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Post by gamleman on Aug 18, 2022 19:10:12 GMT
The Voyage show only has 2 Voyage songs in it - and there has been no revival for the album. It's clear everyone who wants it basically has it now. That's what I kept thinking about Gold - surely everyone who wants it must have it by now, but it keeps on going. Voyage won't have such a wide draw as a Greatest Hits compilation, but it can go a lot further in terms of sales. Look at what happened to Kate Bush's 1985 single "Running Up That Hill" - it originally peaked at No 3 in the UK and reached No 1 thirty-seven years later because it was featured in a TV series. Voyage just needs the right opportunity to take off again, but whether it will ever come is another matter. Well, there is one very obvious way in which it will come but I dare not mention it - I'll just say that last week it was Olivia Newton-John and this week it is Darius.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 18, 2022 21:10:18 GMT
If Voyage does revive, I hope it is for positive, happy reasons.
I am not saying Voyage is a poor album - just mixed. In my opinion...
4 Great songs 3 Songs I think are ok 2 Songs a bit poor 1 song I can't stand.
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Post by madonnabba on Aug 18, 2022 23:00:01 GMT
I play Voyage every day still but selected tracks ...usually the last 4 tracks. Was wondering why Michael Tretow was not involved in the production. I think the album differs in that the songs don't seem to be layered vocally as much.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 19, 2022 0:51:29 GMT
Michael B Tretow is not a well man. He had a stroke some years ago.
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Post by clumsylikeaclown on Aug 19, 2022 8:46:53 GMT
An important thing to remember about only two Voyage songs being in the concert- originally Don't Shut Me Down and I Still Have Faith In You were going to be the only two new songs they recorded. Recording additional songs to make a whole album came much later. Had the whole album been recorded back in 2017 then 'No Doubt About It' would have been a decent choice for penultimate song in the setlist IMO.
Even now, over nine months on, there are tracks on the album I have new opinions on. Until very recently, I considered Keep An Eye On Dan easily the second worst song on the album. But then I ended up listening to it again out of nowhere and realised it was far better than I'd initially thought. Nowadays I consider it on par with several other Voyage tracks like Bumblebee and I Can Be That Woman.
Little Things I still consider the worst, but the song itself I actually quite like - it's just totally misplaced on the Voyage album and should've stayed as just a Christmas single.
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Post by richard on Aug 19, 2022 12:19:51 GMT
I had this hard-to-pin-down feeling after my first few listens of the Voyage album that a number of the tracks had a slight quality of finishing too quickly. I still have this feeling. Maybe it's because of their ages, or because the decision to do an album gave them less time than they would have liked? Just my impressions.
Regarding Little Things, I'm convinced it would have had much greater appeal for many if it d hadn't had Christmas lyrics and the pretty melody had been arranged with more insouciance - almost as if from a Mozart piano sonata! And why not? After all, deliberately or unintentionally, Ode To Freedom takes four memorable notes from Tchaikovsky!
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Post by Deleted on Aug 19, 2022 12:24:04 GMT
I wonder how the first two singles would have fared if released back in 2017/18 and no new album.
They may have done a little better but an album was really needed for sales.
Little Things does indeed seem out of place on Voyage. If a standalone single it probably would have got higher up the charts. But how high?
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Post by welshboy on Aug 19, 2022 13:24:34 GMT
Why all the little things bashing Everyone kept asking Abba for a Christmas song So we got one Little Things. But it seems the wrong kind of Christmas song I am sorry but Abba can't win. When I play the Album I play all of it from start to finish. I love all 10 songs. But that's just me I play all Abba's Albums from start to finish always have.
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Post by breifne on Aug 19, 2022 13:56:13 GMT
Welshboy - I am in agreement with you - in my opinion LT is actually better than most Christmas songs and I think in time people will appreciate it more as it is not a typical Christmas song and does try to capture the wonder of Christmas morning for children ! I am surprised that some many on here dislike it so much.
