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Post by HOMETIME on Sept 26, 2019 18:45:21 GMT
I agree. Maybe if ABBA had reflected the darkness of the album in the singles lifted from The Visitors, there might have been a hook for the kinds of documentaries and discussions that would have taken the form of critical reappraisal. Imagine if the release sequence had been One Of Us -> When All Is Said And Done -> The Visitors -> The Day Before You Came? What a beautifully lyrical and melancholic streak that would have been! I'd like to think they might have retained Under Attack as an album-only bonus on that basis. (While I enjoy Under Attack, I don't think it would ever have appeared on an A-side if it had appeared on a studio album).
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Post by josef on Sept 26, 2019 19:43:23 GMT
No need to apologise Tony, I'm not that great with words. Well, I can be, but often as not I befuddle even myself.
I've always been one for the 'dark side' of ABBA. Is there any other? Even as a child I recognised the melancholia beyond the euphoric choruses and catchy harmonies. It's easy for me to wish this or that but I've never written a song in my life and my singing voice is derisory. They did what they felt at the time was right. It doesn't stop me having a preference, though. Serious/moody ABBA or shiny jumpsuit, grinning-like-the-Cheshire-Cat ABBA. No contest for me. Of course both have their place and appeal. This is one reason why I'm hopeful that 'I Still Have Faith In You' will be a bitter-sweet, wistful ballad with that irresistible melancholy and pathos the group did so well. I'm cool with 'Don't Shut Me Down' being, allegedly, lighter and dancier.
Oh, I can't WAIT for these songs! It's like Waiting For Godot (or something).
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Post by chron on Sept 28, 2019 0:02:30 GMT
A key problem is that the overwhelming 'folk memory' of ABBA's heyday, in the eyes of the vast majority of the public (whether based on first-hand memories or received wisdom), is of a lightweight (though highly skilled) pop act whose only real currency was chart success. They never had any 'credibility' as such, even in the way that other mega-selling acts of the 1970s (such as Rod Stewart, trading on his Faces pedigree and first few solo albums up to and including 'Never a Dull Moment', or Queen, based on their pre-'Night at the Opera' heavy-ish rock roots) had. I suppose ABBA fleetingly had just a little of that 'cred' when TWTIA came out, but that immediately evaporated when 'Super Trouper' followed it to the top of the charts. I think they may've had an 'on-the-verge-of-cred' moment earlier than TWTIA, with ABBA The Album. The Album's association with The Movie did it no favours, but on its own terms it was, by a distance, the most finely-polished, ambitious and immersive work they'd done up to that point, arguably holding on to that status until the release of The Visitors (I still think that, by and large, The Album is the 'heaviest' album they did). Even its cover art was quirkily cool and stylish and distinctive. If, after The Album, they'd made a consolidating album in the same sort of vein, pushing some of the themes and musical ideas a bit further, they might've found a full-on misconception-correcting amount of critical praise flowing their way. Instead, they chose to serve up their own swish brand of disco, producing a glitzy and urbane but decadent and more shallow album than the one before it (Chiquitita and TKHLHC notwithstanding); a bit of a wander into a cul-de-sac, as things turned out. |
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Post by josef on Sept 28, 2019 1:09:31 GMT
Oh yes, 'The Album' would have been a better idea on its own without that association with The Movie (I wouldn't be without that documentation of ABBA on the road but it's tragic that it's now tarnished by that sex offender bloke who played the DJ). Let's not forget we also had ABBA The Soap. Tacky. It would have been cool if ABBA had explored the I'm a Marionette idea more fully.
I still enjoy Voulez Vous for what it was, though.
