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Post by gamleman on Aug 29, 2020 13:21:20 GMT
I recently bought The Pet Shop Boys' album "Very" and the track "A Different Point Of View" struck me as ABBA-inspired. What do you think?
In particular, I thought I could detect elements of "Dancing Queen" in there. And the next track on the album is called "Dreaming Of The Queen", which could be part of the tribute?
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Post by Alan on Aug 30, 2020 14:21:49 GMT
I don’t think so. As far as I know, they’ve rarely mentioned ABBA (though a quick google search reveals some passing comments). The 2001 re-issue of Very included detailed interviews with Neil and Chris where they discussed each track. Dreaming of the Queen is apparently about someone that’s dying of AIDS hallucinating that they’re having tea with the Queen and Diana, Princess of Wales, and them all lamenting the fact that (for different reasons) love has died. Can’t remember what they said about the other track you mention.
Neil did say this about their song “Hit Music” from second album Actually (1987): “The ‘I’ve been working hard all day to pay the bills I have to pay’ line is a complete nick from the Abba song Money, Money, Money. It didn’t occur to me until years afterwards.”
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Post by gamleman on Aug 31, 2020 8:40:00 GMT
Although they haven't specifically mentioned ABBA, don't you get a Dancing Queen vibe from "A Different Point Of View"? I guess it's more in the backing track than the tune or vocals. For example, the end of chorus and beginning of verse in the section 115-122 seconds reminds me of a similar effect in DQ.
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Post by Liebezeit on Sept 1, 2020 6:04:07 GMT
An altering quarter to 16th note ostinato (125 bpm) between B/H and C note (transposed from Dancing Queen in the key of A major) doesn't make it necessarily an ABBA inspired song, as much as chords make it a song inspired by ABBA. The way the music seems to be organized doesn't seem very ABBA-ish to me and seems to push more into the R&B territory where there's like ii-V progression and some alright flavor like major seventh chords which ABBA sparingly used, as far as I know
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Post by gamleman on Sept 1, 2020 11:47:47 GMT
No offense intended, but the above technical spiel reminded me about one of my favourite sketches from the wonderful Victoria Wood and Julie Walters. It would be a shame not to share it, as I'm sure it will make a lot of people smile, although viewers from outside the UK may struggle with the language used and the cultural references.
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