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Post by richard on Aug 19, 2022 14:05:53 GMT
Well, I'm not bashing Little Things, welshboy ,, just suggesting why it's the least favoured song on Voyage - and how it might not have been. But I'd have preferred an uptempo Christmas song from ABBA, I admit. So you're right: ABBA can't win!
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Post by lamont on Aug 19, 2022 17:56:42 GMT
I enjoy Little Things, if you can’t be twee and sickly at Christmas, then when? When I was a kid I loved Gilbert O’Sullivan’s ‘The Christmas Song’ it just seemed so Christmassy, perfect, kind, waiting for Santa and excitement. Little Things is the same, it’s Christmas wrapped up in a big bow, and I’m sure I’ll get all sentimental when It snows and it’s Christmas again, and Little Things is on my Christmas playlist.
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Post by gamleman on Aug 19, 2022 19:01:56 GMT
I'm not sure that many people object to "Little Things" as a song, and as a Christmas song, just to it being stuck in the middle of the first side of a studio album. If it had been a bonus track in some way, perhaps as a free digital download, that would have been a lot better. Also, to choose it as a single in this day and age was an awful decision. It could have been made available as the 'B-side' of "When You Danced With Me", which would have made a better festive single, even though it isn't about Christmas.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 19, 2022 19:57:03 GMT
Well, I can't stand it. I prefer uptempo Christmas songs but you can do a good slow one eg I Believe in Father Christmas by Greg Lake.
It doesn't fit on a studio album.
I agree with Gamleman that When You Danced With Me sounds more festive even though notba festive song.
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Post by HOMETIME on Aug 19, 2022 20:12:06 GMT
I still think that Just A Notion could have made a terrific Christmas single with the right lyrics.
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Post by Guest on Aug 19, 2022 20:42:21 GMT
Honestly speaking, soundwise Michael B. Tretows input is missed much.
The more often I hear the Voyage Album, the more I realise that Benny (and Björn?) re-used specific sounds already used in older Gemini, BAO and Josefin Nilsson productions.
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Post by madonnabba on Aug 20, 2022 4:54:04 GMT
I do like Little Things but not the choir and not on a studio album. I thought all along Just a Notion with Christmas lyrics Would have fared well as a Christmas song. Surprised they did not try to in time for Christmas 1978 -the year of its origin. A title of Happy Christmas or Festive Greetings ....instead of Just a notion , that's all ...Happy Christmas to all. And then adapt the lyrics to Christmas thereafter and throw in a few sleigh bells etc. Was imagining where the songs on Voyage would fit best on other albums.....Just a Notion...Abba or Arrival, Don't shut Me down...Voulez Vous. Dan , Bumblebee , WYDWM ...Super Trouper. Little Things ..no album. ICBTWN...The Album. NDAI Ode and Faith ....The Visitors.
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Post by gary on Aug 20, 2022 7:18:44 GMT
As I’ve probably mentioned before (!), I am not a big fan of the Voyage album. I think one of the problems is the absence of Tretow. Voyage somehow lacks a ‘spark’ in its sound, compared with previous albums, and I think that spark is Tretow. Of course, it could also be that the songwriting is not up to scratch…
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Post by Deleted on Aug 20, 2022 7:29:41 GMT
Was imagining where the songs on Voyage would fit best on other albums.....Just a Notion...Abba or Arrival, Don't shut Me down...Voulez Vous. Dan , Bumblebee , WYDWM ...Super Trouper. Little Things ..no album. ICBTWN...The Album. NDAI Ode and Faith ....The Visitors. Agree with this. Well not 100% but would put NDAI on Voulez Vous. Edit: Actually now thinking about it, I can see NDAI on The Visitors. The maturity of Frida's voice fitting in with the mature sound of The Visitors. The slight 'edge' to the song too. Yes, JAN sounds like an ABBA or Arrival track, more ABBA I think despite it being recorded during VV sessions. Gary - I think if Tretow was working on the album we might hear Agnetha more on When You Danced With Me or Ode to Freedom. They both sound overwhelmibgly Frida to me. You are more critical of Voyage than I am. I think there's four really good songs on it. But people here jump more at my comments.....it must be the way I tell 'em. 🤣
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Post by Henry on Aug 21, 2022 8:25:30 GMT
