Ring Ring 50th Anniversary, 2023

It’s an odd rendering of the names really. It could look like it’s referring to two people, with Benny and Frida respectively being Björn’s and Agnetha’s surnames. As there are four people on the cover, it cleared up any confusion. It’s not even alphabetical. Agnetha’s name (before either Anni-Frid or Frida) would be correct, as would her surname, but in that format Benny should be before Björn (it isn’t, and that’s because Björn was credited first on Lycka).

In terms of the ABBA name, I’d go strict alphabetical, so Agnetha as the first A and Benny as the first B, but this meant the then-couples weren’t together. Usually I’ve seen it stated that Anni-Frid is first and then Benny.

A white lie on my part ! I do own " Ring Ring " in my collection. I forgot to include " The Albums " ( CD boxset x 9 ) ( which I bought for a bargain at Sainsbury's before they scrapped their entire entertainment section ) and also, " The Studio Recordings " ( vinyl boxset which I also purchased for a reasonable price ). So, I do actually own ABBA's first studio album. What are my views. Well, I seldom listen to it. On the whole it is mediocre and the only worthy songs are " Ring Ring ". " Disillusion ", " Nina Pretty Ballerina " and " He Is Your Brother ". No offence I hope taken, Adam as I understand it is your favourite album. We all have our " babies " To be honest I quite like " I Am Just A Girl " . A quirky little ditty a little different to ABBA's usual standards. I am not going to buy The 50th Anniversary Edition I have decided.

The singles that will be in The Visitors box set are rumoured to be 

Head Over Heels/The Visitors
One of Us/Should I Laugh Or Cry
When All Is Said And Done/Soldiers 
Under Attack/You Owe Me One 
The Day Before You Came/Cassandra

I would like it if Universal threw a curve ball and included 'Slipping Through My Fingers' as a single with 'Se Me Esta Escapando' as the B-Side it would be nice as 'Slipping Through My Fingers' was released as a single in Japan.

I really would prefer it if the two singles from 1982 weren't included in 'The Visitors' box set as those songs and their B-Sides were intended for the unfinished 9th album and it would be better to include them as standalone singles I would like it if 'Cassandra' was made the A-Side but I know that won't happen.

It will be interesting to see if 2024 follows the pattern of the Deluxe Editions and a Half Speed Master of the 'Gracias Por La Musica' album gets released along with a box set of singles and the 2014 Deluxe Edition practically confirmed it as a regular studio album and as its ABBA's only Spanish album it would be nice to complete the set.

More ABBA Gold badly needs a Vinyl re-release as its the only way to get 'I Am The City' on Vinyl and its now the hardest ABBA compilation to find on Vinyl.

I haven't bothered with the other Half Speed master albums as they didn't interest me but I will get 'Ring Ring' as its my favourite ABBA album and I will also buy The Visitors Half Speed master.

You’ve said that before but it’s not actually true. Only I Am The City, Just Like That and You Owe Me One were recorded for a possible new album but when it became clear that none of them were considered good enough, album project was abandoned.

The other three 1982 songs were later recorded specifically for use on a greatest hits and as singles, never intended for a studio album. You Owe Me One got resurrected because they needed a second b-side, and likely because that’s all it would have been anyway.

There are those that believe the other two songs were being saved for a 1983/84 album. Unlikely, as they’d already been cast aside.

At what point was a 9th studio album plan scrapped?

My understanding is the first 3 1982 songs recorded earlier in 1982 and the remaining 3 July/August time. I know TDBYC was recorded in August.

So Alan, you're saying ABBA decided first 3 not good enough (correct) but decided few more songs anyway for a GH album. How would they know how good they were if decision to go for GH before they were recorded? Have I misunderstood? Maybe re-post these about 1982 in another thread.

Just seen this variant on one of the socials.
Japan, Philips December 1973. Removes Rock ‘n’ Roll Band. Opens with She’s My Kind of Girl and reshuffles other tracks.

'Under Attack', 'Cassandra' & 'The Day Before You Came' would have been included on the 9th album had it been finished in 1982/1983 would have been rather ridiculous to have left them off the album and the fact that they already had 'You Owe Me One', 'Just Like That' & 'I Am The City' with 6 songs they had a half finished album already

Er… no. There was no album to speak of, it had already been abandoned. Those three tracks would not have appeared on any future album in the same way that Fernando or Gimme Gimme Gimme didn’t. As for Cassandra, no other non-album b-side appeared on a future album so why would that?

I know you’d cobble together an album from the likes of Don’t Do It and Man etc but it really wouldn’t work like that.

Very nice to watch, wonder if ABBA themselves have seen this?
Just noticed the colour scheme for the picture discs and their sleeves. You would have thought that they would have done the coloured vinyls in the same way, using the same tones.
When Waterloo box set arrived next April I am hoping for something a bit more colour coordinated. Or maybe The Visitors box set. Not sure how many singles came off the Waterloo album - 3 at a guess?

The 40-single boxed set from 2014 was clearly the launch pad for the picture discs/coloured vinyl series. It seems they re-created/scanned the artwork for those and got them out on black vinyl first.

The sets so far have excluded any non-English, non-Swedish language singles (which were in that 2014 box). The only other omission was Happy New Year (Portuguese issue) presumably so as not to clash with the yearly releases of that song.

So yes, Waterloo should be three. The 2014 box did include the German issue of Honey Honey/Ring Ring remix, but I can’t see that being in next year’s sets.

If I’m right, the sets will be:

Waterloo - three singles
ABBA - four
The Visitors - five

So far:
Arrival - four
The Album - three
Voulez-Vous - seven*
Super Trouper - three
Ring Ring - five

*Included Voulez-Vous (extended) - the only single so far that was not featured in the 2014 box.

Thanks for that, Ian.

If anyone has some loose change lying around, there’s an opportunity on Discogs to acquire this. A snip at just £300 plus £2.50 postage. I’d love it but can’t justify that price for one 50-year-old single.

As previously stated, it’s significant as it’s understood to be the first appearance of the ABBA name on record anywhere in the world (the UK being late to the party and not releasing the single until 12 October 1973). The date of the birth of “ABBA” is there, though this promo single would have been circulating within the music industry before then.

And no troublesome individual names in parenthesis, though the UK would later be forced to carry them for all Waterloo-related releases in 1974 (including the Ring Ring remix).

(Nerd alert: the Epic company sleeve still uses the previous Epic radial logo and wasn’t amended to the record-“e” logo until the orange label period).

I spotted some "unboxing" posts on Insta today. Looks like deliveries of the half-speed and the box set are starting to arrive. Anyone here got theirs yet?

I pre-ordered the various versions but don't expect to receive them for a couple of weeks given that I'm in Australia (these are not getting a local release).

Whilst I'm not a huge fan of the album, I like what I've seen of the box and individual singles.

I'm really keen for the 1975 self-titled album to get the full treatment - after 'The Visitors', of course.