|
|
Post by Alan on Dec 15, 2023 16:59:52 GMT
Oh, johnny, I’m so sorry to hear that. Guessing that if it wasn’t expected then it wasn’t believed to be a terminal illness she had (well not the big “C” anyway?) Bereavements are so hard to deal with at any age. I lost my parents in the first half of the 1990s, four years apart from each other, and my older brother three years ago (actually I’d say it’s worse when you’re older). I had wondered if you were just taking a break from the forum. Welcome back anyway. I hope you’re OK. |
|
|
|
Post by Alan on Dec 15, 2023 16:52:54 GMT
Quite a reversal of fortune Eternal Flame itself was a reversal of fortune though. The first single from the album was In Your Room, which only made number 35 in the UK. I was really surprised when Eternal Flame reached number one, as the Bangles really weren’t that big here. I think it was a case of the song not the group though. I wasn’t surprised that Be With You didn’t do as well (though still did better than In Your Room). |
|
|
|
Post by Alan on Dec 14, 2023 21:39:55 GMT
It’s a very odd comparison that you’re making, gassi. ABBA Gold is a catch-all for the masses. A six-disc anthology is a niche release for fans only. 1 and 2 have been done many times, notably in the 1994 Thank You For The Music 4-CD set. We seriously don’t need to go there again. 3 and 4 are much more interesting. I’m kind of hoping we may see something like this next year, but I wouldn’t put money on it. |
|
|
|
Post by Alan on Dec 14, 2023 21:18:51 GMT
Is there anyone having a source near ABBA who knows if there is anything planned to release a double live album of the Australian tour next year? There’s no one on here that I’m aware of. However, it seems unlikely. Benny’s son Ludvig has said the quality of the tapes isn’t good enough. From www.abba-theconcerts.de/1977.html“Some short video footage does exist and circulates at Youtube, showing snippets of and around the concerts, mainly recorded by TV stations. According to Lasse Hallström in the interview on ABBA The Movie Limited Edition all Australian concerts were filmed with five cameras each, one steadycam on stage and four cameras on tripods. How much additional material has survived after the movie was finished is not clear. ”Official recordings of ten Australian concerts exist according to Ludvig Andersson: “…a while ago we sat down and talked, Mia (Segolsson) and I at Universal. We talked about the fact that there was quite a lot of live material, which I thought sounded fun, so I asked if I could have it so that I could go through it. It really was a lot – ten concerts from Australia” “There is also a live recording of the February 14 Royal Albert Hall concert (in 2014 a snippet was announced for a digital release, but it didn’t happen). Ludvig: “One of the shows was also recorded on 24-track tape by a London production company called La Maison Rouge, founded by prog band Jethro Tull. Intriguingly, on the tape box the client was listed as Atlantic Records, suggesting that the recording was made to give ABBA’s American record company a flavour of what they were like as a live act. With no apparent involvement by Michael B. Tretow, the engineers were Maison Rouge-employees Robin Black and Trevor White, and the producer was Dave Dee [...] It is not known whether this recording was ever mixed down“ “In an interwiew in January 2019 Benny’s son Ludvig Andersson said that the 1977 live material wasn’t as good as the 1979 Wembley recordings: Ludvig: “It is true that I wanted to see if I could work with some of the Australia 1977 material as well but in terms of recording quality it was unfortunately not up to the standard that we could release.“ |
|
|
|
Post by Alan on Dec 9, 2023 20:38:27 GMT
I think there’s already been a compilation called “The Name of the Game” - one of those (many) cheapo ones that has a few hits on to help it sell, then padded out with obscure album tracks.* I’m actually quite thankful that I first heard the vast majority of ABBA’s output between early 1977 and late 1982 (so ages 5 to 11). It’s made it difficult to dislike most of it. At those ages I was happy with most of what I heard. I’m not sure I’d include Two For The Price of One or I Saw It In The Mirror in that though - I’ve since found sufficient reasons to like those that I don’t think I’d have appreciated at the time. And Super Trouper (song) and You Owe Me One don’t fit into that either. I liked them at the time but not now. But yes, I’d take King Kong Song. It’s fun. Great vocals and early enough for them to be completely forgiven. Edit: * Oh yes, here we go. This one:   |
|
