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Post by Deleted on Nov 16, 2021 20:39:57 GMT
I wonder if Little Things will be the last ever ABBA single?
Might they not release one in the run up to the Voyage concert, even if is obviously not in the show.
The decision to release LT as a single I feel was made sone time ago.
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Post by joseph on Nov 16, 2021 20:53:48 GMT
I'm not really a fan of Christmas OR Christmas songs so I'd argue that ALL Christmas songs are rather cringe, but that's just me. I don't mind Little Things too much but I'm probably not gonna be its biggest fan. I guess it was inevitable ABBA would release it. I pray it's not their last single release? Please...no. Nothing lasts forever, all good things come to an end, but ABBA need to go out with a bang when they do. Still, it ain't up to me. I'm just looking forward to going to the concert next year. It looks like I'll probably go with my sister.
A second week at number one here would be cool but I'm not too concerned. I'm more miffed that Adull will be the one to topple Voyage with her latest litany of misery.
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Post by chron on Nov 16, 2021 21:03:44 GMT
I also think the decision to release the first two songs together was a stroke of genius. Maximum interest at that time, so people would download or buy both. A delayed second single would not have got as much interest. I'd have preferred this sequence: the majestic, limpid late-bloom of ISHFIY, followed by the punchy, backward-glancing Just A Notion, and then a good hold-back to let the anticipation build. Those two cover the stops in terms of where ABBA were and where they are and what might follow. Don't Shut Me Down seems to get weaker with each listen; it's fine as an album pad-out, but as a heralding comeback vehicle for Agnetha (whose voice, on top of the rambling lyrics, sadly sounds a bit shot) it really struggles alongside what Frida got to work with in I Still Have Faith. DSMD ended up undermining ISHFIY to some degree, for me. |
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Post by gary on Nov 16, 2021 21:26:34 GMT
I like So Long. Worst single before Little Things has to be Under Attack Yes, I think I’d agree there. I wonder if gary’s dislike might be because it was ABBA’s only genuine UK flop single? The original Ring Ring also has that status, but its remix was a hit. Under Attack with the awful vocoder vocals and “help me” lyrics really isn’t a particularly enjoyable listen. Absolutely no one wanted that version of ABBA represented on Voyage. No, it’s nothing to do with its lack of chart success. I’m just not keen. It’s not terrible but it’s a bit of a Waterloo retread, which is presumably why it was chosen as the first single from ABBA. There are at least five songs on ABBA that would have or did make better singles. By the way, in answer to a comment in another post, So Long did make it into the unpublished top 100 in the UK, at about 92, I think. I’m sure Colin knows exactly. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 16, 2021 22:03:13 GMT
Gary - So Long was released in Sep 74, the ABBA album was released in Spring 1975. Many songs on it were not recorded/finished by Autumn 1974.
I think it was a good choice. Very in keeping with the glam rock of 1974. Sometimes, it just doesn't happen. ABBA weren't getting much attention at the time. It would take another year with SOS.
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Post by madonnabba on Nov 16, 2021 23:48:40 GMT
Abba had the perfect follow up to Waterloo but didn't release it. HONEY HONEY became a top 10 hit for Sweet Dreams instead in the UK. Had that happened the fan base may have increased sufficiently to make So long and Idox5 bigger hits.
Little Things has been growing on me with each listen and I would still probably listen to it as part of the album outwith the festive period as I did with Happy New year when playing Super Trouper.
