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Post by Alan on Jul 11, 2022 10:26:14 GMT
I completely agree, Lycka. Richard, it was quite a difficult task but at the same time quite satisfying. I wish I could understand why you keep doing this, Eddie. If it’s not for attention, then why? This was your last post and seems positive, so why delete your profile yet again? Obviously you can re-register, but if you need a break from here, you can take it without deleting your profile. |
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Post by lycka on Jul 11, 2022 10:48:37 GMT
I agree totally Alan and have said the same thing on the Voyage general discussion.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 14, 2022 10:56:05 GMT
I don't understand deleting your profile either. Just take a break.
Interesting seeing Eddies fave ABBA songs. No surprise TWTIA was #1 and several Voyage songs on the list.
Dancing Queen was very low down.
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Post by richard on Jul 14, 2022 12:04:24 GMT
I think Eddie has such an emotional investment in TWTIA that he really can't bear to read any suggestion of any negativity about it. Maybe I'm wrong about that, but I think it triggers him every time.
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Post by chron on Jul 16, 2022 17:38:52 GMT
I can put together a list of thirty. Beyond those listed, I'd just be arranging tracks into an order that wouldn't reflect on anything.
30. Soldiers
29. Dance While The Music Still Goes On
28. Head Over Heels
27. I Still Have Faith In You
26. If It Wasn't For The Nights
25. Gonna Sing You My Love Song
24. Lovelight
23. The King Has Lost His Crown
22. Hey, Hey Helen
21. Like An Angel Passing Through My Room
20. Chiquitita
19. Dum Dum Diddle
18. I Wonder
17. Slipping Through My Fingers
16. When I Kissed The Teacher
15. I'm A Marionette
14. One Man, One Woman
13. Tiger
12. Summer Night City
11. My Love, My Life
10. Eagle
09. That's Me
08. Mamma Mia
07. Move On
06. The Visitors
05. Hole In Your Soul
04. SOS
03. Dancing Queen
02. The Name Of The Game
01. Knowing Me, Knowing You
My top 5-10 never really change. There's obviously a heavy Album/Arrival bias. The one song that gets in from Voyage is I Still Have Faith In You, but I have this feeling I'm making an effort to shoehorn it in. Do I truly prefer it to Take A Chance On Me or Super Trouper? Very possibly not, although it is a fine track, their last great one in all likelihood. I can't see KMKY ever dropping off top spot, it's in a class by itself, never failing to thrill you and fill you with awe—the sound of a great pop band transcending its greatness in a way that even the band itself probably can't quite account for.
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Post by foreverfan on Jul 16, 2022 18:02:58 GMT
Well done for having a go, and your statement about your top 10 couldn’t be truer for many of us, I guess we will have one or two that creep in, but I think most top 10s are pretty stable....
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Post by chron on Jul 16, 2022 19:05:23 GMT
I didn't agonise over the process - no one's going to be holding us to these. I did it quickly, in order to try and throw up natural, felt, 'true' choices rather than balanced, considered, 'curated' choices. I can't shake the feeling that there's a glaring omission, but I haven't yet worked out what it might be.
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Post by gary on Jul 16, 2022 22:44:22 GMT
Fernando?
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Post by chron on Jul 17, 2022 3:44:40 GMT
I've never been that keen on Fernando. Probably Take A Chance On Me ought to be in there; Soldiers and The King Has Lost His Crown shouldn't be ahead of it. (I played The King Has Lost His Crown after doing this and it's not as impressive as I remember it. It's not bad; the contrast between the schadenfreude of the lyrics and their laid-back delivery in the verses is nicely done, but the build into the choruses is strident, and the choruses themselves don't live up to the verses.) Doing this has brought home again how quickly after The Album it becomes slim pickings, in terms of personal favourites.
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Post by lycka on Jul 17, 2022 8:59:06 GMT
An intriguing top 30 chronington. It surprises me that several folk on this forum are especially fond of TWTIA. If I ever get round to compiling a chart it would probably be number one for me.
Good to see Dum Dum Diddle on your list. It is much maligned and IMO deserved better lyrics - but the melody is top notch. Tiger too is a great song and not heard enough on the radio. I would love to see it incorporated into the Voyage set list.
Appreciate your view that the songs after Arrival and the Album were perhaps not as good as the pop perfection of those two albums. I sort of agree but then think of Voulez-Vous, Gimme Gimme Gimme, LAYLOM, WAISAD, LAAPTMR, TDBYC and am not 100% convinced. I get your point about almost feeling obliged to shoehorn in a song from Voyage in ISHFIU. If you had asked me 4 months ago I would have placed 4 or 5 from Voyage on my top 40. Now Ode to Freedom would definitely be there and perhaps just DSMD. Still love KAEOD and ISHFIU but are they better than say more unheralded songs like Should I Laugh Or Cry or I Wonder to name just two off the top of my head? Dunno...
