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Post by Deleted on May 29, 2023 14:50:10 GMT
There are obviously some key differences. In 1982 the aim was to make a ninth album. For Voyage it was just two songs initially which then mophed into an album over time.
In 1982 plans were abandoned as they were not happy with at least some of the six songs recorded. ABBA were also at the end of the line, professionally and personally and seemingly wanted it all to end.
By the time of Voyage's release in 2021 there had been an ABBA revival. Gold Greatest Hits released in 1992 and still selling. A stage play and two film versions based on their hit songs released in 2008 and 2018. ABBA were big business.
The fading star in 1982 and risen star later may be key to why they gave up on an album for 1982/83 but persisted in one for 2021. Just releasing two songs, in the age of streaming, commercially, made no sense. An album by an act with an older fanbase was a different matter.And ABBA were business savvy - if at times risky, as in the whole idea of the ABBAtars project.
What unites these periods is the quality of the songs - or lack.
In 1982 the better songs were the final songs , Cassandra, Under Attack, The Day Before You Came. None of which though were Classic ABBA in the hit single sense. The two latter songs became singles and tracks on a compilation.
The other three were lesser songs. A b side, song wich appeared on B list compilation 11 years later and an unfinished song.
The songs from Voyage varied in quality. The better songs I Still Have Faith in You and Don't Shut Me Down were recorded first. And the songs just got worse.
Instead of giving up on an album ABBA saw it through. Never Mind The Quality Let's have Platinum Awards.
What united both periods was the inability to produce an album that was up to their best. They rightly gave up in 1982 and should have done so with Voyage.
I Still Have Faith in You and Don't Shut Me Down could have been standalone singles. Let's be realistic they would have still appeared on compilations and streaming services.
ABBA's last album The Visitors was a natural end - as album makers. They could have still provided the occassional song.
PS: As the 1982 songs were getting better should ABBA have perservered and completed an album?
And as the songs after the first two Voyage songs were not as good, and they even had to rope in a 1978 reject, should they have abandoned Voyage and just went for Departure with 2 songs?
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Post by Michal on May 30, 2023 10:38:04 GMT
Voyage is a very good album in my opinion. I still find it difficult to rate it against the original albums but I like it a lot. The least favourite tracks are Little Things and Bumblebee but even those have grown on me. So no, they shouldn't have stopped after ISHFIY and DSMD. It would be a great pity.
As for 1982, the mood within the group was probably too tense and it was necessary to take a break. They could and should have returned after Chess though. An album every three or four years would have been fantastic and wouldn't have demanded so much of their time. Pity we had to wait forty years. So much more could have been achieved.
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Post by Henry on Jun 1, 2023 18:56:28 GMT
Yes they should have stooped after the first 2 tracks. Maybe an EP with Dan and Woman on it but that's about it.
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Post by welshboy on Jun 2, 2023 15:04:54 GMT
Well I for one love all the songs on Voyage. These are still new songs they need time to grow on you, to get under your skin like all the other songs have. To say that only two of the LP are any good is wrong. I play the Voyage album about once a week all the way though, and the songs are getting better each time I hear them.
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Post by bennybjorn on Jun 2, 2023 17:42:43 GMT
I don't agree with the central premise in this discussion i.e. that the first two songs were way better than the rest.
I'm no fan of 'I still have faith'. To me it's just 4 minutes of cliched schmaltz and, unfortunately, the lyrics mean I just don't enjoy listening to it, although it is clearly an impressive piece of music.
So, if they'd stopped with these songs, I would have had just one new enjoyable Abba song to listen to.
But with the extras on the album, there are now 4 or 5 really good new Abba songs, so I'm really pleased they persevered with the extra song-writing and recording.
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Post by HOMETIME on Jun 2, 2023 18:31:46 GMT
The two eras aren't in any way comparable, IMO. 1982 was layer upon layer of complication - interpersonal tensions, creative frustration, boredom, jadedness, zeitgeist shift. Possibly even early-onset midlife crises.
