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Post by Deleted on Oct 5, 2019 17:10:17 GMT
What are your thoughts regarding ABBA cover versions ? For me, the songs immediately lose their shine and sparkle performed by other artists. The originals are always the best. Although, I checked out Hazell Dean's album of ABBA covers online and it wasn't bad at all. Miles better than Cher's. Erasure's mini EP wasn't bad either. They actually inspired and created the whole ABBA revival. However, it is very cringeworthy when contestants perform ABBA songs on these talent shows which I never watch as these shows are as exciting as watching paint dry ! Personally, it is a travesty of ABBA's timeless music when these so called artists " interpret " them. Also, I am not a fan of tribute acts as there are far too many. Nobody can emulate ABBA as a band, however hard they try. I wish You Tube would stop these endless ABBA playlists as so many are not ABBA recordings at all but inferior covers.
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Post by Michal on Oct 5, 2019 17:53:38 GMT
I would not dismiss all ABBA covers as bad. There are some that are really good - Sissel's Like An Angel Passing Through My Room for example (which is as good as the original at the least), Helen Sjöholm's Money, Money, Money or Laleh's Chiquitita. I also like some of the metal covers such as At Vance's take on The Winner Takes It All (and there are many more in this genre - the metal groups seem to appreciate ABBA's music quite a lot - check out Yngwie Malmsteen, Halloween or Edguy).
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Post by josef on Oct 6, 2019 10:21:17 GMT
I'll give them a listen with an open mind but there aren't many I like and none that I prefer to the originals. I'm not averse to them although a really bad one can incite my wrath.
The kind of cover I like tends to be an acoustic version that's been given a very bare treatment. I don't see the point in trying to copy the original. I'm sure one day I'll discover a cover of an ABBA song that I like more (I know, sacrilege!) but it hasn't happened yet.
I noticed recently just HOW many of ABBA's songs have been covered! Sinead O'Connor has even covered Chiquitita. I like her work but for me this fell short
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Post by richard on Oct 6, 2019 12:28:52 GMT
I like listening to instrumental music as much as I do to vocal music, so I'd love to to hear interpretations of ABBA from, say, a jazz piano trio or a classical chamber music group. This kind of thing would help foster a greater awareness of, and appreciation for, the quality of the tunes especially, I think; and help, in a small way, in future-proofing them if it became a recurring occurrence, free of the novelty aspect.
However, I don't go much on some of the orchestral arrangements of ABBA songs I've heard: overblown, and with pop percussion, they sound a bit naff to me.
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Post by shoshin on Oct 6, 2019 18:48:28 GMT
I like listening to instrumental music as much as I do to vocal music, so I'd love to to hear interpretations of ABBA from, say, a jazz piano trio or a classical chamber music group...
Check out one of my old threads about Judith Nijland's interesting Jazz Tribute to ABBA 
abbachat.boards.net/thread/720/abba-all-jazz
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Post by richard on Oct 6, 2019 21:23:09 GMT
Thanks for the link. I'd like to hear others try to do interesting things with ABBA songs, too.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 20, 2019 20:34:54 GMT
Here is a recent You Tube Video, (Friday 15th November), of a 2,100 Member Choir singing
'Dancing Queen', in the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, (Capital of Canada). I think that it is
fun, charming and heartwarming. It is by Choir! Choir! Choir!, who are currently on an EPIC
ABBA Singalong Tour of Canada. Basically, the Audience becomes the Choir:
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Post by HOMETIME on Nov 27, 2019 20:10:29 GMT
^^When I eventually start a cult, that is what the services will be like!
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Post by josef on Nov 29, 2019 14:39:06 GMT
I'm not sure why but I wasn't massively impressed with that choir. I get it, but something about it is 'off' to me.
Even so, I'd like to think Agnetha and Frida would view this and feel immensely proud.
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Post by jj on Sept 8, 2020 17:23:55 GMT
I just heard this and was quite moved:
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Post by gamleman on Sept 9, 2020 8:07:10 GMT
I may actually prefer this (Spanish) version of "Andante Andante" to ABBA's, although it does feature Frida on lead vocal.
I also consider Mike Oldfield's version of "Arrival" to be on an equal footing to ABBA's original.
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Post by Zeebee on Sept 10, 2020 20:37:04 GMT
Here is Mireille Mathieu's French version of The Winner Takes It All.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 2, 2023 0:02:28 GMT
I have sometimes wondered whether Bowie had an opinion on ABBA, and now it seems like he had...
There's another YT channel where an impersonator of him does 'covers', but this sounds authentic (if it is fake, it's very well done).
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Post by Deleted on Feb 3, 2023 12:41:09 GMT
The appeal of ABBA's music lies in its originality and unique sound, which can be difficult to replicate in cover versions. While some covers may be well-received, it's understandable that you prefer the original versions of the songs. It's a matter of personal taste, and everyone is entitled to their own opinion.
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Post by chron on Feb 6, 2023 14:08:32 GMT
The appeal of ABBA's music lies in its originality and unique sound, which can be difficult to replicate in cover versions. But there's the rub: replication can't lead to originality or uniqueness, which is why the work of non-tribute pop acts can feel closer to embodying the creative spirit of ABBA than the efforts of 'duplicationists' such as Bjorn Again or the band being employed to provide the backing music for the Voyage show. There is something inherently empty about simulation. |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 6, 2023 17:24:30 GMT
I agree with Chronington. If you just try to copy you are on to a loser.
The best covers sound VERY different from the original.