|
|
Post by Alan on Dec 9, 2023 7:23:22 GMT
Has everyone who placed pre-orders received despatch notices as yet, or better still, the actual items? I pre-ordered both box and picture discs from a company called The Sound of Vinyl on 27 October. I got the despatch notification on 30 November (a day before it was released, so they must have got their supplies in prior to then) and I received them two days later (2 December). |
|
|
|
Post by Alan on Dec 9, 2023 0:20:46 GMT
Having just looked at the photos of these releases on Discogs… The Head Over Heels picture disc issue you mention, HOMETIME appears to be because the original sleeve artwork had Björn to the far right. There was always more space to the left of Frida but nothing to the right of Björn. Assuming it was originally taken on 35mm film, the square crop was done for the sleeve. This appears to confirm they’re made no effort to source the original photo. The picture disc circle therefore can’t go anymore to the right. This contrasts with previous picture discs such as Summer Night City, where more of the headshots were shown on the picture disc than had appeared on the original sleeve, proving original photos were sourced. Another gripe with these latest issues is the fonts for the titles used on the front of the picture disc sleeves. For the Super Trouper singles, the original fonts were used (so for instance, Super Trouper itself used the “Balloon” font). For both Ring Ring and The Visitors, we just get a very boring, generic font. Also, the b-side title is shown whereas the Super Trouper issues dispensed with them. |
|
|
|
Post by Alan on Dec 8, 2023 23:45:13 GMT
The replicated sleeves are poor: the One Of Us and TDBYC sleeves are far too red; HOH and UA are really grainy… The picture discs are no great shakes either…. OOU looks like a cheap scan. Given that the picture discs have no logo or titles, the photos should be crisp. At these prices, that lack of attention to detail is just not on. This is a bit disappointing to learn but not totally unexpected. I think all of the singles in the various boxes (and picture discs) have suffered with this. What I still don’t understand is that they are not full scans. They’ve partially re-created the artwork so that the text is new. How then, do the actual photos look so poor? This marred the albums too, noticeably in the coloured vinyl box from 2020. Did they just digitally remove the scanned text and then re-create it so it looked nice and sharp? I did have some concerns that they were rushing these out. It’s not that long since Ring Ring and Waterloo is expected in April. I’m not sure there was really a rush to do The Visitors. It’s already two years late so they could have left it longer. Waterloo next year, ABBA the year after and then The Visitors in 2026 (a 45th anniversary). Then again, they might start again that year with Arrival but I shudder to think what else they can do with it, other than merchandise. More time to prepare these boxes/picture discs might have meant more care taken with them. Obviously we’re sucked in now so we’re going to get all eight. There’s a market for them because the profiteers will buy them up in bulk to sell on at a profit (Arrival now apparently fetching ridiculous prices). We know this and want to avoid paying over the odds, so we make sure we buy before they sell out. They don’t really need to improve the quality. |
|
|
|
Post by Alan on Dec 6, 2023 19:24:41 GMT
|
|
|
|
Post by Alan on Dec 5, 2023 22:21:27 GMT
It’s fine for it to have its own topic, it would probably get a bit lost in the Voyage Concerts one.
|
|
|
|
Post by Alan on Dec 3, 2023 14:56:05 GMT
Bros - Cat Among The Pigeons. It was a double A-side with their version of Silent Night which I always listen to at least once during December (so it’s due for an airing). Actually some of their other songs I quite like, but I cannot stand them (well, Luke and Matt Goss anyway. The third member, Craig Logan, who exited the act after this single, stayed in the music industry as a manager). That cringeworthy film that Matt and Luke did the other year proves they haven’t really changed. As annoying and conceited as ever.
|
|
|
|
Post by Alan on Dec 2, 2023 21:41:06 GMT
Not sure I can agree with what you say about One of Us. Tracks from The Visitors were sent out to European record companies and, while When All Is Said And Done may have been favoured by Polar (as it had a ready-made video), all the feedback that was returned was heavily in favour of One of Us. I doubt When All Is Said And Done would have got much support from radio stations and the media in general.
