ABBA Voyage: General Discussion 2021 Sept - Dec

It also looks like the Amazon pressing has got the ABBAtars in the gatefold too.

Don't Shut Me Down, No Doubt About It, Just A Notion other songs are melodically very weak.
It is more of a modern Irish folk.
I'm expecting a disco song from Abba. I do not compare from other albums, but Abba with other artists.For example, With club 7, Dooleys, Brotherhood of man and thousands of others.
I listen to different music styles from swing to rock n roll, pop to USA country. I just expect disco style in its more complicated form from Abba's songs. Something in the style of American disco soul.
I'm sorry, but I don't like Irish folk.
One of Benny and Bjorn's best late songs is, in my opinion, I Know Him So Well,
I know it's not a disco song, but a very successful song from a mixture of pop and folk, but it's still perfect in its harmony.

Bought cd x 2 (no idea why I picked 2 up) lol! from Morrisons. So glad I listened a few times before posting, first listen wasn't sure of a few tracks. However! Fallen in love with the album now, with When You Danced With Me being an early favourite! Only track I am unsure of is Ode To Freedom, needs a few more listens I think. Maybe my first reaction was because i was subconsciously expecting SOS, KMKY and DQ type songs to jump out of the speakers!? I don't know? But ABBA has evolved,(which they always did with each album) and they are not in their 20's and 30's anymore, I think they've made an album that for the most part is very much in keeping with their musical roots, and I for one applaud that and they have converted me to folk type music along the way too!

So, for any of you not taken with it's 'difference' to other ABBA songs, please give it a few listens, it may just end up being one of your favourites.

I think the fact that ABBA enjoyed making this album so much fills me with joy, and if this really is the last album, they have done it with style, dignity and grace.

I've ordered the deluxe box (most likely to receive it in a month). Here is its unboxing:

I wish they included the poster shown at 0:53.

OMG, what a beautiful album! I waited 40 years, never ever thought I would hear the angelic voices of Freda and Agnetha again. The impossible has happened and if I die tonight I would die happy. I’ve only listened to the album once but I love every track in different ways. It adds to Abba’s rich catalogue of music which has very little rival for diversity, consistency and quality. Abba have gifted us a most beautiful album. Benny and Bjorn I take my hat off to you for the brilliance of your music and Freda and Agnetha your voices are just unique. No one compares to you.

Don’t shut me down - classic Abba.
Keep an eye on Dan - I just love this. I love dance/trance/electronic music and this song gets me high. It is hypnotic, mesmerising. This will become one of my all time favourites along with KMKY, Lay all your love and SOS. They have been my favourities for over 30 years and never change. Now I have to add Keep an eye on Dan. The very end sounds a bit like SOS.
Little things- so so pretty and atmospheric.
Just a notion - deliriously happy song. It sounds perfect on this album even though it sounds 1974
When you dance with me - so wonderful, love the Irish sounds. A really good track
The others - different and unique. I have to listen to them again to immerse myself to fully experience them properly.
I still have faith - I nearly cried when I first heard this. I looonged to hear Freda sing something new for 40 years and in September that dream was fulfilled.

Abba are just so talented. I am so proud of them. The United Nations should give them an award for their contribution to music, civilisation, happiness. I wish them all the best in life.

I (we) would be so happy if it reaches No. 1.

Just listened to this on vinyl
The Ode to freedom is possible the best abba song ever created!!!!!!!!!!love it .
staggeringly beautiful I wish this song was much much longer.
the whole album twists and turnes full of surprises
nothing i don't like,
.I love the wide variety of instruments from Bag pips Flutes to Banjos and orchestral Fantastic !!!!!!!!!!!
as for the HMV shop I was horrified to be told they didn't have the fold out solar eclipse cover
I had ordered, I had to ask for my 5£ booking fee back and buy it from a different shop.
HMV only had there yellow Vinyl special addition with the alternative album cover.
I was also hoping the fold out album would have a picture of the ABBA members as they look today.
that's such a superb photograph wearing there motion capture suits.

I collected my cd today but will continue to stream. Apart from the singles I love Ode to freedom , Bumblebee and I can be that woman. Less keen on the choir on little things but I am sure I heard a bit of twinkle twinkle little star in the song. Nice to have a Christmas song. I wonder how the people in Kilkenny are receiving the song When I danced with you. Read that Ed sold 138000 to make number one this week. Abba have a week to go so keep streaming.

