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Post by Alan on Sept 4, 2024 15:01:28 GMT
Do you mean these, HOMETIME?  They look to be alternate shots from familiar photo sessions. The Summer Night City one has Agnetha looking up, for instance, which I don’t think I’ve seen before. Similar with the shot above it - new but familiar. If this really is the best they can do for “unseen” then it’s pretty poor. I know we got slightly excited over the alternate shots used on the coloured vinyl singles boxes, but there was at least more of a purpose there. |
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Post by foreverfan on Sept 4, 2024 15:16:24 GMT
Speechless
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Post by johnny on Sept 4, 2024 15:17:37 GMT
Alan, to be even more pedantic, there's 50 years from 1972-2022. This is how we celebrate birthdays or anniversaries.
Yes, 51 years if you count the first year as Year 1. Extra geekiness in some countries eg Turkey a person is 1 the day they are born not 12 months later.
The remit of the album is Singles - so NDAI counts as 2022 - even though not a proper single
Hometime, rounding up to 40 tracks not possible I imagine because of timings. A CD can only ho up to 80 minutes before sound deteriorates. It's like back in the day all those K-Tel albums with 20 songs on a vinyl disc. Sound was so compressed.
You're right though about On and On and On and The Visitors, they could have made it on - at the expense of, imo, He is Your Brother, Love isn't Easy and Little Things.
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Post by foreverfan on Sept 4, 2024 15:33:15 GMT
Ok. Sensible head on now....
I'll be eternally or should I say as long as I live grateful for what they have given me/us, I will die a happy man for loving their music.
That all morbidly said, for me at least , it has been a terribly disappointing 50th anniversary... in all honesty " nothing " has excited me,
I guess being selfish only new music would've done it, and even though it's been said, Benny should've kept his big mouth shut, he knew full well what he was saying, and it's been torture, really unfair for us life long fans. What can we do, nothing....
I always had eternal hope, and I guess that was Voyage, that hope is virtually extinguished now, unless there is a miracle..and they are few and far between.....there was even rumours quite recently of JLT all coming to nothing.... so with a heavy heart, I'll cling on to the rest of the year, pop in every now and again, in the vain hope of one of you coming up with something....
But this compilation and no doubt price, ( ironically I'd paid a lot for something new ! ) has zero interest.....
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Post by lamont on Sept 4, 2024 15:39:48 GMT
Are they fishing with the ‘first 50 years’ title?? Could there be anything else coming?
I doubt it! But just being an optimist.
It is a pointless release otherwise.
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Post by Alan on Sept 4, 2024 16:02:01 GMT
Are they fishing with the ‘first 50 years’ title?? I think that’s been done merely as a nod to the 1982 compilation, but it’s half (or even quarter) hearted. They use the same font for “The Singles” but unnecessarily space the lettering out. I’d have liked this (if it had to happen at all) to completely mimic the 1982 version. Same photo, same artwork throughout, same fonts for the tracklisting. What they’ve actually done looks like a cheap imitation of the original. I know Adam always wanted a new version of The Singles. This is it, but I doubt it’s what he required. Also by unnecessarily including five tracks from Voyage, it’s a way of selling half that album to anyone that didn’t get it. It’s over-represented. Voulez-Vous is the only album with the same number of tracks on this, but they were all big hits. No Doubt About It had no physical release or even its own artwork, no video and no promotion. It’s on this because it was released to radio (primarily Radio 2) and played for a couple of weeks. |
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Post by Alan on Sept 4, 2024 16:18:00 GMT
Hometime, rounding up to 40 tracks not possible I imagine because of timings. A CD can only ho up to 80 minutes before sound deteriorates. The Essential Collection did have 39 tracks - 22 on the first CD and 17 on the second, which included The Visitors. The six additions on this new version are, with the exception of I Still Have Faith In You, all quite short. The Definitive Collection “only” had 37 tracks but they did include the extended Voulez-Vous. However, I strongly suspect the 38-track limit is for vinyl timings. Hasta Manana is such an odd inclusion when it didn’t appear on the previous versions, so I’d imagine the tracks are selected so that each side of vinyl is as close to 20 minutes as possible. Definitive and Essential didn’t have to worry about that as neither were released on vinyl (which is probably another reason for this compilation). |
