ABBA Voyage: General Discussion 2019

Omg wouldn't it be just awful if the songs were lacklustre? I'd be devastated. But surely this cannot happen.  Please, by all the saints in heaven, let it not be so. I couldn't give a toss if everyone hates them- I just want to love them and be moved and get THAT feeling again.  

I suppose it's a possibility.  I do recall Agnetha being a bit off-key singing TWOFD for BennyBjörn with Frida. And Frida herself sounded rather dodgy singing the perfectly dreadful Morning Has Broken a few years ago. I know it was a favourite of her husband's but oh boy that was grim.

Still, it's a different ballgame in the studio so I'm still hopeful.

   I don't think that any ABBA Fans should 'worry' about the quality of the New Songs. I'm sure that at worst they will be
   as good as ABBA's 5 or 6 out of 10 Songs. At best as good as their 7 to 8 out of 10 Songs. That range - 5 to 8 out of 10,
   should be satisfactory, seeing as we never expected to ever get any New Songs from ABBA, so it is all a 'Bonus'. A Miracle
   may happen, and the New Songs may even be as good as 9 or 10 out of 10. We will see...

   What ABBA Fans should be worrying about, is whether the New Songs will ever get released. ABBA are now 'Old', and none
   of them will be around forever. We have to be realistic and wonder if the New Songs will be released if one - or more - of ABBA
   is suddenly no longer around. That may well end the 'Saga Of The New Songs' once and for all. They may just get shelved...

   Another worry is that Benny & Bjorn may simply decide that it was a mistake for ABBA to Record again, and - on reflection - they
   decide to simply forget that it ever happened. The New Recordings would be locked away and the Fans will have no choice but to
   accept that decision. It will cause a lot of Fans to give up on ABBA. There would be no sense in being loyal to something that has
   shown so little loyalty in return. So, I do hope that ABBA don't go down that path...

   

    Gazman -- I'm sorry for sounding impatient in some Posts and asking others to 'Be patient', in other Posts!
    I know that it looks as if I have 2 views at the same time. I don't mean to seem impatient. I just get very
    nervous, that the longer we wait for New ABBA Music, the more chance there is of something going 'wrong'
    with ABBA's 'Plans'. (Whatever they may be). I know one thing - The ABBAtars 'idea' never really enters my
    mind any more. It's as if I've given up on that 'Plan' happening. However, I do think that they will 100% be
    used in ABBA Promo Videos - even if the 'Show' never actually happens...

    A few bits of 'News':

    1)... There is a UK 'Comedian' called Michael McIntyre. On Saturday, (23rd November), his 'Big Show' TV 
    Series is back, on BBC 1 - at 21.10. (9.10 pm). Bjorn is going to be a Guest on that first 'Episode'. The 
    'Episode' will be repeated at 23.40, (11.40 pm), on Tuesday 26th November. 

    2)... Here is a Link to a very recent Video, of a 2,100 Member Canadian Choir singing 'Dancing Queen':
 
    abbachat.boards.net/thread/1208/abba-cover-versions?page=1&scrollTo=19231


     

^^^^^ I very nearly never watched the Choir and Dancing Queen...
Im so glad I did...
I probably can’t put in to the correct words but...
ok not a fantastic out of this world rendition , however it did get to me , the power of music and the joy it can bring to so many, and that we as fans are so lucky that this music came our way . For me over 40 years ago, and that it can still touch me in an emotional way is testament to the brilliance of those fabulous 4...
Thank you ABBA...

Wow jj, that has really whetted my appetite! Just IMAGINE how great this might be. There's nothing they can't do. I'm thinking 'they' (whoever 'they' might be) could do videos for old ABBA songs! I'm imagining Agnetha and Frida singing along to Lay All Your Love On Me. That could be SO good! I'm buzzing.

It would be nice to think that ABBA/Universal/Polar would be ahead of the technosavvy fans. It certainly help create a lot of commercial opportunities to create full video albums, if they were so inclined. Imagine the DVDs on the 50th anniversaries of albums - especially the "important" 1976-1981 albums!

