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Post by wobblenit on Aug 15, 2020 7:18:41 GMT
I am wondering about LAYLOM inclusion in the singles box.
It appears that there will be three singles, and TWTIA and ST are clear, but the third one could conceivably be 'Happy New Year'.
My thinking is that when the '40 Years - 40 Singles' box set was released, it was described as being 31 singles planned and conceived by ABBA’s Swedish record company, Polar Music, and issued in Sweden and/or the rest of Scandinavia, and an additional 9 singles released locally around the world. The 9 singles, which included LAYLOM, were chosen for the box set to make it up to 40 singles. There were many other singles released locally around the world that could have been chosen.
What seemed strange to me in the Voulez-vous box set, was the inclusion of the 'Voulez-vous extended remix' which wasn't released as a single during the Voulez-vous era, and wasn't in the '40 years - 40 singles' box set. I wonder if they included it in the Voulez-vous box because it was "planned and conceived by ABBA’s Swedish record company, Polar Music, and issued in Sweden", albeit not until 2012. If this is the reason then they should include 'Happy New Year/The Way Old Friends Do' in the Super Trouper box, as it too was "planned and conceived by ABBA’s Swedish record company, Polar Music", (released on glitter vinyl in 2011). This would be a funny one to make a picture disc of though, as it didn't have a picture sleeve, just a picture label, and that was very similar to the 'Super Trouper' picture sleeve.
I'm probably wrong. Just me trying to make the box set selections fit into some kind of firm logic. If 'Voulez-vous extended remix' was a strange choice for Voulez-vous box, I think LAYLOM would be a stranger one for the Super Trouper box.
All will become clear pretty soon.
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Post by gazman on Aug 15, 2020 7:40:53 GMT
In any event, I think the annual release of 'Happy New Year' on a different coloured vinyl is still a thing...it might seem a bit odd if it were to be released in October and then again in December?
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Post by HOMETIME on Aug 15, 2020 10:11:44 GMT
I am wondering about LAYLOM inclusion in the singles box. It appears that there will be three singles, and TWTIA and ST are clear, but the third one could conceivably be 'Happy New Year'. My thinking is that when the '40 Years - 40 Singles' box set was released, it was described as being 31 singles planned and conceived by ABBA’s Swedish record company, Polar Music, and issued in Sweden and/or the rest of Scandinavia, and an additional 9 singles released locally around the world. The 9 singles, which included LAYLOM, were chosen for the box set to make it up to 40 singles. There were many other singles released locally around the world that could have been chosen. Interesting thoughts. My hunch is that the three singles will be TWTIA/ST/LAYLOM because if they make HNY the third disc, they could undermine sales of the annual HNY release gimmick. For this year, anyway. Plus LAYLOM's inclusion on Gold and (I think) being released in more countries than HNY might make the case. I could well be proven wrong by better-informed experts on that point. If it is to be just three discs, then it seems they might have learned from the fans' reaction to the Voulez-Vous singles box. Fingers crossed that the discs have separate colours too - I'm thinking electric blue/baby pink/primrose yellow to match the key elements of the sleeves. I'm looking forward to the set - the singles boxes have generally been very well handled and they tend to feel like a treat. |
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Post by Alan on Aug 15, 2020 17:57:40 GMT
Yes, I’d have to disagree with the idea that LAYLOM would be a strange choice for this. Its inclusion on Gold means it’s now one of the more well-known ABBA singles, and the 2014 box effectively made those nine additional singles official Polar releases.
On the contrary, Happy New Year’s inclusion at the expense of LAYLOM would be unthinkable. HNY wasn’t even included on More Gold, and was also left off The Definitive Collection. That one really was just to make up the numbers in the 2014 box. It was an original single in Portugal but where else?
However, I wouldn’t see the inclusion of HNY in these new releases as conflicting with the yearly issues. Remember, Summer Night City was released as a picture disc for Record Store Day once, but still got the standard cover artwork version last year. I’d envisage the HNY one in this to be based on the Portugal sleeve as included in the 2014 box.