Anyway well done and thanks for posting
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Post by gary on Jul 17, 2022 10:24:54 GMT
Yes, a nice choice, Chronington. I agree with what you say about Arrival/The Album. They’re the peak, ABBA’s very own Revolver and Sgt Pepper. It’s not that there aren’t some fine songs on the earlier and later albums, but that those albums are less consistent and inspired. Arrival and The Album are excellent the whole way through. It’s not just the songwriting, though that is the most important thing, it’s the production as well.
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Post by HOMETIME on Jul 17, 2022 11:17:15 GMT
I've had an entirely unscientific go at a Top 40. The closer to the top, the more reliable the ranking. As I went through the list, songs got placed on the basis of what I fancy listening to right now. So it could - and will! - change quite soon. I can't remember my previous "chart" but, apart from the Top 5, I think there has been a fair bit of fluctuation. Apologies for the accidental slaughter of any sacred cows.
1. The Visitors
2. The Day Before You Came
3. Like An Angel Passing Through My Room
4. If It Wasn’t For The Nights
5. When All Is Said And Done
6. Lay All Your Love On Me
7. Knowing Me, Knowing You
8. I Still Have Faith In You
9. The Name Of The Game
10. Angeleyes
11. Don’t Shut Me Down
12. Ode To Freedom
13. No Doubt About It
14. Summer Night City
15. One Man, One Woman
16. Elaine
17. Should I Laugh Or Cry?
18. I’m A Marionette
19. Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!
20. Me And I
21. Hey, Hey, Helen
22. Take A Chance On Me
23. The King Has Lost His Crown
24. I Can Be That Woman
25. Gonna Sing You My Lovesong
26. Lovers
27. Lovelight
28. The Winner Takes It All
29. I’ve Been Waiting For You
30. Head Over Heels
31. Dancing Queen
32. Voulez-Vous
33. One Of Us
34. Our Last Summer
35. My Love, My Life
36. Super Trouper
37. When I Kissed The Teacher
38. Dance
39. SOS
40. Ring Ring
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Post by HOMETIME on Jul 17, 2022 11:18:08 GMT
^^ Obviously the novelty of Voyage is still playing its part.
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Post by lycka on Jul 17, 2022 11:28:07 GMT
That's a very interesting chart Hometime. Many of the posts put Arrival and the Album at Abba's artistic peak, yet 3 of your top 5 are from the Visitors - 4 if you include TDBYC that is on the deluxe version. Should I Laugh Or Cry is in your top 20 too.
Our tastes seem to be very similar with a few exceptions such as Me and I and Angeleyes. Not that they are bad songs IMO - just coz I think there are better ones.
Perhaps we also differ on TWTIA and SOS. I think I knew your views on the former but not on the latter.
Ode to Freedom will definitely be on my chart if I ever get round to it. You must still be playing Voyage a lot and I am doing that too. Some posts have said they have not listened to it for a while. Can't understand that but each to their own.
[Thanks for posting 👍
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Post by HOMETIME on Jul 17, 2022 13:17:50 GMT
It looks like The Visitors is my unshakeable favourite album. I'm still playing Voyage but I notice that my favourites are shifting around. Both WYDWM and JAN have dipped quite a bit in my affections. I surprised myself with the DSMD placing - I thought it might be higher. Maybe I've overplayed it. I'm not sure where Voyage will end up in my affections, ultimately.
I really do like TWTIA but I think, like Dancing Queen, it suffers from being overplayed a bit. SOS is a song I've always admired without really loving, if that makes any sense. I think it could even be that both songs lay the plaintiveness on just a smidgen too much for my tastes? I don't know. They are where they are. Head Over Heels is an interesting one for me: it used to be much further down in my ranking, but I have rediscovered it.
Looking at my list again, I think there's a bunch that could exit this chart soon enough. Like any chart, I guess.
