ABBA Voyage: General Discussion 2021 Sept - Dec

Don’t expect a quick response - I contacted them a week ago about my damaged sleeve and am still waiting to hear from them. They ask you not to keep submitting messages but I did so yesterday anyway. I will never order from the official store again (aside from the CD single of Little Things - should be quite safe there, even if it doesn’t arrive until the Tuesday after release date).

Review Ratings for Voyage.

I have given this plenty of time and here is my verdict


I Still Have Faith in You ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

When You Danced With Me
⭐⭐⭐⭐

Little Things ⭐⭐

Don't Shut Me Down ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Just A Notion ⭐⭐⭐

I Can Be That Woman ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Keep an Eye on Dan ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Bumblebee ⭐⭐

No Doubt About It ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Ode for Freedom ⭐⭐⭐⭐


Overall Voyage gets ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The best songs were the two released first in September. There's a couple of not-so-good songs and one that's ok. The rest are really pretty good.

I love the varied tempo - uptempo, midtempo, ballads and the different musical styles ranging from Irish-type to Classical and Country-ish to banging pop.

Can other people give track by track ratings? You don't have to write reviews for each - I didn't.

Hi Johnny - you must be a mind reader as these are my scores too 🙃

I think Little Things is one of those songs which is very twee any time before the middle of December but will improve alongside other Xmas songs

Why not join in. 

I Still Have Faith in You ⭐⭐⭐
Nothing wrong with this song. A nice reunion song. 

When You Danced With Me ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
It's a typical folk song - no complicated lyrics and  a good catchy chorus. One of the best songs on this album. Another reunion song.

Little Things ⭐⭐
As I said before it's so harmless it washes over you. I can't see it being a successful Christmas song unless it is accompanied by a good video - perhaps something with some humour. I'm not worried about the children's choir. The choir on the original (studio version of IHAD didn't bother me either). I think people have images of the live video in their heads. 

Don't Shut Me Down ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Very much a continuation of the "One of us", "TDBYC" saga with some familiar piano glissandos but a good song in its own right. Another reunion/new beginnings song.

Just A Notion ⭐⭐⭐
Late seventies ABBA. Not a reunion song but a song about new beginnings. 

I Can Be That Woman ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
A slightly different direction for ABBA. There is plenty of country influence  in ABBA's back catalogue: "Hasta Manana", "I've been waiting for you", even "He is your brother" , my favourite "Burning My Bridges", and "Please Change Your Mind"(not really ABBA but written by B&B and featuring in "ABBA the Movie"). I don't understand why they resisted repeating the chorus one more time at the end. One of the best songs of here. I'm not sure why the critics objected to the dog so much. She is not talking to the dog. Another song about new beginnings.

Keep an Eye on Dan ⭐⭐
Starts  well then goes off. As I said before I don't like the the chanty "I'll be back at seven...". 
(A sort-of reunion song)

Bumblebee ⭐⭐⭐⭐
This song reminds me of an Irish or Scottish folk song but I can't put my finger on it. One of the best songs here - reminds me of early ABBA ("Fernando" obviously but generally an early ABBA feel.) Perhaps the word "bumblebee" is repeated a little too often. 

No Doubt About It ⭐⭐⭐
I'm not sure what to make of this. An attempt to put something upbeat on the record. It's not up there with "Waterloo" or "Take a Chance on Me".

Ode To Freedom ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
The best thing on this album. A shame it starts off with "Swan Lake". Perhaps this is deliberate. I know Benny has, in the past, quoted Tchaikovsky as  his favourite composer although nowadays he seems to have changed to Bach. Later the music seems to shift to something out of Kristina so perhaps in Benny's head it represents his journey from liking Tchaikovsky to writing Kristina.

Overall I give Voyage  ⭐⭐⭐  

The production, even when they use an orchestra, sounds empty compared to peak ABBA. It would be easy to put this down to the absence of Michael Tretow but "The Visitors" had the same problem for me. It is not so heavy on harmony vocals. Like "The Visitors" there is acoustic guitar on the album but like that album it lacks that folky strumming that Bjorn used to do(more import to the ABBA sound than people think).  I think Rutger Gunnarson's bass playing is badly missed (think "Good as New"). The synthesised bass does not work so well IMO. To me the backing tracks do not have the sound of a band working together. It's the little touches. I remember first listening to the fade out on "I've been waiting for you." As it fades Janne Schaffer starts playing a lovely electric guitar solo over the vocals. It's just thrown in - something you wouldn't notice unless you listened to the end and ramped the volume up. There is nothing like that here.

That is not to say it's a bad album. It isn't. I am so grateful it happened and there are three or perhaps a few more tracks that would be among my all time favourite ABBA songs.

Little Things Christmas merchandise. Much too pricey for me. £80 for a Christmas jumper? I think not!

shopmerch.abbavoyage.com/collections/little-things?fbclid=IwAR2E1wIRAWgFxh8cKpty141JMz7bWxWdb-n-GrIzdEHAiN64jicprKItCuI

Each to their own, I suppose. But I'd like a deluxe edition that includes hefty DVD content AND new songs. Otherwise, why not make the DVD a standalone release (something to which I wouldn't be opposed).