I’d be extremely disappointed if LAYLOM wasn’t in this, but could live without HNY. However, I’d like to see that daft “exclusive collector’s item” line wiped from the artwork. The “ 12” “ bit was removed in 2014 but the rest left intact. It never was a collector’s item originally as it wasn’t in any way limited.
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Post by wobblenit on Aug 16, 2020 9:33:34 GMT
Happy New Year’s inclusion at the expense of LAYLOM would be unthinkable. Inclusion of LAYLOM and exclusion of HNY on Gold is a good point, and I think you are probably right. I think my problem comes from looking at the abbasite.com discography of singles. LAYLOM not included there, except in the 40 singles box. All depends on what criteria is being used I guess. |
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Post by Alan on Aug 16, 2020 17:44:00 GMT
I think my problem comes from looking at the abbasite.com discography of singles. LAYLOM not included there, except in the 40 singles box. All depends on what criteria is being used I guess. You’re right about the Voulez-Vous extended version being an odd inclusion in last year’s releases. Voulez-Vous was always going to be the biggest, with six official singles, so to add another one was unnecessary. However, you could argue that it sets the precedent for non-original Polar singles to be included. The extended mix is from a US 12” promo that had the same track on both sides. The Record Store Day version is still on 12”, but now with its own b-side. What seems certain at present though, is that not all nine of those singles in that 2014 box are going to be re-released. The two 1979 Spanish singles weren’t included last year, for starters. Or perhaps they are being kept back for a future Gracias Por La Musica box? It’s not impossible. The Visitors box should see five singles - the two official album ones, plus When All Is Said and Done and the two late 1982 releases. |
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Post by daronjulian on Aug 16, 2020 18:18:03 GMT
Pity The Visitors will be the final set to look forward to. I know these have been pricey but they are a nice keepsake. :-) My idea of what the Super Trouper pic disc will look like!  |
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Post by daronjulian on Aug 16, 2020 18:28:39 GMT
I am expecting some announcement this week surely as time is getting on. We only got two weeks left, then it will be September.
Universal normally announce something well in advance.
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Post by Alan on Aug 16, 2020 20:40:37 GMT
Pity The Visitors will be the final set to look forward to. Not necessarily. See my post further up about the CD/DVD deluxe editions released 2006 to 2014. I’d be very surprised if they don’t go back and do the first three albums. They do it in an odd order so that the Eurovision anniversary remains both the start and end of the program. Hence why I’d put good money on the ABBA album being tackled in 2012, followed by Ring Ring and Waterloo in their anniversary years. The ABBA album is an inconvenience, being as the cycle ends with Waterloo, so it’s unique in being done in a non-anniversary year. |
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Post by wobblenit on Aug 17, 2020 7:08:09 GMT
I think my problem comes from looking at the abbasite.com discography of singles. LAYLOM not included there, except in the 40 singles box. All depends on what criteria is being used I guess. You’re right about the Voulez-Vous extended version being an odd inclusion in last year’s releases... ...However, you could argue that it sets the precedent for non-original Polar singles to be included. The extended mix is from a US 12” promo that had the same track on both sides. The Record Store Day version is still on 12”, but now with its own b-side. I would say that Voulez-Vous extended version was included in the Voulez-Vous singles box as a celebration of the 2012 Polar/Universal release, not of the 1979 Atlantic promo (judging by the b-side and cover artwork). This makes it a precedent for including an original, post active era, Polar/Universal release, paving the way for HNY/TWOFD to be similarly included in the Super Trouper box. I don't expect it to be the Portugal HNY/AA one. Still fully expecting to be proved wrong  |
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Post by HOMETIME on Aug 17, 2020 10:18:57 GMT