One of Us was The Winner Takes It All Part 2 - an Agnetha-led break-up ballad and that’s what was wanted. Perhaps it didn’t do ABBA too many favours in the long run - maybe a bit too much washing of dirty linen in public - but although When All
Is Said And Done offered a different singer (and therefore another split), it’s still pretty much more of the same.
Anyway, you criticise the bits of the top 100 you don’t like while using the bits you do to try and suit your tastes. Can’t really have it both ways. One of Us was a big hit. Yes, When All Is Said And Done was quite a big US hit (though not in Australia) but there are countless examples of songs by any act that were hits in the US but not the UK, and vice-versa. Tastes differ.
|
|
|
|
Post by Alan on Dec 2, 2023 16:24:10 GMT
My The Visitors singles arrived today. They’re actually a Christmas present so I haven’t opened them properly but wanted to open the transit packaging in order to check for any damage. The alternate photo used on the lid of the box is interesting. All four of them are looking at the camera. I think in all photos we’ve seen so far, none of them are? For Frida, this means she’s looking to the right, almost from the corners of her eyes.  |
|
|
|
Post by Alan on Dec 1, 2023 20:01:26 GMT
You were right, johnny. Madness only fell to number 26 which, these days, isn’t anywhere near as bad as it could have been. The music industry make more of a deal about number one albums than they once did. It was always more about overall sales, but as they’re practically through the floor now… It seems like any Tom, Dick and Harry can have a number one (Michael Ball, isn’t it about time you did another album with Alfie Boe, including the word “Together” somewhere in the title, so it can have its obligatory week at number one?). The likes of Kate Bush, who’s not had one since 1987, must be a little miffed (that’s if she cared). Her six subsequent releases peaked at number 2 (three albums) and 3, 4 and 5 (one album each). |
|
|
|
Post by Alan on Dec 1, 2023 19:34:33 GMT
Voyage album tracks:
4. Don’t Shut Me Down
8. I Still Have Faith In You
39. Ode to Freedom
42. I Can Be That Woman
54. Keep An Eye On Dan
56. Just A Notion
73. No Doubt About It
76. When You Danced With Me
85. Bumblebee
98. Little Things
|
|
|
|
Post by Alan on Dec 1, 2023 19:26:56 GMT
Here is the full list, nicked from the same forum (PopJustice):
100. Suzy Hang Around
99. Two For The Price of One
98. Little Things
97. Medley
96. Crazy World
95. People Need Love
94. King Kong Song
93. Nina, Pretty Ballerina
92. I Am Just A Girl
91. Tropical Loveland
90. You Owe Me One
89. Rock Me
88. My Mama Said
87. Dum Dum Diddle
86. What About Livingstone
85. Bumblebee
84. Lovers (Live A Little Longer)
83. He Is Your Brother
82. Another Town, Another Train
81. Intermezzo No. 1
80. Elaine
79. Dream World
78. I’m A Marionette
77. Arrival
76. When You Danced With Me
75. Disillusion
74. Ring Ring
73. No Doubt About It
72. Lovelight
71. Happy Hawaii
70. The King Has Lost His Crown
69. Tiger
68. Hey Hey Helen
67. So Long
66. Bang A Boomerang
65. The Piper
64. Gonna Sing You My Love Song
63. Hasta Manana
62. On and On and On
61. Head Over Heels
60. Put On Your White Sombrero
59. Why Did It Have To Be Me
58. I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do
57. Honey Honey
56. Just A Notion
55. Me and I
54. Keep An Eye On Dan
53. I Am The City
