ABBA Megarate - Three tracks from each album

I think its biggest advantage is that it seems to be everybody's favourite song from Voyage. It's the same problem as with Ring Ring. We cannot conclude that Don't Shut Me Down is the most favourite ABBA song now just because it received so many points. If we did a proper megarate (i.e. ranking every ABBA song), I'm sure it wouldn't be No.1

*Cough* Not everybody's!  For me its gloss and sparkle was flattering to deceive and palled quickly.  One or two of its lines make you grimace, and Agnetha's voice sounds timorous and a bit weary (she comes on like Nana Mouskouri at the start!).  I also get the feeling she struggles to identify with the song's story or her character's viewpoint (a continuation of a problem that I think began for her when Bjorn's lyrics got less dreamy and yearningly idealistic and got wordier and more urbane or whatever, but that's for another discussion in a different thread)  Predictably bonkers result for this Megarate, given the voting method used. Three tracks only per album definitely works against the strongest albums (I was wrong to adjust my assessment of The Album's across-the-board quality, and Michal was right all along).

The elephant in the room here is that Agnetha’s voice is noticeably weaker than it was. Frida’s, on the other hand, hardly seems to have changed. Having released two solo albums in the last 20 years, we’re used to Agnetha’s mature vocals whereas Frida’s (no album since 1996) we’re not. However, back together, Agnetha is no longer able to steal the show. When they sing together, you hear Frida far more. In the old days, it was Agnetha.

That said, I love all of Agnetha’s leads on Voyage, so she’s clearly doing something right, even if it’s now Frida that steals the show.

Don’t be disheartened. It worked in terms of three favourites from each album.

Edmund, you must do whatever you feel is best for you and if that involves leaving permanently then take care and good luck in your life. I kinda get where you're coming from even if I am not personally offended if someone doesn't share my view of certain songs or whatever but I do wish you'd grow a thicker skin and not let it get to you. However, you're sensitive so I get it. It does get somewhat tiresome when someone bashes certain songs continually and then dirty deletes their comments. Anyway, cheers for your input and do please reconsider. It's your choice of course, you do you. Goodbye.

I have just looked back over recent posts and I can’t see anything that looks like it might offend anyone. Have I missed something?

Interesting to hear that Little Things is not a brand new tune. That makes four songs on Voyage that are not entirely new, I think.

I don't bash TWTIA continually (which is to say unbidden), but naturally, when something like this poll comes up and it nearly wins the thing, some sort of allusion to my dislike might be expected. (No one seems to object to restatements of admiration for certain songs, so why should the negative version of same be treated differently?)  In the past, here and on the old forum, I've tried to work out what it is about it that I don't like; the attempts have never been very successful, but at least this shows that I've tried to prevent my negative response from coming across as rude or gratuitous.  I'd also take issue with deleting 'dirtily'.  The one large-ish reply I got rid of here was removed because it seemed waffly and incoherent and was dragging things off point.  I can't recall there being anything in it that might've triggered Edmund to consider leaving; as I've said, I think it's the flip 'gallows' quip (which Michal practically invited; he mentioned TWTIA before I did!) that caused this.

That's something I noticed too. Frida can be heard everywhere on Voyage. Her backing vocals even seem to quash Agnetha's lead at places. There are only brief moments, when Agnetha prevails (e.g. "this isn't where it ends" line in No Doubt About It). So the famous "third voice" is recognizable, yet it sounds a bit different on Voyage than it did on the original albums.

Isn't it Agnetha's high notes heard in backing vocals of OTF (e.g. "lend my voice")? No strong disagreement on the topic, just asking.

Oh dear. It’s a pity Edmund’s gone yet again. The three tracks from each album thing was fine and should have stopped there. It was just too ambitious to then compile a full list based on that, as a track’s true popularity would be vastly distorted.

This is an entirely personal opinion, but I don't think this is a matter of one voice having remained stronger than the other. Where there is an apparent "dominance" by one singer, I think that is down to choices made at the mixing stage. There are examples in the back catalogue where one singer has the lead and the other singer seems stronger in the chorus. And it's that spread of attention that makes these tracks so very ABBA. Agnetha delivers that gorgeous lead in I've Been Waiting For You but the chorus power seems to come from Frida's tone. The opposite happens in The King Has Lost His Crown. In other cases, the key of the song seems to determine whose voice is heard more easily. Take Hey, Hey Helen for instance. It's a joint vocal but it took me a long time to realise that it wasn't a Frida lead. Frida's lead on No Doubt About It is utterly fantastic but the high tones of the chorus have Agnetha's stamp on them. I think that's why it's so "unmistakably ABBA" as Michael Ball said on BBC Radio 2. Angeleyes and Ode To Freedom are weirdly similar in that both voices can be picked out separately. 

The way the new songs have been written is interesting here too. The Frida leads work really well, because they seem to be the kinds of songs she has recorded in her solo career. ISHFIY is in the same stylistic ballpark as The Sun Will Shine Again (both difficult songs to sing, too). Bumblebee is like a frilly sibling of Lugna Vatten and NDAI sound like they saved Elaine and rewrote it for her Shine album. The Agnetha songs work differently: KAEOD sounds like it could have partnered Nobody's Side on Chess. I think that's why Frida's voice doesn't seem to dominate in quite the same way. The chorus is more "stage musical" (and I don't mean that as a criticism) and doesn't utilise harmony in the same way that classic ABBA songs do. DSMD does, however. It gives Agnetha's voice the stage for telling the story and setting the scene. Then, like SOS or IBWFY or GGG, Frida's tone latches on and "brings the ABBA." Also, the songs on Voyage are in lower keys, so they might be more naturally suited to Frida's range and tone? I think if there were any concerns in the studio with the strength of either voice, the solo passages would be much shorter, as would the notes. Also, the fact that the vocals on JAN don't stick out like a sore thumb is a testament to how strong these women's voices have remained. The only moment where I really think things feel a little shaky is Little Things. Let's put the lyrics aside for the moment. The melody is pretty and airy. It sounds to me like something suited to one voice but they have put both on. And I have to say that neither singer sounds especially strong and I suspect that each one is having to accommodate the other's strengths and weaknesses in ways that don't suit such a bare arrangement. The Matt Pop remix sets the vocals far more deftly into the mix.

Yes, I think it stands to reason.

She probably doesn't feel such lines sound awkward BECAUSE it is not in Swedish. I certainly don't realize it (until somebody points it out and even then it usually doesn't bother me, unless it is an exceptionally awful line) especially as my English has rapidly deteriorated in recent years.

Feeling a bit responsible for Eddie's latest departure in the wake of the latest megarate results, I was wondering if things had got a bit needle-y this time around, which made me go and look again at some of the comments from the old one.  Well, the exchanges from there quoted below seem to show that people felt more relaxed about what they could say and the way in which it could be said, were not worried about offending someone. The following is taken from near the start of the rundown, as people began to relish or fear the prospect of what was going to end up being propped up by I Saw It In The Mirror at the bottom of the pile:


Nothing over-the-top there, just some engaging, 'tasty' exchanges.  A forum loses a lot if back-and-forth like this has to be watered down.