ABBA Voyage: General Discussion 2021 Sept - Dec

I think even in 1981 ABBA would have been allowed their lighter moments. I remember the lyrics of "Take A Chance On Me" being ridiculed in the music press, but that didn't stop it from becoming a massive hit and a public favourite. We are digressing now, but I didn't understand why there wasn't a third single from the "Super Trouper" album earlier in 1981 - perhaps they thought the album sales had been so good that a further single wouldn't sell very well. LAYLOM would have been my choice but I believe it was eventually released paired up with OAOAO only because these two songs had been so successful in the US Club/Disco chart (both No 1). They could have added POYWS as a bonus track on the 12-inch, which would have been a nice extra for the fans, but I suppose this wouldn't have fitted in with the Disco theme of the single.

Sombrero ...vocals and harmonies good but those lyrics...thankfully not on ST. There was a lean period in the first half of 1980. LAYLOM should have been released then. I reckon it would have been number one if accompanied with a decent video. So hoping this album measures up to the last 5 studio albums. If better what ...what a swansong. If received well they may be tempted but its a tall ask at their ages and the time it takes to record an album. Maybe the most we could hope for is a collaboration album like Elton John's with some of today's high flyers. That would take us on a further voyage. But for now let's be thankful and proud of their achievements today. How many artists could come back to such a welcome and chart success after 40 years?

I'm afraid we're on the verge of irritating B&B with JLT)) Oh, maybe then they've simply invented these 2 new tracks for us: "Face it y'all!" 

For some unknown reason I seem to be the eternal optimist !! lol

I think we may get some Deluxe version come May, then of course we have Mamma Mia 3 to look forward to !! Then a Greatest Hits Compilation... Then the 50 years then then then...
I may joke a bit but wouldnt surprise me on any mentioned, that comes true, but lets be honest here , They/we cant carry on forever, so they have to call it a day at some point, but there will still be the odd surprise to come, but will become more and more infrequent..

Ive come to terms with this being the last big hurrah, So we should embrace the next 12 months and enjoy every minute..... I am....

Colour one of Agnetha and Frida plus the Agnetha-in-mask photo that I don’t think was in The Guardian article.

It wasn’t always the case. Quite a few 1981-1982 photos have them paired differently, and at one point it seemed like they were saying “we can’t possibly be photographed next to our former spouse.” The 1982 photo in The Guardian article is one example. I think there was some tension between Benny and Frida during that time though, due to the circumstances of their split. 40 years on, I don’t think any of them have a problem anymore.

I'm slightly hopeful that there might be more from ABBA. They - or Bjorn particularly - have teased and misled and denied and, as Alan points out, been contradictory. But I can see that some of that may have been to surprise us.

They've certainly had plenty of time to record more songs. But it would have depended on their ambition, creativity, health and energy as to whether there's more to come. It's not about continuing their career actively for a time - I'm completely with jj  in not not wanting to see the negative ramifications of their doing that - but rather just 'getting it out there', if they have done more during this avatar/Voyage project.

I know, this has the whiff of ingratitude about it, but I really don't mean it that way. If Voyage is it, we can all be immensely happy and grateful that it has happened.

Not sure about this. Many acts from the 1960s generation are still going strong, and still picking up fantastic reviews. Ageism is thankfully pretty rare these days. Bob Dylan's last album was one of the most acclaimed of his career, released at age 80, and McCartney is doing similarly well.
Whether Abba do any more stuff probably depends on two things. The level of critical acclaim the new album receives (its commercial success is guaranteed) and whether the women want to continue. They've been well shielded from all the usual hassles of being in a band with the current album campaign (no promotion, no TV and no touring) and may have enjoyed it sufficiently that they'd like to do a little more whilst they're still in good health.
And Bjorn+Benny have never really stopped working at all, so there's no obvious reason why they should suddenly stop now having released possibly the most hotly anticipated thing they've ever done (unless it's a critical flop or their health fails).

I didn't expect them to do any more albums past this one and didn't really want them to. I was just hoping for a few extra tracks, ideally at least one to mark the 50th anniversary of their Eurovision win in 2024. But it doesn't look like we'll be getting that.

I think you might be over-reacting to my post a bit here, as I wasn’t suggesting any such possibility. What really irritates me is that once again it’s Benny being miserable. He’s done it time and again - “there’s nothing more in the vaults” and out pops From A Twinkling Star (and now Just A Notion). “There’s no new album - why on earth would anyone think that?” and sure enough, there’s an album. It’s almost like he has to say what is either untrue, hasn’t yet been ruled out or doesn’t need to be said.

What was very telling about that interview was Björn quietly saying “yeah” - you could probably have heard the sound of his jaw dropping and he must have been thinking, “did he really just say that?”

We don’t want to hear that ABBA have already split up again, most of us can already draw those conclusions. We don’t need grumpy old Benny to say it. Björn clearly daren’t say anything to disagree as Benny is the centre of the whole ABBA operation.

ABBA haven’t yet even released the album and they’ve just released the third single from it. ABBA is not as past tense as Benny seems to take great delight in telling us.

I understand absolutely what he means and why he is so concerned.  Since 2nd September the card sleeve version has been either number 1 or 2 on the best sellers amazon daily list until last week. Now those sales have completely disappeared , and as Colin says, it should be amongst the  best selling albums of the YEAR. We are concerned as to where all those 1000s of sales have gone. When he approached amazon to ask, they were very vague and said "they would get back to him". We are still waiting. It's not a matter of swopping the card for jewel. The jewel cases cds are totally separate and we're only listed once they appeared to "sell out" of the original release. Does that make the situation clearer? 

You are worrying over nothing.

It seems sales will be counted. For some reason they have excludrd it from their 2021 chart as it is currently out of stock. Or was. It seems to be in stock now

Exactly - it sounds rather like an admin 'blip'.  I am confident Voyage will sail to number 1 on November 12th when the first week's chart comes out.