Oh, but how I love the idea of ABBA as 'serious', 'credible' artists whose work was put into something other than mainstream pop, an elite pantheon of select musicians. Still, as it is, they didn't do too shabbily at all. Not by a long shot.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 28, 2019 9:53:49 GMT
I think they may've had an 'on-the-verge-of-cred' moment earlier than TWTIA, with ABBA The Album. The Album's association with The Movie did it no favours, but on its own terms it was, by a distance, the most finely-polished, ambitious and immersive work they'd done up to that point, arguably holding on to that status until the release of The Visitors (I still think that, by and large, The Album is the 'heaviest' album they did). Even its cover art was quirkily cool and stylish and distinctive. If, after The Album, they'd made a consolidating album in the same sort of vein, pushing some of the themes and musical ideas a bit further, they might've found a full-on misconception-correcting amount of critical praise flowing their way. Instead, they chose to serve up their own swish brand of disco, producing a glitzy and urbane but decadent and more shallow album than the one before it (Chiquitita and TKHLHC notwithstanding); a bit of a wander into a cul-de-sac, as things turned out. Great post! Are we saying (and I think we might be) that ABBA, on some level, 'bottled it' after 'The Album'? Or was pop froth so deeply buried in their DNA that they just couldn't help themselves from being drawn back to the ultra-mainstream, ending up with their delivery of the enjoyable but slight 'Voulez-Vous' album? One minute they were considering (and by 'they' I'm not really differentiating between ABBA, Stig and the record companies) releasing 'Eagle' on a proper, global basis, which might have nudged them a little further along the 'true path'. The next they were 'dumbing down' by mucking around with the only partially successful (both artistically and commercially) SNC and then retrenching even further with VV. |
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Post by HOMETIME on Sept 28, 2019 9:57:23 GMT
I like Orf's view of The Album. It was a stylistic leap after Arrival, and maybe had some roots in the more mature moments like KMKY? The instrumentation is expansive and daring and I'd nominate I'm A Marionette as probably the bravest and most exciting track there. But I wonder if ABBA would have maintained their status if they had mined that same seam for a follow up? Would a full-on concept album have been seen as anachronistic in the late 1970s? Am I right in thinking that, by then, that artform was already seen as old-hat? I can't remember. Also, ABBA (or B&B at least) had a laudable (but almost perverse) stubbornness about not repeating themselves.
Personally, I don't agree that Voulez-Vous is a shallower album. The two ballads aside, I think the arrangements/production make for a more cohesive set. I think it's lyrically stronger than its predecessor. Hole In Your Soul, Thank You For The Music and Take A Chance On Me strike me as bubblegum lyrics (nothing wrong with that). I think that Move On and Eagle are beautifully arranged motivational posters and certainly on a lyrical par with, say, I Have A Dream.
But I think the lyrics on the Voulez-Vous album generally are more revealing on a personal level. IIWFTN is brutally sad: essentially a lonely diary entry stapled to a dance-to-forget track delivered with a real urgency, as though singing though a gritted teeth smile, eyes wide to stop the formation of tears. I'd put it on a par with One Man, One Woman for emotional impact. The Voulez-Vous protagonist is jaded and cynical. The Angeleyes central character is so wounded that her schadenfreude in The King Has Lost His Crown is like a release. Thinking about it, you could probably even sequence a few of the songs in such a way that a linear "concept" suite or mini-musical emerges. The Girl With The Streaky Mascara, if you will. I wonder if there might be a greater affection for the Voulez-Vous album if three A-sides had been released, instead of five?
I get what you mean about a stylistic cul de sac, though, because disco was dead in the water a year later. Or if not dead, at least bobbing around and about to go under for the third time.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 28, 2019 10:26:20 GMT
IIWFTN is brutally sad: essentially a lonely diary entry stapled to a dance-to-forget track delivered with a real urgency, as though singing though a gritted teeth smile, eyes wide to stop the formation of tears. I'd put it on a par with One Man, One Woman for emotional impact. I suppose I've always struggled to see it in these terms because they seemed so bloomin' happy singing it on the Mike Yarwood Xmas Show. |
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Post by Alan on Sept 28, 2019 10:57:00 GMT
Yes, same here, @thisboycries, whereas the One Man One Woman video has, to me, always shown some pain. Frida’s a bit over-smiley but Agnetha’s and Bjorn’s faces in that video appear to reflect exactly what must have been going on in their personal lives at the time. It could just be the lighting, of course, but it’s significant as I don’t think either gave that much else away in the years prior to their separation.
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Post by richard on Sept 28, 2019 11:21:17 GMT
Whose "cred" should/could ABBA have satisfied/appealed to? The fact that "cred" has been put in quotes more than once here suggests to me that it's a slippery idea. Does it mean that tuneful, immediate, no-big-deal, pop songs are somehow less worthy of appreciation, less credible?
Am I being naive or missing something?
