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Post by bennybjorn on Oct 17, 2022 12:40:18 GMT
Just for those who are interested... Gold moves to 9 in the UK of best selling albums of 2022 so far on approximately 154,000. Ahead of Queens GH for the first time this year. Keeping on topic.... I listened to Voyage for the first time in a while yesterday, still enjoy it but does anyone think that Little Things will be a hit again this Christmas, as in hit making the top 75 in the UK or in your own countries....... It’s a possibility as it’s so different from most of the usual up beat tracks... it’ll be down to Radio 2 again... Interesting to hear Gold in top 10 of the year so far. If it stays there, presumably that will be the first time in a long time? Guess it can be put down to the success of the Voyage concerts. I really can't see Little Things getting played this Christmas (and therefore troubling the chart again). Radio 2 only playlisted it for a short period of time last year and I doubt anyone else would play it. It's an OK piece of music but the words are just bland, drippy and cliched (in my humble). |
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Post by BAAB on Oct 17, 2022 14:33:24 GMT
Some of Bennys songs have become classics in Swedish churches and also become popular in Germany now. Like "Tröstevisa" which is the most popular song for funerals in Sweden. Or "Kärlekens Tid" often sung as a choral.
The problem with "Little Things" is that it doesn't have lyrics to suit a Christmas celebration in the Church, although the melody, played on "rekorders" (Blockflöte in German...) would fit very well.
On the other side the production is not realy suitable to be played as a X-Mas popsong...
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Post by foreverfan on Oct 17, 2022 17:36:02 GMT
Latest UK figures for Voyage
Approximately 60,000 so far in 2022 around 460,000 in total
In 2021, the 100th best selling album in the UK sold around 68,000.
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Post by HOMETIME on Oct 17, 2022 19:10:09 GMT
Superb article. Thanks for posting it, jj. I didn't know where he was going with the Bowie analogy at first, but it seems apt. |
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Post by Alandar on Oct 18, 2022 17:07:48 GMT
HOMETIME,Just read this.This is a really magnificent article.An hymn to Abba's glorious achievements with the VOYAGE ezperience and quite heartfelt.Imagine if that expiriment had failed.Cause similar attempts in the past (2Pac/ and especially Whitney) weren't that satisfactory if not a failure.Critics would have ridiculed and torn Abba out.But the fact that even the most hard ones or the ones who were in disbelief finally 'got convinced' and got something more than positive to say,that's far more than a triumph!I'm so relieved and happy and so tearfully proud.Bjorn had kinda said in an interview some months before the opening something like ..' i want people to come there watch and cry'...And i read reviewes from people that while watching this failed to keep their eyes dry and play it cool.Even male fans.The lump in their throat was still visible in the darkness.Just curious to see if Abba fan Gallaher (from Oasis) might change his mind and attend the gig since he pre-expressed his negative option about it after all this succesful buzz.This is massive.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 18, 2022 21:07:53 GMT
Following on from ForeverFan's posts on sales...
Gold Greatest Hits....
If it does make the Top 10 for 2022 it will only be the 2nd time it finished in a Year End Top 10.
Top 3 Year End Chart positions
#4 1999
#12 1992
#13 2021
In terms of sales it's best years:
1,250,000 - 1999
525,000 - 1992
410,000 - 2008
That 2008 figure only gave it #19 in Chart of 2008. Voyage was 400,000 in 2021 but 3rd for 2021. Shows you the fall in sales.
Voyage will probably end up in Year End Top 100. Sales are generally down on last year, this is the trend plus fewer big acts realeased albums. Last year we had ABBA, Adele, Ed Sheeran, Olivia Rodrigo etc.
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Post by foreverfan on Oct 19, 2022 8:52:01 GMT
Just to add to Johnnys post..
Gold has been in the UK top 100 best selling albums for 19 years and this year will be its 20th, and as Johnny says unless there’s a surge of other albums in the final 2 months it will be its 2nd time in the top 10.
Im unsure if 20 years in the best sellers for the year is a record, but it will be up there.