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Post by Michal on Nov 17, 2021 7:31:22 GMT
Update: it seems it's a UK-only release. The official shop won't deliver to other countries. Noticing a number of disgruntled people on ABBA's social media. It's not UK-only release. Only UK Amazon seems to have it (so far) but it's available at the official store again (the German version for me). You're probably right that this release was kind of given. Pity they stick to the one-track-only format. But I will buy it anyway to have a complete set. The artwork is nice. I wonder if the photo from the booklet of Voyage could be from making the video for Little Things - you know, they're gathered around the piano... it resembles the Happy New Year video made for SVT (the piano version in white outfits). |
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Post by Michal on Nov 17, 2021 7:38:04 GMT
So Long is about to lose its status as ABBA’s worst-ever single! I like So Long. Worst single before Little Things has to be Under Attack That's subjective. I would pick I Have A Dream. I don't think Under Attack is a bad song. And Benny and Björn seem to be quite fond of it. Didn't Björn mention it alongside The King Has Lost His Crown as a song that deserved better fate? Or was it something else? I don't remember... |
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Post by steverw on Nov 17, 2021 8:33:47 GMT
I like So Long. Worst single before Little Things has to be Under Attack That's subjective. I would pick I Have A Dream. I don't think Under Attack is a bad song. And Benny and Björn seem to be quite fond of it. Didn't Björn mention it alongside The King Has Lost His Crown as a song that deserved better fate? Or was it something else? I don't remember... In my opinion, ABBA's two worst singles are Dancing Queen, because it is irritatingly annoying and Chiquitita because it is just a bad song. |
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Post by gamleman on Nov 17, 2021 8:51:35 GMT
My least favourite ABBA singles are "I Do x 5" and "I Have A Dream". I am fond of "Under Attack", although I don't like the 'voice coder' thing. I loved "So Long" as a single but probably would have picked "I've Been Waiting For You" as the A-side. They made a lot of mistakes in those early days, especially releasing "Ring Ring" as the follow-up to "Waterloo" when they had songs like "Hasta Manana", "Dance (While The Music Still Goes On)" and "Honey Honey" at their disposal. They could have released two follow-up singles from the "Waterloo" album prior to SL/IBWFY. And then "I Do" was an awful choice of single, for the UK anyway - "Rock Me" would have been a little better, as it was more contemporary, although again not an obvious choice. "Bang-A-Boomerang" was a more obvious single, but at the time that the "I Do" single was released I don't think the ABBA version existed (only the Svenne & Lotta version).
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Post by HOMETIME on Nov 17, 2021 9:37:21 GMT
Update: it seems it's a UK-only release. The official shop won't deliver to other countries. Noticing a number of disgruntled people on ABBA's social media. It's not UK-only release. Only UK Amazon seems to have it (so far) but it's available at the official store again (the German version for me). You're probably right that this release was kind of given. Pity they stick to the one-track-only format. But I will buy it anyway to have a complete set. The artwork is nice. I wonder if the photo from the booklet of Voyage could be from making the video for Little Things - you know, they're gathered around the piano... it resembles the Happy New Year video made for SVT (the piano version in white outfits). The Voyage site says "UK only" and refuses to deliver to Ireland. I tried ordering from the German and Belgian versions and was refused service too. I was eventually able to order from the ABBF fanclub shop (it seems to be some kind of link to the Voyage/Universal site with the payment/delivery managed by Platenzaak - P&P is three times the price of the CD - ugh). Yeah, it's a shame that it'll be a one-track release. Like you, I'm getting it to complete the set. I won't be surprised if a vinyl edition surfaces at some point in the future, maybe even with Happy New Year on the flipside. Red vinyl or a picture disc would be nice. And gawd knows that many of us fans are easily parted from our money. |
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Post by AdamDawson2003 on Nov 17, 2021 10:25:06 GMT
I like So Long. Worst single before Little Things has to be Under Attack Under Attack is certainly near the bottom! 'Under Attack' is a fantastic song one of my favourite ABBA songs no idea why people think its bad I like every song ABBA have done there is not one song that I dislike. |
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Post by Alan on Nov 17, 2021 11:10:40 GMT
'Under Attack' is a fantastic song one of my favourite ABBA songs no idea why people think its bad I like every song ABBA have done there is not one song that I dislike. I’ve noticed over the years that it tends to be popular with younger fans and people that got into ABBA from 1992 onwards. To those of us there at the time, it was all rather depressing. A cold-sounding song that had one of the worst ABBA songs as a b-side, and when released we knew it wouldn’t be a big hit. There was definitely a sense of it all ending… I wasn’t surprised they never came back after that. One of the best things about Voyage is the fact that Under Attack and You Owe Me One are not the last new songs from them (I don’t truly count I Am The City as it was only dug up years after ABBA had stopped). Everything on Voyage is much warmer than the 1982 stuff. The Day Before You Came aside, most of it leaves me cold. |
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Post by gamleman on Nov 17, 2021 11:11:18 GMT
I've just realised that with the release of LT as a single, that leaves only WYDWM on Side A of "Voyage" (vinyl) that isn't a single. I wonder whether this means that WYDWM will eventually be a single, perhaps just before the ABBAtars show opens. I do hope so, as I don't want ABBA's final single to be LT.
