ABBA Voyage: General Discussion 2022 Sept - Dec

^^^ I may have got it wrong..lol if you listen, see what you think of the very last sentences?

It’s an interesting article, not much that we don’t already know but there are a few questions from fans......

Excellent interview with Benny in the December record collector magazine

I did this for Christmas, hope you guys get to see it and it doesn’t get taken down. Best wishes

Bjorn and Sir Ian McKellen knitting again this year! Love the new Voyage poster!!!

Loving the video, lamont!

There’s yet another interview, this time in Saturday‘s Times newspaper. What’s it all for - to remind people the show is ongoing and to buy tickets for loved ones for Christmas?

Svenne Hedlund (of Hep Stars and Svenne & Lotta) has passed away aged 77.

Good pic of Benny here, with the Hep Stars. I didn’t realise he had shorter hair when he was with them, I’d only seen pics of him with a bob haircut from that period (probably because of that often-seen Hep Stars album cover).

I'd be interested to know which are Howard's favourite ABBA songs.

Thirty years on, that's pretty damned impressive. I guess the show is playing a significant role in this. It would be nice if Voyage made the end-of-year list too, but nobody will suffer if it doesn't. I suspect the increased visibility of Benny and Bjorn lately has a secondary role in lifting the fortunes of the albums. 

Yes, I’d say Voyage should make the top 100, based on its sales/streams in the first part of the year.

The second “3” on the second row of the chart run below is for week ending 13 January. Obviously sales are always low in January but hopefully will be enough.

My Australian Edition of Voyage arrived today. Not good in terms of carbon footprint. Manufactured in the Netherlands, exported to Australia, ordered from Singapore and delivered to there, brought over to Kent and then sent on to me in Derby. And remarkably it’s in perfect condition.

The splatter can vary by item. I perhaps prefer the other variants but I had to have this one. Number 9 and likely the last. I don’t have the standard black version.

Yes, the illustration did look better. Thankfully I’d seen plenty of photos of the actual thing long before it was ordered, so I knew exactly what to expect! The splatter design is a bit similar to that used for the coloured vinyl Voulez-Vous singles box in 2019. It looked slightly better in blue and white though!

I do like the fact that “Australian Edition” is printed in the artwork though. The others just had stickers. It meant I didn’t have to label this one up on a plastic cover!

Nine: Green, White, Orange translucent, Orange solid (“Show edition”), Blue, Yellow, Australian, Artwork picture disc, ABBATar artwork picture disc.

Nope, not played any of them. Sound quality isn’t great from what I have read. Not just because of the colours and pics but because Universal use the cheapest pressing plants. The standard black vinyl apparently gives the best sound quality (I don’t have it) but even then there will be surface noise. Sony and Warner apparently use more expensive pressing plants so sound quality would be better.

What was done for Voyage is now fairly standard practice. Paul McCartney’s last album had a similar number of variants.

It was a one-off for me. It’s not going to happen again and was the first and only ABBA album in 40 years. It started off as two or three versions but gradually grew. I only have two CD editions - the alternative artwork and the deluxe box. Of all 11 versions, it’s the deluxe box that I regret. Overpriced and now down to £4.99. I thought it would be limited but it’s anything but. The alternative artwork CD is much more rare. HMV soon sold out of those last year.