I guess it shows it’s a consistent seller, ( as we know ), there have been very few years since release it hasn’t appeared in the top 200,
1994, 1995,2002 and 2004.
Its also the 46th best selling album of the decade between 2010-2019.
Alas Voyage will be lucky to make the top 100 this year.....
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Post by madonnabba on Oct 19, 2022 19:24:33 GMT
No doubt about it played in Eastenders tonight.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 20, 2022 0:27:56 GMT
Forevefan - do you mean those years you mention GOLD didn't appear in weekly Top 200 Every Week?
I think Voyage has a chance of making 2022's UK Top 100 album chart albeit just about
Away from sales...
Bjorn said when he heard the melody of Little Things he knew it was about Christmas. I would have said about the instumental of When You Danced With Me....
What was the writing sytle of B+B? It seems in earlier years Benny, Bjorn and occassionally Stig for all. In more latter years a clear distinction: Benny on music, then Bjorn on lyrics. A couple of notable exceptions TWTIA is lyrics first then music and possibly TDBYC too.
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Post by BAAB on Oct 20, 2022 20:03:57 GMT
What was the writing sytle of B+B? It seems in earlier years Benny, Bjorn and occassionally Stig for all. In more latter years a clear distinction: Benny on music, then Bjorn on lyrics. A couple of notable exceptions TWTIA is lyrics first then music and possibly TDBYC too. I read somewhere that Michael B Tretow explained that during the ABBA years, Benny and Björn wrote the music together but with Benny as a never ending source of melodies and hook lines. Björn was the one who was the one to bring structures into the songs, combining the melodies, so that a good Song took shape. A strict separation between Benny composing the music and Björn only writing the lyrics was first established with Kristina Från Duvemåla. |
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Post by Alan on Oct 21, 2022 8:19:37 GMT
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Post by gamleman on Oct 21, 2022 8:31:57 GMT
Looks nice but I don't think I'll bother this year. I hope The Visitors anniversary stuff hasn't been abandoned. I believe this album is now one of the most popular ABBA albums among fans (I saw a poll in the ABBA Facebook group), so it would be a shame for Universal to overlook it. |
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Post by foreverfan on Oct 21, 2022 10:24:26 GMT
Johnny, referring to Gold and top 200, as far as I know, Gold didn’t appear in the best selling charts for those years, it doesn’t mean that it didn’t appear in the weekly charts, it’s tough or expensive to get a complete look at the official top 200 whether in singles or albums,
Of course especially these days you don’t need to sell that many to make the official Album charts approx 1000 to make top 100, places from 101 to 200 must be very small in comparison to the early 2000s, so guessing again a 1000 copies sold then would make the top 200...
Where’s Colin when we need him..lol....
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Post by Deleted on Oct 21, 2022 11:14:30 GMT
ForeverFan, the only year ABBA Gold failed to make the Year End Top 200 was 2002. 2001 and 2003 were also low selling years but it did make Year End Top 200.
2004 was quite a good year - it was when that 30th Anniversary of Waterloo came out with the DVD. It helped Gold get to #4 that year. Gold has make the weekly top 100 charts every yeat though 2002 it only spent 2 weeks in the Top 100.
Happy New Year. The vinyl single is quite expensive. But it's just a souvenir.
I never liked the 1989 reference. It just dates the song. I wish it could be edited out!
