ABBA Voyage: General Discussion 2021 Sept - Dec

Meh. Their heart isn't in this one.

Appears to be quite divisive in ABBA fandom does Just A Notion. Some love it, but many aren't keen and expressing displeasure that an old song from yonks ago has made it on to what was 'supposed' to be a totally new album. I daresay some are fed up because Just Like That isn't on there, too. Me? I'm still just thrilled with the fact ABBA are essentially back and I can't wait to get my hands on the album. I like the snippet I heard of JAN (I really thought it was new vocals initially) but the mix sounds better and while I don't think it'll ever be a favourite, it's ok and I can even imagine contestants waltzing around the dancefloor on Strictly to it. Someone has expressed displeasure that Frida isn't more prominent in the snippet? I guess you can't please all the people, all the time! Maybe it was decided this particular song was best suited to Agnetha? You know? It's not something I pay much attention to. When I first heard I Still Have Faith In You I was just impressed with how much emotion Frida imparted to those lyrics. It's so touching. Gets me every time. I never thought ''Where's Agnetha?'' for a minute. I just accepted it was a Frida lead and sure enough there was Agnetha harmonising with her colleague before very long.

So my ears did not deceive me... Probably they thought the vocals sound so good that it would be a pity to re-record them. I don't see it as a problem unless it makes the album sound inconsistent. But I guess they have taken good care about that aspect.

If that's the case, then I find it even more puzzling that Agnetha's vocals have, apparently, been brought well to the fore in the mix in this version. From memory, that wasn't how it was with the joint vocals in the original recording.
But, again, we'll soon know when we hear the entire new version of Just A Notion.

(By the way, joseph, I wasn't expressing displeasure about Frida not being as prominent. Like you, I don't care who has 'lead'. All that matters is: does the song work for me? I was just pointing out something I'd noticed, that's all - though I admit that what I wrote could be misinterpreted.

^My thoughts exactly gamleman,

Hi richard, oh I wasn't referencing you, I must have missed your post/comment. No I was referring to someone on Facebook that I also remember from the old forum. He does have a point regarding this new mix. Agnetha does sound more prominent compared to that old demo. I think I'll give it a listen- it's been a long time!

Hi everybody.

1st time ever post & I am sorry to be so blunt but I have a very, very bad feeling inside me that this will be ABBA's worst ever single surpassing my previously least liked single 'Under Attack'. It seems to be missing all the class, melody, melancholy and charisma of classic ABBA singles which were fully contained in all of 'I Still Have Faith In You' & 'Don't Shut Me Down' & all singles up to & including 'The Day Before You Came'. I am a huge avid fan now aged 52 & been a from the age of 5. It kills me to say this but no to that release as a single. Adored all the new excitement for ' Voyage' but this choice or 'Just Like That' if it had been included are 'Just Not Right' & fills me with dread for inclusion on 'Voyage'. My favourite albums are 'The Album' & ,'The Visitors'. Please, please I do hope 'Voyage' can float with this one on it. Favourite of the new tracks is ' I Still Have Faith In You' that so upset me with it's splendour & Frida's beautiful vocals coming through on my earphones loud, clear & so emotionally precise that I had a epileptic seizure in a supermarket in Grantham, Linc's, England & admitted to hospital on the 3rd September for a week. I was seized by it's sheer beauty & so suspended in time as if that 39 year gap had never happened. Well done to ABBA & you did us proud but I have a notion this is not just. I actually thought the ABBA undeleted version from 1978 was far better but like I say I hope I am wrong. Best wishes still to the new album and all global ABBA fans.

Andreas.

First off, welcome to the forum Impossiblecase1977

I'm a little curious as to what you mean by 'worst'? If you mean as in personal dislike then of course that's subjective and you're entitled to your opinion. Chart-wise, things are very different these days and as I think Tony has said previously, singles are really just tasters for an album these days. I don't expect it will set the charts alight. Of course it's fantastic if the singles do well but it's not the end of the world.

I took issue with someone elsewhere who described Just A Notion as "horrible". That's simply untrue, biased as I may well be. It's melodic and sung well by all accounts. And as much as I have seen people expressing they're not keen, many fans are very happy indeed with it.

It's funny how this has all come about. It will be interesting reading all the different viewpoints in the coming weeks.