52. Soldiers
51. Cassandra
50. The Way Old Friends Do
49. Happy New Year
48. Should I Laugh or Cry
47. Like An Angel Passing Through My Room
46. I Have A Dream
45. Under Attack
44. Dance (While The Music Still Goes On)
43. Money Money Money
42. I Can Be That Woman
41. I Wonder
40. Kisses of Fire
39. Ode To Freedom
38. One Man, One Woman
37. As Good As New
36. That’s Me
35. Our Last Summer
34. Does Your Mother Know
33. My Love, My Life
32. Hole In Your Soul
31. When I Kissed The Teacher
30. Angeleyes
29. Voulez-Vous
28. Andante, Andante
27. Slipping Through My Fingers
26. Thank You For The Music
25. One of Us
24. I Let The Music Speak
23. Super Trouper
22. Waterloo
21. Take A Chance On Me
20. I’ve Been Waiting For You
19. Move On
18. If It Wasn’t For The Nights
17. Mamma Mia
16. The Name of the Game
15. Fernando
14. Chiquitita
13. Summer Night City
12. Lay All Your Love On Me
11. When All Is Said and Done
10. SOS
9. The Visitors
8. I Still Have Faith In You
7. Gimme Gimme Gimme
6. Eagle
5. Knowing Me, Knowing You
4. Don’t Shut Me Down
3. The Day Before You Came
2. Dancing Queen
1. The Winner Takes It All
Repeating some of my earlier post, the tracks not making the top 100:
101 - Love Isn't Easy (But It Sure is Hard Enough)
102 - Sitting in the Palmtree
103 - Me and Bobby and Bobby's Brother
104 - She's My Kind of Girl
105 - Watch Out
106 - I Saw it in the Mirror
107 - Man in the Middle
108 - Rock 'n' Roll Band
109 - Merry-Go-Round
110 - Santa Rosa
111 - Åh, vilka tider
|
|
|
|
Post by Alan on Dec 1, 2023 17:49:13 GMT
These issues are out today. Unfortunately I was out when they attempted delivery but never mind! I finally got the Ring Ring box last month so am up-to-date with this series.
Now that we apparently know the criteria for these releases - original Polar singles unless there were fewer than three, with that one Voulez-Vous anomaly - the series looks set to be completed within two years.
Waterloo - April 2024 - three singles (Waterloo/Watch Out, Waterloo (Swedish)/Honey Honey (Swedish), Honey Honey/King Kong Song)
ABBA - April 2025 (approx) - four singles (So Long/I’ve Been Waiting For You, I Do I Do/Rock Me, SOS/Man In The Middle, Mamma Mia/Intermezzo No. 1)
This adds to the previous releases:
Arrival (four singles)
The Album (three singles)
Voulez-Vous (six singles plus one anomaly - Voulez-Vous extended version/If It Wasn’t For The Nights)
Super Trouper (two singles plus one non-Polar single - Lay All Your Love on Me/On and On and On)
Ring Ring (five singles)
The Visitors (four singles)
Total 31 Polar singles plus two others
The 2014 40-single box included all 31 Polar singles, plus Lay All Your Love on Me and eight other non-Polar singles which have been excluded from this series:
Ring Ring (German)/Another Town Another Train (German)
Waterloo (German)/Watch Out
Waterloo (French)/Gonna Sing You My Lovesong
Honey Honey/Ring Ring (remix) (based on West German release)
Chiquitita (Spanish)/Lovelight
Estoy Soñando/Does Your Mother Know
Happy New Year/Andante Andante (based on 1980 Portugal release)
When All Is Said And Done/Soldiers
The inclusion of these in that box means they have all been “Polarised” with artwork now owned and amended by Universal, and could still see the light of day as coloured vinyl and picture discs at a later date. Any other worldwide singles can now largely be considered forgotten about/written out of history.