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Post by Alan on Oct 21, 2022 14:28:35 GMT
Looks nice but I don't think I'll bother this year. I hope The Visitors anniversary stuff hasn't been abandoned. I believe this album is now one of the most popular ABBA albums among fans (I saw a poll in the ABBA Facebook group), so it would be a shame for Universal to overlook it. I’m not sure it does look that nice. I bought the 2020 one (blue) as a one-off as it tied in with the Super Trouper anniversary issues, but I wasn’t that impressed with it. It’s just the same-old, same-old in a different colour. If it’s that awful marble-effect gold it will be even worse. To me, they look like very thin paper inserted in the middle of a clear vinyl disc, but too big so ripples are created. Two of the albums in the coloured vinyl box a couple of years ago are like that and they really are ugly. This was the ideal opportunity for The Visitors issues, so that they could do Ring Ring next year, Waterloo in 2024, ABBA in 2025 and Voyage (to mark its fifth anniversary) in 2026. As it stands I’m wondering if the series has been abandoned. With the 1982 singles reaching an anniversary this year, the issues would still be relevant. |
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Post by Michal on Oct 21, 2022 18:32:32 GMT
Looks nice but I don't think I'll bother this year. I hope The Visitors anniversary stuff hasn't been abandoned. I believe this album is now one of the most popular ABBA albums among fans (I saw a poll in the ABBA Facebook group), so it would be a shame for Universal to overlook it. I’m not sure it does look that nice.... If it’s that awful marble-effect gold it will be even worse. To me, they look like very thin paper inserted in the middle of a clear vinyl disc, but too big so ripples are created... I feel the same about the "golden" (as well as "silver") coloured vinyls - I've never seen one that would look nice. The last one I bought was Benny's Piano, because I thought that maybe because it was on different label, it might look better. I was wrong. It's the same paper-in-the-middle-of-a-clear-vinyl effect as every other golden vinyl so far. Actually I'm quite glad they've chosen this colour for Happy New Year this time. I've bought all coloured versions so far and the awful golden vinyl is another reason not to buy it. The first reason is that they discontinued the series last year. |
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Post by Michal on Oct 21, 2022 18:35:04 GMT
What was the writing sytle of B+B? It seems in earlier years Benny, Bjorn and occassionally Stig for all. In more latter years a clear distinction: Benny on music, then Bjorn on lyrics. A couple of notable exceptions TWTIA is lyrics first then music and possibly TDBYC too. As far as I know, there were no exceptions. The music always came first, the lyrics second. Where does the information that in case of TWTIA it was the other way round come from? |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 21, 2022 19:34:22 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Oct 21, 2022 20:26:46 GMT
There are both a Sales Chart (Physical and Downloads) and a Physical Chart (all physical format sales). Voyage has left both now.
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Post by Alandar on Oct 22, 2022 9:40:49 GMT
johnny,.If in future Voyage gigs a couple more songs from this album would be added this might help the album sell more.Plua a Voyage DLX edition.....Michal...As for HNY vynil new release.I don't like the golden color either.Would have liked white one doubled with LT to combine now and then. gamleman,i do agree on your thoughts about 'The Visitors album ,but i don't have hopes Universal will bother for any further edition.
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Post by Alan on Oct 22, 2022 10:27:47 GMT
A year ago today, Just A Notion was released as a single. It may have divided fans - some loved it, others didn’t - but it was perhaps the most exciting time of the album build-up. Voyage was just two weeks away and, having got the one long-familiar song out in full complete with a new backing track, we now had seven new songs to look forward to. The single artwork was probably the best of the four, as it utilised the ABBATars in a different way. Its failure to chart highly suggested that releasing two singles on the same day in September - effectively striking when the iron was red hot - was the best strategy. I was never particularly keen on Just A Notion, and to me it was never a highlight of ABBA Undeleted. It sounded like a vocal rehearsal. However, it has grown on me. It’s well placed on the album, a bit of light relief at the end of Side 1, before the more serious songs in the second half kick-in.   |
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Post by gamleman on Oct 22, 2022 11:38:08 GMT
I agree with all of that, Alan. If JAN had been a single back in 1979, I wonder how it would have fared. I don't think I would have seen it as a strong single, particularly in its original form - certainly not as strong as "Dream World" would have been. But then the Voulez-Vous era had lots of singles with not always the best choices made, particularly choosing DYMK over IIWFTN and even VV over the latter, and then IHAD - never in my wildest dreams did I expect that to be a single. In light of recent revelations, I suppose we ought to be thankful we didn't get TKHLHC as an A-side  |
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Post by Michal on Oct 22, 2022 15:06:09 GMT
I don't understand what everybody's problem with The King Has Lost His Crown is. It's a brillinat track IMO and Frida's vocal delivery is great.
