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Post by Deleted on Aug 15, 2019 12:12:43 GMT
I remember the summer of 1979 and hearing ABBA's double A-side release of both songs. I used to prefer VV to A. However, recently I have been listening to A frequently and now prefer it to VV. I went through a love/hate relationship with A over the years which leads me to start another discussion regarding fans' love/hate relationship with ABBA songs. PS it still narks me that "Rock Me" was included within the compilation "Greatest Hits Vol 2". Why ? The record companies were clearly deluded.
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Post by Alan on Aug 15, 2019 16:39:01 GMT
Rock Me was included on Greatest Hits Vol 2 as it was a hit in Australia (in reality, it was the flip side of I Do and they merely turned over the same record and promoted it). I Wonder is the real head-scratcher. The only one not to be a single anywhere.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 15, 2019 20:54:37 GMT
'Rock Me' reached No.4 in Australia and No.2 in New Zealand. In both Countries its 'I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do', 'A'
Side was a No.1 Hit. I always thought that 'Rock Me' sounded like ABBA trying to copy off Slade. It is more of a Rock
'Shouty' Song, than an ABBA Pop Song. 'Rock Me' was going to be used in a 'Boat Scene' in 'Mamma Mia!', but they
decided to leave it out...
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Post by foreverfan on Aug 21, 2019 14:22:20 GMT
Today.. Ironically Angeleyes played on UK radio 2 Steve Wright in the Afternoon show.. couldn’t believe 40 years ago and mentioned that the harmonies are very complicated.. Its been a little bit of ABBA this week I’ve heard VV and DQ in the past few days.. still radio favourites..  |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 21, 2019 17:17:45 GMT
I don't think some of the DJ's on Radio 1 were fans of ABBA in particular Peter Powell, Richard Skinner and Mark Goodacre. The loyal ones were Tony Blackburn who used to present on Radio 1 and Terry Wogan who presented on Radio 2 all the while.
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Post by HOMETIME on Aug 22, 2019 19:30:04 GMT
I've never been a fan of the whole Double A-side concept if both tracks are from the same album. One track always suffers, like a default B-side. "Voulez-Vous" was strong enough to lead a charge on the charts on its own. I wasn't so confident about "Angeleyes" at the time and was a little taken aback that its side A1 status effectively relegated the album's sassy title track to almost-B-side status.
All these years later, I tend to favour "Angeleyes" over "Voulez-Vous." I love the whole Motown/disco hybrid and the way that its intrinsic ABBAness cuts through any categorisation. What really tipped the balance for me, was John Grant's gorgeously heartbroken acoustic cover.
Speaking of the intricate harmonies on offer, I recently found these videos on YouTube. Both sides of the single represented.
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Post by madonnabba on Aug 22, 2019 20:50:20 GMT
Love both of these tracks. I consider them to be two of the strongest tracks on the album. Interesting to hear just the vocals.
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Post by Alan on Aug 22, 2019 21:38:49 GMT
What really tipped the balance for me, was John Grant's gorgeously heartbroken acoustic cover. And also the Czars’ version. Is it just me, or do the lyrics sound quite sinister in these versions? It’s now a man singing and the “young girl” line is changed to “young boy” and to me this implies something much worse is going on. I seem to recall a disagreement I had with a non-native English speaker on a previous forum about how “young girl” can still imply someone of 16 or older but “young boy” might not. Certainly in UK English, we’d tend to say “young man” or “young lad” to mean a young adult. For some unknown reason, “girl” or even “young girl” can still imply someone in their late teens or early 20s. A friend heard one of those versions (I think it was the Czars one) and, although they knew it was an ABBA cover, they weren’t familiar with the original. At that point, I hadn’t heard the version they were referring to but they wanted me to confirm what and who the song is about in ABBA’s version. It was only when I heard it for myself that I realised why they were asking. |
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Post by shoshin on Aug 22, 2019 23:38:30 GMT
I don't think some of the DJ's on Radio 1 were fans of ABBA in particular Peter Powell, Richard Skinner and Mark Goodacre. The loyal ones were Tony Blackburn who used to present on Radio 1 and Terry Wogan who presented on Radio 2 all the while. In the video below, Richard Skinner is interviewing ABBA, which is being recorded for another programme. He thinks that he is being asked to put a question to ABBA (why are they so big around the world), but they actually want his own opinion. While Skinner's spur of the moment compliment doesn't mark him out as a fan, it seems fairly genuine
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Post by HOMETIME on Aug 23, 2019 12:17:51 GMT
