ABBA Voyage: General Discussion 2023-24

Such lists are mostly a source of irritation or indifference for me because I rarely share the preferences and prejudices of the compiler! And I also think it often reveals the age and/or ignorance of the compiler. Whitney Houston wouldn't be on my list, for example - but that's just my prejudice.

Don't forget this was 70s 80s 90s so would really exclude Dusty Springfield and Cass Eliot. Some very odd choices on the list. Kinda agree that Kate Bush is overrated.

I like Mariah's Christmas song but generally don't like her songs or Whitney's. Vocal gymnastics might be impressive to do but not nice to listen to.

I can't say I'm famiiar with Cass Eliot's post Mama and Papa's career.

Yes Dusty did record for a long time but really all her really great stuff was in the 60s. From the 60s also Sandie Shaw and Petula Clark. But they weren't in the same category as Dusty.

If we were to include All Time up to the present I would not have Adele very high on my list - overrated. Celine Dion wouldn't make my list at all.

I'd echo many of the points already made. These lists are so subjective, so arbitrary - and ten-a-penny at that. Personally, I'd have included Alison Moyet and Kiki Dee, for their versatility, soulfulness and their tendency to put the song first. I also think that Sandy Shaw did her best work in the 1980s. Dusty's comeback in the late 80s/early 90s might not have been a patch on her 60s output, but it was still classy and the gal still had the pipes and expressiveness. And ONJ was another who could turn her hand to almost any genre.

I guess the melody dictates the lyrics which determine the lead singer.

If the music is meandering that could invite storytelling/all the detail lyrics. This puts Agnetha as the lead.

Personally I feel Agnetha's best performance on Voyage was the brilliant chorus of Don't Shut Me Down. She hasn't the higher pitch range as before but it's the melody which determines the catchiness. I wish there were a few more moments like that on Voyage - highlighting Agnetha the pop singer rather than Agnetha the theatrical singer.

Their voices don't blend in a beautiful way on When you danced. Personally I don't like NDAI at all. I don't like the song itself and the streams show this. In fact: besides the first the first 2 singles I don't really like any of the tracks. I can enjoy ICBTW because of Agnetha's lead but that's about it. It's so dated already. A shame really but what can you expect.

AdamDawson2003 - I wrote about the singles on page 10 of this thread.

Quick summary. In UK WYDWM 'sold' (streams) in week Voyage was released almost as much as JAN did in its opening week.

This despite JAN having advantages of
a) being released before Voyage
b) having a CD

If WYDWM was released instead of JAN it certainly would have charted higher than JAN. In Sweden it was Top 10 whereas JAN missing the Top 20.

I also think a 5th single and radio only single was a single too far. By that time it wouldn't have made a difference if it was NDAI, WYDWM or KAEOD.

Alan, I reckon too they decided to record a full album early on too. My thoughts on the album..

1. They decision to release an album was inrvitable after they decided to record 2 new songs. Just releasing those singles would have got a lot of interest for a week or two - like they did, but generated sales like an album.

Just releasing those 2 songs would have been a bit like 1982 with The Day Before You Came and Under Attack. There would be no compilation to tag them on to. We already have Gold. Yet another Definitive Collection?

Once they added a few more songs in 2019 it really would have been even more like 1982. Those songs never found home on a studio album and it was all very unsatisfactory. An EP is neither one thing or the other. So a full album it was.

2. ABBA were struggling with a new full album. The common consensus is the first two songs are the best. Personally I feel the more they went on the more desperate they got. Reviving Just a Notion was an act if desperation and spun to make it sound it gave a flavour of the concert. Original vocals, new backing track and rock bottom was reached with Little Things. Perhaps the SOS flourish at the end of Keep an Eye on Dan was a subconscious reminder of easier recording days.

3. The two unrecorded songs. I said before they were "not good enough" to make the album. Tbis got lots of rebuttals (as some of my comments do 😀). Perhaps the SONGS may be ok...and Benny said "quite good". But the RECORDINGS clearly not up to scratch otherwise they would have made it onto Voyage.

Other opinions are available. 😘

We need one or both of the unreleased songs to leak really. But not in great sound quality. There will almost certainly be enough fans to proclaim them the best ABBA songs ever and spend the next 40 years (or whatever life they’ve got left) calling for them to be released officially.