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Post by HOMETIME on Sept 4, 2024 17:14:45 GMT
[...] Hometime, rounding up to 40 tracks not possible I imagine because of timings. A CD can only ho up to 80 minutes before sound deteriorates. It's like back in the day all those K-Tel albums with 20 songs on a vinyl disc. Sound was so compressed. You're right though about On and On and On and The Visitors, they could have made it on - at the expense of, imo, He is Your Brother, Love isn't Easy and Little Things. I totally take your point about the running times, johnny. Then (because I clearly have too much time on my hands!) I threw together a pair of playlists on iTunes, making the adjustments to the running orders. Adding the edited version of Eagle to disc 1 leads to a running time of 76 minutes. Adding the standard mix of On And On And On and the edited version of The Visitors (now a bona fide rarity) to disc 2 brings the running time to a squeaky 80 minutes. If we were to jettison tracks to make room for better stuff, I'd be waving goodbye to stuff from the early section of Disc 1. All personal and subjective, natch. If they could stop being arsey and include the two new songs, I'd shove Little Things and (reluctantly) NDAI out the door to make way. And I think it bears mentioning/repeating that the cover looks a little bit cheap. If - as the official site seems to suggest - this is supposed to be an expanded edition of The First Ten Years, why not use a photo from that 1982 session? The photo, the font, and the kerning are off. I doubt that Rune Söderqvist would have been pleased. Yes, Alan, those are the shots I mean. |
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Post by Alan on Sept 4, 2024 18:40:46 GMT
The vinyl sides. Using HOMETIME’s trick of creating playlists in order to test (and prove) my theory that each side is roughly 20 minutes. That means that vinyl has indeed dictated the tracklisting (no surprise as CDs are an afterthought these days): Track Listings Side 1 - 18 minutes 1 People Need Love 2 He Is Your Brother 3 Ring Ring 4 Love Isn't Easy (But It Sure Is Hard Enough) 5 Waterloo 6 Honey Honey Side 2 - 21 minutes 1 Hasta Manana 2 So Long 3 I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do 4 SOS 5 Mamma Mia 6 Fernando Side 3 - 20 minutes 1 Dancing Queen 2 Money, Money, Money 3 Knowing Me, Knowing You 4 The Name Of The Game 5 Take A Chance On Me Side 4 - 19 minutes* 1 Eagle 2 Summer Night City 3 Chiquitita 4 Does Your Mother Know CD1 (equivalent to Sides 1 to 4) = 1 hour 17 minutes. This includes full length versions of both Eagle and Summer Night City. Side 5 - 19 minutes 1 Voulez-Vous 2 Angeleyes 3 Gimme Gimme Gimme (A Man After Midnight) 4 I Have A Dream Side 6 - 18 minutes 1 The Winner Takes it All 2 Super Trouper 3 Lay All Your Love On Me 4 One Of Us Side 7 - 17 minutes 1 Head Over Heels 2 When All Is Said And Done 3 The Day Before You Came 4 Under Attack Side 8 - 19 minutes 1 I Still Have Faith In You 2 Don't Shut Me Down 3 Just A Notion 4 Little Things 5 No Doubt About It CD2 (equivalent to Sides 5 to 8) = 1 hour 12 minutes. * This is an awkward one. I originally included the single edit of Eagle but that reduced the time further. There’s room for the full version so I included it. Similarly, I initially included the non-intro version of Summer Night City, but again there is room for it so that’s the version I’ve used. My theory is that Hasta Manana and No Doubt About It are there to make up the numbers (or rather, the vinyl timings). |
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Post by DaronJulian23 on Sept 4, 2024 19:25:25 GMT
No mention of the new compilation. Bjorn was on [Loose Women - UK lunchtime chatshow] with Anthony Costa from the band Blue, promoting Mamma Mia The Party at the O2 Arena in London. He said they're still planning to open Voyage in other countries, as they are with MM The Party, and that there is still talk of a MM 3 movie. Nothing really about ABBA the group. The new compilation is an up dated version of The Singles- The First Ten Years. The new version is called The Singles- The First Fifty Years. A nice addition with Christmas in mind, but with four lps it is a bit expensive. |
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Post by catfood on Sept 4, 2024 20:25:55 GMT
Vinyl side lengths: 17:31 20:35 19:58 16:38 (with 4:25 single edit of Eagle; 18:04 with 5:51 original) 19:00 17:38 22:26 (with 5:47 original The Visitors, 21:04 with 4:27 US Promo Edit) 18:36 Hasta Manana is an eyesore in the track list. It's probably there only to have 6 tracks on the second side, 6 as on the first side. Hasta was a single in very few countries and it's not considered a hit by any means. The fact that it opens the second side feels very odd. Side A clocks in at 17:31, side B 20:35. Without Hasta side B would be almost equally long as side A, 20:00. And it's not like the rest of the vinyl sides have an equal number of tracks, so why here?