Pity The Visitors will be the final set to look forward to. Not necessarily. See my post further up about the CD/DVD deluxe editions released 2006 to 2014. I’d be very surprised if they don’t go back and do the first three albums. They do it in an odd order so that the Eurovision anniversary remains both the start and end of the program. Hence why I’d put good money on the ABBA album being tackled in 2012, followed by Ring Ring and Waterloo in their anniversary years. The ABBA album is an inconvenience, being as the cycle ends with Waterloo, so it’s unique in being done in a non-anniversary year. Yes, I think you may be be right. The only downside with the pre-1976 singles is that the artwork looked so amateurish. My own personal view, of course. Four singles in the ABBA box. Two singles in the Waterloo box, maybe?? Waterloo/Honey Honey/Ring Ring (remix)? Or would the Ring Ring singles warrant a box set too? PNL/HIYB/LIE/RR? I understand that the fan club has said the ST box will just have three singles in it, but I actually quite like the idea of a bonus disc that the VV box gave us. A nicely presented On And On And On [long version] backed with POYWS, for instance, could be nice. Or HNY with POYS or the alternate mix of Andante Andante. Or Felicidad/Andante. The set I'm most excited about now is The Visitors. It won't give us any holy grails (JLT) on 7" at last, but to have TDBYC and UA in the box with OOU, HOH and WAISAD in a box with a photo from that gorgeous session will be something to behold. |
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Post by HOMETIME on Aug 17, 2020 10:52:03 GMT
Pity The Visitors will be the final set to look forward to. I know these have been pricey but they are a nice keepsake. :-) My idea of what the Super Trouper pic disc will look like! Your pic got me thinking and I knew I had seen a version of the ST single sleeve that just included the A-side title. Took me ages to remember where I'd seen it: the 1984 blue vinyl singles box. So I dug out the three related singles. As you can see, TWTIA is as it was originally released. ST has just one title on the front and I'd like to think this means that an image file with this variant of the artwork still exists and could be used for the picture disc. I had forgotten that Epic used the German/Polydor colour scheme for LAYLOM in this set. It's not entirely out of the question that this same version could crop up in this box. My guess is that if the original UK sleeves are used, the vinyl colours could be blue/pink/yellow. If the variants are used,, I guess the colours would be blue/pink/red (based on the red logo)? 
Is it possible that the pic disc of TWTIA could even be based on the 12" version?  |
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Post by Alan on Aug 17, 2020 18:12:17 GMT
Sadly I doubt they’ll use UK - or any other country’s - artwork for this, but Super Trouper certainly would look better without mention of The Piper. I’ve never understood why that blue vinyl set removed most of the b-side names from the front cover, but left in Elaine. The amended 1984 LAYLOM artwork ties-in with what I was saying earlier about removing that stupid collector’s item line. The Winner Takes It All one was genuinely that, but LAYLOM wasn’t. Presumably it was done to help sales. wobblenit’s belief about Happy New Year has me anticipating disappointment. However I don’t see it as a genuine single as it was just an RSD exclusive, so I’m still inclined to disagree. I’m surprised they’re limiting it to three though. It was unavoidable with The Album, but much less so with other albums. I’d expect the Ring Ring and Waterloo issues to include the Swedish versions, but we’ll see. That would at least give the Waterloo one three singles. |
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Post by daronjulian on Aug 17, 2020 18:28:08 GMT
HOMETIME, after all these years I never realised about the text on the Super Trouper sleeve from the anniversary set (1984). So, Super Trouper we got the three images as shown. However, The Visitors will be something special with five discs and picture discs to look forward to. OOU, HOH, UA TDBYC & WAISAD. On the optimistic side they may decide to do The Visitors as this was released in the U.S.   
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Post by daronjulian on Aug 17, 2020 18:30:43 GMT
If they went back on them selves and issued the first three studio albums, Ring Ring, Waterloo & Abba. The 40th anniversary for these three albums would have been and gone.
But a revamped edition of The Singles in 2012, I would welcome with open arms. Still love that album now, even though it is not a studio album and there is nothing new on it!