Voyage was something entirely different. I don't think there was any pressure on them to record beyond the first two songs: expectations had been well managed. There was clearly a buzz in the recording process for all four of them and, if they hadn't liked the results, they wouldn't have released the album. I could be wrong, but there seems to be a new hierarchy in ABBA: Benny is boss and the rest fall in line, if they want to take part. Voyage feels a bit like ABBA with a dollop of BAO folded in. And that doesn't surprise me, really.
Everyone has a different set of favourites among the Voyage songs, so the notion that the album should have been shrunk to an EP of just the handful of subjective favourites just seems daft. Whose favourites? And who made that person the arbiter of taste anyway?
We were given ten songs we never dreamed we'd get five years ago. Of course we all have our favourites. Just listen to the ones you prefer. Skip the ones you don't like.
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Post by Alan on Jun 3, 2023 17:02:03 GMT
The myth seems to persist that ABBA had an unfinished 1982 album after completing six tracks (Adam raised it not long ago) when actually they only had three before abandoning it completely. One of those three tracks - You Owe Me One - arguably would only ever have been a b-side, and the other two weren’t considered good enough for release at all. There are those that think they were being saved for a future album but I really don’t think so.
Voyage is therefore from a very different place. Yes, it was built around the original two tracks (which, unlike I Am The City and Just Like That, definitely were considered good enough for people to hear) but the rest of it really isn’t that bad. Those two tracks had to be good - at the time it was thought they would be the only ones, and they were written and recorded for inclusion in the Voyage show so had to match the quality of the other songs selected for it.
The rest of the Voyage album didn’t have the same emphasis. They were making album tracks or secondary singles, and none would appear in the show. They had much less pressure to come up with the goods. My gripes are only with Little Things, which I think should have been a standalone single only, and Just A Notion, which could have been saved until 2024. However, if the two unfinished tracks weren’t considered good enough, and an eight-track album would not be sufficient, then so be it for the album to be issued as it is.
To stop at two tracks (or four, or five) would have been a wasted opportunity (and EPs of that length don’t really exist anymore). The two original songs deserved an album home and I wouldn’t say they are in any way embarrassed by the other eight.
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Post by evilincarnate on Jun 4, 2023 4:34:32 GMT
The two eras aren't in any way comparable, IMO. 1982 was layer upon layer of complication - interpersonal tensions, creative frustration, boredom, jadedness, zeitgeist shift. Possibly even early-onset midlife crises. Voyage was something entirely different. I don't think there was any pressure on them to record beyond the first two songs: expectations had been well managed. There was clearly a buzz in the recording process for all four of them and, if they hadn't liked the results, they wouldn't have released the album. I could be wrong, but there seems to be a new hierarchy in ABBA: Benny is boss and the rest fall in line, if they want to take part. Voyage feels a bit like ABBA with a dollop of BAO folded in. And that doesn't surprise me, really. Everyone has a different set of favourites among the Voyage songs, so the notion that the album should have been shrunk to an EP of just the handful of subjective favourites just seems daft. Whose favourites? And who made that person the arbiter of taste anyway? We were given ten songs we never dreamed we'd get five years ago. Of course we all have our favourites. Just listen to the ones you prefer. Skip the ones you don't like. The myth seems to persist that ABBA had an unfinished 1982 album after completing six tracks (Adam raised it not long ago) when actually they only had three before abandoning it completely. One of those three tracks - You Owe Me One - arguably would only ever have been a b-side, and the other two weren’t considered good enough for release at all. There are those that think they were being saved for a future album but I really don’t think so. Voyage is therefore from a very different place. Yes, it was built around the original two tracks (which, unlike I Am The City and Just Like That, definitely were considered good enough for people to hear) but the rest of it really isn’t that bad. Those two tracks had to be good - at the time it was thought they would be the only ones, and they were written and recorded for inclusion in the Voyage show so had to match the quality of the other songs selected for it. The rest of the Voyage album didn’t have the same emphasis. They were making album tracks or secondary singles, and none would appear in the show. They had much less pressure to come up with the goods. My gripes are only with Little Things, which I think should have been a standalone single only, and Just A Notion, which could have been saved until 2024. However, if the two unfinished tracks weren’t considered good enough, and an eight-track album would not be sufficient, then so be it for the album to be issued as it is. To stop at two tracks (or four, or five) would have been a wasted opportunity (and EPs of that length don’t really exist anymore). The two original songs deserved an album home and I wouldn’t say they are in any way embarrassed by the other eight. Excellent posts Tony and Alan. |
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Post by gazman on Jun 4, 2023 18:29:33 GMT
I think Voyage is a great album. When you consider that is has been recorded by former pop stars nearly 40 years after their previous album, it is almost mind-blowing.