But “quite good” from Benny is still much better than “we didn’t like it”. I’d say it’s more likely we’ll get one or both of the unfinished songs than Just Like That. But “more likely” when it’s ABBA doesn’t mean much.

In my ideal scenario, the two incomplete tracks would have been finished, and included on the album in place of Little Things and Just A Notion.

Little Things would have been single-only. No mention of it in interviews. Announced on the same day in December 2021 as the snow photo was unveiled, and released that week as a completely unexpected surprise. It would not have made much - if any - difference to its chart position or radio airplay, but would have been a nice post-album release. That way, even if I still didn’t think much of it, I could accept it better. As it stands, I really resent a Christmas song being on a studio album (and whatever anyone says, Happy New Year is NOT the same thing - it’s not Christmas).

Just A Notion, I’m not sure what I’d have done with. Perhaps kept it until the 50th anniversary in 2024. Still as a single, still with a new backing track, just not on the album proper. Then, later in 2024, add both Just A Notion and Little Things as bonus tracks to Voyage (but making it clear that they are bonus tracks and not part of the core album).

With Just A Notion, there’s still a sense that they cheated a bit. It’s not a fully new album, and it wasn’t good enough for Voulez-Vous. Even as part of ABBA Undeleted, I never saw it as a highlight. There’s much better stuff in that medley.

Even if the two incomplete songs really aren’t that good, they have some advantage in that there is (presumably) no Christmas theme and they’re not old songs that have been dug up and dusted down. They might well be the two worst tracks on my ideal album, but I’d still be prepared to trade in JAN and LT for them (even if we’d still get both of those in my scenario).

I agree with the broad thrust of that, Alan. A couple of quibbles.

1. If LT was a standalone single I think it really would have charted higher - but perhaps not that great.

2. Happy New Year is not a Christmas song, true. But it is clearly a festive song around the new year. It has a resolution feel. A "New Begining" for sure, but linked to that time of the year.

For me they differ greatly. Christmas is this surreal time of the year when everyone is supposed to be “merry” and, if nothing else, it’s a break from work. New Year is the end of the holiday. Looking ahead, yes, but actually just about to go back to work and it being the darkest, coldest period of the year. The “warm” feeling of Christmas is over. I don’t feel much at all about new year, hence why Happy New Year for me is nothing like Little Things (or any Christmas song).

Does Bobby's Brother read this site?

New video talks about 2 unfinished songs and speculates about Anthology album.

Voyage chronology revised with NDAI moved to 2021 and possibly OTF started in 2019 but finished in 2021.

I'm pretty certain that Bernard Löhr, who engineered and mixed 'Voyage', mentioned in an interview prior to the album's release (around October 2021) they had recorded additional songs that didn't make the final cut, as well as alternate versions of certain album tracks - e.g. "Ode To Freedom".

I was surprised that Benny confirmed the two unfinished tracks but as others have commented, he didn't criticise them as being inferior or unworthy of album inclusion, but rather, mentioned they were actually quite good and just needed more work. Whether that was a secret nod to future releases or not, we simply don't know (as yet).

I know this seems difficult to acknowledge given the four-year gestation period of 'Voyage', from the initial recordings in June 2017 to the final mix in October 2021, but I think they simply ran out of time with a final, inescapable release date (early November 2021). (That's not even taking into consideration the time taken to write both "I Still Have Faith In You" and "Don't Shut Me Down", which may have been weeks or months.)

I do believe the initial idea was simply to issue two new songs that promoted the Voyage show and this quickly morphed into an album concept but there were all manner of delays, principally producing the show and inherent Covid-related interruptions, that possibly made four years seem closer to four months from Benny's perspective. I think if there had been another six months at the group's disposal, those two unfinished tracks would have been completed and possibly included on 'Voyage'. I also believe "Little Things" would have still made the cut, simply because they all seem to love it. I think the dark horse would have been "Just A Notion", which really does stick out like a sore thumb for me - not just because it was a forty-year-old outtake but because new vocals weren't recorded. I will never understand this choice and tend to think they either thought the ladies couldn't hit the notes or once again, time was running out. However, the recording timeline of 2017 to 2021 would suggest otherwise and that they decided early on it was a contender.