This is not to say I don't like more serious, non-poppy, popular songs; and The Visitors is probably my favourite ABBA album.
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Post by josef on Sept 28, 2019 12:08:24 GMT
Some truly excellent insights here. I remember on the old forum there was talk about how everything might have been said and done, that there wasn't an infinite amount of topics that could be discussed and that repetition might come into play. Obviously there's only so many pictures before the cycle begins again but it's clear to me that as far as discussion about the actual music is concerned there are always new angles.
The beauty of ABBA was that they tackled so many genres within the pop field. Something for everyone. I used to think that maybe they could have replaced certain songs within albums, different single choices, etc (I still do, to a degree) but now I see that although cohesion might have been desirable, whatever that means, it wasn't always that important. Personally, I like the idea of The Visitors being fully 'dark', I'm referring to Two For The Price Of One, but even that has a dark, not so invisible, undercurrent of loneliness and...um...I'm not sure of the word I'm looking for.
I do like this train of thought.
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Post by chron on Sept 28, 2019 13:28:24 GMT
One minute they were considering (and by 'they' I'm not really differentiating between ABBA, Stig and the record companies) releasing 'Eagle' on a proper, global basis, which might have nudged them a little further along the 'true path'. The next they were 'dumbing down' by mucking around with the only partially successful (both artistically and commercially) SNC and then retrenching even further with VV. Eagle is the main paradigm-shifter on The Album. Placed right at the start in order to make mouths drop open, from that opening cosmic 'whoosh' onwards, if that track doesn't say to you "this isn't really the same group that clumped around in glitter for Eurovision anymore", nothing will. It's the track where they pull the stops out and make something as crafted and dense and layered as some of the best AOR sophisto-rock of the same period. If it can't force an ABBA 'non-believer' into expressing a little surprise and grudging praise at least, then their misconceptions have been ossified into stone. Also very much agree with what Hometime suggests about KMKY being a pointer on the Arrival album to the mature blossoming we'd get on The Album (I'd also include That's Me alongside it. For all its supposedly having something of the schlagers about it, I've always found it a surprisingly tough and sardonic track, with a tone that's quite odd and hard to peg. Including a 'daringly' stately, almost mournful instrumental (albeit with vox still featuring) at the end of Arrival, is also a brave and progressive step). |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 28, 2019 14:54:54 GMT
Whose "cred" should/could ABBA have satisfied/appealed to? The fact that "cred" has been put in quotes more than once here suggests to me that it's a slippery idea. Absolutely right. 'Cred' in itself is at best a pretty vacuous concept. But what I THINK I'm saying is that ABBA had qualities such as depth, perceptiveness, subtlety and (as josef says) range which are grossly undervalued by the overwhelming majority of critics and punters. Indeed, they barely show up on the radar at all. That frustrates me because ABBA deserve so much 'better'. What does that actually mean? Well, I'd settle for them being viewed as peers of, say, Elton John. Elton's generally recognised as (i) a great purveyor of hit records, but also (ii) a master songsmith whose best creations (in tandem with Bernie Taupin) convey some of the complexities of the human condition - consider everything from 'Someone Saved My Life Tonight' to 'Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting'. But despite the odd doff of the cap to KMKY and TWTIA, people don't really see ABBA that way at all. For them, it's DQ, Waterloo, TACOM etc etc. To be fair, including 'Slipping through my Fingers' in the first MM film probably did more than anything else to start correcting this one-dimensional view - but it had 30+ years of 'damage' to repair. I'd love to know what kind of discussions (if any) B&B had when they started turning their minds to following up 'The Album'. Was it a conscious decision to row back from a 'more mature' approach (mini-musicals and all)? Was there a concern that sales might suffer if they continued further down that furrow at that time? Or did they just express, in their new songs, what they were feeling at the time? |
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Post by josef on Sept 29, 2019 9:42:07 GMT
I think after The Album, ABBA were keen to remain current and on trend with the disco thing (even though I believe the backlash was already well under way?). Bee Gees were massive and it seemed that BennyBjörn liked to emulate them. Wasn't Voulez Vous an arduous process? Didn't they have to go on holiday to try to gain some inspiration? Anyway, I am not 100% on the facts but eventually they got it out. I love Voulez Vous. I think it's a belter of a track and quite avant garde for the group. Not one for the little kiddies swaying to Fernando - this was adult territory!