In my view, there is no longer any point in comparing it with other work so far back. It deserves to stand on its own.
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Post by justabba on Jun 5, 2023 6:15:43 GMT
I think Voyage is a great album. When you consider that is has been recorded by former pop stars nearly 40 years after their previous album, it is almost mind-blowing. In my view, there is no longer any point in comparing it with other work so far back. It deserves to stand on its own. You're absolutely right. I totally agree. I love voyage and listen to it most weeks. |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 6, 2023 11:49:16 GMT
Thanks for the contributions. Just a few points
1. EPs. Yes, they are neither one thing or another. It really had to be the two first singles or a whole album. Commercially, a new album made sense. It's not the case as Hometime suggested, who would decide which 4 or 5 songs to include - as nobody has suggested an EP
2. Like Alan, I have my reservatins about LT and JAN. I don't think any Christmas song should be on a studio album. And including JAN was really going for leftovers.
3. Yeah of course differences between 1982 and 2017-21 - clearly. Just to my mind the songs in both eras were variable in quality.
4. Abandonned album in 1982. This has come up before and Alan said the decision was to scrap plans after the first 3 (inferior) songs. Wouldn't it have been logical to come to that decision after all 6 had been recorded and let 2 appear on a Best Of. Alan is arguing they abandonned a studio album but decided to record 3 new songs anyway. It doesn't quite make sense.So before they recorded the final 3 songs they knew 2 would be singles/tracks on a compilation?
As for Voyage the first two songs are the best IMO. Ode to Freedom and No Doubt About It I like too. It's really only Bumblebee, I Can Be That Woman and Little Thibgs I dislike. The others are okay but not great. Personally then 4 I rate a lot, 3 are okay-ish and 3 I don't rate at all. I don't think Voyage is terrible but quite patchy. I guess ABBA albums, in most cases,always were.
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Post by Alan on Jun 6, 2023 15:16:58 GMT
johnny, Carl Magnus Palm (and others) have confirmed it numerous times that any planned album was abandoned (though “postponed” was the wording used) when it became obvious that it wasn’t working (and that the three songs recorded weren’t good enough). As they wanted a release of some sort in 1982, they had no choice but return to the studio to record songs worthy of single release, hence the other three songs. Of these three, Cassandra only became a b-side and as they only had three new tracks they resurrected You Owe Me One, but the latter three songs were never intended for a studio album. I can’t believe the myth of an unfinished album persists. Yes, Just Like That, I Am The City and You Owe Me One were recorded for it, but three tracks is a long way off from an album. Not sure if this will be readable, but here is the relevant page of Carl Magnus Palm’s booklet notes in The Visitors (2001 CD). 
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Post by Deleted on Jun 6, 2023 16:19:22 GMT
Ok. That's interesting. Somewhat counter-intuitive.
It looks like when ABBA were up against a deadline and needed a couple of good songs for a project they could come up with the songs.
