Should have been a single!!

I recall Benny being dismissive of The Name of the Game saying it wasn't catchy.

On comparing The Day Before You Came vs Under Attack he said tge former was a better song but the latter a better recording.

I don't understand why there was no single released before The Visitors album. When was When All is Said and Done finished? I know they started it in March 1981. Some think it if was released instead of Head Over Heels it would have been a big hit. I think by 1982 ABBA were on the way out and WAISAD would have only been a bigger hit if released before The Visitors or at the same time instead of One of Us.

It's a pity it didn't happen like that.

It was timing with the later singles. Under Attack is a cracking song (although not one of my favourites) but nothing was going to save ABBA at this point.

Having searched for this previous post, I now see that this thread might not have been the best place for these clips. However, in the interests of consistency, I'm posting this sequel here.

Some striking moments in otherwise buried backing vocal arrangements. Hasta Manana is gorgeous and the vocal arrangement on Lovers is fantastic. I think that had B&B sung the tongue-twister line, the shrillness of the final mix would have been cooled quite a bit. The harmonies and backing vocals on KAEOD are really lovely. Again, I think the final mix misses the point slightly: these gorgeous harmonies pushed higher in the mix might have given us a more ABBA-sounding final result (to my ears, its shoutyness pushes it closer to one of Elaine Paige's Chess moments). And the line sung by B&B makes the overall narrative more interesting.

Tony the people extracting the vocal harmonies and isolating the instrumentals are doing great work perpetuating ABBA's legacy by revealing the intricacies and genius in the recordings. It started with those leaked tapes some years ago. Even though these videos often get taken down due to copyright issues they are actually doing the band a great service.

A couple of things have become apparent to me in these clips. While Benny gets accolades as a pianist Bjorn often misses out on accolades for his guitar work. The session musicians have said he is excellent on the acoustic guitar. You can hear this in the second clip in 'Move On' - he almost certainly created that.

The other thing I have picked up is the contribution of Bjorn and Benn to the harmonies usually attributed entirely to the two girls, often as enhancements and complex counterpoints. I'm not pointing to the clear male parts but some performed by the girls - sometimes the boys are contributing too. In these stripped down recordings you can hear them even in Dancing Queen. Often they do counterpoints, one of the best examples is in KMKY in the chorus at 'easy I know' and the same trick was repeated in the outro of Just A Notion. It highlights the notes and and also causes them to linger.

This clip is the best example of the backing vocals in KMKY. The creator has separated the various layers in the chorus. The first time the general backing layer, next Agnetha's high notes and in the third chorus you can hear the male counterpoints:

Tony, the two of us have probably unwittingly highjacked this thread bringing up all these stripped down records. The topic is worthy of a thread of its own so maybe a moderator might shift our posts to a newly created one.

Yes, the backing vocals in KMKY are amazing. We know Benny considers it to be one of their best recordings and is listed on Spotify as his personal favourite. Someone once said that by following up DQ with KMKY ABBA staked their claim for immortality.

There are other excellent stripped down vocals of other songs out there and with better technology we are getting clearer extractions.

Voyage of course is available in Dolby Atmos and some clever people are extracting the vocals and instruments. I'll attach the link for one that covers Just A Notion. Once again the boys are in the background enhancing the work of the girls but it is also great to see what they do with individual instruments. Listen from the 5.00 min mark:



As to the original intention of the thread I'd say half of ABBA's recordings could easily have been singles but for the most part they got the selections right. What has to be kept in mind is that after a lead up single is release, such as DQ from Arrival, single sales after the album release would progressively reduce as many people had already purchased the album.

The one I'd like to hear released in total is Memory Lane.

Been listening to Dr Claus van Hamlet recently. It could have been great. Shame it was never completed (and released by Abba) as it's potentially strong enough to have been a single.

It evolved into Lottis Schottis as a Benny/BAO folk song

I don't know about you but I spend an indefensible amount of time agonising over this topic - in terms of choices of singles and indeed the order those singles were released. I know. Still, it's fun. (I think.) So I'll pick these two. What have they got in common? Well, they'd have shocked the world - or at least a good proportion of the record-buying public who thought they had ABBA's measure by this stage.

- The Visitors: and as the first single from the album. That would have been a massive statement of intent. 'Think you know ABBA? Think again!'
- Hole in Your Soul: as a 'wildcard' follow-up to TACOM, to shake things up a bit and (again) confront people's attitudes about ABBA. It'd probably have struggled to make the Top 5 but so what? I recall Nicky Horne once played this track on his evening rock show 'Your Mother Wouldn't Like It' on Capital radio. I'd love to have seen ABBA flaunting their rock credentials a bit more publicly on occasion. No? Just me then.

I'd also have released 'Voulez-Vous' as the first single from the VV album. No messing around. No half-measures. No snowman videos. Kick off the New Year of 1979 with an absolute banger.

All of which probably proves it's a good job I wasn't picking ABBA's singles.

I love this topic and have contributed a lot over the years on this subject.

In the UK
Honey Honey
Eagle
When All is Said and Done
The Visitors

With LAYLOM released earlier and on 7 inch too.