Just A Notion was going to be released in full in 1994 on the Thank You For The Music box set but Bjorn & Benny said they couldn't get it to mix properly and they weren't happy with the mix on that version so it was edited to include only the second and third verses the entire first verse was edited out completely and the part that goes 'There's something happening that I just can't explain if I try its all in vain' was also edited out.

But the snippet released today sound like a completely different vocal take from 1978 as if they did another attempt at it but I also want to hear the full Undeleted version I have been wondering what made them revisit 'Just A Notion' I will always regard this song as an outtake from the Voulez Vous album it would also fit on a new re-issue of the Voulez Vous album.

There is really not much point in condemning "Just A Notion" as a single or an album track based on the original demo and the very brief snippet we heard today. Personally, I was very encouraged by the sample. ABBA did 'uplifting' and 'melancholy' on the first two singles and now I think this one is supposed to be fun. As we know, ABBA's repertoire is very varied and this is a big part of their success story. But this is all a matter of taste anyway and our own personal taste may have little bearing on how successful a single is. For a start, I loved "So Long" when it was only the third ABBA single I had, but it wasn't much of a hit. Then came "I Do I Do I Do" with which I was relatively disappointed, but this went on to not only be a respectable US hit but also reached No 1 in Australia where it sparked off ABBA-mania (or that is my understanding) and led to "Mamma Mia" being released and reaching No 1, which in turn led to it being released in the UK and doing the same, and we all know the story after that. What I'm getting at is you can't really tell how things are going to work out, even with songs you personally don't care for. "Just A Notion" could prove to be just what the general public want from ABBA right now following the first two singles... although "Just Like That" would have been better

Thank you Eddie for the warm wishes and likewise may I convey them back to you and everyone around Planet ABBA for the incredible Voyage we are about to take together. A Voyage a few years ago we thought would be a never ever again. Well! I have been waiting for these incredible Voyagers known globally as ABBA or the gods who throw a dice to embark on yet another journey. One which the 'Cassandra' prophecies never even predicted. Let's be on this Voyage together. Sit back everyone and enjoy. ABBA! 'I Still Have Faith In You!

Andreas.

So good to see a few more new Posters...
We've made a 100 pages !! great conversation... hard to stay away for more than an hour these days In case i miss anything...lol

That all said and I guess we've talked a little about it already , seeing we are at 100 and I guess we should carry on until 5th November , surely we should then start new threads. i.e new thread for each track and one overall album thread, otherwise its going to get very muddled. Perhaps we need a need section ? Voyage.then the sub sections....
The issue appears to be a bit of laziness on all our parts as this is so easy to default to, guilty as charged.... it should then be only habit really to then look for new threads unless there's another way to alert of today's posts, I know there's "latest post" but if more than one post it can get lost .. just a thought..

I notice you started a topic for Just A Notion yesterday and it only got one other person posting. Seems to be very hard to get new topics off the ground.

abbachat.boards.net/thread/1400/notion-confirmed-release

Just regarding a Megarate, this is only a personal point of view, Perhaps we should when the time comes do a Voyage Top 10 only.

As lets be honest many of the new tracks would appear in the top 20 of many , in a top 100, give it a little time to let the novelty factor set in , get used to the tracks, and it can then be a more relative chart...

I love DSMD so it would appear in my top 10 , but in 6 months time !! who knows...

Just A Notion, in its 1978 incarnation, is usually described as a demo, but this isn’t actually the case, is it? It’s actually one of very few unreleased recordings (the other being Just Like That) that progressed beyond the demo stage.

As has already been stated here recently, there was clearly a lot of unfinished business with JAN. It was deemed “unmixable” and so left off the 1994 box (other than part of it in ABBA Undeleted) and similarly excluded from the Voulez-Vous deluxe. Clearly Björn and Benny didn’t want to let it lie. The two “Just” songs are polar opposites in their minds. One they kept trying with and the other condemned because of weak and ill-fitting verses.

If the 1978 vocals were “mixable”, which they clearly must be, then it does make sense to use them. Plus it gives us a chance to hear the rest of it, whether it’s the same take used in Undeleted or not.

Are ABBA superstitious?
Something old = Just A Notion
Something new = Don’t Shut Me Down
Something borrowed = melody line of I Still Have Faith In You

Something blue - as well as “a-ha”, ABBA lyrics often had the protagonist feeling “blue”. Not a term that’s used much but ABBA were fond of it. Happy New Year springs to mind but there are plenty of other examples. Could at least one song on this album use the term?!