic Cooper, is set for global release in July.

According to sources, Agnetha has the lead on one the songs and Frida on the other.
One song is probably a ballad the other more up tempo.
Not certain as to who has lead on which song.
Both songs will be available separately on CD single and vinyl 45.
B sides as of yet undetermined.

I don't think so... they did it that way when they were active as a group. It was quite natural - recording many songs for an upcoming album and then choosing the singles. Also, they always said that they worked the way that every song recorded was a potential single (no filler material for the albums). So I guess this time they really recorded just the two songs. Maybe Björn and Benny have written more but then they chose just the two they thought were best and recorded them...

Well, I wouldn't be surprised if e.g. Dancing Queen or any other of the well-known songs was used for the B-side...

Maybe an alternative version of the songs. Not sure if they would release anything on the b side that did not make the grade for fear of sub standard songs tarnishing the new releases. Maybe something from Mamma Mia 2 like WIKTT or IBWFY.

It could just be a re mix.. i.e. The rainbow mix 

I guess the remixes are more likely - either of the new songs or some of the old ones - maybe some of those that they're not completely happy with...

By the way, I think that Universal will try many different ways to make people buy the singles, possibly even multiple times. I guess we can expect picture discs, coloured vinyls or even CD-singles with different covers (remember Agnetha's When You Walk In The Room single... or Michael Jackson's Invincible album)

I hope that will happen. 

In case if Tretow couldn't make it, whatever the circumstances...

Any producer but Ludvig Andersson and Bernard Lohr! Anybody BUT them. Somebody, who they can hold a candle (and, in addition, be a unique producer and not a copycat) to Michael B. Tretow, will be fine if they step in as primary sound engineer and craft the sound on the new singles and/or album.

Here is ABBA Spokesperson, Gorel Hanser, at ABBA The Museum, being interviewed
- by various ABBA Fans.

 She answers questions about the 2 New Songs.

 She says that there are 'no plans' - at present - to release an ABBA Compilation, when
the ABBATars Tour starts.

  There are also 'no plans' - at present - for ABBA to record a New Album.

  We will see what ABBA decide to do, as 2019 goes by...

 The 2 New Songs are definitely being released on both 7 Inch Vinyl and CD Single. 
Not just as Downloads.

Gorel also says that ABBA willl not be releasing the 1977 Tour footage on DVD etc.
They've looked at it all and they've decided not to release it...


GOREL'S INTERVIEW WITH SOME ABBA FANS

That line made me smile when I first read it.  Nice to see Bjorn (presumably) still slightly overreaching himself in the English department and misusing old idiomatic phrase (in a way that remains winning) after all this time. Another little example of "just like the old days" - since many years [sic] we haven't had this in an ABBA context!  This vouchsafes for me that they drafted the statement themselves.

This was on the ABBA Intermezzo Site -- Dated Tuesday 15th May. It is by one of the Musicians, who was on so many ABBA Tracks.
It is his - Lasse Wellander - account of playing on the 2 New ABBA Singles in June 2017.

Lasse Wellander has commented on the ABBA recording session in 2017 in the Swedish press.

Lasse can't remember if it was Björn or Benny who phoned him last year and invited him into the studio. He was not told what they would do. It was
only after entering the studio he realized what it was all about. Lasse of course finds it great that ABBA has returned into the studio, but admits being
a bit surprised. The new songs are of course really good. But Lasse can't remember them completely as the recordings were almost a year ago. The
nature of his work as musician is that he goes to a studio, does his part of the backing track and overdubs and then continues to his next engagement.
But it is not techno or house, it will sound like ABBA. About the ABBA Avatar Tour Lasse, 65, tells that he has been asked to join the band but he
does not know if he would like to travel around the world with it. Maybe he could come along if there are some shows in Sweden.

That's true. I had a discussion with someone else on a different board who said that A was so heavily autotuned that he wondered whether there was anything left of Agnetha's voice. However, Hören Elofsson claimed that nothing was autotuned on A, so maybe it's really the tone of her voice. The last chorus on The Angels Cry does indeed sound like it was heavily autotuned which of course wasn't possible back then.

I still cannot really believe that ABBA have recorded together again.

Some Days I wake up and think that it is all a 'Dream', or that I've somehow drifted into
another Dimension, where such a thing has truly happened.

It is incredibly hard for me to accept that they really have recorded 2 New Songs.

I never expected such a thing to ever happen.

I was going through a very bad time, (in my mind), for the first Months of this Year.

I came very close to giving up.

At night I'd ask myself, 'Can you think of a single reason to go on?'

Each morning I asked myself the same thing.

Suddenly, I have 2 New ABBA Songs to listen to. It was like 'God' was answering me...