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Post by Alan on May 20, 2023 14:50:51 GMT
I see that the coloured vinyl box has already been reduced slightly on Amazon (UK at least). Now £68.24. I’d still rather it be nearer £50 though…
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Post by evilincarnate on May 21, 2023 5:42:23 GMT
Alan, I suspect the box will be reduced in price over the coming months. I pre-ordered because I didn't want to risk missing out but this set, more than the other commemorative releases, will most probably take some time to sell completely out.
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Post by HOMETIME on May 24, 2023 10:32:02 GMT
My box set arrived this morning. All very nicely done. But I hadn't realised that download codes would not be part of the deal this time. Not the end of the world, as I have all of the material digitally anyway. But, from a punter's point of view, it is measurable dip in value for money. I can see that none of the advertising mentions download codes, so it's not like we were deliberately misled. Was anyone hoping for those codes?
The set itself is very nice. The sleeves - including the company sleeves - are heavy, glossy card. Three singles are on translucent vinyl, two on opaque. Two singles are on red vinyl - one translucent, the other opaque. The first four singles (in terms on chronology/release order) are credited to Bjorn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid; only Love Isn't Easy is credited to Bjorn & Benny, Agnetha & Frida. I wonder what prompted the change in Frida's name at that point?
Also, I'd been used to seeing some version of "Agnetha courtesy of CBS Cupol" on the earlier ABBA releases, but I hadn't noticed that Frida was still signed to EMI when People Need Love was released. The bottom of the sleeve has Agnetha Faltskog by courtesy of CBS-Cupol AB - Anni-Frid Lyngstad by Courtesy of EMI. And it's written in English, so I suppose their international ambitions were already at play.
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Post by Alan on May 24, 2023 15:10:35 GMT
What are the sleeves like, HOMETIME? Are they decent scans? It seems that (from recent issues) they’ve recreated the text but the photos still aren’t in the best quality. I think I saw that EMI credit on the People Need Love single that was in the 2014 40-single box. Presumably Frida signed to Polar very shortly afterwards. Isn’t it the norm to have the text in English if the recordings themselves are in English? I think Germany did it like that (though undoubtedly not France). |
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Post by HOMETIME on May 24, 2023 19:37:51 GMT
The sleeves are not too bad at all. Clearly scans, and probably on a par with the sleeves in the other sets. As they're scans, they also include the company ads for other artists' releases on the back. People Need Love and He Is Your Brother have the same set of albums advertised on the back. Love Isn't Easy has the Ring Ring album advertised on the back. All of the photos - front covers and the ad panels - are in black and white. The company sleeves have the Polar collage on one side, and plain black on the other. The box is rigid and well constructed, and the card has a nice matte finish.
Personally, I'm torn over whether the sleeves in any of these sets should have been replicated or scanned. Replication would have made for much sharper photos and decent colour fidelity (all those yellowed sleeves that should have been white - like KMKY, Chiquitita and VV). All of the fonts are available. None of the designs would have challenged an intern. What do people think?
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Post by Alan on May 24, 2023 20:26:51 GMT
There was an issue with The Visitors as it appeared in the 2020 coloured vinyl box…. Someone compared the fonts and placings and they were very slightly different. Only noticeable if you compared the two (original and reissue vinyl - the CD of course even uses a completely different photo) but nevertheless different. I could have lived with that though. I got Ring Ring on vinyl once which was a complete scan, and the text wasn’t sharp.
It’s a bit lazy not to entirely recreate the artwork, and probably done to reduce costs. They’ve had to find the original photos for use on the text-free picture discs, so it really shouldn’t be that difficult to do a better job on the coloured vinyl sleeves.
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Post by HOMETIME on May 24, 2023 20:33:00 GMT
It’s a bit lazy not to entirely recreate the artwork, and probably done to reduce costs. They’ve had to find the original photos for use on the text-free picture discs, so it really shouldn’t be that difficult to do a better job on the coloured vinyl sleeves. The original design determines a lot about whether a scan will be successful. The reissued inner sleeve of Wrap Your Arms Around Me was shocking. The original design had text over that great photo of Agnetha where she's clutching a layer of tulle in front of her face. Any credits or lyrics that overlapped that photo were virtually unreadable on the scan because of the honeycomb texture of the fabric. For the singles, I really think they should recreate the sleeves. It's so easy to overlay the new work on the old sleeve to ensure accuracy of placement and kerning. |
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Post by Alan on May 24, 2023 20:58:41 GMT
I suppose it’s what we’ve come to expect of Universal. From what I’ve read, they are by far the worst of the three majors on both vinyl sound quality and sleeve reproduction.
I got the Kate Bush vinyl album reissues (now Warner Music, old EMI having been absorbed into Parlophone) from a few years ago and they were excellent quality sleeves. Some differences in text placings but the photos were sharp (noticeably they had adjusted the Lionheart back cover photo to remove some stray strands of hair). They were extremely impressive compared to ABBA issues.
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Post by Alan on Aug 22, 2023 19:29:16 GMT
I’ve finally got the five single picture discs! I wasn’t sure I wanted to continue with these things but in the end, as ever, the price was right.
They’re lovely. I don’t have the coloured vinyl box (yet) but I’m starting to think the picture discs are preferable. Since they added the die-cut sleeves, the presentation has been much better (though does mean the singles themselves don’t have the titles on the front artwork, in contrast to those for earlier albums in the series).
The company sleeve one is nice, I had wondered if the “label” was a stuck-on paper one but thankfully it’s part of the picture disc design.
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Post by iiwftn on Aug 23, 2023 21:04:58 GMT
I love the Ring Ring album, and those early, jaunty, sweet songs.
The opening chorus to Bobby’s Bother is an absolute joy, with Bjorn giving it everything on the shared vocal.
Agnetha’s powerful vocal on Love Isn’t Easy is as good as (almost) anything she’s done (plus I just love the tune).
And Ring Ring the song is the ever-so-slightly superior song to its contemporary, Waterloo, in my opinion.
I think there’s something quite magical about not just the songs, but era they were written, and what ABBA were then, and what they were about to become.
All the divorces and the Winner Takes it All etc would come eventually, but in ‘73, they were a great little rock n roll band. It seemed like a happy time.
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Post by gary on Aug 23, 2023 23:06:09 GMT
^
I agree with all your points, iiwftn. (It’s a joint lead vocal on Love Isn’t Easy, though, and in fact a joint lead vocal from all four of them, I think.) There’s something really nice about most of the songs from the first two albums. I even like What About Livingstone!
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