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Post by chron on Sept 29, 2019 15:15:04 GMT
Personally, I don't agree that Voulez-Vous is a shallower album. The two ballads aside, I think the arrangements/production make for a more cohesive set. I think it's lyrically stronger than its predecessor. [...] I think the lyrics on the Voulez-Vous album generally are more revealing on a personal level. IIWFTN is brutally sad: essentially a lonely diary entry stapled to a dance-to-forget track delivered with a real urgency, as though singing though a gritted teeth smile, eyes wide to stop the formation of tears. I'd put it on a par with One Man, One Woman;for emotional impact. The Voulez-Vous protagonist is jaded and cynical. The Angeleyes central character is so wounded that her schadenfreude in The King Has Lost His Crown is like a release [...] Fair come-back and fine points made. I haven't listened to Voulez-Vous from start-to-finish in ages (I sometimes think I'm not an ABBA fan so much as a fan of Arrival/The Album. I still play those two regularly, and The Visitors gets a spin out now and then, but the other albums hardly get listened to as albums any more, if they ever were – I just cherry pick the odd track, as-and-when), so my view of it is coloured by memories that have probably become fogged. I think that V-V is a good album, its 'misfortune,' if you like, was in having to follow something as realised and musically satisfying and jewel-dotted with stone classic tracks as The Album. They certainly made a brave choice in appropriating and absorbing disco in order to produce a quite different and self-contained follow up, rather than aiming to serve up some sort of ABBA The Album Part II. But here's one to bowl at you: you suggest that it opting to go the route they did on V-V, they were balking at creating a "full-on concept album", but can a case not be made for V-V being a 'full' concept album of sorts? It contains a set of tracks loosely connected together by a binding theme: affluent urbanites with a taste for the good life (ABBA, or an imagined version of themselves), enjoying the perks and spoils of the studio/concert hall-bubble/night-on-the-town/living-in-and-for-the-moment lifestyle, but doing so with the shadow of early middle-age encroaching, with all the changes that that will bring (this 'next stage of life' isn't touched on that much in V-V; it lurks spectrally - on Super Trouper and The Visitors they'd go on to explore the theme of slowing down/getting older, and the various kinds of loss that accompany that process, more fully). If you factor in associated/in-the-running-at-one-point-for-inclusion track Summer Night City, it's not so much of a stretch to see it that way. The only track which is awkwardly square-peg round-hole is I Have A Dream (but then, that's a song you'd have trouble finding the right spot for on any album. It's a bit of a momentum killer on V-V, and I can't think of another ABBA album that it would bed into well; maybe it would make a decent sub for TYFTM on The Album?). In other words, then (sorry for the ramble!) did ABBA in fact follow up The Album with a concept album, and did choosing to flirt with the then current fad of disco hinder comprehension of this - was the deeper theme 'hiding in plain sight' (dressed in a 'Travolta suit', frugging with abandon underneath a rotating glitter ball)? I'm sure some glaring holes can be picked in this (this reading of V-V is built on foggy memories, remember), but that's fine; It's nice to have a bit of back-and-forth to keep us ticking over while we wait for the new songs to appear. Have at it! |
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Post by HOMETIME on Sept 29, 2019 17:22:55 GMT
Voulez-Vous: the accidental concept album? Intriguing. I think that B&B certainly felt the burn of the urge to create a concept album or a musical, but I think they were so anxious about losing their creative mojo during the 1978/79 sessions, that they just grabbed at whatever felt like a good song. I think they'd have needed a shedload more confidence than was at their disposal then for a musical/concept. I'm only surprised they didn't attempt that with one of the next two albums.
I hear what you're saying about I Have A Dream. And I'd have to point a finger at Chiquitita for similarly shooing people off the dancefloor at an unexpected moment. It's equally out of place. Viewing this from the days-of-vinyl perspective, It might have made some sense to put these songs at the end of each side of the album. Yes, Summer Night City could have replaced one of them. I'd argue that Lovelight couldn't because it wasn't in the same sonic ballpark. If they'd had the nerve to hold out until a couple more numbers were ready, then maybe Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! and something like Rubber Ball Man/Under My Sun might have rounded things off. But that would have been a pretty relentless assault of uptempo material, with The King Has Lost His Crown the token nod to taking it down a notch.