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Post by richard on Jul 17, 2022 13:35:21 GMT
I find these lists fascinating - the concurrences and the wide divergences . Tony's No. 1 The Visitors would be mine, too. And I also would place DQ and TWTIA much lower than I'm sure most fans would. But for me they just don't appeal as they obviously do for so many others. And because I'm a 'good tune' person - even though the lyrics and title do grate on me quite a bit - Dum Dum Diddle would be way up there. Glad Chronington included it - and I Wonder. I cannot understand why the latter isn't held in higher regard. It's a beautiful, poignant melody, wonderfully handled by Frida.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 17, 2022 15:03:51 GMT
30. Chiquitita
29. Waterloo
28. My Love, My Life
27. Fernando
26. I Let the Music Speak
25. Money Money Money
24. One of Us
23. No Doubt About It
22. Soldiers
21. As Good as New
20. Ring Ring
19. Kisses of Fire
18. Ode to Freedom
17. Like An Angel Passing Through My Room
16. I’m a Marionette
15. One Man, One Woman
14 The Visitors
13. When All is Said and Done
12. My Mama Said
11. Mamma Mia
10. I Still Have Faith in You
9. Take a Chance on Me
8. Summer Night City
7. Lay All Your Love On Me
6. Eagle
5. Don’t Shut Me Down
4. The Name of the Game
3 Dancing Queen
2. Knowing me Knowing You
1.SOS
The Top 3 set in stone, perhaps top 10. The singles from SOS to Summer Night City are all brilliant. Quite a few tracks from ABBA’s most mature albums, The Album and The Visitors and a few from Voyage - although none from The Visitors make my Top 10. Uptempo “disco” songs SNC and LAYLOM deserved more success at the time. If there’s a curve ball, it probably is My Mama Said - fantastic baseline and jazzy funk feel.
No room in my list for The Winner Takes it All, The Day Before You Came, Super Trouper or Gimme Gimme Gimme. Sorry - not sorry.
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Post by lycka on Jul 17, 2022 15:59:20 GMT
Thanks for posting Johnny.
It's your list so you rightly include and exclude accordingly. I totally agree about LAYLOM and SNC. They just get better and better with age and I reckon Bjorn and Benny feel the same now as both are in the Voyage concert. Never understood their past coldness towards SNC.
Can't see My Mama Said being on other lists, or at least so high up your chart. As you say it's a curveball. Cheers
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Post by foreverfan on Jul 17, 2022 16:17:52 GMT
Another lamb to the slaughter as they say, well done for having a go Johnny, like previous post of mine, it’s funny how we all find it impossible to compile.. but have a go ...but those top ten are set in stone..lol...
Life is full of ifs buts and maybes, and we agree about SNC and LAYLOM, I find it hard to understand why SNC especially, as not being on an album, and we waited months and months for the new single, that it wasn’t a bigger hit than it was, of has time made us appreciate it more.. but really should’ve been top 3. We all know why the comparative failure of LAYLOM, happened, in retrospect what a stupid mistake.....
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Post by Deleted on Jul 17, 2022 16:47:15 GMT
Yes my Top 10 "set in stone" since, er, last September with those two Voyage songs 🤣
SNC excluded from a studio album, left off Gold, ignored for both Mamma Mia! films finally getting recognition it deserves by being in the show.
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Post by lycka on Jul 18, 2022 16:20:32 GMT
Okay...here goes my attempt. Not particularly scientific though.
40 The King Kong Song
39 Cassandra
38 Dance (Whilst the Music Still Goes On)
37 Ring Ring
36 Keep An Eye On Dan
35 I Can Be That Woman
34 The King Has Lost His Crown
33 If it Wasn't For The Nights
32 That's Me
31 Slipping Thru My Fingers
30 When I Kissed the Teacher
29 Our Last Summer
28 Lovelight
27 The Name of the Game
26 Should I Laugh or Cry
25 Money Money Money
24 I Still Have Faith In You
23 Fernando
22 Chiquitita
21 Super Trouper
20 Waterloo
19 Don't Shut Me Down
18 I Wonder
17 Take a Chance on Me
16 Like An Angel Passing Thru My Room
15 Mamma Mia
14 Tiger
13 Voulez Vous
12 Gimme Gimme Gimme
11 Ode to Freedom
10 Summer Night City
9 Eagle
8 Lay All Your Love on Me
7 When All is Said and Done
6 The Visitors
5 Dancing Queen
4 SOS
3 The Day Before You Came
2 Knowing Me Knowing You
1 The Winner Takes it All
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Post by foreverfan on Jul 18, 2022 17:42:51 GMT
Well done...
I think the heat has got to us, more have contributed than I ever thought.....
Great to see some more “ unusual “ tracks in there especially everyone favourite creeping in at 40 ..lol...
But again shows our diversity but also a consensus on others....
