ABBA Voyage: General Discussion 2023-24

I don't think last verse of Ode to Freedom is PC at all

The telling verse is

"If I ever wrote my ode to freedom
Being privileged and spoiled for choice
Then I fear that you would be suspicious
Of the cause to which I'd lend my voice
It's elusive and it's hard to hold
It's a fleeting thing"

It is clearly pointing out people have different perceptions on freedom based on their experiences and people's experiences of course differ.

I've gone through all the (original release) albums once again, to see how many songs on each that I would actively 'skip' - as in "I really do not want to listen to that one"! (not quite scientific as they don't all have the same number of songs on them), but an idea anyway of how I must rate Voyage against the others!

Ring Ring = 3
Waterloo = 2
ABBA = 2
Arrival = 0
The Album = 0
Voulez Vous = 3
Super Trouper = 0
The Visitors = 2
Voyage = 0

Not bad!! I do love Voyage!  

Interesting, as I really like the Voulez Vous album! Some great songs, but for me, more 'filler' too!?

Thank you for the clarification Truedogz.
The strange thing is that upon first listen to the 'Voyage' version of "Just A Notion", I assumed the coda section to be original 1978 vocals but then as time went by, I thought I could notice the slight burr of Frida's contemporary, mature voice and more tellingly, her noticeably more prominent present-day accent on the line "I think it's more than a notion". I wonder if perhaps there was a little tweaking with some additional vocal layering??

In an earlier posting, Hometime mentioned Bjorn's slightly out of tune vocals from the 1978 sessions, with which I agree. I'm certain that these would never had gotten past the goalkeeper back in the day, but I suspect they were now reluctant to mess with the exuberant, comparatively youthful vibe captured from forty odd years earlier. I can certainly appreciate these qualities but would have relegated the original recording to a rarities collection or single b-side, in favour of a newly recorded take.
I also still believe they could have altered the lyrics to become "Just a Christmas" and made this the festive track rather than "Little Things" (of which I am fond, but don't consider to be single material). It's such a jolly bop of a track and if resplendent with sleigh bells, swirling strings and revised lyrics, this could have definitely gained traction with radio play and the public alike. Maybe this year? 

I can’t remember where it came from that the last two lines of Just A Notion were new recordings. Not an official source but someone semi-official that you’d expect to be correct. It didn’t make much sense if they were new, why re-record those lines and not the rest?

I‘d improve Voyage as follows:

1. As already mentioned, Little Things as a standalone single, exactly as released in December 2021 but not on the album.

2. Just A Notion still with a new backing track as released, but not on the album and held back to April 2024 as a standalone single (released on physical formats, and keeping its artwork). This would be part of the Eurovision 50th anniversary. Possibly from an album of other unreleased recordings, but that would take us into the realms of fantasy. Definitely no pointless compilation.

3. The two incomplete tracks (Hit By A Train and whatever the other one was called), completed in time for the album and included on it to make up the ten tracks. It’s a gamble, I know, but if Benny says they’re “quite good” then they can’t be that bad! I can’t believe they’re any worse than Little Things or Just A Notion.

Hi Alib, l don't have mine now, having lost the vast majority of my Abba Collection due to a flood and theft, leaving them in UK with family and friends, when l moved abroad but did receive some compensation for the loss.

But it was the UK Gatefold Sleeve version, l remember the day l bought it on a Friday, having received my weekly wages, all of 25 pounds. One of the local village record stores had a fantastic full window display of the Album which l still remember.

Hi its all a bit too technical for me. But just wanted to ask does anyone know, that at the beginning of their concert in Dublin in 1979, that Bjorn actually played Danny Boy as the lead up.
You can hear the song here :



The ticket is actually mine. Had sent a scan to the web site (was brilliant for collectorsk)
All the best, David

I really wish that ABBA had finally recorded 'Story Of A Heart' during the Voyage sessions it would be amazing to hear Agnetha & Frida sing it.

Alan I am aware that Carl Magnus Palm has said that, though going from memory I think what he said was speculative, but I could be wrong. It is possible that he did not hear the full version previously. Apparently Benny, Bjorn and Tretow each created their own mixes, so I have read, and some of them may not have had the outro. Again, I have read that Tretow's mix was complete and heard by few people.

There is the first hand testimony I provided by the Arrival sound engineer who heard one of those mixes who helped to create the cover version and he is adamant that those vocals existed in 1978. I was curious about it myself and wanted an answer which is why I asked him about it and then asked for a clarification that those lines are the same.

So put together what Bjorn and Fredrik Andersson have said and I think that is pretty compelling that the outro existed in the original and those vocals have been reused. Whether they have been tweaked I don't know. At first listening they feel different but that might be because they are so different to the rest of the recording. In fact the outro is my favourite part of JAN as at that instant we hear a classic ABBA harmony typical of their early years, for one last time.

