New compilation: ABBA The Singles - The First 50 Years

I agree with Alan's point that they wouldn't've bothered with Just A Notion if the two unreleased songs were all that. But as well as saying they were "quite good", didn't Benny also say that they required more work? But one wonders now if he's changed his mind about how good these songs are and hasn't wanted to devote any more time to them either because they're not worth it - or because they're ABBA and not BAO, which Alan suggests (and I agree again) is where Benny's main interest in music is nowadays - and has been for a long time, I'd add.

£110 for the vinyl version is an absolute joke tbf. With a bit of shopping around you could buy ALL their vinyl studio albums for less than that...

Greed.

No Doubt About It wasn't a single as such in Sweden. It charted due to being a track from Voyage. Unlike the UK no limit yo how many tracks by an artist in the chart.

The week Voyage was released all the tracks charted with When I Danced With You being the highest at #8. DSMD and ISHFIY charted in September of course and peaked at #1 and #2.This Song also reached the lower levels of the British and Dutch charts, #67 in both, I think. Who knows how it might have done if there was a CD version and released instead of JAN


I think Thankyou for the Music was a single on its own in South Africa in 1978.

The media reaction to the price is interesting - and welcome. It's even harder to have sympathy for either ABBA or Universal, hearing that efforts to make the tracklist more interesting might have been rebuffed. The release looks like the result of an ambitious-but-dejected compiler having been put back in their box. We don't even have to wait a month to hear it, either. Absolutely anyone could stream this "album" right now by making a playlist on any platform. Why should anyone pay a cent more, unless they're particularly anxious to have it in physical form, with (ooooh!) some unseen photos?

This landmark anniversary has been utterly squandered. A platform from which so many interesting opportunities could have sprung contains just one 10" EP, a truncated documentary, and an overpriced compilation. The Waterloo half-speed and singles box don't count, because they're just a part of a series. They were coming anyway.

To their credit, Universal have been really respectful of the brand and the music. Until now, reissues have been well handled. And yet it seems that ABBA/Benny don't trust them to curate something that would please the fans and the broader public alike. Something tells me that some poor sap probably jokingly came up with the cheesy, throwaway "first fifty years" tagline idea, and now has to endure the embarrassment of seeing it emblazoned on a cheaply designed sleeve containing a glorified Spotify playlist.

The ABBA Museum webshop says this:

"ABBA presents “The Singles – The First Fifty Years,” a special collectors item. This is a 38-track compilation album that builds on their classic 1982 release, “The Singles – The First Ten Years.”

This expanded edition showcases ABBA’s greatest hits, along with rare tracks not found on other compilations, including singles from their latest studio album, Voyage.

All pre-orders are considered a fulfilled order, we are unable to handle cancellation.

This is a collector’s item, limited to 2 products per order."


The claim about "rare tracks not found on other compilations, including singles from their latest studio album, Voyage" is a bit rich! Rare to whom? Apart from the Voyage tracks, absolutely everything has appeared on other compilations. And "special collectors item"? Puh-lease!

This release has caused a flurry of activity on this forum! The only positive!

Oh, it's literally flying off the shelves, isn't it? 😂

Have you heard the new BAO song Lagt Kort Ligger? Unusually poppy - could easily have been an ABBA song (grrr)

That's a very wise observation! I don't think anyone has mentioned Little Boots opinion on Hit by a train. She described it as...dark, beautiful and very abba. She was suprised to not find it on voyage.

I think everything has been said here about the 50th anniversary year. This compilation I think will flop badly and it could have so easily been so different. Heigh ho.

Im struggling to see exactly who this set was aimed at. Johnny Im sure youre very aware any "new" as in unreleased tracks would have made this set an absolute MUST for any fan. Any causal fan would buy Gold, 18 hits etc. The track listing on this is so dull, uninspiring that I cannot see very many people interested in buying it at all. Even a classy ABBA PLATINUM double cd with a better thought out track listing would have garnered much more interest. The press and media are right to call out this cheap, shoddy piece of work - and this was going to be our fantastic ABBA year!?!?

To me, tha glaring omissions on this set are Thank You For The Music, On And On And On and The Visitors. I would leave out the last three Voyage singles and also Hasta Manana.

I agree that it would work better if CD2 started from 1979 onwards (Chiquitita) and not have Chiquitita and Does Your Mother Know at the end of CD1.

In 2014 they had a 2CD compilation in Japan 40/40 The Best Selection which was a good idea. 40 tracks on 2 CD's voted for by Japanese ABBA fans. There you have a nice mix of the hits combined with album tracks. It also includes She's My Kind Of Girl, a pre-ABBA hit in Japan. If I'm not mistaken this release also has all the songs that are featured in the Mamma Mia musical.

rickyrocknroller, I’m one of those that get the anniversary issues you refer to (coloured vinyl singles boxes and picture discs), but I’m not at all interested in this. The difference is that those are reissues of historical releases. Replicas (well, dodgy scans in places) of what came out originally.

It was mentioned earlier in the topic about Disc 2 of this (or vinyl sides 5 to 8), that, with two tracks removed and two others added, could have been Greatest Hits Vol 3. And then put in a box with reissues of the original two Greatest Hits. I’d have been up for that, and if they’d used the UK park bench sleeve for the first volume, I’d probably have splashed out on both the CD and vinyl versions.

Or even if they’d used the exact The Singles 10 artwork from 1982 I might have been interested in the CD, as again there’s an historical context.

But I’ve zero interest in this tacky-looking thing. Nothing historical there to get my interest.

One other thing I’ve heard confirmed:

Carl Magnus Palm has said he was involved in choosing the track listing, and that No Doubt About It was only included as it’s the only thing that fitted with 2022.

You're exactly right Hometime - because you're saying what I am saying.😀

It should have been more of a Best Of than Singles. Actually, I'd prefer a revamped More Gold, if only to circumvent the chart eligibility rules for compilations that could penalise Gold. For sure songs from Mamma Mia! and the Voyzge show.

It's possible that Hit By a Train could be more or less completed AND used in another song - just like that! "But Just Like That was never intended to be released". Well, it looks like that for Hit By a Train, too.Yep, couldn't be on a Singles album if not a single and there would be those expectations.