What really tipped the balance for me, was John Grant's gorgeously heartbroken acoustic cover. And also the Czars’ version. Is it just me, or do the lyrics sound quite sinister in these versions? It’s now a man singing and the “young girl” line is changed to “young boy” and to me this implies something much worse is going on. Sorry, Alan. I did mean The Czars (lead vocal by John Grant; I know he did a live version with Villagers later, but the Czars' version is the definitive one for me) I have to admit that I didn't notice the "young boy" nuance at first, and simply wondered why he hadn't used "guy" instead. The sinister retelling really changes everything, adding layers and layers to an otherwise traditional love gone wrong lyric. Grant is quite the ABBA fan. He also does a lovely modern version of "My Love, My Life." I know that the whole Mamma Mia thing is enormously successful, but there are times when I try to imagine a whole new story rooted in ABBA songs, something more human and relatable. For instance, I feel that "I Wonder (Departure)" could be a coming out song - you wouldn't even have to change a word. Weaving that alternative "Angeleyes" theme into the storyline would make things darker, but if ABBA's music couldn't soundtrack a dark story, whose could? |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 23, 2019 12:27:33 GMT
Richard Skinner certainly plays with a nice straight bat there. Impossible to tell his inmost thoughts, of course, but at the very least he avoids answering with that amused, ironic tone beloved of so many radio/media types and focuses on giving a pretty solid, fact-based reply. |
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Post by Alan on Aug 23, 2019 12:57:22 GMT
HOMETIME, yes, “young guy” is another acceptable alternative I was looking for. The combination of “young” and “boy” suggests only one thing to me. It must have been intentional in both those versions?
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Post by HOMETIME on Aug 24, 2019 12:52:41 GMT
I wonder if John Grant is on Twitter.... Maybe I could ask him that question.
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Post by Zeebee on Aug 26, 2019 20:52:33 GMT
I seem to recall a disagreement I had with a non-native English speaker on a previous forum about how “young girl” can still imply someone of 16 or older but “young boy” might not. Certainly in UK English, we’d tend to say “young man” or “young lad” to mean a young adult. For some unknown reason, “girl” or even “young girl” can still imply someone in their late teens or early 20s. The same is true here in the USA.
If a male singer were to record a cover of I Am Just A Girl, hopefully it would be I Am Just A Guy, not I Am Just A Boy.
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Post by josef on Aug 26, 2019 22:27:29 GMT
It's such a shame we live in a world where words can have an ominous meaning that might not be intended. Such is life. I do love John Grant's version of Angeleyes. That's the way to cover an ABBA song- take a totally different approach. For some reason, covers of ABBA songs seem to work best when stripped back.
Incidentally, I can remember thinking back in the day how the ABBA members were always referred to as "the girls" or "the boys" when in fact they were fully grown adults already in their twenties. I guess it was easier. We can make too much of things, especially these days. Times have changed. A perfectly innocent expression can now have a totally different perception now. It's all about intention. Gotta tread carefully. I'm not sure Björn wouldn't tweak the lyrics of, say, a song like 'Does Your Mother Know' now. Having said that, it can also go the other way- many songs these days are explicitly sexual and so on. Maybe I'm getting old but I really think it's a poor show when so-called artists resort to scraping the barrel using references to violence and gun crime and refer to women in quite a derogatory way. Etc. Anyway, homily over!
I think we were quite lucky to have ABBA - not squeaky clean but they sang about LOVE. Something sorely lacking in this increasingly troubled world.
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Post by HOMETIME on Aug 27, 2019 13:04:03 GMT
The evolution of language, intention, and artistic reinterpretation might all have a part to play here. If English wasn't John Grant's first language, I'd be better prepared to consider it a linguistic accident.The replacement of just one word in "Angeleyes" changes the story utterly. I think Bjorn would approve. I think it unlikely that Grant, a very intelligent and articulate lyricist himself, would have been unaware of the different impact of the difference between guy and boy.
As for "the boys and girls in ABBA," my elderly neighbour refers to other women as girls - one such girl celebrated her 70th birthday last Sunday. I notice that Benny and Bjorn have to stop themselves referring to Frida and Agnetha as girls. It's cute (even if one the accidental sexism drives one of my friends insane!).
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Post by Deleted on Aug 27, 2019 17:01:51 GMT
Thank you very much, Hometime, for the alternate versions of "Angeleyes" and "Voulez-Vous". It is interesting to hear different mixes and demo versions of ABBA songs. It is pure testimony that every attention to detail was so cleverly emphasised on each recording. ABBA were truly talented.
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