Happy New Year omitted from More ABBA Gold

Happy New Year hadn’t been a single in the Netherlands at the time of More ABBA Gold’s release. It was only a hit around the millennium. It was originally only a single (in its English version) in Portugal. It’s therefore not a surprise it wasn’t on More Gold. It wasn’t on the 4-CD Thank You For The Music set in 1994 either (even though six other tracks from Super Trouper were), nor on The Definitive Collection in 2001. Indeed, it isn’t even on the new The Singles 50.

I Wonder was once a staple of ABBA compilations. It appeared as the only non-single on Greatest Hits Vol 2 in 1979, so its inclusion on More Gold was perhaps to be expected. It’s only since 1993 that the song has fallen out of favour.

Happy New Year is really one of the songs you'd think should be on More ABBA Gold, but I Wonder is wholly suitable there as well. I guess there's just more than 20 more ABBA gold songs in the end. Interestingly, there's two budget compilations sold at the museum store: 18 Hits (the Swedish edition) and Classic ABBA. Whilst I think 18 Hits is not least there because it's the latest and only available imprint of all four 1973/74 Swedish versions, Classic ABBA contains several of these songs that wouldn't be out of place on More ABBA Gold, but aren't there, alongside HNY: MLML, WDIHTBM, IIWFTN, and STMF. With both HNY and IIWFTN having been concieved as singles, but relegated in favour of Super Trouper and Chiquitia, and MLML, WDIHTBM and STMF having been included in the Mamma Mia movies, plus additional key tracks from the early years like PNL and Hasta Manana, this compilation could serve as sort of an ABBA Gold Vol. 3, or as an ABBA entrée, mixing original hit singles with recently elevated songs. This is a bit the direction I had thought an ABBA Platinum compilation would take, alas it turned out as The Singles The First Fifty Years, which doesn't. N.b.: 18 Hits contains Happy New Year as well.

Thanks Richard. " Happy New Year " also features a sublime lead vocal from Agnetha. Such a shame it wasn't chosen for inclusion on " More Gold ".
However, I have never been fond of " I Wonder ". Yes, Frida delivers a powerful vocal but only Benny and herself feature within the song. I don't think Agnetha contributed to the chorus as I can't hear her vocals at all. So strictly speaking only half of ABBA recorded the song.

You forget More ABBA gold started life as "The other side of ABBA", so would explain why Cassandra and Lovelight are there.

As Happy New Year wasn’t included on the following year’s Thank You For The Music set, I don’t see it as an omission. Aside from The Essential Collection (as it had a video) or 18 Hits (which was a budget compilation anyway) it doesn’t generally get included. It wasn’t originally a single in any significant country.

Posts that originally followed johnny’s above have been moved to a new topic, as discussion moved into a different subject worthy of its own thread:

abbachat.com/thread/1922/alternative-mixes-officially-released

Exactly. I doubt any compilation would ever be perfect. We'd never be left not wanting something more. Your point is well made and circles us back towards that earlier discussion about an anniversary release. While the Mamma Mia! franchise might not be the most beloved thing among fans, it did at least elevate the profiles of some otherwise hidden gems, so it makes even less sense that those songs weren't gathered for a compilation.

The Netherlands is a significant country as it yields a huge ABBA fan base and it is the country where The Official International ABBA Fan Club magazine is written and published every March, June, September and December. OK so " Happy New Year " wasn't released as a single until 1999 long after " More ABBA Gold " as Alan pointed out. I still consider it a much better song than some of the tracks included on " More Gold ". Notably " I Wonder " and dare I say " I Am The City ". Despite quirky joint vocals from both Agnetha and Frida the song for me does not quite match the standard as per " Cassandra " or " The Day Before You Came ". " You Owe Me One " is possibly the worst song within the band's catalogue. Sorry, Foreverfan.

A point I give ed is that the ABBA story tends to be UK- and Sweden-centred, probably even more and more so with the years, and that thus one could easily overlook other countries like the Netherlands. For example, ABBA never really had the big valley of tears after Waterloo in Australia, Germany or the Benelux countries. Both Honey Honey and I Do I Do I Do were more or less big hits in these countries (Honey Honey being particularly successful in Germany, peaking at #2 for weeks, and I Do I Do hitting the #1 spot in Australia and being a top 3 hit in the Netherlands and Belgium), and even So Long, which entirely failed to chart in the UK, almost cracked the top 10 in Germany, peaking at #11.

That said, Happy New Year also was issued as a millenial single in 1999, but I'm with Alan that this is a retrospective single. It still raises the question where to draw the line with the silly "The Singles The First Fifty Years" concept.

As with Happy New Year on More Gold, I think this is one of ABBA's precious songs that show you that you are not done with one compilation. Not even with two (or a double disc compilation). Because there is a top notch track like this that could easily have been a proper single, it's got a video and an iconic TV performance even, but it's just on the album. So, this is where to dive into, ultimately.

If Gold and More Gold followed the Dutch success we'd have Head Over Heels (#1 on one chart) but not Mamma Mia which didn't make the Top 10. No Lay All Your Love On Me (Erasure cover UK #1 and ABBA's original Top 10 in UK)

There was an Australian version which included Rock Me. What??

I used to think the GOLD tracklisting should have been more International and less UK centric. I was wrong. That would have meant no LAYLOM but I Do x5 included.

It just goes to show how lazily The Singles 50 was compiled. Had they included HNY with regards to these 1999 chart places and possibly some others (TYFTM 1983 or 1992ish anyone?), together with a confident picture of ABBA today (as The Singles 10 pictured ABBA in 1982), it would have made for a bold statement - daring, but brave - not the 1972-82 tracks plus half of Voyage pictured by a 1975 shot that hadn't been used for artwork before for good reason with silly title, as it turned out.

I find it a bit hard to compare all EU countries because within the EU, the multiple record companies responsible for ABBA releases worked in different ways.
E.g. Polydor released the highly successfull compilation A wie ABBA or A van ABBA between GH Vol. 2 and ABBA The Singles to have an updated Greatest Hits compilation including TWTIA and Super Trouper, while in the UK no such release was seen.
On the other hand, Epic treated the Fans with much more collectors items like picture discs, Box Sets of Super Trouper and the Singles, etc.to enhance Sales while Polydor did ... nothing...

12 according to Wikipedia. Mostly the same as the UK apart from, additionally, Summer Night City, Chiquitita, Gimme Gimme Gimme and One of Us, but not The Name of the Game (which was no. 2). However, was their chart not entirely sales-based?

What were their Belgium number ones?