The fourth side (Eagle to DYMK) is only 16:38 (if the single edit of Eagle appears). TYftM basically screams to be included here. It's a signature ABBA tune, maybe not a 'proper' single, but it was something of a 'double A' with Eagle. And obviously ten times the hit as Hasta. Also, it was a UK A-side belatedly in 1983. They include the UK-only A-side Angeleyes after all.
Sixth side (Winner to One of Us) feels also a bit skimpy, 4 tracks and 17:38 minutes. Happy New Year or On+On+On perhaps? HNY has been a xmas single 7" pic disc for years now. HNY is comparable to Said+Done (included on the set), not an A-side in Europe but both have videos. On And On was a North American A-side. All massive hits compared to Hasta!
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Post by Alan on Sept 4, 2024 20:37:53 GMT
Regarding Hasta Mañana, it was a hit in Australia (no. 16), New Zealand (no. 9). Also a big hit in South Africa and Argentina but those countries aren’t usually included in chart stats. Its Australian success isn’t that impressive considering they were massive there at the time.
On and On and On was a top 10 in Australia (number 9) and France (apparently - according to Wikipedia - no. 7). Only number 90 in the US main chart. A much more impressive Australian success considering they were way past their commercial peak there.
The Visitors just number 63 in the main US chart.
Thank You For The Music a small, top 40 hit in UK, Ireland and Netherlands in 1983 and big hit in South Africa in 1978 and Argentina (Spanish version) in 1980.
Happy New Year has been a hit in several countries in more recent years, but originally it was a single in Portugal and didn’t chart.
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Post by johnny on Sept 4, 2024 20:56:30 GMT
You could sneak TYFTM on CD disc 1 if SNC is shorter version.Yes, it does seem odd it's not included.
And as Hometine said squeeze in On and On and On and The Visitors (edited version) on CD2.
Hasta Manana was a hit Down Under in 1976 when Rock Me was TOP 5. It's well known that ABBA struggled in the UK after Waterloo. But Honey Honey wasn't that big in several countries, notable exceptions Germany, Switzerland and Austria. It only scraped TOP 30 in Australia and TOP 20 in Belgium and The Netherlands for example.
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Post by lamont on Sept 4, 2024 21:07:28 GMT
I suppose there always going to be casualties, but The Visitors, TYFTM, WIKTT, and you could also (maybe) include IBWFY, some for the Voyage show, and some for Mamma Mia 2 movie. Love Isn’t Easy and Hasta Manana could go. HNY is a sort of evergreen too. NDAI is kinda needless as well.
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Post by johnny on Sept 4, 2024 21:14:21 GMT
Yes. Lamont pretty much agree.It could have been more a Best Of than Singles album and yes including songs from the Voyage show and Namma Mia!.
Out
HE is Yiur Brother
Love Isn't Easy
Just a Notion
Little Things
No Doubt About It (though I like this and it has a good ending which would work well as final song)
IN
When I Kissed the Teacher
Thankyou for the Music
Hole in Your Soul
The Visitors
Slipping Through My Fingers
Even sticking to the idea of a singles album you could at the very least have Thankyou for the Music and The Visitors.
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Post by Alan on Sept 4, 2024 21:38:48 GMT
The remit is clearly “include Polar singles at all costs, and no negotiation on that”.
To be fair, the original Definitive/Essential Collections also did this, but there was enough room for other tracks. The five Voyage singles have scuppered that and made some of the Ring Ring singles (and Hasta Mañana) stand out as superfluous.
Control of ABBA passed back to Sweden with the creation of Universal. In the 1990s, either the UK (Gold/More Gold, hence Lay All Your Love on Me’s inclusion) or Germany (original CD issues, 1999 CD singles box) held the reins.
That’s a good thing in lots of ways - back to Sweden, where it all started - but the over-reliance on Polar singles (which we saw with the singles boxes - an excessive Ring Ring box but a very boring Waterloo one, including company sleeves because that’s how they were in Sweden regardless of whether they had picture sleeves in other Polar countries) is now starting to seem a bit ridiculous.