You don't have to be enthusiastic. I don't think we're talking about thousands of videos. For me, I'm excited at the prospect of a video featuring realistic versions of ABBA performing some of their greatest songs which didn't have an official video- such as The Visitors (I'd LOVE to see 'Frida' singing this! What's not to love?!), Angeleyes, Like An Angel Passing Through My Room. And many more. I don't think I'm alone in this. Perhaps it won't happen. But I hope it does.

Even if you know that it's not really Frida but some artificial identity? Hmmm, nothing for me indeed. And there really is a possibility to create thousands of such videos - "Frida" singing The Visitors in different environments, seen from different angles, dressed in different clothes. And in all of the videos looking the same (her 1979-self). It feels like some kind of a video game...

   Regarding the Instrumentation in the New ABBA Songs. Benny has said that the Songs will sound like ABBA,
   but with 'Modern Instruments'. I do hope that ABBA are not going to return trying to 'fit in', by using the
   same Music, as 'Modern' Singles. It would be a mistake. ABBA sounded like no other Act, on most of their
   Singles, and it was that which helped to make them stand out from everyone else. You don't have to sound
   like every other Act, to have success. Being unique has its own attention and rewards. I think that I'd die
   of embarrassment, if they added 'Rap' to their New Songs! Or, if they put silly stops, starts and 'Bleeps',
   all over them. That is not ABBA. They are renowned for their very well sung, catchy Singles, mainly. It would
   not really be ABBA, if they tried to do Songs in the style of Justin Bieber, Drake, Ariana Grande, or Ed Sheeran.
   I recall when Erasure released their ABBA EP, in 1992. It was not too bad, (compared to ABBA), but, they just
   had to try and be 'Modern', by adding a Female Rapper section, to 'Take A Chance On Me'! It ruined the Song!
   Recently, I read that one of the Males in Bjorn Again, has added his Rap to one of their ABBA Covers, and he
   'sings' it on their Tours. Again, there was no need for it. No-one has to add 'Modern' sounds to ABBA Songs,
   and that includes ABBA. Why would ABBA want to come back sounding like every other 'Modern' Act? 

   Over the Years many Critics - and Fans - have commented on how simple and old fashioned, many of ABBA's
   Promo Videos look. With The ABBAtars, it will be possible to make New Videos for ABBA's Old Singles. They
   can be full of 'Modern Technology' and 'Special Effects'. I've always wondered whether ABBA would, (one day), 
   think of a way to make ultra 'Modern' Videos. With The ABBAtars, it is now possible. Of course, just because it
   it is possible, it does not mean that it will be done. We may just get 'Modern' Videos for their New Songs - be 
   'only' 2 or 3 to 5. Even way back in the 1990's the Spice Girls were doing far more spectacular Videos than any
   that ABBA had ever done. One only has to see the 'Spice Up Your Life' Video, to see that. (I'm not saying that
   the Spice Girls were better than ABBA - they were not, But, several of their Videos were full of 'Special Effects').

   I realise that some Fans don't like anything to change with ABBA. They would not want the Old Videos to be remade,
   with much more exciting 'Visual Effects'. However, if that is not done then the Videos for the New Songs will look far
   superior, to the 'simple' ones that ABBA used, when they were together. In other words the 'Old' Videos will look even
   more out of date and time. It is up to ABBA if they don't mind such a situation...

   Regarding the New Songs, I see that Bjorn was back, to only mentioning 2, in an Interview with a German 'Paper, a few
   Days ago. He just mentioned the 2, that ABBA told us about in April 2018. He said that they will definitely be released
   in 2020. The trouble is, that there have been so many hints, about more than 2 New Songs, that it will look rather mean
   of ABBA, if we only get 2, after all of the different hints and teases - which mainly came from Bjorn, but Benny did his
   share, too.

  So tomorrow - Friday 6th December - the ABBA Exhibition opens in London. The UK Media is very interested in it. The Press have done
  several Articles about it. I guess that TV News may also do 'Features' on it. (I've no idea, as   I no longer watch any TV News, after I
  learned that we are lied to - constantly. It matters not which Channel or Station). 

  The Curator of the ABBA Exhibition is Jude Kelly. I've just watched a Video of her talking to 'The Independent', about the Exhibition. Unfortunately,
  she has no idea when ABBA began and ended. (In their 1st Career). She says that it was from 1974 to 1984. She should be saying 1972 to 1982.
  I always find it rather sad when someone talks to the Media about ABBA, when they have got things wrong!