The two singles in 1982 and first two singles from Voyage were the best from those eras
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Post by Alan on Jun 6, 2023 19:37:12 GMT
Yes they should have stooped after the first 2 tracks. Maybe an EP with Dan and Woman on it but that's about it. , it was this post that HOMETIME was referring to. He was right to point out that everyone’s favourite four tracks might be different. |
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Post by bennybjorn on Jun 6, 2023 20:00:05 GMT
Ok. That's interesting. Somewhat counter-intuitive. It looks like when ABBA were up against a deadline and needed a couple of good songs for a project they could come up with the songs. The two singles in 1982 and first two singles from Voyage were the best from those erasWell, perhaps they were your favourites but they certainly weren't mine. The schmaltz and the cliches of Still Have Faith ruin it for me but if you like that kinda thing, best of luck! |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 6, 2023 23:27:36 GMT
Alan, thanks for pointing out that Henry referred to an EP with his suggested four tracks.
I didn't see that post. (Perhaps I just ignore "guest" posts - and who could blame me after recent posts?)
Yes, of course as you and Hometime, rightly, argue people will have their own 4 , or 5 or 6 tracks. As I implied though in my post an EP was never realistic.
BennyBjorn - I Still Have Faith in You may be sentimental but I have a broad range of music taste. A good song is a good song, whatever the genre or style. And imo I Still Have Faith in You is a good song.
Looking at polls and surveys on various forums Don't Shut Me Down is almost universally the favourite with ISHFIY usually second or sometimes third favourite. It's not like I am the only one who likes it. 😀
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Post by evilincarnate on Jun 7, 2023 1:40:12 GMT
johnny , Carl Magnus Palm (and others) have confirmed it numerous times that any planned album was abandoned (though “postponed” was the wording used) when it became obvious that it wasn’t working (and that the three songs recorded weren’t good enough). As they wanted a release of some sort in 1982, they had no choice but return to the studio to record songs worthy of single release, hence the other three songs. Of these three, Cassandra only became a b-side and as they only had three new tracks they resurrected You Owe Me One, but the latter three songs were never intended for a studio album. I can’t believe the myth of an unfinished album persists. Yes, Just Like That, I Am The City and You Owe Me One were recorded for it, but three tracks is a long way off from an album. Not sure if this will be readable, but here is the relevant page of Carl Magnus Palm’s booklet notes in The Visitors (2001 CD). Thanks for the explanation Alan. This was my recollection as well but you've conclusively provided an accurate depiction of what occurred during the 1982 sessions, clarifying that the second recording session (in August) was not a continuation of the initially proposed album from earlier that year, but rather a concerted effort to provide two worthy singles for inclusion on their upcoming retrospective, 'The Singles - The First Ten Years'. |
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Post by Alan on Jun 7, 2023 16:32:14 GMT
It does beg the question - what could have become of I Am The City and Just Like That? There are those that believe these were being “saved” for a future ABBA album, perhaps for 1984 release. I’ve always doubted that they had any real intention to get back together again after 1982, and that they only avoided a split announcement as a fallback in case things didn’t work out for them individually. They didn’t give a damn that they hadn’t said a proper goodbye.
But if this mythical album could have happened, would it really have included those two songs? It appears they didn’t like Just Like That from the start, but I Am The City went on to appear on a mainstream compilation. Not Gold but the next best thing, meaning more people may have heard this song than most of ABBA’s more obscure album tracks. More Gold also included all three of the later 1982 recordings.
I surmise, therefore, that I Am The City may have made it onto a mid-80s final ABBA album but Just Like That would not. There are those that believe Benny liked JLT to begin with but later went off it. I don’t buy that. Gemini did a vastly re-worked version of it so had ABBA used it, they would similarly have had to re-record it.
But would they really have used older recordings several years on? Particularly when they weren’t released in 1982? They were something to start with, I suppose, rather than having to begin again from scratch, but it’s not a great basis for a new album.