I wish they had coupled WYDWM and LT as a Christmas single, a bit like "Super Trouper" and "The Piper" back in 1980, and Mike Oldfield's Folk-flavoured double-A-sided single "In Dulci Jubilo"/"On Horseback" from 1975/6 also comes to mind.
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Post by Alan on Nov 17, 2021 11:28:02 GMT
I’d hope not, gamleman. Four singles from a ten-track album is quite enough. No, if there is another single it will be a new song. I’m almost sure of it. As Frida says, “you never know”. |
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Post by foreverfan on Nov 17, 2021 11:29:14 GMT
Do you really think that's the last single... Little Things....
Emmmmmmm If you asked me before all of this started a few weeks ago.. I might have said yes, but seeing we have had hints of possibly more music down the line, and of course we know of 2 so called Unfinished tracks !!! There will be more I'm quite sure of it now , not for a while, around, now let me guess when !!! May 2022... just to promote the ABBAtars .. surely not ....
Cynical old thing Ive become...lol...
But from a marketing view it would be perfect to release another track or 2 !!
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Post by richard on Nov 17, 2021 11:35:59 GMT
Is Little Things, as a single, being regarded by some as excessively sweet and sentimental - twee - on melodiic or lyrical grounds, or both? Christmas songs of the past ('White Christmas', 'Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas' come to mind) are twee in that sense. Superficially, a lot seems to depend on the tempo and arrangement, not just the lyrics. But for me, even most uptempo Christmas songs, that I've heard, strike me as being twee, too.
Doesn't stop me liking some though. For example, I love the chorus - at least melodically - of Dana's 1975 Christmas hit, 'Cold Cold Christmas' - a song which, I read somewhere, was released too late, otherwise it would have got to No. 1. that Christmas.
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Post by JeniLP on Nov 17, 2021 11:46:07 GMT
Is it possible in our situation that the single version will differ in some way from the album one..? That would add specialty and interest to the release imo.
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Post by gamleman on Nov 17, 2021 11:47:08 GMT
I’d hope not, gamleman . Four singles from a ten-track album is quite enough. No, if there is another single it will be a new song. I’m almost sure of it. As Frida says, “you never know”. Well, there were 5 tracks from the "Voulez-vous" album released as A-sides in the UK. And since they've haven't had any B-sides from "Voyage", I think it's quite possible that there will be at least one more single from it. I suppose WYDWM is already an unofficial single in that it has charted. It would perhaps need some sort of physical release to make it official though. But even if WYDWM is released as an official single next year, LT will still be shown as the last charting single in this list (assuming it makes the Top 100)...  Richard, I love Dana's single "Cold Cold Christmas" and it is very much overlooked these days. |
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Post by angela on Nov 17, 2021 12:17:09 GMT
I agree with Joseph I'm not a fan of Christmas songs, mostly because they're always snow songs which is silly when it's the middle of summer here in Australia.
we do have our own version of Jingle bells called "Aussie Jingle Bells".