  Here is part of what she said:

  Against a backdrop of vivid reminders of a nation riven by division, the curator Jude Kelly told The Independent why she was attracted to the project:
  “I‘m looking at the progress of a band that worked together from 74 to 84 and produced a body of music that has endured across the world".

  The Exhibition would have been a perfect 'First Stop' to Promote the New ABBA Songs, but, they are not yet ready, of course. No doubt ABBA are
  thinking of other 'Perfect Venues' to 'Launch' the New Songs. I think that the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest has to be somewhere that they have
  considered. They would be the Act that is performing while the Votes are being worked out. They could perform as The ABBAtars, and the 'Real'
  ABBA need only say 'Hi', before The ABBAtars perform, and 'Bye', when they have finished.  (With a few more words than that, of course). The
  good thing is that The ABBAtars, (and the 'Real' ABBA), would have an almost 100% friendly Audience, so ABBA won't have to worry too much, 
  as to whether the Audience like The ABBAtars or the New Songs. After all, the ESC Audience had to put up with Madonna's awful performance,
  this Year, and no-one booed or hissed - they mostly sat there in bored silence. If she can avoid the wrath of a ESC audience, then ABBA would 
  have no trouble at all. The Audience are just right for being enthusiastic about ABBA...

 If ABBA decide not to use Eurovision, to 'Launch' the New Songs, then I'm sure that there will be some similar 'Big Event', that they will consider,
 later in 2020. As long as it is not the American Music Awards. They are full of Rap and 'Songs' that don't seem to have any tunes! ABBA's Songs 
 deserve a better Venue than that...

I share your misgivings Michael in terms of being wary of the wider or longer-term implications of this. We've really passed through the looking-glass when virtual animation becomes a well-nigh perfect simulacrum of reality - Christ knows some celebrities already look like idealised simulations of themselves (Rylan Clark), without animation adding to the problem. But with regard to ABBA specifically: the unveiling of these new songs offers the chance for the band to make a positive statement about old age; a life-affirming one but with no rose-tinting filtering out the truth, showing how one can and should reconcile oneself to the ageing process. Transfiguring the unvarnished truth used to be one of ABBA's prime stock-in-trades during their heyday, so it's a sad irony that just at the point when they've become an active group of sorts again they've apparently decided to go public from 'within' virtual carapaces that will hollowly reproduce the way they looked at their physical peak. They could make a brilliantly pragmatic but still uplifting statement about experience, showing how companionship and creative vitality outlive youth and looks, but instead they're going to go the way of concealment and denial and artifice (as I say, this absolutely goes against the spirit of the group at their best, I think). I think this could set a bad precedent in a world already obsessed with image and physical perfection. ABBA could've done something heart-warmingly remarkable, rather than going the technologically radical (for the moment, although today's cutting edge technology quite rapidly turns into tomorrow's old-hat) smoke-and-mirrors route.

Dunno why Kurt Russell in The Thing was kicking up such a fuss about that alien killing off his colleagues on that Polar research station and replacing them with outwardly perfect doppelgängers. If someone appears to be themselves in every way externally, does it really matter whether or not there's an actual heart or a genuine soul or spirit inhabiting the inside?

Incidentally, how I'm going to deal with the videos (IF we ever get to hear the blimmin' songs) is suspension of disbelief. We're surrounded by artifice. I'll listen to the music/voices ..that's my main focus. Besides, it's not as if this hasn't been done before (use of something other than the actual performers in the videos). There was cartoon Happy Hawaii ABBA and funny little Spice Girl faerie creatures in the video for Viva Forever. I wasn't too traumatised by them.

Yep, I'll just take it for what it is- technology and a bit of pretend/make -believe. It's all illusion anyway. The real ABBA probably retired to Mars years ago and are still the age they were when they left. The ABBA you see mooching about are in fact, ROBOTS.

Omg Colin you have scared the bejaysus out of me with those possibilities. Perhaps 'Agnetha' and 'Frida' will go on the rampage like a robot from Blade Runner?

BBC news readers are clearly not human, not with all the lies they keep feeding the populace.