There is also the option that they might add Voyage to the series. One-sided singles are possible (and have indeed been done), though the artwork for the first two Voyage singles did leave a bit to be desired. No offence, but Frida’s hand on Don’t Shut Me Down did nothing for me so a picture disc of that is not particularly desirable! Plus there might, with any luck, be another single next year? A 2026 release, the fifth anniversary of Voyage and over a year on from the ABBA album issues, would be fitting. It’s also the 50th anniversary of Arrival but there really isn’t much more they can do with the albums. Another series of something is not required!
|
|
|
|
Post by Alan on Dec 1, 2023 12:03:12 GMT
It’s Janne Schaffer’s comment that "next year will be fantastic, I promise you” that I find more interesting.
How on earth do you top a brand new album and a holographic-like show? You can’t, but I would hope they are going to pull something out of the bag. As I said before, I’d hope that when the album was released in 2021, they already had an eye on the 2024 anniversary and deliberately held something back (though the apparent rush to get the album finished for a 2021 release clearly necessitated that anyway).
There’s definitely got to be something much more interesting than the vinyl Waterloo reissues, which are merely part of an ongoing series (and two others in that series have been released this year). A Mamma Mia! 3 film would not be it, and not even a slight change to the Voyage setlist would be enough.
CMP’s comment that Hit By A Train is more than a rumour isn’t really much more than we already knew, being as it was Little Boots (involved in the show) that mentioned it in the first place.
|
|
|
|
Post by Alan on Dec 1, 2023 11:51:32 GMT
 Not sure what anyone else thinks, but the actual item isn’t as attractive as the earlier illustration (photo from Discogs). I was expecting something more akin to the design in the 2019 Voulez-Vous singles box. I don’t collect these anyway, I just got the 2020 one as it tied in with the Super Trouper issues that year. |
|
|
|
Post by Alan on Dec 1, 2023 4:09:42 GMT
PopJustice. We don’t really know what is meant by “more than a rumour”. It could just be that a track of that title does exist, not necessarily that it’s now finished and ready for release. Hopefully we’ll find out next year.
|
|
|
|
Post by Alan on Nov 30, 2023 23:37:29 GMT
There was a fan club webinar last night apparently.
Nicked from another forum:
Janne Schaffer was there and said "next year will be fantastic, I promise you"…
Carl Magnus Palm revealed that 'Hit By A Train' is "more than a rumour".
|
|
|
|
Post by Alan on Nov 30, 2023 23:34:41 GMT
Shamelessly nicked from another forum:
Åh, vilka tider and Santa Rosa were the only songs to score 0 points.
Janne Schaffer was there and said "next year will be fantastic, I promise you"…
Carl Magnus Palm revealed that 'Hit By A Train' is "more than a rumour", and the original chorus line from 'Summer Night City' was "you're a night demon"!
Top 25:
25. One of Us
24. I Let The Music Speak
23. Super Trouper
22. Waterloo
21. Take A Chance On Me
20. I’ve Been Waiting For You
19. Move On
18. If It Wasn’t For The Nights
17. Mamma Mia
16. The Name of the Game
15. Fernando
14. Chiquitita
13. Summer Night City
12. Lay All Your Love On Me
11. When All Is Said and Done
10. SOS
9. The Visitors
8. I Still Have Faith In You
7. Gimme Gimme Gimme
6. Eagle
5. Knowing Me, Knowing You
4. Don’t Shut Me Down
3. The Day Before You Came
2. Dancing Queen
1. The Winner Takes It All
Just for fun, the songs that didn't make the top 100:
101 - Love Isn't Easy (But It Sure is Hard Enough)
102 - Sitting in the Palmtree
103 - Me and Bobby and Bobby's Brother
104 - She's My Kind of Girl
105 - Watch Out
106 - I Saw it in the Mirror
107 - Man in the Middle
108 - Rock 'n' Roll Band
109 - Merry-Go-Round
110 - Santa Rosa
111 - Åh, vilka tider
|
|
|
|
Post by Alan on Nov 26, 2023 18:47:50 GMT
jj, Debbie Harry and Chris Stein did sell their rights to Blondie’s back catalogue a few years ago to an investment fund, for an “undisclosed sum”. I assumed that this meant they got a windfall. Or was it to help pay off the debts you mention? Blondie duo's song rights sold in 'Atomic' deal www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-53664362
|
|
|
|
Post by Alan on Nov 25, 2023 17:16:08 GMT
Nice for Madness, though I’m not sure I’d put money on that album still being in the chart next week…
Madness were part of an early 90s resurgence of forgotten acts. Their compilation album Divine Madness was a big seller in early 1992, and the Carpenters had similarly had a revival with a new compilation in 1990. And of course, ABBA Gold quickly eclipsed both of them.
