Voyage - Your Top 4 Singles with B sides

I don't really like too many singles (A-sides and B-sides) from an album, especially when there are only 10 songs on the album.

My selection would be similar to yours, Johnny, but with some tweaks...

1. I Still Have Faith in You/I Still Have Faith in You [Instrumental]
2. Don't Shut Me Down/Don't Shut Me Down [Extended Version]
3. Just a Notion/Just A Notion [Original 1979 Version]
4. When You Danced With Me/Little Things

I would have released 1 and 2 at the same time, as they did, as I thought that was a good move - ISHFIY is not typical single material (especially nowadays) and needed the more up-tempo DSMD as a counterpart.

I have included an instrumental (or Karaoke) of ISTHFIY, as I think it is an inspirational song that many people will want to sing themselves, in whatever setting.

Ideally, LT would have been a non-album B-side, with something else to take its place on the album. Actually, I would have preferred an extended version of WYDWM instead of LT, or the three of them as a 12-inch single / maxi CD-single, perhaps even with an up-tempo mix of LT too.

Had B&B been kind enough to include JLT on the album, that would have been my third single instead of JAN, with an alternative version of JLT as the B-side.

As far as I'm concerned, OTF is too classy to be included on a single.

ISHFIY isn't single material. As Benny puts it: it's not commercial. The problem with Voyage is that there are no singles on it except for DSMD

I Still Have Faith In You/Ode To Freedom
Don't Shut Me Down/No Doubt About It
Just A Notion/Bumblebee
When You Danced With Me/Little Things
I Can Be That Woman/Keep An Eye On Dan

I adore 'When You Danced With Me' and think it should have been released as a single in place of 'No Doubt About It' which is a good song and it would have been interesting to have seen how 'I Can Be That Woman' would have faired had it been released as a single. 

I love all the songs on 'Voyage' including 'Ode To Freedom' it still needs to grow on me I like every song that ABBA have ever recorded there isn't one song I dislike.

I actually think ABBA made a mistake with making 'The Day Before You Came' an A Side I would have flipped it and had 'Cassandra' as the A Side for two reasons its a better song and its classic ABBA and very catchy they made the perfect choice releasing 'Under Attack' as a single its an excellent song and one of their most underrated songs its in my top 10 favourite ABBA songs.

^^^adamdawson2003...

If my memory is still good ..lol I distinctly remember , and it must have been UK radio 1 at the time, flipping TDBYC To Cassandra, it may have been only that once , or it may have been more,but it was highly unusual to play a B side, whether it was desperation from the record company or Radio 1 trying to boost the flagging fortunes of TDBYC,but It happened... The last time I remember a B side being promoted was Boney Ms Brown Girl In The Ring, Which was very successful, I guess there must have been more, but they allude at the moment.

Cassandra at the time was more “ typical” ABBA, and although not really single material, it’s a good track, it still failed to revive TDBYC...

As regarding tracks from Voyage, all in hindsight now, and it surprises me really that mistakes by the record company were made after all these years with ABBA, or were they ?
As much as I like ISHFIY , it wasn’t single material, then now or even in the past, full of sentiment and the correct meaning but not really single material.

DSMD, another story, great track and approved across the board, but no video, how stupid was that, it’s not as if they hadn’t time to create one, it’s rumoured that it may get a repromotion due to the Grammys, I doubt it though unless it comes with something special....It really should have been a stand alone single.....

Once the album was released , any other track was going to find it tough to be a hit single, as much as I like JAN, it was to late, everyone had the album who wanted it, why download/buy the single, a few 1000 sales at the most.

We all know what we think of LT, personally if it had been uptempo, fantastic and probably would have been top 10, but didn’t crack the top 50, and as for 2022 Christmas I For one never heard it once on the radio and I listen for about 6 hours a day. As mentioned it may have stood a better chance if it had been a stand alone track.

Was there another track that should’ve been a single, well we all have our thoughts, but as stated once Voyage was released another hit wasn’t going to happen......I understand airplay awareness ,but I’m guessing record companies still want Hits, regardless of what ABBA want and NDAI did nothing for itself let alone the album, as much as it’s a great little track. Sometime less is more... two singles at the most, one to promote before and one to accompany the album release.......

When I used to buy singles (how long ago it seems to me now), I can remember, even then, quite often thinking that the B-side was as good as, or as worth listening to, as the A-side. Nowadays, I don't draw a distinction in my mind between what was an A-side, B-side, or album track from a favourite group back then when listening to their songs now.

But if I tried to stick to the remit of this thread, I'd fail, especially if adhering to old commercial considerations. Probably it would be just one: Don't Shut Me Down/Just A Notion. Otherwise, it would be the no-surprise choice: DSMD/ISHFIY.

I agree, it's really nice and has an extremely catchy melody. Recently it's even become an earworm.  Over the past couple of weeks, I can't stop hearing it in my head, and i can't get rid of it for at least an hour whenever it strikes.

I agree with most of the above apart from the last sentence. I am happy with Voyage. It's not ABBA's best and some songs I don't like. But overall more positivee and a few great songs.

I love the album cover! There’s an elegance about it. Things like that will be a matter of personal taste though, and never going to please everyone. The poster that came with both the CD and vinyl was a bit of a waste of time however.

The alternate album cover with the four ABBATar squares was OK but a little bit dark.

The only single I ever saw in HMV was Little Things, they had stacks of them in more than one store. They tended to display it next to the album, and £3.99 for a one-track single next to a £9.99 album (or however much the album was at that point) was a no-brainer. Why would a non-fan buy a single when they can buy a whole album containing not only that track but nine others?

Not sure that’s realistic though? Any single released by any act usually has a parent album ready. There was too much speculation about a full album for them not to announce that. I’d have been very disappointed if they’d not revealed the album from the start. And it was a full two months before the album release date, which is a long time.

No, I’m happy with things as they were. Little Things as a single may not have been the best idea but there was an inevitability about that. They weren’t going to hide a seasonal song on the album. Perhaps should have been single-only, but then it would have needed another track for the album. A nine-track album when each one was as short as it was wouldn’t have been good enough.

If you might be referencing my posts, Abracadabra.  - I wasn''t implying 'butchering' - that wasn't my point, just to make it clear. I was talking about what I regard as unnecessary editing of already short enough songs (imo).

I don't think the edit was released as a single anywhere? Perhaps it was a radio edit released only to broadcasters to appease radio presenters anxious about the running time? The first time I heard that edit of TNOTG was on a US compilation called The Magic Of ABBA, which I got in the summer of 1982. Voulez-Vous was also edited for that set. I gave the LP away many years ago, so I can't say whether the VV edit is different to the one on Gold or whether it matched the video.

The next time I heard that NOTG edit was on The Singles - The First Ten Years. Hard to say whether it was deliberately included to make the vinyl sound its best. It's the sort of thing that other artists/labels would include as a bonus track for collectors on an expanded reissue these days.

The 'Gimme Gimme Gimme' single was edited in North America. Not sure about Canada, but in the US it failed to chart.

This is the problem. What to edit out; what's deemed of no great loss if not heard; what's unnecessary? Intros, instrumental breaks, transitions, outros - plenty of opportunities to knock a minute off here and there to help those who find it difficult to listen to the rare 5-minute pop song. That said, some pop songs make me feel they're padded out even at 3 minutes! And I'm with those who think IIWFTN should have been a single, but needed editing because it does go on a bit. So in the end it's not about a pop song's duration, in and of itself - or shouldn't be (we're talking a few seconds in the grand scheme of things) - but whether it works. And we often won't agree about that either, I imagine!