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Post by Alan on Nov 17, 2021 14:24:26 GMT
I think it's quite possible that there will be at least one more single from it. Extremely unlikely. The press kit seen at the end of August revealed that the album campaign was to run from September to December, so the release of Little Things will be the last act of it. The four singles would all have been planned at that stage. Even if just for promotional purposes on the radio, a fifth would be milking it. Even Radio 2 might raise some eyebrows at that. A new campaign will start in May with a new single followed by a deluxe issue of the album. At this stage I’d be extremely surprised if it didn’t happen (but not disappointed if it didn’t). |
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Post by foreverfan on Nov 17, 2021 14:59:33 GMT
^^^ totally agree...
Just cross those fingers until May.......
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Post by Deleted on Nov 17, 2021 15:06:56 GMT
What would a deluxe edition consist of?
So "Side 1" of Voyage will have the singles and "people's favourite" When You Danced With Me.
"Side 2" messages about alcohol addiction, the environment, child custody and a wonder about the nature of freedom.
Both sides mix of uptempo, ballads, midtempo. With Side 1 being Abba from the heart and side 2 Abba from the head.
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Post by gamleman on Nov 17, 2021 15:56:59 GMT
I think it's quite possible that there will be at least one more single from it. Extremely unlikely. The press kit seen at the end of August revealed that the album campaign was to run from September to December, so the release of Little Things will be the last act of it. The four singles would all have been planned at that stage. Even if just for promotional purposes on the radio, a fifth would be milking it. Even Radio 2 might raise some eyebrows at that. A new campaign will start in May with a new single followed by a deluxe issue of the album. At this stage I’d be extremely surprised if it didn’t happen (but not disappointed if it didn’t). I agree that a completely new single would be preferable to help launch the shows in May, but I'm not going to expect one after Benny's "This is it" comments, although I know he has since back-tracked a little. I really don't want a Deluxe edition of "Voyage" with bonus tracks - yet more editions of this album would be 'milking it' far more than releasing a fifth single from it. I'm not sure how they would deal with that on vinyl anyway - a second disc? I would like more tracks from ABBA but hope that they can find another, more innovative way of releasing them. |
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Post by Michal on Nov 17, 2021 16:08:42 GMT
A new campaign will start in May with a new single followed by a deluxe issue of the album. At this stage I’d be extremely surprised if it didn’t happen (but not disappointed if it didn’t). I really don't want a Deluxe edition of "Voyage" with bonus tracks - yet more editions of this album would be 'milking it'... I don't understand these comments of "milking it", "feeling ripped off" etc. We could call ourselves extremely lucky if there is enough new material to add to Voyage and release a deluxe edition. Everybody seem to be put off by the countless editions of Voyage released so far. But as so many other fans pointed out, there's no need to buy them all. Isn't it nice you can pick your favourite colour edition of the vinyl or the CD with the cover that appeals to you most? Sure, there are collectors and completists who need to have everything but they should be happy to have so much to collect :-) |
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Post by Michal on Nov 17, 2021 16:14:40 GMT
By the way, I have received the picture discs - both faulty pressings. After a moment of hesitation if I should ask for replacement, I decided to ask for a refund instead. They don't look exactly spectacular and I came to a conclusion I really don't need them. I will stick with the various colour editions and save money for the deluxe version :-)
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Post by HOMETIME on Nov 17, 2021 16:35:28 GMT
With regard to the hypothetical chat about a deluxe edition, I wonder if there's a chance that a couple of carefully chosen 'live' tracks from the shows might be added as a form of advertising? Ideally in addition to a couple of new songs, naturally.