I've read some of the speculation here as to why JAN was included in Voyage. Over the years Benny has made reference to it and I think once said it was perhaps their best unreleased recording. So I think it was one he liked and perhaps a piece of unfinished business for him. There were others they could have done but this seems to be one he liked and so it of course was his prerogative and obviously prefers it to Just Like That. I believe Benny and Bjorn were sincere when they said they felt a parallel in using old vocals with new backing for what was going to happen in the Voyage concert. And with an earlier sound they were paying homage to their past. So I think it was a well considered decision by them, not a last minute decision or a marketing ploy.

I agree with other peoples comments here that they should have recorded fresh vocals for JAN, which would have added greatly to producing a crisper, cleaner sound. A great deal of work went into the backing track as some youtube clips have shown which deconstruct the layers.

I think some of the criticism of the Voyage album comes from people's preferences and expectations. All you have to do is read this forum to see how widely people's tastes vary, some like early ABBA, others the Visitors, etc. With Voyage the band gave us something different again. Its not by any means my favourite album but it allowed them to showcase their talents one last time. As a result they have finally been given credit in the US, long overdue, as one of the great pop groups of all time. Now everyone over there holds them in great respect and it is fashionable to like them. If that is the legacy of Voyage then it is worth it.

Best Wishes

Truedogz

Truedogz, I am one of the people who do not think very highly of the Voyage album. But I agree with your last paragraph. If Voyage has improved ABBA’s reputation, that’s great. And there is probably some truth in saying that Voyage did not meet my ‘preferences and expectations’, although I think my low opinion of Voyage compared with other ABBA albums results more from the decline in Benny and Bjorn’s songwriting ability.

gary: I agree about the decline in the boy's songwriting ability. But also the decline in the way Benny produced and arranged it. The enginering and mastering. I am no disappointed in the singing abilities of the lady's. They have changed but their voices are still good; each in their own way.

Although I hadn't really thought about it before, I find it an interesting view that Benny and Bjorn's songwriting abilities have declined. For some time now, I've thought Voyage a middling album, partly because, to me, a number of the arrangements sound somehow rushed or incomplete or undeveloped. And I'd put that down to time constraints, possibly, or their ages, or both. But has the quality of Benny's tunes deteriorated? For me that's a difficult one, partly because of the arrangement aspects I've just mentioned. In pop - or indeed most kinds of music - the tune and it's arrangement are enmeshed and it's likely not easy to imagine the tune handled in a different way - unless you're the composer.

I wonder if some fans' less than enthusiastic attitude towards Just Like That, for example, is because of the various demo recordings with their provisional arrangements, not the verse and chorus melodies themselves.

Much of my favourite music is from the 1970s, with some from the 1960s and 1980s. That’s mainly because of my age, I guess. But all of my favourite songwriters from that time lost their talent a long time ago. David Bowie’s and Elton John’s, for example, fell off a cliff in the early 1980s and mid 1970s respectively. Benny and Bjorn, though they have declined, held my attention for longer.

It is interesting that people are suggesting that B & B's song writing skills have declined - and it is possible that is the case. But my impression is that Benny can still create a great basic tune. I think richard, may well be correct that it is the arrangements are less appealing than in the past. It might be the absence of Tretow, or Bjorn being less involved in the production. The ABBA sessions musicians have spoken glowingly about Bjorn's abilities as a producer on the original albums. Consider how 'Memory Lane' became 'Happy Hawaii' then finally morphed into 'Why Did It Have To Be Me' as an example of differences of arrangements on a basic tune.

Of ABBA's albums for me Voyage comes in last but it is an easy album to listen too. But for me it lacks greatness and its tone perhaps reflects where the band members are in life. There is nothing on Voyage that comes close to the four recordings of ABBA that are critically acclaimed (SOS, DQ, KMKY, TWTIA) or those that are iconic with the band (eg, MM, MMM, TACOM, TYFTM) though I Still Have Faith In You maybe will fall into the later group in time. I like JAN for being retrospective to the old ABBA sound and Ode to Freedom is a great ending though in my mind Like an Angel was really the true ending of the ABBA era. I can listen to Voyage and enjoy it but prefer to put on Ring Ring and hear ABBA experimenting with different sounds in their early years.

Benny once said, when a reunion was raised, that he would prefer the band to be remembered as they were when they were young. I don't think Voyage was a mistake on the band's part. He has said that they did it because they wanted to and were not driven by outside influences. It has brought them recognition, closure and for the four of them working together nostalgia and perhaps some reconciliation with their past. Having done it I think they are comfortable with their legacy and where they are at in their lives.

I would have been delighted if ABBA had created another iconic pop song but wasn't expecting it. Similarly if it had matched Arrival, The Album or ABBA. Voyage is still a good album, it demonstrates that they still are talented even though they didn't hit the dizzying heights of the past. I am happy they did it.

Best Wishes

Truedogz

Someone on here (I can’t remember who it was but wish I could) once said that Voyage is a zombie album by a zombie group. I loved that description. I’ll never be able to compare Voyage favourably with the eight historic albums so I haven’t tried to.

Voyage is ABBA (albeit the four individuals that were once ABBA a minimum of 35 years on) but such a long gap should help free it from comparisons. It does for me anyway.