ABBA Voyage: General Discussion 2021 Sept - Dec

After listening to an acapella version of the track on YouTube, I reckon I've got it wrong about the vocals on Ode To Freedom. I still love it, but I don't think it's all four of them mostly singing in unison and octaves as I had assumed. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it now seems to me that it's mostly or entirely Agnetha and Frida's voices. Bjorn may be doubling with Frida, but I'm not sure about that.

Maybe it was down to time constraints, but imagine if they had developed a 'full on' four-part vocal arrangement, including Benny and Bjorn throughout! I think that would have but been really something. As it is, still a wonderful closer to the album.

I don't know where these have come from but here are all the acapella and instrumental versions that have emerged on Youtube...

www.youtube.com/channel/UC__Yl1znU1-_3hL_ptITEPw

Could it be the only ABBA song to chart that hasn’t been a single? We’ll have to see if they are still in the charts by Friday. I don’t think I Can Be That Woman would’ve been too far behind When You Danced With Me as well.

Colin, your input on ABBA record sales is always interesting and helpful. Keep up the good work.
Richard, have a go at posting your review of " Voyage ". I am not that brilliant myself I must admit.
Adam, I love your post. It doesn't matter how young or old you are to appreciate ABBA.

Yes, worth remembering though that it's airplay that fuels album sales (to a large degree) after the initial few days of release.
Sheeran had two songs in the Airplay Top 10 last week (and one just outside) when his album was released, powering the album sales through the week.
Abba only have one in the Top 40 and it's outside the Top 10- Just a Notion at 11. Note this is still an impressive achievement - I think it's a bigger airplay success than the first two songs and at this position means they must be getting at least a few plays from stations other than Radio 2. 
So, Voyage will continue to shift copies throughout the week, and I reckon it might well still beat Ed's week 1 tally, but not a foregone conclusion as they have a much lower presence on the nation's radio stations than Ed.

Great news regarding sales in the Uk. What a fabulous return that will be. And there is the promising news of a top 10 placing in the States. I really like the whole album except the choir but I was wrong about I have a dream.

Just A Notion is the song I'm hearing most on the radio. I've been keeping an ear on BBC Radio 2. JAN got a couple of plays today and Ken Bruce played When You Danced With Me. It's remarkably radio friendly. It seems to be doing considerably better than the other album tracks on Spotify too. 

Yesterday, ABBA had 13 songs in the Irish iTunes singles chart - 7 from Voyage (DSMD and WYDWM scoring the highest) and the others from Gold (mostly 1979 singles). Today, there is only one ABBA track in the Irish iTunes singles chart: I Still Have Faith In You at #24.

Looking at those reaction videos that suddenly* seem so popular on YouTube, Little Things is attracting way more affection that I expected. It'll be interesting to see how things pick up once radio stations start playing seasonal tracks again. 

Some news on the HMV exclusives (well, exclusive to HMV for the UK anyway). Someone on PopJustice that works for HMV posted this:

“We've been informed that when the hmv exclusive editions sell out, they won't be re-ordered again. Standard editions will be replenished, but it'll take a few days, Universal had to reduce the quantities available to us.

We have sold 88 copies of Voyage (including the one cassette we were given!) in my store since Friday.”

Looks like good news from all over regarding sales. Hopefully as they return to number one all over the world, they might even finish the other two songs and maybe include in a deluxe edition in time for the concerts. Little Things growing on me.

I'm no expert on charts or sales figures but that's quite impressive, isn't it? You know, for this day and age when everyone streams and physical copies of things are much less than they were, even with the resurgence of vinyl.

I finally received my Voyage cd on sat but I'd already purchased one from HMV. I'm still getting to grips with the songs, a lot to take in, but there isn't one I dislike. I like the way the songs reference some of their classics with little flourishes here and there (SOS at the end of KAEOD). I thought Little Things wouldn't impress me as I am (and never have been) a fan of Christmas songs but this has kinda won me over. Not sure why, even the children's choir I find quite cute. Maybe it's because it's so 'knowing' and deliberate? Like ABBA are giggling at how twee it is themselves? I'm not sure of it's place on a studio album, however...anyway, foreverfan (Graham) will be in seventh heaven, I'm sure.

I'm obviously a huge fan of Agnetha and Frida and I can have a tendency to rave about them while forgetting Benny and Björn. I must say Björn's writing is exceptional on this album. What a master lyricist he is! I love the way the songs can be taken one way and then another. So clever. And OF COURSE he was going to mention the bench being WOODEN! Why WOULDN'T he? Too perfect an opportunity to miss. I love 'little things' like that which the fans will get (Greatest Hits cover). See what I did there? Lol

As for Benny...well, genius springs to mind. I've read the fan reviews here...Hometime, Edmund, and others and I must say you've all expressed my feelings so much better than I can. I take my hat off to you. It can be frustrating not finding the right words but I'm thankful others do it far better than I ever could.

Incidentally, the reactors on YouTube have been going a long time. I try to resist, but I watch one or two now and then. Some are great, some are intensely irritating- jumping on the ABBA bandwagon, with fake crying and exaggerated facial expressions. I'm not buying that they're even a fan a lot of the the time. They just cynically see who's popular and attach themselves. It's a lucrative business for some of them. For me, in general, I'd rather listen to the songs myself than observe some actor~complete with annoying pauses all the way through the song. But like I say, some are better than others.

I don't think it's really quite sunk in that I actually have a NEW ABBA ALBUM in my possession! Feels quite unreal.

Re-action Videos

A lot of these are clearly fake. A camp, effeminate, middle aged guy re-acting with amazement to Dancing Queen. Like he never heard it before!

Then there's a couple of guys on same reaction videos who seem genuine. Their background is more rock or indie and people have suggested The Day Before You Came or The Visotors. They seem, genuinely, to like ABBA now.

Non- ABBA related, a reaction to the Kinks' Lola by middle aged Indian couple. The male knew the song and said it was very SE Asia..lol!

Mine hasn’t arrived yet from the official store but I did see it in HMV. I was a bit disappointed by the size - it’s the same size as a standard CD plastic case. The card-sleeve soft packs are actually bigger (in height). I knew what was in the box when I ordered, but yes, if I had my time round again I probably wouldn’t have bothered.

It will probably be sought-after in years to come though. I’m fairly certain the bog-standard plastic box version is the main one. The others will be short-term (HMV have already confirmed that about the alternative artwork version).

The first A in “ABBA” on the label is in white to represent the A-Side, while the backwards B on the other side is white to represent the B-Side.

I also don't find the content of the deluxe box that 'deluxe'-ful)) The poster is a total mystery to me. There is such a nice promo poster with abbatars, why not include this one?
I can't stop wondering why official merchandise and deluxe stuff in boxes of most artists are very often sooo boring while fan-made pieces are accomplished, smart and beautiful, but artists seem never bother cooperating with fandoms on such matters.

Speaking about vinyl, does anybody know the peculiarities of picture discs? Some say the sound on such discs is usually suffers from noise or something like that.