I can see your point about the disco influence being tied to wealth and glamour. And, yes, ABBA were blindlingly wealthy by then and seemed fond of the trappings they could easily afford. But unlike the modern day rappers, they didn't reference bling and excess in their songs. The pain woven into the album wasn't the sort that could be dimmed by affluence. These songs are rooted in loneliness (IIWFTN), abandonment (Angeleyes, TKHLHC), regret (AGAN, IIWFTN). Even the horniness of Lovers and Kisses Of Fire is tempered by the jadedness of Voulez-Vous and the feeling of being out of place in DYMK. In that song, I can see Bjorn dancing the pain away and knowing he'd regret engaging in any recreational how's yer father with the too-young (and probably drunk) woman seeking the key to his pants. There's a slight embarrassment in those lyrics when you look closely. It's like he's waiting for the song to end so that he can grab his coat and hop into a cab.
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Post by Michal on Sept 30, 2019 17:51:10 GMT
Great discussion about my favourite album (The Album). So many intetesting comments. I would like to add that if I were to choose an ABBA album to play to a non-Abba fan, it would definitely be this one as it conceals so many suprises for someone with Abba prejudices...
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Post by chron on Oct 1, 2019 2:18:23 GMT
I'd agree that it's highly unlikely that B&B consciously planned and shaped Voulez-Vous to end up as a concept album; I just thought it would be interesting to ponder to what degree it could be imagined as being one, by design, or unintentionally, or just in the head of the listener. As you say, HT, Chiquitita is the other track that you'd struggle to fit into the concept album framework. I thought it could just about be interpreted as a kind of post-night-out come-down counting-the-cost track, about someone who's been hurt while out for the evening being consoled and pepped-up by a friend or former flame ("You'll be dancing once again, and the pain will end"); a big stretch-to-fit, as I say, and musically different ballpark (it sure ain't a 'chill' disco track). I Have A Dream, though, is a non-starter from every angle.
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Post by gazman on Oct 3, 2019 17:50:15 GMT
Not sure if it will be related to ABBA's new recordings - but Björn is making an appearance on tomorrow's (Friday's) BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show in the UK, with Nicky Chapman, from 6.30am.
So, might be worth a listen if you can, to get the latest from him...
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Post by Deleted on Oct 4, 2019 22:17:34 GMT
Below is a summary of what Bjorn said to Nicki Chapman on the Zoe Ball Breakfast Show. (BBC Radio 2 - Friday 4th October).
Bjorn says that ABBA will not be doing a full Album. That there has to be a good reason to do one. Not for the 1st time, the fact
that ABBA Fans might want one is lost on him. What the Fans want seems to be of no consequence...
Bjorn Ulvaeus says ABBA won't ever play Glastonbury
ABBA's Bjorn Ulvaeus has ruled out playing Glastonbury with his 'Dancing Queen' bandmates
Bjorn Ulvaeus says ABBA will never play Glastonbury.
The 'Dancing Queen' hitmakers surprised fans last April, when they announced they had been in the studio for the first time since in 37 years and were set to release new tracks 'I Still Have Faith In You' and 'Don't Shut Me Down' – their first new music since 1982.
Bjorn has promised fans can expect to hear "at least one" of them next year and also discussed whether they would perform at the world famous music festival.
Asked if he and his bandmates – Agnetha Faltskog, Benny Andersson and Frida Lyngstad – would consider Glastonbury, he insisted: "Uh, no. It's a straight no."
The 74-year-old 'Super Trouper' hitmaker admitted that it would take too much to get the band on stage because "one show would be the same as doing a whole year" of touring.
Speaking to Nicki Chapman, who was stepping for Zoe Ball on BBC Radio 2's 'The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show' on Friday (04.10.19), Bjorn said: "We recorded some new songs and you will probably hear them next year, at least one of them.
"But that is quite a different thing from going through the hassle of rehearsing.
"Just one show would be the same as doing a whole year of tours.
"But that is not what we need.
"If you take 10 years out of our lives."
The Swedish superstars – who shot to fame after winning 'The Eurovision Song Contest' in 1974 – will however be giving fans the chance to see their biggest hits and new songs performed on their upcoming digital tour by computer-generated 'Abbatars'.
