dq
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Posts: 3 
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Post by dq on May 5, 2017 21:04:33 GMT
I am a new member and I don't see a thread for discussing the revised edition of the complete recording sessions, so I'll just make my comments here. I got my copy of the revised and expanded edition a few weeks ago and have nearly finished it. Maybe I'm the first one to say I feel slightly underwhelmed by this expanded edition. There was all this anticipation building up over the past two years and many fans could only speculate as to what undiscovered ABBA demos might be found, and I realize the book isn't strictly about ABBA demos, but for me, there didn't seem to be any earth shattering revelations. Most of the unfinished demos mentioned we already knew about from the first edition. As for all the different mixes that are described, it gets to be rather tedious reading hearing about alternate mixes where there's a snare drum at 1:43 that isn't in the familiar mix....there's some mini moog playing at 2:47 that wasn't included in the final mix....or, there's a flute overdub that was left out of the familiar mix....etc. Another thing that I'm disappointed about is I thought the author said that 'everything' had been digitally transferred from the original multi track tapes. However, after reading most of the book, it seems there are some things that weren't digitally converted. For instance, for "Monsieur Monsieur", it says that it exists only as a 24 track tape, but not in the Polar tape archives as a mix. So it seems not everything from the multi tracks was converted digitally. Then there are other tracks which I think he could have elaborated on a bit more such as "Just A Notion". The reasons it never has been released in full still are a little vague to me. "Unmixable" is what Bjorn said about it. Michael B. Tretow said it had "an inherent weakness" that they couldn't get around, but what couldn't have been fixed with some editing/overdubbing in the mixing process? There could have been more info given about "Terra Del Fuego" than what was written, such as lyrics to the chorus and second verse, or if they ever made it to the second verse before Bjorn suggested they stop halfway through the track. I'm glad I bought the book though maybe my expectations were too high.
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Post by wombat on May 8, 2017 12:59:13 GMT
I am a new member and I don't see a thread for discussing the revised edition of the complete recording sessions, so I'll just make my comments here. I got my copy of the revised and expanded edition a few weeks ago and have nearly finished it. Maybe I'm the first one to say I feel slightly underwhelmed by this expanded edition. Ha, what can I say.... I was underwhelmed by the first edition. His Bright Lights Dark Shadows is a great book, but when it comes to trying to discuss the music itself, especially down to the technical details... I wonder if he doesnt have any experience or technical expertise in doing so. Its like trying to read a book about how Frank Lloyd Wright designed and built his buildings, written by a guy with no architecture experience. ...Then there are other tracks which I think he could have elaborated on a bit more such as "Just A Notion". The reasons it never has been released in full still are a little vague to me. "Unmixable" is what Bjorn said about it. Michael B. Tretow said it had "an inherent weakness" that they couldn't get around, but what couldn't have been fixed with some editing/overdubbing in the mixing process?... Havent you ever gone down a road for a bit and realized it was a dead end? It's not like Bjorn and Benny are alone in doing such a thing. Get into the vaults of any major rock band and you'll find all kinds of unfinished material. The group decided for whatever reason, they didnt like it, it wasnt working, and they changed direction to work on something else. Maybe they thought they would come back to it at some point in the future and.. well, you know what happened. |
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Post by chron on May 9, 2017 17:24:39 GMT
[W]hen it comes to trying to discuss the music itself, especially down to the technical details... I wonder if he doesnt have any experience or technical expertise in doing so. I'm fairly certain he has neither, but even if he had, this expanded edition of TCRS, like the first edition, is meant to appeal to the enthusiastic general fan (all ABBA books are, aren't they; it's a given, considering the sort of band they are and the type of fans they have), so the information in it was never going to have an especially heavy technical slant or contain in-depth analyses of gear, in any event. I got the e-book version of this, but I've only flicked through it. I can't see me ever doing more than using it as a reference to dip into, as and when. |
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Post by wombat on May 9, 2017 20:15:49 GMT
^^^^
I suppose you are correct.
Still with a name like The Complete Recording Sessions...
I dont know. What you end up with in the second edition, is a more in-depth listing of a bunch of out-takes and unfinished work that you're almost certainly never going to hear. Um, no thanks.
To each his own.
Magnus should hit up Bjorn or Benny to do a REAL treatise on Abba recording. But again, you're probably right, not much of an audience for that. The Beatles had a musician fan-base wide enough to warrant such books. Thats probably a very rare thing.
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Post by chron on Jun 5, 2017 14:04:14 GMT
Happy I didn't drop nearly a hundred sovs on the physical version of this, so that I could, in effect, take the saving and use it to acquire the Sgt. Pepper 50th Anniversary Deluxe box instead. This, ABBA and everyone else, is how you do an album mix/reissue!
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Post by Liebezeit on Jun 5, 2017 14:44:24 GMT
Happy I didn't drop nearly a hundred sovs on the physical version of this, so that I could, in effect, take the saving and use it to acquire the Sgt. Pepper 50th Anniversary Deluxe box instead. This, ABBA and everyone else, is how you do an album mix/reissue! I couldn't write it better than myself! They need to get 'the Giles Martin of ABBA' (also known as 'Not Ludvig Andersson') to remix ABBA's albums to meet today's standards (No, I don't mean add drums and unnecessary synths and then turn it into something different! It's something like to balance the mix, avoid high/low frequency bleeds especially the one on the 1975 album), and offer a small portion; if not, THE whole portion of unreleased takes (for example, Move On, take 2 [no percussions], Does Your Mother Know, take 2! [guitar intro]) of the tracks in separate context instead of just telling, as Carl Magnus Palm does. (Quite unlikely that he will release an audiobook version of "The Complete Recording Sessions' featuring the unreleased tracks but... that's a nice idea...) I know I'm repeating something from another thread, BUT a straight out audio from the recording session opens more people's opinions than what an observer's account/testimony does. |
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