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Post by HOMETIME on Jun 7, 2023 18:18:10 GMT
My thinking is that B&B were really tired of ABBA in 1982. My guess is that, having secured Tim Rice's agreement to work on the musical, Benny and Bjorn were completely distracted by the new exciting project, buoyed by new energy and fresh horizons. Both I Am The City and Just Like That were worked on for Chess. IATC was an early contender for a song for the Arbiter character. Ultimately, they wrote a new song, The Arbiter, and you can see where it overlaps stylistically with IATC. Elaine Paige played her demo of JLT on her BBC radio show and it's like the version that Gemini recorded. Even Frida's Slowly started life in Chess. It's as though they found a new lease on life. The sands were shifting during the sessions for The Visitors too, I think. Despite the occasional New Wave edges in songs like The Visitors, WAISAD and (arguably) Soldiers, there are hints of greasepaint in some of the other songs - and not just ILTMS.
That musical really consumed them and I think that may be why the first Gemini is so leaden and theatrical. Their second one is far poppier. But I also think that the process changed how Bjorn approached lyrics. There are so many scene-setting details in the songs that came after Chess.
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Post by evilincarnate on Jun 11, 2023 5:57:55 GMT
Alan and Tony, I agree that post-1982, there was no genuine intention or commitment from all four members to reunite. It seems that for the longest time, Benny and Bjorn were not interested in looking back, preferring to focus on new artistic endeavours, as telegraphed on 'The Visitors'.
At a certain stage, Frida expressed intermittent interest, but even that waned after a while. Agnetha was always portrayed as the stumbling block but upon reflection, she may have been keener than we realised but perhaps concerned about scrutiny of her personal life, intertwined with the demands of potentially promoting any new product.
Obviously, the advent of the ABBA-tars altered the situation for all concerned in recent years, but I digress...
If ABBA had actually been planning an album circa-1983/1984, I don't believe either "I Am The City" or "Just Like That" would have been considered for inclusion. Back in those days, the guys either abandoned songs altogether or recycled sections, as occurred during the sessions for 'Chess' (per Tony's comments above).
It's possible that "I Am The City" might have been considered if they had been hard up for new material and/or encountered difficulties in reconvening for studio sessions depending on various other outside pursuits. Even in that case, I imagine the song would have been radically reworked/re-recorded, simply because they could. This quest for perfection truly fascinates me and I hope one day to hear all the various working versions of their back catalogue (right up to different incarnations of "Ode To Freedom").
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Post by jj on Jun 11, 2023 7:48:27 GMT
It's possible that "I Am The City" might have been considered if they had been hard up for new material [...] I imagine the song would have been radically reworked/re-recorded.
I have gone right off "I Am the City". Its production, those terrible, awful, embarrassingly dated synthesizers (which probably already sounded dated the week after they were used); the sped up, artificially-treated vocals - even the dull and unoriginal subject and Bjorn's too-obvious lyrics (complete with Poetry 101-level boring clichés and tired metaphors), all of these elements combine to make it nothing more than a truly dreadful colour-by-numbers exercise. B-side stuff totally unfit for inclusion on an album.
Regarding songs about cities that deal with their power and allure - as well as their darker and more sinister underbellies - "Tiger" is light years ahead of it - and especially lyrically, far, far superior.
I'm sure that, very soon after its creation, "I Am the City" was destined for the B's recycle bin (who mentioned "The Arbiter" from Chess?) and it would only have reappeared in bits and pieces in other songs after having undergone radical alteration. As it currently exists, it sounds not much more than a noisy, polished demo.
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Post by jj on Jun 11, 2023 8:11:46 GMT
As for the title of this thread, nobody seems to have even considered discussing it at all, it seems. Maybe that's because it doesn't even warrant discussion, and that's perhaps because the very proposition: "The Voyage album was 1982 recordings part two" is a ludicrous one. Sorry, Johnny, but it is. The 1982 recordings and those of Voyage are chalk and cheese.
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Post by HOMETIME on Jun 11, 2023 10:32:06 GMT
It's possible that "I Am The City" might have been considered if they had been hard up for new material [...] I imagine the song would have been radically reworked/re-recorded.