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Post by HOMETIME on Aug 18, 2020 9:35:29 GMT
Alan , I was equally baffled by the B-side-but-not-Elaine thing. Personally, I believe that B-sides should not be mentioned on the front, and I used to wonder whether they were hoping that one of their B-sides might "do a Boney M" and revive the fortunes of the A-Side after its stint at the top* - I know that a lot of Irish DJs played the Medley from SNC. daronjulian , I like your thinking about the box set for The Visitors. It struck me that there was a double A-sided 12" single sent to American DJs that made the dance charts in 1981 - The Visitors/WAISAD. Neither track was extended. However, there was a radio edit of The Visitors sent out as a promo. It appeared on the first edition of More Gold, but was removed from subsequent pressings. It would be nice if that Double-A was kinda sorta revived in the box, with WAISAD on one side and the shorter The Visitors on the other. I've no doubt, though, that WAISAD is most likely to appear in its Australian incarnation, with Soldiers on the flip. But a boy can dream. If we're on the subject of dreaming, it would be really cool if the extended versions of The Visitors and LAYLOM released on the Epic "Energ-Hi's" compilation could be somehow included... * For those unaware, Boney M's 1978 single "Rivers Of Babylon" had "Brown Girl In The Ring" on the B-side. Radio DJs started picking up on it and even though the A-side had already been to No.1, the B-side became a chart smash too. Now a de facto Double A-side, it was the second biggest single of the 1970s.
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Post by Alan on Aug 18, 2020 21:40:52 GMT
If we're on the subject of dreaming, it would be really cool if the extended versions of The Visitors and LAYLOM released on the Epic "Energ-Hi's" compilation could be somehow included... I’ve not heard of that. Was that an Irish release? Tried searching on Discogs and eBay but nothing appears to come up. Was it just a copy-and-paste edit to make the tracks longer? Having never got the LAYLOM 12” originally, I naively assumed it was an extended or different version. Even after Gold was released with the album version on, I still believed this mythical mix existed and was waiting to surface on something. There was an unofficial mix though wasn’t there, which apparently prompted the release of the 12”? Maybe I got the two mixed up, or maybe it was the version on the compilation you mention. I even remember writing to Polydor UK in 1993 just after More Gold was released, asking them if there were any plans to release on CD the b-sides and non-album tracks. I helpfully listed them all, and this LAYLOM extended version I’d dreamed up was included. Can’t remember what they sent back, but obviously the 1994 boxed set was already being devised. I can’t recall when the penny finally dropped that the 12” was just the album version. |
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Post by HOMETIME on Aug 18, 2020 23:23:04 GMT
Sorry, it turns out that I mis-remembered the title. It was Energhighs, a 1984 compilation of hi-energy tracks from 1984 on Epic records. They must have had these mixes okayed somehow. www.discogs.com/Various-Energhighs/release/1370222I tried looking on YouTube for an upload from the album. The closest I could find to what I remember is this - but, at 15 minutes, it can't be right. |
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Post by Alan on Aug 19, 2020 6:18:03 GMT
Thanks HOMETIME. The Discogs notes state: “The ABBA tracks "The Visitors" and "Lay All Your Love On Me" are re-edits of DJ only remix service releases by Hot Tracks and Disconet respectively. Previous to this LP, no other commercial release had featured either of these mixes in any form.” The Disconet release appears to be the one I referred to, prompting the official 12”. It was seven and a half minutes long. Hot Tracks’ The Visitors was 7:05. They could have re-created the Disconet version for the 12”, it couldn’t have been that difficult. This was typical of ABBA’s/Polar’s attitude at that time - “you can release the song if you really want to, as long as it’s only on 12”, only the album version, and ABBA won’t be making a video for it so you’re on your own”. I love the fact that, despite all that, the UK and Ireland still made it a top 10 hit. As indeed they had with Angeleyes, which again got no video (though was helped by being a double A-side of a track that did). |
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Post by HOMETIME on Aug 19, 2020 9:34:34 GMT