My star rankings:

I Still Have Faith In You ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
When You Danced With Me ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Little Things ⭐⭐
Don't Shut Me Down ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Just A Notion ⭐⭐⭐⭐
I Can Be That Woman ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Keep an Eye on Dan ⭐⭐
Bumblebee ⭐⭐⭐⭐
No Doubt About It ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Ode To Freedom ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

That gives an overall ⭐⭐⭐⭐ average. I wonder if it'd be worth applying the star system to the other albums? 

Why on earth would people pay £20 for a pair of socks? Who on earth sanctioned those prices?

There’s a YouTube channel from someone called Random Hero 81 that has a couple of “Isolated 5.1 Surround Channel” versions. The Keep An Eye On Dan one picks up Benny and Björn’s backing vocals. I can’t post a link to it as it doesn’t seem to work, but ABBA Omnibus already has their lyrics.

Firstly some very quiet backing vocals from Agnetha and Frida:

I-I think he must have lost some weight
Funny how it takes me back to our first date

Then Björn and Benny:

Seven on Sunday to get him, she must have lost some weight
She looks better than ever
Funny how it really takes me right back to our first date
Have I lost her forever
I'll keep an eye on my Dan
I'm a loving man you know that I'll never upset him
I'll keep an eye on my Dan
And I won't forget you'll be here on Sunday to get him
I'll keep an eye on my Dan
I'm a loving man you know
That I'll never upset him
I'll keep an eye on my Dan
And I won't forget
You'll be here on Sunday to get him

Their backing vocals for I Still Have Faith In You are much less interesting:

have it in us have it in us have it in us have it in us
have it in us have it in us have it in us have it in us

one another one another one another one another
one another one another one another one another

have it in us have it in us have it in us have it in us
have it in us have it in us have it in us have it in us

BREAKING NEWS!

Voyage has topped the world album chart!
First week sales of 759,000.
Interesting that nearly 30% were in the UK.
I think I predicted between 3/4 million and 1.5m when I heard they were on course for 200k in the UK.
Guess I didn't know what a big proportion of total sales the UK accounted for.
It will obviously hit 1m worldwide pretty soon.
Whether it goes on to sell several millions worldwide depends on the success of subsequent singles, and the impact of the Abbatars tour.

I have given in and ordered the jigsaw as a Christmas present for myself.
There are only 500 worldwide and that could be it. They may not manufacture any more after this run.

Just waiting to see what the Museum has for Christmas, or indeed this other fold out edition of Voyage (Special Edition).
Cannot imagine what this would look like.

I checked out those Random Hero 81 videos, Alan, and found them really interesting. They highlight something that's baffled me from the first time I heard the new material: some of the mixing is a bit muddy - especially when it comes to vocals. I bet Micke Tretow would never have let those masters leave the studio. In his day, those backing vocals would have been crisp and audible no matter where they stood in the mix. If they were more prominent in KAEOD, it might have made the song feel more like a dialogue than a report. These BVs are virtually wasted in the official mix.

I was expecting that the stripped back mix of ISHFIY might leave Frida quite exposed but, if anything, she sounds even stronger. Pulling back some of the production bombast made the song a little more melodic and it actually feels shorter (to me). Listening to KAEOD in this setting made me want the exposed instruments to be the main feature of the track. That gurgling synth line juxtaposes beautifully with the strings and the guitars seem to sit a little more comfortably with everything.

I must keep an eye on that channel in case he unpicks any more of the songs.

Not that it matters anymore as they did last week , but looking like Voyage will be number 2 in the UK album charts this week..
Latest figures so far are.. more to come ...

1 Taylor Swift - Red (Taylor's Version) (67.6k) *
2 ABBA - Voyage (37.5k)
3 Little Mix - Between Us (31.0k) *
4 Ed Sheeran - = (27.7k)
5 Rod Stewart - The Tears Of Hercules (18.8k) *

Hopefully it will surpass 250,000 this week and become so far the UK's 2nd best selling album , behind Olivia Rodrigo and Sour which has so far sold around 350,000, so a few more weeks should do it.
Alas Adele and 30 is released today and will probably be the best selling album for the year, so ending up behind her will be a great achievement.
Gold should also feature in the top 20, currently at 14 with around 150,000 sales for 2021. So two albums in the end of the year best sellers will be amazing....

Little Things is currently around 20/1 on being the UK's number 1 Christmas single, ( I think we all know it has very little chance of doing that ).
Its merchandise is very nice, Jumpers socks scarves etc but what a price, going for the Niche market... I guess not much will actually be produced and will of course become collectors items... But I don't think Ill be paying £20 for a pair of socks, but wouldn't say no if someone bought a bauble or two !!...
Address on request...lol..

Have a good a day everyone...

The signed copy and VIP tickets will go for £1000s if not £10,000s

I hope they are there for the first week.... guess who's going on the 30th!! , realistically you'd like to think they would be there for 26th and 27th.....

Whatever day they decide to go in May (it does look like Thursday 26th though) - I am only realistically expecting Benny and Björn to be there.