ABBA: The Studio Albums (Coloured Vinyl Set)

Thanks, Edmund! Like Alan, I will handle the set super carefully. With the treasures I already have, I make a point of only taking them out when my son is not around. He's only 7 and has no idea of how to respect such things and I can only imagine the carnage if he decided to, I dunno, play frisbee with a picture disc or something 

Like others, a part of me is going "Tony, are you crazy?" but I think this offers just that little extra that my original (black) vinyl doesn't. 

I must admit if I bought the coloured vinyl box set I too, would not play the box set either even if I owned a record player. Michal, no you are not a maniac just a fan who enjoys adding to his ABBA collection. We do need to brighten up our days at a time like this and divert our thoughts away from the current situation. A bit of light relief is just the tonic. Tony, I too, would keep the box set hidden if I decided to buy it and wash my hands after inspecting and admiring it.

^^ They never do mark that anniversary though. They tend to only ever mark the Eurovision anniversary. They went to town on it in 2014 so will be interesting how they can top that for the 50th.

I don't see why it should halt the ST releases if they can release every studio album on coloured vinyl during the pandemic. I'm sure it will be out for Christmas, although how they will co-ordinate this around the release of the new songs is not clear.

^^ Actually, when I think about it, I wouldn't mind if the Super Trouper releases were delayed. We will get them in the end and I couldn't care less if it happens a year later. Maybe they will be cautious too as many people are in a position when they can't really afford buying stuff like that… As far as I'm concerned, the priority should be to release the new songs (or even full album). Everything else can be postponed.

Hmm... surely it’s in their interest to supply it, otherwise they won’t get a sale?!

I wish there was some indication as to the quality of the artwork. Two years ago, Kate Bush re-released all of her albums on vinyl (separately as well as across four boxed sets) and in each case the artwork had been re-created. With three of these, I had the originals and in each case the newer versions were far better quality in terms of artwork. These were genuine recreations as certain things (placing of text, stray strands of hair etc) were slightly different to the originals. This was all fine with me as it meant they’d taken it seriously (references to her former record company EMI also had to be replaced).

With ABBA, though, it’s that lack of care that bothers me. Kate’s albums were bog-standard black vinyl (with modern labels depicting her own vanity label) but even the coloured vinyl still isn’t quite enough to make this a classic re-issue. Surely it can’t be that difficult? The fonts are there, the photos (even The Visitors and Waterloo) must surely be possible to enhance in some way. Coloured vinyl is all well and good but we really want the artwork to look better than it’s ever looked, not worse? The technology is available, why won’t they use it?

You are right, they don't mark the 1972 anniversary, except in 1982 with "The Singles - The First Ten Years". And I agree that they will save 50 years since Eurovision for the big celebration, but how they'll do that I don't know - they seem to be exhausting their possibilities, in terms of special releases anyway. However, I'm sure they will mark 50 years since "People Need Love" in some way - since it will also be 40 years since "The Singles", perhaps we'll get a re-issue of that.

In wondering why now for this boxset release, I got thinking that this might be a hint of something to come... perhaps they want to wrap up all the 70s/80s studio albums into one coloured-vinyl boxset before a whole new album is released. Then they could even release yet another boxset containing all nine albums in 2022 or 2024. However, the news that the "Super Trouper" 40th anniversary releases will go ahead later this year has now put a doubt in my mind about a new ABBA album, this year anyway, as I'm not sure they would have two album releases before the end 2020. Also, would they really launch a brand-new album during the current world crisis? Probably, the best we can hope for is one or two new tracks before the end of the year (as half-promised) as a taster of more to come.

Gosh! You're right! Time flies indeed. And I still perceive the 2001 remasters as "new"! Oh my God, I'm aging alarmingly fast! By the way, I'm also curious how they will handle the back catalogue, especially if we get a whole new album. I guess the eight original albums will always be perceived as a separate entity.

They could have actually added two bonus discs to this. On the bonus disc for the CD set of The Albums (2008), there were 17 tracks. The two Swedish versions are included on their original albums, reducing this to 15. She’s My Kind of Girl would need to be added, and they could also include Åh Vilka Tider, Dream World, Put on Your White Sombrero and I Am The City. This would give 20 tracks, 10 on each of the discs.

Rather than generic artwork for these two discs, they could adapt that of, say, Greatest Hits Vol 2 and The Singles. The album titles would be different but would use the same fonts and artwork style (and wouldn’t be gatefold).

Adding two vinyl records would, of course, increase the price but would at least mean that all of ABBA’s individual songs would be included. The only two alternate versions would be Ring Ring and Waterloo, but that’s only because they historically appeared on Swedish editions of their albums.

I always thought they’d replace the 2001 CD issues with the CD versions from the deluxe editions (so omitting the DVDs). I’d have removed the non-ABBA tracks from Ring Ring though. However, with the music industry’s emphasis on vinyl now, I can’t see them bothering with reissuing CDs again.

Mine are very precious to me and kept securely in a strong box!!

The boxset has been delayed till 24th July. Can’t blame them, it happens all the time.

According to Zavvi’s website, the release date of this is now 14 August.

It is there but shown as "Currently unavailable. We don't know when or if this item will be back in stock". I imagine this means they have pre-sold all of their allocated stock. I'm sure those who have pre-ordered it will get it.