While The Visitors has long been my favourite ABBA song, the Disconet remix doesn't add much to it, except duration. I've always thought that a remixed edit for 7" and an extended remix for 12" was one of the missed opportunities in the final era. It would have been such a refreshing single. The inclusion of the Disconet mix of LAYLOM in this set (perhaps with the long version of O&O&O on the flip) would be a gorgeous treat. And, yes, I am wearily aware it'd never be allowed. At the risk of further annoying the mods, I'm going to mention the four extended remixes that Tretow was officially commissioned to produce in 1983. I'd love to think there could be some scope to get these to the fans. Anyhoo, back to the Super Trouper singles box. Imagine if its design reflected the box set prepared for the album back in 1980? Would people welcome this, or prefer a box based on a photo from the cover sessions?  |
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Post by wobblenit on Aug 19, 2020 10:10:13 GMT
Imagine if its design reflected the box set prepared for the album back in 1980? A bit too UK-centric for me as it was only Epic in the UK that presented the album this way. I owned this box and remember feeling a bit peeved at the time, after buying the stand alone ST album on the day of release and already owning the 'ABBA for the Record' book, I had to buy them both again as a boxed set to maintain my collection. Owning duplicate copies is now a concept I've become all too familiar with. Now of course, I wish I still owned the ST box (Gave my entire collection away in the 80s). The catalogue number was ABBOX 1 and I do wish that The Visitors album would have become ABBOX 2 but sadly it didn't happen. The Singles - First Ten Years box set would become ABBOX 2. I digress. |
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Post by Alan on Aug 19, 2020 16:47:26 GMT
Er... it’s just a black/grey box with a slightly dodgy ABBA logo and the album title in a font that bears no relation to the one on the cover?
I never had that box... I didn’t know it even existed for years/decades and as I have the book and the album, the rest is little to write home about.
It should hopefully be an alternate take of the cover shot we haven’t seen before, if the Arrival and Voulez-Vous boxes are anything to go on, but we’ll see.
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Post by HOMETIME on Aug 19, 2020 17:53:35 GMT
Yes, from what I've seen it's the same faux leather finish with engraved foil lettering that was used for The Singles - The First Ten Years box set. I have no doubt that the forthcoming set will be adorned with an image from the cover photo session. Like Alan , I was completely unaware of that set's existence for decades. And I'm glad. The contents were very 'meh.' At least the set for The Singles had some thought put into it, with picture discs and the replica ticket and the clippings booklet. |
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Post by wobblenit on Aug 19, 2020 18:39:28 GMT
I guess I was easily pleased in those days. As an ABBA record collector, the sheer novelty of an album being presented in a box made it very desirable. Not to mention an embossed box. Happy days.
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Post by wobblenit on Aug 20, 2020 11:26:30 GMT
Maybe these characters will make another appearance on the new singles box?  |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 20, 2020 11:46:22 GMT
I can remember the buzz of excitement and anticipation of purchasing each ABBA studio album on the day of release and rushing back home to spin the discs immediately. Those were happy days.
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Post by daronjulian on Aug 23, 2020 9:02:56 GMT
Maybe these characters will make another appearance on the new singles box? I never thought of that. These figures are similar to the matchstick figures used for the Album. :-) |
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Post by daronjulian on Aug 23, 2020 9:04:15 GMT
I never thought of that. These figures are similar to the matchstick figures used for the Album. :-)
I remember very well rushing to get home and slap this on the turntable. Such happy days!
Todays youngsters don't have what we had back then.
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Post by daronjulian on Aug 23, 2020 9:07:19 GMT
Going back to The Visitors box set singles (due next year), been thinking this over and wondered if 'Slipping Through My Fingers' would
be included as it was issued as a promo picture disc for the Japanese market in '81.
That would give us six singles and six picture discs. I can only dream :-)
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Post by wobblenit on Aug 23, 2020 9:41:05 GMT
I remember very well rushing to get home and slap this on the turntable. Such happy days! ST is the only ABBA album I bought on release day. I only started buying records at all during the Voulez-Vous era. When The Visitors came out, I was too broke to buy it straight away. In those days, information was not as freely available as it is now, and I seem to remember finding out about record releases only when they appeared on the shop shelves, never knowing in advance what the release date was going to be. After a few days of watching out for it, it made my day to find ST in the shops and grabbing a copy. |
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