I have gone right off "I Am the City". Its production, those terrible, awful, embarrassingly dated synthesizers (which probably already sounded dated the week after they were used); the sped up, artificially-treated vocals - even the dull and unoriginal subject and Bjorn's too-obvious lyrics (complete with Poetry 101-level boring clichés and tired metaphors), all of these elements combine to make it nothing more than a truly dreadful colour-by-numbers exercise.
If they had released the track soon after its recording, they might have gotten away with it. But its plinky-plonkiness and those sped-up vocals are bizarre. The vocal arrangement is fun but I wish they hadn't reprised it for a fade ending. It leaves the song feeling unresolved, unfinished. Complete the narrative, Bjorn; give us a natural ending, Benny. Placed beside the synthy elegance of TDBYC, you can see why the release/withhold decisions were made. They also sped up the sax version of JLT and (for me) that is part of the problem with that track, too. The theatrical influences aside, I wonder if regret for the Pinky'n'Perky effect of the sped-up vocals might have been part of the reason why the first Gemini album was so laboriously slow? One thing that has just struck me is how much Voyage sounds like it comes from the same box as Chess, the two Gemini albums and the Josefin Nilsson album. I know it's a whole other discussion about age/creativity/subjective taste/dignity and what-have-you, but I wonder what ABBA might have sounded like, had they continued with even sporadic albums through the 80s and 90s. Would they have evolved to something more orchestral? Something more BAO-ish? Maybe Voyage has allowed them to pick up more or less where they left off...? |
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Post by evilincarnate on Jun 11, 2023 10:43:52 GMT
Tony, I agree with the other B&B 1980's output similarities to 'Voyage', particularly the Josefin Nilsson 'Shapes' album. Obviously the production on 'Shapes' is more steeped in the 1980's but there are still many commonalities. I know this ship has well and truly sailed, but I desperately wanted to hear ABBA's take on "Heaven and Hell". I always imagined an Agnetha lead and can hear it so clearly in my head. "High Hopes and Heartaches" would have also made a strong addition to 'Voyage' or perhaps the follow-up that I still hanker for in vain.  |
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Post by jj on Jun 11, 2023 12:39:51 GMT
The title of this thread obviously reflects my subjective point of view. I created it as a response to Johnny's thread, and because it seems to me a truer reflection of ABBA's 2021 album (stylistically, at least) than that Voyage was somehow a continuation of ABBA's few 1982 songs (which it certainly was not, to me). 1982 marked a period when they were clearly losing motivation and had run out of ideas... with the glaring exception of one, singular song, in which they clearly WERE feeling their way forward towards fresh new horizons and soundscapes. I'm referring of course to ABBA's magnificent orphan:
"The Day Before You Came"
... a song which ironically ended up being a step too far for a pop group, a sparse, spartan number that proved a little too adventurous for ABBA's main audience. Not catchy enough, and by dint of who ABBA "were" (in the popular imagination of 1982), and of what they represented (4 minute instantly catchy pop songs), was tailored to more sophisticated music-lovers (who didn't even bother to listen to it, simply BECAUSE it was ABBA). TDBYC fell between two chairs, so to speak. It was too elaborate, too adult, too "lounge-y", too cool, too refined to be "ABBA".
I think the truth is that Voyage took ABBA back to 1980/81.
"When You Danced With Me" is a close relative of "The Piper" (1980), while "No Doubt About It" seems to hark back to "Elaine" (1980).
"I Can Be That Woman" wouldn't be out of place on The Visitors. On that album's track-list, it could fit comfortably between "Slipping Through My Fingers" and "Like an Angle Passing Through My Room". ISHFIY would not have felt incongruous if it had followed "I Let the Music Speak" (1981)
But... had ABBA truly moved FORWARD, daringly continuing in the vein of "The Day Before You Came" (and not cared about the loss of their main audience), I truly believe they might have become something like Everything But The Girl (in the style of their electronically-infused and starkly elegant "Walking Wounded" album, to be specific). Because TDBYC is a song more typical of Everything But The Girl (in their Walking Wounded album era) than anything that had come, pre-1981, from ABBA. If only they'd continued into the kind of territory that TDBYC had suddenly opened up for them! <sigh!>
In a nutshell, I posit that Voyage was ABBA reverting to their 1980/81 styles, rather than them leaping forward and building on what they'd created with the atmospheric soundscapes that we heard on ABBA's 1982 risky creative experiment (for them, anyway), "The Day Before You Came". That final single was an enormous leapfrog over everything else they'd recorded in 1982.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 11, 2023 14:33:29 GMT
I am not sure an extra thead was needed. It's not like people don'tdisagree with me or can't express themselves. Some very eloquently. Merge these Alan?