The 'Waterloo' group went their separate ways in 1982 at the height of their career, and during their final years Bjorn, 74, divorced bandmate Agnetha, 69, whilst Benny, 72, and Frida, 73, split up, too.
And Bjorn recently admitted that their reunion is proof of "two former married couples getting along very well".
However, he insisted that he still believes they would have disbanded whether they were still in couples or not.
He said: "We could never have just gone on with ABBA having one hit every five years or so. No! It was never in the cards."
Bjorn has also cast doubt on the band releasing a full album of new material unless there is a "really good reason".
He said previously: "It's good to have a reason to do what you do and this avatar tour is a reason to come up with something.
"Doing another album is like doing 'Mamma Mia 3', what is the point unless there is a good reason, good script, good environment? It is such a joyful experience, so that is a reason to do it."
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Post by josef on Oct 4, 2019 23:05:51 GMT
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Post by josef on Oct 4, 2019 23:14:19 GMT
And I see Björn is still doing the "maybe" thing. For heaven's sake, give a straight answer, will you? Love him to pieces but honestly.
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Post by richard on Oct 5, 2019 9:36:14 GMT
Thank you, Colin, for that summary of what Bjorn said on the Zoe Ball Show.
Bjorn says there won't be an album - that there would have to be a good reason for such a thing. To me, this is perhaps the most disappointing thing I've heard in relation to this avatar project.
Of course, I would like to have heard - wouldn't we all - something like this:
"Absolutely! That's the main goal for us now. Getting back into the studio for those two songs has sparked the enthusiasm of all four of us to make music and record together again - for ourselves, our fans, and anyone else who might listen. We're excited to be doing this album!"
Would that be a good enough reason?
Or maybe it was satisfying enough for them to record just the two songs and that's it? If so, simply say so straightforwardly and definitively.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 5, 2019 10:22:20 GMT
As I've mentioned before, I'm sure they'd want to wait to see how ISHFIY and DSMD go down before potentially committing themselves publicly to releasing even more new material.
On another matter, I can't think of a worse 'live' environment for ABBA than Glastonbury. Everything about that idea screams 'wrong!'. I suppose the question was a classic one that someone who really doesn't understand the band might ask.
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Post by josef on Oct 5, 2019 12:01:08 GMT
On the contrary, in a different time, ABBA would have been fantastic at Glastonbury and would go down a storm. It would be legendary. But that ship has sailed, sadly. Not because they're too old EXACTLY but kind of. If they feel too old, then I guess they are. It's all about attitude and approach. I actually wish ABBA had partaken in more big events, Live Aid, for example. Still, it's just a pipe dream.
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Post by josef on Oct 5, 2019 12:08:05 GMT
Perhaps the festival atmosphere, the rough quality, might have put ABBA off but I think life is for facing new challenges. Even so, ABBA weren't The Rolling Stones. It's hypothetical now because Glastonbury is something I'd like to have seen ABBA do at the height of their powers. Even with the best will in the world I can't see it happening now. If there were some kind of time machine maybe. But there's no doubt they would get a rapturous reception.
I can dream.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 5, 2019 14:50:26 GMT
On the contrary, in a different time, ABBA would have been fantastic at Glastonbury and would go down a storm. I think there's a real art to wowing a crowd in an open-air, festival setting - and it takes lots and lots of practice. So how would ABBA have done in their heyday? I fear the worst. Most of the Glasto crowd in the late 70s / early 80s would have been distinctly unimpressed to see ABBA turn up. Weren't Hawkwind top of the bill in '81? TBH I wouldn't have been any more confident about Live Aid. Quite a lot of 'mega' names came over as a bit naff (at least on TV - being there's a different thing, of course, and notwithstanding what a great day it was overall). And they included some who had a massive reputation as 'live' acts (the specially reformed Led Zep springing to mind as an obvious example - dire!). I suppose, for me, when it comes down to it, ABBA are/were a studio band. Today, I'd hate to see them reduced to afternoon 'comeback karaoke' at somewhere like Glasto. And they'd need to put in a LOT of work to get into musical shape for something like that. I'm glad Bjorn kicked the thought into the long grass where it should deservedly nestle for evermore! So here's a question. ABBA decide to do one comeback gig. What should the venue be? |
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Post by josef on Oct 5, 2019 15:19:36 GMT
Interesting points and of course I know exactly what you mean. It's mostly wishful thinking on my part. I guess it's because people like Adele, Dolly Parton and even people like Kylie have recently performed at Glastonbury that I think, "Why not ABBA?" It is obviously meant in an ideal scenario. It's not going to happen now anyway. Let's just say it's a fantasy sequence in my mind, like The Name of the Game in ABBA The Movie.
