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Post by truedogz on May 2, 2023 9:48:20 GMT
Just in case people haven't come across it on youtube there is not a bad attempt at extracting the vocals alone for Dancing Queen. I really enjoy listing to the acapellas and instrumentals that people are creating for the ABBA catalogue. It brings out things hard to detect that combine to create the sound and showcases the groups talent - as composers, vocalists and producers. I'd love to hear the originals as files we could pull appart and listen to individual tracks, as in the case of the Beatles, but obviously that won't occur while the group members are still with us. So for the time being the efforts of those on youtube are the best we can hear.
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Post by richard on May 2, 2023 14:19:54 GMT
Great idea, truedogz , to add to their (probably unforthcoming) collection of goodies for fans to celebrate ABBA's 50th Anniversary. I'd love them to release the vocal tracks only from a number of their songs - but I won't hold my breath. However, if I remember right, the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds album was once released like that; and so I think that if it that was acceptable to Brian Wilson, then why not Benny and Bjorn. Wonderful songwriters, and intelligent, classy people, but both Benny and Bjorn strike me as rather 'conservative' in how they let their music get out to the public. After some 35 years, if someone else hadn't mentioned to B&B the possibilities of modern technology to produce avatars of the group as a commercial proposition, which became the Voyage show, there wouldn't have been ISHFIY and DSMD and the Voyage album. For decades, they obviously weren't interested or motivated enough to get into the the studio together. Regarding releasing stuff from 'the archive', is this parsimonious attitude, this stubborn unwillingness to give fans what they want, tied up with some lofty notions of 'legacy', I wonder? As a listener, that idea means very little to me. For me, releasing such recordings would hold the same massive interest and fascination as it would if a great painter let his sketchbooks be published: being able to see creativity in progress; what gets rejected or refined or accepted. Perhaps when many of us are dead and gone, an elderly Ludvig might say "OK" to a few musicologists. |
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Post by HOMETIME on May 2, 2023 19:31:59 GMT
Given Benny's devotion to the Beach Boys, you'd hope he'd take a little inspiration/encouragement from how they handled their back catalogue. This would be a fantastic way to approach an anthology and/or a documentary. A step that would immediately tighten the focus on the talent within the group, on the production and the studio alchemy. That kind of thing is way overdue. I'd love if they'd greenlight a documentary series - maybe album by album (maybe not all nine: not sure how robust a full episode on the Ring Ring album might be). Or one episode focused on recording, another on how they produced their tours, another on the choosing of singles and the making of videos. Carl Magnus Palm's books could be good springboards for these items and he'd certainly make for an informed talking head. Better than the z-listers and Pete Waterman commentators that have passed for considered content in more recent attempts. Naturally, an episode on the development of the Voyage show would be essential and, unlike the Mamma Mia inserts on previous programmes, this could be fascinating.
This is the kind of thing that Sky Arts or Netflix could develop. DVD/BluRay editions could be appended to a "soundtrack" featuring hits, deep cuts, outtakes, stripped vocal passages, the odd instrumental remix. House it in a great box with an LP-size book, and you might as well have the fans' ATM cards and PIN numbers. And, best of all, it wouldn't compromise Gold's cash-cow status at all.
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Post by truedogz on May 3, 2023 8:52:27 GMT
HOMETIME, and richard, I've thought for a while, even before Voyage, what was needed to cement the band's legacy was a documentary series on the story of the creation of the songs. Not the usual rubbish documentaries but in depth ones we have seen such as the stuff done for the Beatles. Now is the time as they have gained such respect from fellow artists particularly in the United States. But time is running out as we are losing key people in the story such as the session musicians. Palm's books could form the basis but we need B, B, A and A's inputs on their key songs developed from B playing a few chords on the pianno to A and A discussing how they came up with harmonies. We have seen bits and pieces over the years for a couple of songs where Benny has deconstructed a few parts such as RR and DQ. I think a detailed, in depth anthology in the form of a documentary series would make them as much money as the concert without the costs. It would just take their time and the right interviewer. And yes it could do all ten albums - 10 videos - supported by discs with stripped down versions, ogg files, etc. I think musicians around the world would be amazed to learn what they did and would only enhance their status in the pantheon of great artists. Best Wishes Truedogz
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Post by HOMETIME on May 3, 2023 9:31:31 GMT
All of that! Absolutely.
If they see Voyage as a key element in preserving their legacy, then it only works in 20-song instalments. The iron is hot right now. I hope somebody can help them see the value in striking.
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Post by richard on May 3, 2023 11:27:42 GMT
All of that! Absolutely. If they see Voyage as a key element in preserving their legacy, then it only works in 20-song instalments. The iron is hot right now. I hope somebody can help them see the value in striking. Yes, I think it needs an extra persuasive third party to start the ball rolling! |
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