Examples
Walk on by - The Stranglers (Dionne Warwick original)
Always on My Mind - Pet Shop Boys. This classic previously by Andy Williams (I think), Elvis and Willie Nelson.
Smooth Criminal - Alien Ant Farm's cover of the Michael Jackson hit.
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Post by Alan on Feb 6, 2023 17:50:37 GMT
I tend to prefer whichever version of a song I heard first, be it a cover version or the original. Happens less often these days as most new cover versions I hear are of songs I’m very familiar with.
Not sure if it was Stock-Aitken-Waterman that started it, but their formula tended to be that each of their acts released one cover version per album. Bananarama (Venus, Nathan Jones), Rick Astley (When I Fall In Love), Kylie (The Locomotion, Tears on my Pillow, Give Me Just A Little More Time, Celebration). This then became the formula for any manufactured act since. The worst culprit that sticks in my mind is Girls Aloud - I’ll Stand By You. This added nothing to the song and is what I consider a lazy cover version. As forgettable as they get.
There’s plenty of bias here but I like Kate Bush’s version of Rocket Man. It was for an Elton John covers album and she did it because she was a genuine fan.
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Post by chron on Feb 8, 2023 14:11:09 GMT
I suppose I was being a bit summary. I'm sure the band gets into the spirit of playing the songs, and music being performed live always has a frisson of something about it, but I bet even what instrumental breaks there are mimic the form and length of the ones in the studio recordings to a slavish degree (there'll be little to no opportunity for a lead guitarist to 'cut loose' during Eagle, say, since the band is having to synch its playing to the movements of the avatars, and working with your eye is on a timer gives no real scope to add something new).
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Post by Angelo on Mar 18, 2023 13:41:47 GMT
BONO from US stated a couple of days ago that the pressure he felt to look more macho to his punk rockers colleagues he lacked the courage to adnit his LOVE for Abba!In addition he performed an unplugged version of SOS together with The Edge for BBC radio 2.Just look at this!I'm so proud!Better late than never.
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Post by truedogz on Mar 21, 2023 8:51:45 GMT
A don't know how 'credible' Angie McMahon is but she did a great job with KMKY.
I think it is fantastic that a young generation of musicans respect ABBA and regard Benny and Bjorn as amongst the greats of pop music writers.
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Post by Angelo on Mar 22, 2023 7:36:03 GMT
Thanks for commenting back.Since you've asked for some more i just thought that these next might be either interesting if not known already.One is from the Red Hot Chilly Peppers and the other from old rockers Manferd Man.
Unfortunately some people of older generations (especially in the USA) still consider Abba a disco-pap little group with just a no1 hit Dancing Queen not to be taken seriously.Seems many other rock musicians(such as Gene Simmons from Kiss,FF"s David Grohl,Lindsey Buckingham from Fleetwood Mac,Bil Corgan from The Smashing Pumpkins (who even praised Agnetha's solo album 'I stand alone' naming it a 'lost treasure')Brian Eno,Bjork,punkers Nina Hagen/Johnny Rotten and so many others disagree and pay their deus to Abba's greatness.
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Post by HOMETIME on Mar 22, 2023 13:12:52 GMT
Freddie White is/was a credible folk artist in Ireland. This lovely (live) take on The Day Before You Came was done at a time before the Style Police had relaxed their antiABBA stance.
Another credible Irish folkie, Luka Bloom, has performed Dancing Queen in a way that highlights its innate melancholy:
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Post by HOMETIME on Dec 7, 2023 20:38:27 GMT
Covers of two B-sides that I really wasn't expecting - You Owe Me One and Elaine. To my ears, the former seems to channel Gotye's Somebody That I Used To Know. Whaddya think?
This guy's channel is interesting. Clearly a big ABBA fan, he creates some interesting stuff. There's a version of Hasta Manana where he plays the piano to the girls' vocal tracks. Ditto with TFTPOO. And there's a really lovely medley of the entire Voulez-Vous album (below) and a version of Just A Notion that's really rather lovely.
You Owe Me One:
Elaine:
Just A Notion/Heaven Help My Heart:
Slipping Through My Fingers - the girls' live vocals and Bark Donkers's piano:
The Voulez-Vous medley:
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Post by jj on Dec 8, 2023 4:44:49 GMT
Just A Notion/Heaven Help My Heart: Gosh, this one floored me! It's simply magnificent, and I actually really hope Benny himself has heard it too! I can imagine Benny himself doing it exactly in this way (and also combining both tunes like this) one day! For "Piano II" (?). "Just a Notion" sounds touching, gorgeous and tender - an amazing thing in and of itself, I mean, who'da thought that could even be possible?! What a transformation from the rollicking, bouncy original version! (NOTE: It seems I'm one of the few fans here who actually really love the Voyage album version of "Just a Notion", but - in just this one, single listen - I'm already more enamoured of this gentler piano version than the one I already loved on its release in 2021.) Thank you, Tony. I'll listen to the others now. |
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Post by jj on Dec 8, 2023 5:05:51 GMT
And I now have a new appreciation for the richness of melody on the Voulez-Vous album.
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Post by richard on Dec 8, 2023 12:30:50 GMT
I've heard a few solo piano solo versions of ABBA's apparently less liked/lowly regarded songs - Little Things and Bumblebee are two that spring to mind - and they've convinced me they are lovely, elegant tunes that would've sounded better with different arrangements. And Just A Notion, here, is another example of that for me (but I've always liked its melody, anyway).
Of course, any reservations about the lyrics of these songs is another matter.
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