ABBA Voyage: General Discussion 2021 Sept - Dec

Well with three singles in the Uk physical charts at present and two reaching number one and one reaching number two , I don't think things are so bad. And neither is Just a notion. Maybe it was their intention to give us something from the past to the present to complete the voyage. I posted the UK physical chart showing them at number one on my Facebook page. Me doing my bit for the cause. Spread the positivity in advance of the album.

They went 40 years between hits but now have had three in quick succession as ABBA return with "new" single Just A Notion. The rockabilly-inspired track is a dusted-off reworking of a song that failed to make the cut for their 1979 album Voulez-Vous. As a low-key teaser for the release of their brand new album, without the sensation that greeted the release of its two predecessors it can only drift into life at No.59 (7,008 sales) as potentially their lowest charting single ever

Someone’s heard the album… post from PopJustice:


“Saw this small description of the new album on another board:

When You Danced With Me - 2:50
Little Things - 3:08
I Can Be That Woman - 4:01
Keep An Eye On Dan - 4:05
Bumblebee - 3:57
No Doubt About It - 2:56
Ode To Freedom - 3:32

Little Things is the christmas song, its beautiful… has a cute little outro song by children

Keep An Eye On Dan is a highlight , bjorn and benny have some backing vocals towards the end

keep an eye on dan / promise me you can / he gets out of hand, if you let him / so keep an eye on dan

No Doubt About It as well, ubpeat, super 80's sounding, totally sounds like something from a coming of age/teen movie from around then and i love it

Ode To Freedom feels like a beautiful farewell

overall a great mix of ballads, midtempos and upbeat songs on this album”

Here is an article with B+B in New York Times

www.nytimes.com/2021/10/27/arts/music/abba-reunion-voyage.html?smtyp=cur&smid=tw-nytimes

For anyone interested, the ABBATar picture disc version of the vinyl album is back in stock in the official store.

The green and white editions have completely disappeared from the listings, suggesting those really have sold out.

shopmusic.abbavoyage.com/?utm_umguk=abba.lnk.to%2FUK&utm_campaign=ABBA20210902&utm_content=&utm_medium=genericlink&utm_source=OriginalLink

If Just a notion is the weakest then we are in for a treat. Some of the best songs were never released or were but after the release of the host album....examples being KMKY, Eagle, LAYLOM, The Visitors, Hole in Your Sole , Andante Andante etc. Lyrically Head over Heels better but JAN is catchy , fun and fast. You could throw yourself about to it after a few drinks. Same can't be said of HOH. As Abba fans I think we have came to expect not just the best but flawless productions. They really have spoiled us in the past and hopefully with this new album. Not long now.

Thanks for posting that snippet of info about the album, Alan - it's just the shot of positivity we needed. I had decided to stay away for the rest of the week to avoid the conjecture-based doom that threatened to dampen the release but this got me logging back in.

There are still three titles about which nothing has been mentioned, so there's still more to explore. Hard to believe that we'll have heard everything this time next week!

It should be noted that if it were not for the initiative of Simon Fuller and the very strong Abba fan base in the UK. No new Abba album would take place.
I would like to thank all British fans for their continued and patient interest in Abba. I am one of the few fans of Abba and also European and American rock n roll and country. I also really liked the British band S club 7. With excellent vocals and dance elements. I come from the Czech Republic, where unfortunately rock, hard rock is mainly listened to.

I know it’s normal to have a bit of crisis of faith before an event such as this, and there does seem to be a lot of negativity at the moment but there are always different perspectives.

Someone said ABBA had a bad week…well it’s depends on how you look at it.

Just a Notion was a-listed and record of the week on Europe’s biggest radio station. It ensures there is a good presence on the radio in the run up to the new album. It is also a-list this coming week too.

Just a Notion was also a high new entry on the sales charts. It also made number 59 in the UK chart which is much higher than most legacy acts. Someone mentioned it is significantly higher than the lead single from Madonna’s last album.

ABBA have also got high profile articles in The Guardian and The New York Times. The content of these articles have also led to a number of ancillary articles in other papers. All of this keeps the group in the public eye.

ABBA have made it onto the cover of a European edition of Rolling Stone.

People also seem worried that ISHFIY and DSMD were released first because they represent the best the album has to offer. I think rather they were released first because they are included in the show and were being lined up for single release long before the rest of the album was completed. Benny said the album was completed a week before the launch event.

Personally I love the new tracks. I was disappointed that JAN was released as a single because I wanted something new and progressive..but these decisions are made as part of a wider marketing strategy. The song is retro and they are probably hoping it will appeal to a slightly different demographic to the first two songs.

To me, DSMD is a stone cold classic, and I have every faith that the album will deliver a few more, even if I don’t love every single track.

Some people like to speculate and some people enjoy the steady leak of information. It’s not pathetic and you dont have to engage if you do t want to.

As some have pointed out, I think we needed a bit of positivity on here. I know I did.

Spot on, Alan. The descriptions give little away beyond that one listener's experience/opinion. We still know very little about what's coming, we can still only guess what things sound like. As speculations go, I certainly prefer them to the "this single is an unmitigated disaster and the whole album is now ruined" commentary - which was why I had decided to give the discussion a miss until next weekend. I hope no sound snippets are leaked. That said, it's not entirely out of the realms of possibility that a key radio station somewhere might get a world exclusive of one of the new tracks before Friday. It's all part and parcel of the prerelease excitement.

It's sometimes expressed negatively that this or that song is "not a single", equating 'single' with 'better'. I've often come to like some album tracks as much as, or even more, than some singles from an artist, including ABBA. For me, it's sometimes a matter of changing and varying tastes and appreciations more than anything one might regard as intrinsic and 'set in stone' about a song. So even if I don't at first go much on a given album track on Voyage, I know from past experience that it's quite likely to change. (And a track I liked initially might go down in my estimation after some more listens.)
This is quite a common experience, I imagine.

Yes, a 'single' is not necessarily one of the best tracks on an album for me either. A single is chosen for its commercial appeal and how it might grab attention on the radio. I wanted "My Love My Life" instead of "Money Money Money" and "One Man One Woman" instead of "Take A Chance On Me", but the wisdom that comes with age and experience now tells me that MMM and TACOM did make better singles.

In normal circumstances, I don't think "I Still Have Faith In You" would have been chosen as a single, but I believe we got both ISHFIY and DSMD as singles because of their messages - the lyrics of these songs must really mean something to ABBA and conveyed their feelings to their fans at that key moment in time. I believe JAN is supposed to be back to 'business as usual' - more light-hearted after quite a serious beginning.