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The Album
Nov 12, 2023 8:19:08 GMT
via mobile
Post by gary on Nov 12, 2023 8:19:08 GMT
Absolutely agree with Hometime’s first paragraph.
Arrival is my favourite ABBA album but really The Album is every bit its equal. They could do no wrong in this period, both with singles and albums, and they never topped it. Both albums are among my 10 best of all time.
My top 10 The Album tracks:
1 Take A Chance On Me 2 The Name Of The Game 3 Eagle 4 Move On 5 Hole In Your Soul 6 One Man, One Woman 7 I Wonder (Departure) 8 I’m A Marionette 9 Thank You For The Music
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Post by gary on Nov 8, 2023 20:18:10 GMT
^ Oh yes, she is undoubtedly one of the best songwriters ever (not just ‘female’). I prefer the folky stuff to the jazzy stuff.
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Post by gary on Nov 8, 2023 17:21:34 GMT
Joni Mitchell is the greatest female songwriter of all time, and one of the best singers. Her first eight albums are all excellent, and the three-album run of Blue, For The Roses and Court and Spark is perfect.
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Post by gary on Nov 3, 2023 22:57:31 GMT
Despite my comparing ABBA fans’ and Beatles fans’ reaction to those acts’ recent material, there really is no comparison between the material itself. Voyage is a proper album by a group whose members are all alive and all feature on it. I may think that most of Voyage is substandard by ABBA’s very high standards, but coming back after 40 years with a brand new album is quite a feat. And it does have two good songs. Now and Then, on the other hand, is one song, and a song that John Lennon and George Harrison did not think much of. Lennon’s voice sounds artificial and McCartney, once one of the great pop singers, really cannot sing any more. It’s inferior to even Free As A Bird and Real Love.
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Post by gary on Nov 3, 2023 9:15:14 GMT
^
This is going to sound snarky, for which I apologise, but the reaction of Beatles fans on Facebook to Now and Then reminded me of ABBA fans’ reaction to Voyage. Inferior material being lauded as the best ever. (I am of course a huge fan of ABBA and a big fan of the Beatles.)
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Post by gary on Oct 3, 2023 11:11:42 GMT
I think Super Duper is still funny. The lyrics are quite telling!
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Post by gary on Oct 2, 2023 11:44:03 GMT
I connect Super Trouper and John Lennon too. I must admit I always thought that ABBA keeping Lennon off the top of the album charts for several weeks after his death was one of their more incredible achievements (albeit a sad one). And although it can be said that Lennon knocked ABBA off the top of the singles chart, Super Trouper dropped to number four so they would have lost the number one spot anyway.
The Double Fantasy album is a bit MOR but Lennon’s songs (NOT Ono’s songs) are mostly very good. The three singles and Beautiful Boy are all excellent, and I’m Losing You and Dear Yoko are decent too. Only Cleanup Time is a bit of a filler. I am a big Lennon fan, although his solo stuff (like that of all the Beatles) is a mixed bag.
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Post by gary on Sept 29, 2023 7:16:01 GMT
^
We must be a similar age!
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Post by gary on Sept 25, 2023 20:51:37 GMT
^
Great choices!
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Post by gary on Sept 20, 2023 18:03:35 GMT
I think Robbie Williams did a residency in Las Vegas, and he means less in the US than ABBA does.
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Post by gary on Sept 19, 2023 10:02:39 GMT
I’ve just bought two tickets for November 2024 (!) for only £21.50 each. A good price!
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Post by gary on Sept 13, 2023 12:46:30 GMT
Absolutely one of their best songs. Very close to quintessential ABBA.
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Post by gary on Aug 23, 2023 23:06:09 GMT
^
I agree with all your points, iiwftn. (It’s a joint lead vocal on Love Isn’t Easy, though, and in fact a joint lead vocal from all four of them, I think.) There’s something really nice about most of the songs from the first two albums. I even like What About Livingstone!
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Post by gary on Aug 23, 2023 13:49:23 GMT
I still hear You Owe Me One as a Frida lead, whatever anyone else says (though it’s hardly a glorious addition to ‘her’ tracks). That also goes some way to balancing out the lead vocals on the 1982 songs.
I always heard Our Last Summer as Frida, but my terrible confession was that I used to think of On And On And On as an Agnetha lead. That made sense, as it balanced out the lead vocals on Super Trouper. But of course Frida actually has one more lead than Agnetha on that album.
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Post by gary on Aug 19, 2023 20:53:11 GMT
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Post by gary on Aug 19, 2023 8:34:21 GMT
Yesterday, I went to see the new Rock Follies musical at Chichester’s Minerva Theatre. Rock Follies is a UK television series from 1976 and 1977, and the new musical is an adaptation of it, including nearly all the original songs. The television series is one of my all-time favourites, and the musical is an excellent condensed version of it. It gave me even more ‘tingles’ than ABBA Voyage! The three female leads are all terrific. There’s not really any ABBA connection here, except that ABBA and Rock Follies are both of the same time, have strong female leads, and of course have lots of good songs in a similar style to each other. It helps that I was 16 at the time. Highly recommended. www.cft.org.uk/events/rock-follies
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Post by gary on Aug 9, 2023 7:07:41 GMT
I always thought that was an odd compilation. ‘A collection of love songs’ that wasn’t a collection of love songs. Still, it’s full of great songs, of course.
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Post by gary on Aug 4, 2023 14:38:30 GMT
^
I excluded ‘foreign’ language songs/versions, not for any very good reason. Ah Vilka Tider is definitely not a stunner.
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Post by gary on Aug 4, 2023 14:17:33 GMT
The last time I posted my bottom 20, Voyage didn’t exist. Here’s a new list:
Merry-Go-Round I Am Just A Girl (still THE worst) Me And Bobby And Bobby’s Brother I Saw It In The Mirror Disillusion Watch Out My Mama Said Hasta Manana Sitting In The Palmtree So Long Intermezzo No 1 Rock Me Man In The Middle Tropical Loveland Two For The Price Of One I’m Still Alive When You Danced With Me Little Things Keep An Eye On Dan Bumblebee
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Post by gary on Aug 4, 2023 13:59:14 GMT
I’m not a big fan of DYMK but I think they released the right version. It’s harder hitting.
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Post by gary on Aug 4, 2023 13:55:10 GMT
I find that story incredibly unlikely!
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Post by gary on Jun 30, 2023 18:57:24 GMT
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Post by gary on Jun 22, 2023 16:39:42 GMT
^
Yes, those videos are the only disappointing thing about ABBA Voyage, along with the band doing DYMK. They feel like fillers.
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Post by gary on Jun 3, 2023 20:55:29 GMT
My first single:
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Post by gary on Jun 1, 2023 15:16:36 GMT
It’s not going to be long before AI lets us hear ‘Frida’ singing The Winner Takes It All and ‘Agnetha’ singing Our Last Summer. Seriously.
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Post by gary on May 30, 2023 20:19:07 GMT
There was a discussion somewhere else on this site about AI, but I can’t find it now. Anyway, I found this on YouTube. I suspect there will be a lot more like it.
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Post by gary on May 23, 2023 17:43:53 GMT
^
Whoops!
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Post by gary on May 23, 2023 17:01:39 GMT
^
Ring Ring made number 32 in 1974. Or am I missing something?
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Post by gary on May 19, 2023 10:59:52 GMT
^
Apparently, Euphoria is a ‘decade-defining smash’. Right.
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Post by gary on May 14, 2023 19:26:12 GMT
^
There may have been a few passable UK entries since 1997, but can you name one really good song that actually deserved to win (barring Soace Man)?
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