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Post by Deleted on Dec 30, 2023 10:13:04 GMT
Right, there's got to be SOMEONE else who rather likes this shameless-slab-of-blatant-album-filler-cum-live-performance-party-piece???
I'd never heard it - or indeed heard OF it - until I crept in to see ABBA: The Movie. It certainly confronted my attitudes as far as ABBA's music was concerned. Whatever I'd been expecting, it wasn't a kind of Rick-Wakeman-lite keyboard showcase! Instantly catchy and packed with a driving energy and the odd cod-classical touch, it effortlessly lodged itself in my memory banks for the rest of the week. In fact, it was one of the numbers I was most looking forward to reacquainting myself with when I crept back into the same cinema in East London to see the film all over again just five days later.
I know it probably counts as 'hokum' but so what? Was always a little disappointed we never got an Intermezzo No.2 - or (in Jean-Michel Jarre style) Intermezzo Parts 2 to 9, complete with laser show in London's Docklands...
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Post by Alan on Dec 30, 2023 10:33:56 GMT
One thing that I’ve often wondered about this track… internationally, it was used as the b-side to Mamma Mia. The UK (and possibly a few other countries, I’m not sure) went with Tropical Loveland. I’ve always surmised that the UK licensee was nervous of an instrumental b-side, in case it put off potential album buyers who might have assumed there could be more instrumentals on than just this one.
The track was also used as the introduction to the first two VHS compilations of ABBA videos, Music Show 1 and Music Show 2, though with the latter, it was shared with the intro of If It Wasn’t For The Nights.
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Post by gazman on Dec 31, 2023 10:26:08 GMT
I’ve always surmised that the UK licensee was nervous of an instrumental b-side, in case it put off potential album buyers who might have assumed there could be more instrumentals on than just this one. I think you are spot on there, Alan. Back in those days, a B-side was considered an effective extra tool at promoting an LP - and, at the time of release of the 'Mamma Mia' single, the ABBA album had been out for nearly 6 months in the UK and hadn't yet made the UK albums chart. It meant that, when most European countries came to release 'Fernando' as a single, Epic in the UK had to choose a different B-side track once again, as most countries had settled on 'Tropical Loveland'. Bizarrely, in Belgium, the B-side choice was 'Dance (While The Music Still Goes On'). The release of 'Fernando' as a single itself was a little unusual, in the sense that, in Sweden, Stig Anderson appeared to hesitate a little on how exactly to issue it, not initially scheduling it as a Swedish single. It was consequently available in the UK, Australia and the rest of Europe some weeks before a Swedish release. In the end, he decided to issue it as a Polar single across Scandinavia, add it to a re-issued 'Greatest Hits' album in Norway and Denmark (but not Sweden) and then 'Hey Hey Helen' was chosen as the B-side for the Polar release, mirroring the UK's choice. |
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Post by mymamasaid on Jan 8, 2024 22:13:01 GMT
This song, as my good friend @thisboycries knows, is my least favourite ABBA track, bar none. I'll spare you the full review of the song from our co-written book, but I include here what I said about in in my review of the ABBA ABBA album:
‘Intermezzo No.1’ then gives us four minutes’ vocal rest, an over-crammed dog’s breakfast of an instrumental which served as a bathroom break for the ladies in the ‘live’ show, and would have provided a break for me if I was there too, I can’t stand it!
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Post by iiwftn on Jan 10, 2024 23:20:10 GMT
It was just a long enough concert filler for Agnetha to grab a quick ciggie and for Frida to boil the kettle.
Not as bad as ‘I Saw It In The Mirror’.
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