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Post by gamleman on Oct 22, 2022 16:32:30 GMT
I've always considered TKHLHC to be an average ABBA album track. It has a great intro and great vocals but a melodically weak chorus by ABBA standards. The same can be said of Lovers (LALL), although this is possibly the poorest track on the album for me. I think the song VV is regarded more highly these days than it was back in the day - I'm sure it was "Angeleyes" that earned that double A-side single its No 3 placing in the UK. If they had released IIWFTN as a single, they would have had a UK No 1 in 1979 for certain and probably in many other countries too.
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Post by Michal on Oct 22, 2022 16:40:51 GMT
If they had released IIWFTN as a single, they would have had a UK No 1 in 1979 for certain and probably in many other countries too. How can you be so sure? I like the song but actually prefer both TKHLHC and Lovers. I've always seen IIWFTN just as a good album track, nothing more. I agree that Voulez-Vous (the song) is probably more popular today than it was in 1979. I've always preferred Angeleyes though. |
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Post by Michel on Oct 22, 2022 16:48:15 GMT
Not to mention number 1 in several countries in continental Europe.
The King Has Lost His Crown appears to be a favorite for the group members, at least for Bjorn, who named it in the Voyage launch as a song that deserved more attention, and for Frida, who singled it out as a favorite in the interview on the Super Troupers DVD. It's a good song and I love Frida's sultry lead vocal but I don't think it would have been a suitable A-side.
Voulez-Vous is ABBA's longest charting studio album in the Netherlands, spending 80 weeks on the charts, 20 of which in 2022.
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Post by gamleman on Oct 22, 2022 16:59:22 GMT
If they had released IIWFTN as a single, they would have had a UK No 1 in 1979 for certain and probably in many other countries too. How can you be so sure? I like the song but actually prefer both TKHLHC and Lovers. I've always seen IIWFTN just as a good album track, nothing more. I agree that Voulez-Vous (the song) is probably more popular today than it was in 1979. I've always preferred Angeleyes though. I can be so sure because I lived through it - I'm not someone who normally expresses opinions so emphatically, but I'm as certain as I can be about this. When IIWFTN was previewed on the Mike Yarwood Show on BBC TV in December 1978, everybody thought this was the next single and were impressed. But then it was overtaken by "Chiquitita" and the UNICEF show. IIWFTN was just right for the time. And its current popularity clearly came through in a recent poll on tracks of the VV album in the Facebook group. |
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Post by Alan on Oct 22, 2022 19:04:37 GMT
How can you be so sure? I like the song but actually prefer both TKHLHC and Lovers. I've always seen IIWFTN just as a good album track, nothing more. Thank you Michal. I didn’t really want to get into this debate as it comes up so often on here but you took the words out of my mouth. If It Wasn’t For The Nights is a great song but not a single, and it’s incredibly overrated in that respect. Bigging it up really doesn’t help it. Let it be the excellent album track that it is, and leave it there. (I actually much prefer it to Does Your Mother Know, Voulez-Vous or I Have A Dream, but that alone doesn’t make it a missed opportunity. Over-familiarity with the other three songs plays a part, but I would argue they all still have “single” written all over them. IIWFTN doesn’t. And clearly the European - even worldwide - record company licensees weren’t keen either. Nothing to do with UNICEF, they rejected the song). |
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Post by gamleman on Oct 23, 2022 8:46:48 GMT
But these are just two other individuals' opinions about IIWFTN. It seems to me that on this forum only certain people are allowed to express strong opinions. I was not 'bigging it up'. As I said, I was actually an avid ABBA fan through this period and remember how well the song was received by others, not only me. Also, here are the recent poll results from Facebook. So there you are!  |
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Post by stepalm2 on Oct 23, 2022 9:14:22 GMT
I think at the end of 1978 the disco era started to fade out. I think thats why ABBA who always wanted to be ahead of its time maybe didnt choose it to be a single. When i heard it in a club recently it took me some time to hear that it was ABBA because it sounded more like an ordinare disco song. I remember in those days that i thought it was very repetetive and i also prefere when we can have some soloparts from each of Frida and Agnetha. Also i think it sounds like a much weaker version of Dancing queen.
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