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Post by catfood on Sept 4, 2024 22:06:35 GMT
CD1 is 74:42 with Eagle 4:25, 76:08 with album version, or: -
CD1 is 73:50 with Eagle 3:33, 76:08 with album version. CD2 is 71:51.
CD2 is 76:18 with Visitors 4:27 promo edit, 77:40 with album version. So there's room for just one additional track on CD1, max 2 more on CD2 - unless other tracks are bumped out.
(Edit: I forgot to include CD2 length, for the 17 tracks included.)
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Post by baab on Sept 4, 2024 23:01:50 GMT
The Singles The First Ten Years was a stylish classy package in every aspect. The new package has nothing in common with the original, apart from the main title. The first "The Singles" compilation closed a ten years era, the new compilation would definitely have required ABBA in their actual (or 2022)appearance, nothing less! I hate the artwork and the cover picture is horrible, I would never display it like I do with other ABBA records.
It is the most annoying Anniversary product from ABBA, I've ever seen. I'm through with ABBAs Platinum Anniversary.
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Post by justabba on Sept 5, 2024 6:05:16 GMT
I haven't commented on this as I'm rather at a loss with what to say. I jokingly predicted the title earlier in the year , but even then I envisaged the 2 unreleased songs being added to the set. The omission of The Visitors and Thank you for the music is unforgivable . Half of voyage ridiculous. Then we get to the cover. Just about anybody could have done a better job. This is the best they could come up with for the 50th anniversary of one of the greatest groups of all time? Really? Where is the newly created logo?
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Post by Alan on Sept 5, 2024 6:14:27 GMT
Which newer photo could have been used? ABBA did look good at both the Voyage premiere in 2022 and the awards thing earlier this year, but they weren’t proper photo sessions. The “snow” photo wasn’t a proper session either, and the motion-capture outfits one wouldn’t be suitable. Possibly the only suitable candidate is this one, or an alternate take from the session:  Someone on the PopJustice ABBA thread suggested that disc 2 of the CD (or vinyl sides 5 to 8) could have become “Greatest Hits Vol 3”, swapping Angeleyes and Gimme Gimme Gimme for On and On and On and The Visitors. Then put all three volumes in a 3-CD or 6-vinyl box (at 48 minutes, the first Greatest Hits is slightly too long for an acceptable single modern vinyl. The second volume, at 59 minutes, would definitely need two, as would the third). They’d probably use the scary drawing artwork for the original Greatest Hits rather than the park bench version, and Fernando as the opening track instead of the closing one, so wouldn’t please everyone. They could perhaps add Love Isn’t Easy to it, as they seem to be so insistent on having it, and it would help add to the length. |
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Post by justabba on Sept 5, 2024 6:23:26 GMT
How difficult would it have been to recreate the 1982 cover in a similar style as they are now? But no let's have a dreadful tacky photo instead.
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Post by gazman on Sept 5, 2024 6:46:28 GMT
It will be interesting to see whether Universal will seek to switch the registration of these tracks for the 'compilation' rules that the Official Chart Company has. If they do, 'Gold' would almost certainly drop out of the Top 75, since only one track - 'Thank You For The Music' - would generate 'chart sales' for it - insufficient to place it on the album charts.
I actually rather like the artwork!
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Post by johnny on Sept 5, 2024 8:06:26 GMT
^ Exactly.
Gold 'sells" about 5,000 a week but almost all of this is streaming equivalent sales and indeed would drop out of the chart - if Universal didn't actively designate it as their compilation of choice for chart purposes.
Gold is currently the longest stayer in UK album charts ever.
Finally, a bit of sales info from around 2015 for total UK Sales of
The Definitive Collection
230,000
The Essential Collection
7,000.
I am guessing sales for this new compilayion will be somewhere between those figures - nearer to The Essential Collection? We are in the age of Streaming after all.
Globally, "Definitive" is over 2 million - about the sane as Voyage! It has sold about 350k in the US, 300K in Germany and around 140k in both Australia and South Korea. Voyage sold more in UK and Germany than TDC but TDC sold more in many countries. It did quite ok in countries where The Visitors flopped so maybe might do ok in countries where Voyage didn't do so well.
The Essential Collection only really had respectable sales in Germany - 100k.IT was almost identical to TDC so why buy it?