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Post by lycka on Jul 18, 2022 17:57:14 GMT
It's probably more the memory of King Kong Song than its artistic merits. I played the Waterloo album non stop when I bought it - I only had one other album - and I akways loved it. It just makes me smile if you know what I mean. Watch Out would probably be number 41 too!!
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Post by richard on Jul 18, 2022 20:03:56 GMT
So pleased to see I Wonder in your top 20, Lycka. Chronington also included it in his list. It's a great melody with a 'proper' orchestral arrangement; and Frida sings it so well.
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Post by lycka on Jul 18, 2022 20:25:31 GMT
It's the full package Richard as Bjorn's lyrics are great too. It's a very poignant song knowing Frida's history. In fact poignant for anyone leaving a small town for a big city. I always hum it when back in my home town for family visits. It just comes in to my head automatically when I am walking around.
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Post by gary on Aug 1, 2022 19:59:45 GMT
OK, I’ll have a go:
40 Another Town, Another Train
39 Gonna Sing You My Lovesong
38 That’s Me
37 The Day Before You Came
36 Cassandra
35 Angeleyes
34 Should I Laugh Or Cry
33 Ring Ring
32 Super Trouper
31 Soldiers
30 Money, Money, Money
29 As Good As New
28 Honey, Honey
27 I Let The Music Speak
26 Mamma Mia
25 I Am The City
24 I’ve Been Waiting For You
23 Hole In Your Soul
22 I Wonder (Departure)
21 Bang-A-Boomerang
20 Dance (While The Music Still Goes On)
19 Kisses Of Fire
18 One Man, One Woman
17 My Love, My Life
16 Move On
15 When I Kissed The Teacher
14 Tiger
13 Our Last Summer
12 Chiquitita
11 One Of Us
10 If It Wasn’t For The Nights
9 Eagle
8 Summer Night City
7 The Winner Takes It All
6 The Name Of The Game
5 Take A Chance On Me
4 SOS
3 Fernando
2 Dancing Queen
1 Knowing Me, Knowing You
Album breakdown: Ring Ring 2, Waterloo 3, ABBA 4, Arrival 7, The Album 7, Voulez-Vous 5, Super Trouper 3, The Visitors 3, Voyage 0, Miscellaneous 6.
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Post by lycka on Aug 2, 2022 7:38:17 GMT
Thanks for posting Gary.
Some interesting choices and some unexpected ommissions, like WAISAD and the Visitors.
One thing that strikes me from these lists is that everyone (bar Eddie aka Deleted) has placed SNC in their top 20 or top 10. Bearing in mind it was seen as a bit of a commercial failure on its original release, this shows to me that the song's quality has been reevaluated - and not before time. It's pure class. Always was. Benny and Bjorn are said to have never been particularly fond of it too, which tells me to treat any quotes from them with some caution. As I have said before,the fact it's in the Voyage concert must indicate they too have reappraised it.
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Post by HOMETIME on Aug 2, 2022 9:06:53 GMT
I think Agnetha was less than keen on SNC too - I seem to remember her describing it as "a bit repetitive." But it's an absolute peach. AND it has ABBA's best ever video. It'd be nice to think that it could get a new lease of life as a single. Yes, yes, I know it's already out there in all its original energetic glory, but I'd argue that both Voyage and the back catalogue could do with this kind of promo. For my money, the restructured WAISAD is the better single choice because it offers something fairly new, but SNC could be rehabilitated this way too. It wouldn't be a remix of the original track (and thus B&B feeling like they were admitting some kind of failure). It would be a new band performance, a box-fresh mix with modern technology to help tackle the gremlins that allegedly blighted the original.
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Post by foreverfan on Aug 2, 2022 14:48:45 GMT
Well done Gary.. I thought for one quick glimpse there was no Dancing Queen aaagghh..lol and there it is at your number 2......
Always good reading to see personal likes and dislikes....
SNC, not sure why it’s grown in popularity, but boy is it up there with a lot of us....
We need a new injection of news I believe, it’s getting a little quiet in here again.......?
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Post by lycka on Aug 2, 2022 20:51:17 GMT
I agree Hometime that WAISAD (Voyage version) would be the obvious choice for a single release. Although Pierce Brosnan murdered it in the first Mamma Mia movie it was a slowed down and totally different arrangement that was quite interesting. If my memory serves me right Kylie used a similar arrangement at a Radio 2 Abba tribute concert a few years back.
Changing subject completely, I listened to Agnetha's A album yesterday. I hadn't heard it for a while and it is really good. Some songs were much better than I remembered such as Bubble. It's quite charming actually. And for a bit of OTT camp nonsense Dance your pain away is just a joy.
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