Don't shut me down is the stand out track. ISHFIY is a good album track but no single. I can be that woman is good too because of how Agnetha sings it. Now that their voices are an octave lower the classic abba sound is a bit, not completely, lost. The sound was Agnetha hitting the high notes and Frida struggling to get there. Suddenly we can hear them sing but not always at the same time (LT). The production on the vocals was always so tight and now it had to be more natural, that's how it seems to me. The quality of the songs is a bit disappointing. The song I don't like at all is No doubt about it. The voices simply don't sound good together in the chorus. When Agnetha sings alone it's beautiful on the voyage tracks but when they sing together I don't hear her enough. In the show her vocals on ISHFIY are more in the font. Ode to freedom should have been in Chess or something like that. Bumble bee with the flutes and drums is so old-fashioned but not in a good way. Michael has recovered from his stroke. He should have been involved as an adviser. Benny produced most of the songs on his own and that was a mistake too I think. I rather remember them as they were in their prime.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 21, 2022 9:38:41 GMT
Henry: Ouch lol!! Whilst I do completely respect and get where you are coming from, I think I like to take on board the lyrics of DSMD, they say it all really and I for one love having an album that a few years ago wouldn't have expected in a million years. That's not to say an album at any cost, I was happy with what we had, but Voyage for me neatly ties up any loose ends, and the BIG bonus for me is to see them all happy and having enjoyed the experience themselves so much, rather than the 'hard going' Visitors album, in terms of their emotional states at the time. (I love The Visitors by the way)! I think Voyage is beautiful in its own way - yes it's not Arrival etc, but neither should it be IMHO. For me it's 4 friends who have been through so much together and come through it all and got in the studio and made an album they wanted to make the way they wanted to. I think maybe even a part of me at the start of all of this last year, wanted to hear DQ, KMKY equivalents, but now feel that wouldn't have felt right somehow. On first hearing ISHFIY, I thought, "oh ok..." but this album has been the biggest 'grower' on me than any other album I have ever owned I think!
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Post by Michal on Aug 21, 2022 9:45:46 GMT
Michael has recovered from his stroke. He should have been involved as an adviser. Maybe he was asked but refused? I think that had he been involved, the soundscape of the album would have been clearer, the instruments more separated and the backing vocals more audible and intelligible. That said, I love the album (even though it took some time to grow on me) and agree completely with what @alib said. Let's be grateful for something that we thought impossible just a few years ago.
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Post by madonnabba on Aug 21, 2022 11:54:38 GMT
I think the subject choices for the songs are age appropriate. And I love Bumbkebee and its meaning. I love the flutes too but then I love Fernando and El condor pasa. Think the album was to be a nod to the past , hence the name, choice of instruments etc. I don't think an album made to sound like younger artists in their twenties would have seemed right. Maybe not my favourite Abba album but I am glad I've got it and I am still listening to it everyday ..usually 4 songs sometimes more. I think Michael's input might have brought the vocals more to the fore and maybe more layering of vocals. I always considered him as the unseen Abba member.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 21, 2022 12:03:05 GMT
I also think the album was age apropriate. I find it cringy when Paul McCartney, Madonna and Elton John try and sound younger with the help of other artists.
The production could have been crisper especially in bringing out Agnetha's vocals in a few songs. The album does sound Frida dominant.
I can understand some fans especially casual fans not liking say Ode to Freedom but ABBA were recording what suited them - and not for Mamma Mia/Gold crowd - who haven't bought the album anyway.
Once ABBA recorded the first two songs I feel an album of some sort was inevitable - a studio album or a compilation album based on the Voyage show.
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Post by richard on Aug 21, 2022 14:13:05 GMT
I wonder how a new ABBA album would have fared had it come out in, say, 92 instead of Gold? Even if, in retrospect, it would now be generally regarded as superior to Voyage, would it have received much attention and appreciation back then? I doubt it. And a lot of the Voyage album's reception was obviously down to "ABBA ARE BACK AFTER 40 YEARS!"