Madness did re-unite in 1992 after a six-year break (though some of them briefly got back together as “The Madness” in 1988). They finally released a new album in 1999. Two singles from it were later added to a reissue of Divine Madness (unlike ABBA Gold, there was space to do so).
A reunion album after a long break is a novelty but to carry on and on (as Madness and Blondie have done) gets a bit boring. Impressive though that six of the original seven Madness members appear on this new album. The seventh member, Chas Smash, left in 2014.
I’ve got Divine Madness (the 2000 version) but not sure they’re a band to be explored any further. Some great singles though.
|
|
|
|
Post by Alan on Nov 12, 2023 20:28:59 GMT
The Wikipedia entry mentions it was used for bowls. It sounded just right. Ah, yes, bowls. That was it. BBC Sport were quite fond of doing things like this. It was decades before I discovered that their Formula One music was actually the outro of Fleetwood Mac’s The Chain, or that their skiing incidental music was really an instrumental version of the Human League’s The Things That Dreams Are Made Of. |
|
|
|
Post by Alan on Nov 12, 2023 17:24:42 GMT
I seem to recall the intro of Me and I being used for opening titles music of BBC golf coverage in the 1980s. Anyone else remember that?
|
|
|
|
Post by Alan on Nov 11, 2023 11:16:33 GMT
"Now and Then" recorded in 1978 was not included in either Double Fantasy from 1980 or the follow up out take album Milk and Honey. Scraping the barrel. It’s also interesting that these blue/red album reissues don’t include Free As A Bird or Real Love. They are the tracks most closely related to Now and Then. It’s almost like they’ve had to find a home for this “new” song, whereas the other two already have one with the 1990s Anthology issues. It’s as though they’re embarrassed by them and aren’t going to let them out again. The Beatles released 12 studio albums and another two albums’ worth of non-album singles and b-sides. These new double album reissues (triple for vinyl) must include around 40% of their entire catalogue or more? |
|
|
|
Post by Alan on Nov 11, 2023 10:41:27 GMT
|
|
|
|
Post by Alan on Nov 10, 2023 23:27:07 GMT
"The last ABBA song ever" is likely to be a song or infact the two unreleased Voyage songs. That they weren't even on Voyage is not a good omen. I’m not so sure…. they were unfinished but Benny said they were “quite good” and it’s just possible that more work was needed on them and they simply didn’t have enough time to finish them. Or perhaps they thought the album might need to be longer than it was. It was fortuitous that, by 2021, album lengths were as long as they had been when ABBA had originally recorded, as they were once again designed for vinyl (and streaming) and not CD. I listened to Madonna’s Erotica album from 1992 the other day. It has 14 tracks and is an hour and 15 minutes. I love the album so I didn’t get bored, but it certainly does go on! And there was no standard/deluxe nonsense. This was it, the one version of it (there was apparently a 13-track edition but that was more to make it a “cleaner” version, though more than one track would have had to be removed to make it truly “clean”!) And it’s also possible that ABBA already had an eye on the 2024 anniversary and deliberately wanted to hold something back from the Voyage sessions for it. |
|
|
|
Post by Alan on Nov 10, 2023 22:52:47 GMT
I know we had 25 versions of the album to fork out for I originally put 25 in my post but then changed it to 23! 10 vinyl, 6 cassette, 8 CD, so 24 (I could have missed one though). |
|