The 5 Voyage tracks are not new to us but would be for many casual fans.Maybe that will help in sales.
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Post by HOMETIME on Sept 5, 2024 8:36:31 GMT
I like the idea of a GHV3, and then a boxset containing all three volumes. Given the presence of the Voyage tracks, that recent group photo could be a good basis for the cover.
If they really were to "honour" the 1982 release, then they should have included two new songs just like "The Singles: The First Ten Years" did. Expanding the album is an arbitrary exercise anyway, and one could argue that adding People Need Love to the first disc might have been enough of an essential nod to that era, leaving room for better and/or new material, which might persuade more people to part with their hard-earned rent money.
While there's definitely scope for some kind of documentary/anthology type release, these things are usually plumped out with key hits. So, given that the hits have now been repackaged and pimped out for the umpteenth time, I reckon any anthology type release is starting to look much more like a.... posthumous project.
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Post by johnny on Sept 5, 2024 8:46:48 GMT
^Good points.
But I see the 2 unreleased tracks not as TDBYC and UA, which were singles, and intended as such but as I am the City on More Gold.
On your earlier point Hometime, it does look like 40 songs could have been used. TYFTM on CD1 and The Visitors on CD2.
This would give us a total of 5 non-Polar singles (along with LAYLOM, Angeleyes, WAISAD). Still a low proportion of non-Polar singles.
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Post by richard on Sept 5, 2024 8:51:33 GMT
Even though I'm not a collector of ABBA recordings, and also have no interest, in general, in compilatiions (although I do have Gold and More Gold), I can understand the attraction of a classy 50th Anniversary edition of their recording career
For that, why not "ABBA GOLD PLUS*- Special 50th Anniversary Edition" ? Maybe two extra discs of selected album tracks, any new songs, archived material.... You get the picture.
EDIT
* By ABBA GOLD PLUS I mean a 4-disc set, including More Gold
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Post by justabba on Sept 5, 2024 9:42:10 GMT
Abba clearly have no interest in giving their fans anything new, unusual or different in this 50th anniversary year. So much for Bjorn saying last year it would not be a re release, but something more resourceful!!
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Post by johnny on Sept 5, 2024 10:33:59 GMT
I thought a revamped More Gold would have been better.
1. Less obsession with what were Polar singles
2. More album tracks as featured in Mamma Mia or the Voyage show and perhaps those 2 unreleased tracks.
3. Not competing with GOLD for chart eligibility.
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Post by foreverfan on Sept 5, 2024 10:51:13 GMT
Not that it's going to make any difference to me.. but £21.99 on Amazon, isn't to bad these days... that said who's going to buy CDs or Vinyl in big numbers, so are Universal bothered ?
I can't believe I'm saying this..but the charts have very little relevance these days, and a pricy Complitaion isn't going to set the charts a light with excitement, probably a one/ two week wonder and sell in small quantities. Leave. Gold alone, and let it plug away for years to come, this compilation will alas soon fade.....
Forget the lucrative Christmas market, it isn't going to happen, The whole project will be lucky to sell 100k in 5 years.
Abba compilations for the mass market are pointless, we/ they have everything in various forms..
There really needs to be something new, and that boat has now sailed or leaving the harbour anyhow...
More Abba Gold, revamped and added a couple of Voyage, plus those elusive 2 tracks , might have fared better...
Sorry if I sound all doom and gloom, but I'm realistic... this is not good a good album.....
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Post by johnny on Sept 5, 2024 11:00:28 GMT
My fantasy "Gold 2 - More ABBA Classics"
SINGLES
People Need Love
Ring Ring
I Do x5
Summer Night City
Angeleyes
The Day Before You Came
From MAMMA MIA
Slipping Through My Fingers
When I Kissed the Teacher
Honey Honey
When All is Said and Done
My Love, My ife
From Voyage show
The Visitors
Eagle
Hole in Your Soul
I Still Have Faith in You
Don't Shut Me Down
16 essential songs. Another 2 to 4, depending on timings could include the 2 unreleased Voyage tracks and maybe another surprise.
Because it's not singles album no need for
He is Yiur Brother
Love Isn't Easy
Hasta Manana
So Long
Head Over Heels
Under Attack
Just a Notion
Little Things
I know being a big hit doesn't mean a song is good buy there's a reason why those singles I have named weren't big hits.
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