Wonderful that it happened, of course, but, even now, it seems many regard it as a middling album compared with some of ABBA's other albums. And that's where it is for me - at the moment.
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Post by Henry on Aug 21, 2022 14:33:11 GMT
Gratefull? It simply isn't good enough. They should have released DSMD as a single with a vid. And some of the songs as an EP. (ISHFIY, ICGTW, KAEOD)
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Post by Michal on Aug 21, 2022 15:03:44 GMT
It simply isn't good enough. They should have released DSMD as a single with a vid. And some of the songs as an EP. (ISHFIY, ICGTW, KAEOD) Many people think it is good enough. And those who don't would have their own choice of songs for an EP, different from yours. No Doubt About It that you don't like has been named as a favourite track off the album by many. If you don't like the album, don't listen to it. It's as simple as that But to suggest they shouldn't have released it is going a bit too far IMO.
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Post by Michal on Aug 21, 2022 15:06:21 GMT
I wonder how a new ABBA album would have fared had it come out in, say, 92 instead of Gold? Even if, in retrospect, it would now be generally regarded as superior to Voyage, would it have received much attention and appreciation back then? I doubt it. And a lot of the Voyage album's reception was obviously down to "ABBA ARE BACK AFTER 40 YEARS!" Not sure about 1992 but if released in early noughties, I think it would have been even more successful than today. The revival was in full swing back then and the ABBA members were 20 years younger, Michael Tretow was still in business and many more people, who originally cooperated with ABBA would be working on the album (including Rune Söderqvist for example.
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Post by clumsylikeaclown on Aug 21, 2022 15:08:40 GMT
On the earlier comment about songs being 'overwhelmingly Frida' - for when You Danced With Me, absolutely, but on Ode to Freedom I hear both voices clearly and IMo the song would be a lot less interesting if either set of vocals wasn't there.
I think on quite a few harmony lines you hear Frida more than Agnetha simply because of the different key they now sing in. They can't reach as high as they once did, so how they sing now is more akin to how Frida's vocals sounded back in the day than Agnetha's. There are some lines where they sound near identical to how they did 40 years ago though (e.g. 'we do have it in us' from I Still Have Faith In You)
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Post by Deleted on Aug 21, 2022 15:27:08 GMT
Gratefull? It simply isn't good enough. They should have released DSMD as a single with a vid. And some of the songs as an EP. (ISHFIY, ICGTW, KAEOD) This reminds me of a couple of negative reviews for Voyage. The Guardian which gave ⭐⭐ said it would have been better if only DSMD/ISHFIY were released and no album. Yes, they are the best songs. But if no album announced would they have sold much? I don't think so. Another reviewer from Sydney Morning Herald who gave ⭐⭐1/2 said an EP would have been better. But as Michel says, what tracks? We all have our favourite 4 or 5. And if first 4 or 5 recorded that would have included Bumblebee and ICBTW. Not a very exciting EP. Clumsylikeaclown - even I get the Agnetha "We do have it in us" in ISHFIY. But to my ears I can't hear her so much on WYDWM, LT or OTF If Voyage was released in noughties it would have sold more. Still an "Abba Returns" and sales were higher in those days.
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Post by madonnabba on Aug 21, 2022 16:00:36 GMT
There are a lot of factors going on re success compared to previous albums....streaming being the major one but a lot of Abba's fans will have sadly died in the passing 40 years. We have been spoilt by the quality of the songs over the years. I think the mistake was the choice of JAN and LT as singles. In the Uk Super Trouper had 8 songs which could have been released as singles, Arrival 6 , The Album 7 The Visitors 5 and that's excluding HOH. Point being much better tracks than these two songs were not given single release. And on Voyage there are 5 tracks which I consider worthy of single status but could only achieve the same level of success if we were not living in the streaming era. Early 90s and early 2000 and 2008 would probably have returned Abba to number one in the Singles chart had they released new material then.
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