It seems silly to have 2 threads covering the same points. I get it people don't agree - or like my views or me but a sepatate thread is plain stupid.
For what it's worth, I think in terms of albums the big leap was between Super Trouper in 1980, essentially within the ABBA pop mould to The Visitors a year later.
Comparing the last 3 albums, stylistically ST and Voyage may indeed have more in common. More diverse musical styles and no Bjorn vocals (!).
The Visitors was a leap towards a more sohisticated, mature style which Voyage failed to pick up on (aside from ISHFIY). OTF which I like was not as good as I Let The Music Speak, Soldiers or Like An Angel Passing Through My Room on The Visitors. At the same time Voyage didn't quite have the "bangers" of ST eg LAYLOM, On and On and On
My point about the 1982 songs and Voyage album songs is both sets were patchy. Yeah, good songs, but also less so - with the obligatory IMO. Neither had enough songs for a truly great album. They gave up on 1982 album - and arguably the last album should have been abandonned.
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Post by jj on Jun 11, 2023 14:50:25 GMT
Respectfully, I don't think this thread should be merged with yours, Johnny, not because I started it, but because I believe your proposition is nonsensical. Sorry, but there's nowhere to go with such a statement as "The Voyage album was 1982 recordings part two" because it is simply not true to most people.
No offense intended at all.
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Post by jj on Jun 11, 2023 15:08:58 GMT
Voyage is clearly a step back to 1980-81.
With the exception of "The Day Before You Came", the 1982 songs to me represent a step even further back, for ABBA, to 1973 ("Under Attack", "You Owe Me One") except hidden under lots of synths and the (now dated) studio technology of the time, to make them sound more "modern" (although they actually belonged more in the "Nina, PB" and "Honey, Honey" league of songs). Most of 1982's songs were Bjorn and Benny going into a kind of fetal position, giving it four or five tries, creating only one really gold class song, and then kinda giving up and admitting they really couldn't be bothered with this sh-t anymore...
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Post by jj on Jun 11, 2023 15:36:30 GMT
My point about the 1982 songs and Voyage album songs is both sets were patchy.
I disagree. Voyage was as "patchy", or no more so, than most other ABBA albums were.
Now those half dozen or so songs that ABBA recorded in 1982 are probably the most patchy and darn right kooky set of songs ABBA ever recorded in one period, even counting the sessions for the (partly B&B solo/ABBA-fusion) album Ring Ring, and much more patchy than the Waterloo album, when ABBA were still playing with different styles but the collection still sounded slightly more organic than those 1982 songs would have sounded all plonked together on an album (not that they ever were intended to be released all together, cheek by jowl, on an album). Had ABBA combined those 6 songs with a few more compositions, such as "Slowly", we would really have had some kind of a Frankenstein-monster of an album the likes of which we hadn't heard since the Ring Ring album.
And I would have titled such a hodgepodge 1982/83 album "Grasping at Straws" or "Running on Empty".
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Post by Michal on Jun 11, 2023 15:56:13 GMT
Respectfully, I don't think this thread should be merged with yours, Johnny, not because I started it, but because I believe your proposition is nonsensical. Sorry, but there's nowhere to go with such a statement as "The Voyage album was 1982 recordings part two" because it is simply not true to most people.
Well, if you take this way, than those, who don't agree with the title of this thread should start their own, instead of replying to yours. It doesn't make sense. It this respect I'm with johnny that one thread is enough. |
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