I don't think Little Things will be a big hit at Christmas. The big ones tend to be more brash than lullaby.... songs like by Wizard, Elton
Mariah. It is a nice song though.

"Don't Shut Me Down, No Doubt About It, Just A Notion other songs are melodically very weak."

Well as someone with a performing diploma from a music college I feel honour bound to point out that is completely wrong. :-)

However each to his or her own. I guess part of the problem is that ABBA over the years have covered a wide variety of genres, so if the poster was expecting some disco bangers I'm not surprised they're disappointed. Having said that, ABBA's disco period was well and truly over by the 80's, and this album is a worthy successor to The Visitors. I prefer this album to Voulez Vous because it isn't disco ! So you can please some of the people some of the time, but not all of people all of the time.

Well.. I had to nip into HMV to purchase a copy of Voyage as the one I pre-ordered hasn't turned up. Rather pissed off about it but what can you do? I should've known better. No point in crying about it. Maybe it'll turn up tomorrow. Or next Wednesday. Who knows.

I wasn't sure I'd like every song but I actually do. A lot. I can't get 'Keep An Eye On Dan' out of my head! It's so beguiling and unusual. When You Danced With Me' had me crying like a fool. It's gone straight into my Irish heart. My mum would have loved it. It's stunning. Bumblebee is adorable. I'm not going to wax lyrical about every song in this post just now as I'm still digesting them all. There is one I'm not totally mad about but I think it will grow on me. I love how vulnerable Agnetha sounds but still with that unique sensitivity and ability to interpret a lyric. Frida is a revelation- she sounds amazing. 'No Doubt About It' immediately made me think of the 'Shine' album. Frida sounds practically the same.

I already love the album. Score? God, I dunno. 4/5? Maybe 4.5? Hard to say at this early stage. I do detest critics but I guess we're all one, to some degree. I try not to let someone else's opinion rile me. It really shouldn't. It matters not. However, nothing would make me click on a Daily Mail link. That tabloid is total trash.

I do love this group and their music. They truly are a gift to the world. They represent something very special indeed. What they've created (through the years and now with this album) is nothing less than astonishing. I know they're inducted into the r&r hof and have gold discs galore but they deserve the highest plaudits in the land, whatever they may be. They deserve the highest of praise. They truly are the best pop group that ever walked the earth 😆 (is what will be written in the history books once we've all left this mortal coil).

It's unlikely Ed will sell that many next week. The Sun says that ABBA are expected to sell 140,000 next week, but we'll see. If they don't get to number 1 next week, they probably will between now and Christmas. After all, so many people will be buying it for their parents Christmas present. 

I’ve listened to it four times now. Two directly from my phone from the mp3s that someone sent me, and two times today on CD.

The only one I’m not that keen on is Little Things. It’s fine as a Christmas song and would fit well on such compilations, but not on a studio album. I think I’d have liked this to be a single only, and then possibly added to a future deluxe edition. As it stands I think I will edit it out after December. A Christmas song can only remain that way if it’s not heard the rest of the year! Also it’s a bit too in-your-face. I was hoping it would be more subtle.

When You Danced With Me is one I’d like to know more about. Someone said Björn’s daughter Emma went to university in Dublin? If so did she have a relationship with someone from Kilkenny and it’s written from that person’s perspective?

Keep an Eye on Dan and No Doubt About It I really like. I Can Be That Woman is the only track that Agnetha gets mostly to herself, and it wouldn’t be out-of-place on her solo album, A.

Bumblebee is sweet. Climate change addressed but not shoved down your throat. Ode To Freedom is a lovely closing track. If it is the last we hear from ABBA, it’s a good song to go out on (and about 100 times better than You Owe Me One).

Frida’s voice is amazing on this album, hardly changed in 40 years. Agnetha’s seems slightly more fragile. On the joint leads, it’s still unmistakably the famous third voice, but Frida dominates. Agnetha definitely there but no longer able to steal the show.

Yikes!

Just a word of warning in case any of you do Facebook. It's all kicking off on the official ABBA fan page. Fan vs fan...People getting in a right flap because person A doesn't like the album and expresses it and then person B reacts and so on. Carnage! Does it not have any moderators? It sorely needs some as I can see it going pear-shaped there very quickly. I'm trying to enjoy the posts and not get embroiled in the scraps that seem to break out.

Thank heavens for here and our calm and civil discourse! An oasis of calm.