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Post by gamleman on Nov 17, 2021 17:58:42 GMT
I really don't want a Deluxe edition of "Voyage" with bonus tracks - yet more editions of this album would be 'milking it'... I don't understand these comments of "milking it", "feeling ripped off" etc. We could call ourselves extremely lucky if there is enough new material to add to Voyage and release a deluxe edition. Everybody seem to be put off by the countless editions of Voyage released so far. But as so many other fans pointed out, there's no need to buy them all. Isn't it nice you can pick your favourite colour edition of the vinyl or the CD with the cover that appeals to you most? Sure, there are collectors and completists who need to have everything but they should be happy to have so much to collect :-) My 'milking it' comment comes from the fact that the record company know full-well that many fans will not just choose their favourite album cover or vinyl colour but will buy multiple copies, thus bringing in more money from album sales and boosting chart performance. They have exploited us before but they have really gone the 'whole hog' this time. Not everyone has the same degree of self-control. And some fans may not have the money to buy everything they want and therefore may feel frustrated or left out. I am ashamed to say that I am one of those people who can't resist, although I didn't go all the way of ordering every possible edition of "Voyage". Forty years ago, I would have wanted to. The funny thing is that back then ABBA fans in the UK were not treated to many special editions - we didn't get much in the way of 12-inch singles, coloured vinyl or picture-discs, except towards the end. Even the first ABBA picture-sleeve single didn't appear until "Angeleyes/Voulez-vous" in 1979. I'm sorry to hear that your picture-discs were faulty, Michal, as well as your orange vinyl. I regard picture discs as only ornamental, as they are generally too noisy to listen to seriously. I haven't even opened mine, so they may be faulty - ignorance is bliss. But this also annoys me - there has been so much faulty vinyl reported from this release and, again, it's a case of the record company wanting to take the money but not taking care to supply quality goods in return. Basically, greed again! Going back to the possibility of a Deluxe edition of "Voyage", if they do it then I hope they will do better than just adding two or three extra tracks. In the past, some artists (including ABBA) have included visual content on a DVD - a concert, music videos, a documentary, even a video of new versions of the album's songs being performed at Abbey Road Studios (e.g. James Blunt, Take That). But somehow I don't think we would get any of that. Not only is the DVD format now fading away, but there is very little visual material associated with this album. Anyway, if there is a Deluxe edition, I for one shall be exercising much more self-control (I hope). |
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Post by JeniLP on Nov 17, 2021 18:50:30 GMT
I guess I'm the one for whom May-deluxe can work regardless its possible additional content, because I haven't purchased any vinyl yet though I'd love to. As I'm interested in actually listening to it, I am for the orange one, but it is either unavailable or too expensive (shipping cost mostly), and for the black one, but it is rather plain and surely will be available for buying much later on. I also like the future Australian edition, but it's going to be even more costly than the orange one. Thus, I'm still open for any other possible vinyl and I can wait, I'm that patient, yep) TWF when nine is not enough  |
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Post by HOMETIME on Nov 17, 2021 19:00:22 GMT
Going back to the possibility of a Deluxe edition of "Voyage", if they do it then I hope they will do better than just adding two or three extra tracks. In the past, some artists (including ABBA) have included visual content on a DVD - a concert, music videos, a documentary, even a video of new versions of the album's songs being performed at Abbey Road Studios (e.g. James Blunt, Take That). But somehow I don't think we would get any of that. Not only is the DVD format now fading away, but there is very little visual material associated with this album. Anyway, if there is a Deluxe edition, I for one shall be exercising much more self-control (I hope). I definitely agree that a deluxe Voyage would need more than two songs - otherwise it will look bad. I think the visual material is being withheld right now. There is no way that film crews will have followed their every move - including in the studio (Benny said they were even filmed eating lunch). I'm willing to bet that there is a documentary ready to go. Probably something that'll be issued in the spring, ahead of the shows, to boost ticket sales. It might even be something that will pop up on the Christmas TV schedules. If there isn't, I will eat my hat with a side salad. It really should be two documentaries. The album deserves its own standalone chapter, given its impact and given its importance in the story of ABBA. Either way, a documentary that pushes the show is surely a given? When you consider how much of this kind of work was devoted to Mamma Mia!, I'd be shocked if they didn't put at least equal effort behind this new venture. And that's in addition to what we already have: the videos for ISHFIY and the promised video for LT; the live stream from 2 Sept (it should be edited, ideally). Then there are the interviews that B&B did on TV and for Apple music. They could even bung on the lyric videos and ads for the album and the show. They have absolutely no excuse not to deliver a quality deluxe. |
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