Also, the age thing. Lots of performers still tour in their 70's. Blondie spring to mind. Yeah, ABBA simply don't want to do it. Like you said, they were intrinsically a studio band. I don't think they were as 'bad' live as they think. Stiff at times, but they certainly has their moments!
As for now? Ooh, I've always loved the idea of them on Jools Holland. An unplugged set. But sadly I don't hold out much hope of that ever happening. 😥
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Post by Deleted on Oct 5, 2019 16:06:06 GMT
Now that Bjorn has spoken out, in defence of Greta Thunberg, ABBA could do a Song for her - 'Greta's Song'.
It would be all about saving the Environment etc. Or it could be called 'A Song For Greta'.
If ABBA get The ABBAtars to work properly, there is no reason why they could not do Glastonbury - instead of ABBA.
They'd look as ABBA did in 1979.It is really a matter of whether the Glastonbury Audience would tolerate watching
'Glorified Holograms' Miming to old ABBA Songs. With 2 or 3 New ABBA Songs added, as a 'Special Bonus'. It is my
experience, that many people, only know ABBA's really big Hits. They wouldn't even know if The ABBAtars were
Miming to anything New! For all they know, they could just be obscure ABBA Album Tracks! So, any New ABBA Songs
would be wasted on such people....
ABBA were a Studio Group, who sometimes Toured.It would be a disaster, were they ever to try and 'Come Back'
via Glastonbury, or any other 'Live' Event. The entire Global Media would be watching - expecting ABBA to come
up with the best 'Live' Show that Glastonbury has ever seen. ABBA would not be able to deliver that. The Crowds
and the Media would end up being very disappointed. 'Is that it?', would be the cry, when ABBA's 'Show' was over.
They should avoid going any where near 'Live' Events. I'd rather that ABBA never came back at all than see them
degrading themselves, trying to pull off a 'Live' Event that is far too much for them. They'd have done it well in
1976 to 1980, but not in this Era. They really are not strong enough to pull it off...
It is suspected that Kylie Minogue only got theough her Glastonbury 'Set', by using pre-recorded Vocals, and a lot
of Auto-Tune. She certainly was not singing entirely 'Live'. But entirely 'Live' is what should be performed at that
Venue, and if your vocals can't manage it, then you really ought not to be there...
As regards 'Live Aid' in 1985. It is widely accepted that performing there re-launched Queen's Career. Like ABBA,
they struggled in 1982. They came back with a much stronger Album & Singles in 1984, and 'Live Aid' was the
extra boost they needed, in 1985. Their 1980's Career was back on track. ABBA never got to the 1984 and 1985
'Boost' stages, as they never bothered to return after 1982. So Queen got over 1982 and ABBA never tried to.
I've heard rumours that ABBA were invited to perform at 1985's 'Live Aid', but I don't know if it is true. If they were,
they - obviously - turned it down. Seeing themselves as no longer a Group since the end of 1982...
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Post by josef on Oct 5, 2019 17:54:08 GMT
I don't think anyone here seriously believes ABBA would ever do Glastonbury, not back then or now 😆 It's just a case of what if? They may well have been decried if they'd done it back in the 1970's but there's no doubt in my mind that IF ABBA did it now the response and buzz would be phenomenal because of their reputation and legendary status NOW. That's basically all I'm saying. But they'll be 80 soon, time flies. With the best will in the world they won't be bopping around on stage again anytime soon. Damn those lost years when they might have feasibly got back together and set the world alight. Instead we had Mamma Mia! to do that instead. 😈
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Post by Michal on Oct 5, 2019 18:03:41 GMT
As much as I like the idea of ABBA performing at Live Aid (and through it getting the kick needed to get back together), I'm afraid they were not the kind of group that would benefit from it the way Queen did. They were not that kind of performers, I'm afraid, and Freddie outshined many bigger concert names that day...
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