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Post by Alan on Oct 6, 2023 14:53:28 GMT
Get your act together and be friendly Alan It’s you that needs to do that. Final warning. |
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Post by Alan on Oct 6, 2023 14:39:27 GMT
If you want to hear more of het natural voice play the 2013 version. If you want to dance or chill play A+. Why compare? Just enjoy what there is...in the now. They’re the same songs, so of course people are going to compare! It’s naive to think no one would, or worse still, that no one should. Do you work for Agnetha’s people or BMG by any chance? Or just an Uber-Agnetha fan that (from your comments on the Voyage album) suggest you prefer her as an individual act than ABBA as a group? You post on here as a guest and won’t have a single word said against these new versions. I know for a fact that this is putting some off from posting in this topic. Anyone that says anything you don’t like quickly gets dismissed by you, and you almost ridicule them in the process. Imagine if we did the same back, would you like that? Even yesterday, you had to pick me up on the “sort-of new” comment. I didn’t think it needed an explanation. It’s from the same session as another photo we’ve already seen. I ignored your post at the time as, like most of your others, it was seemingly done to antagonise. Slightly passive-aggressive. “Sort-of new? It is new, we haven’t seen it before” is how it read. |
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Post by Alan on Oct 6, 2023 9:07:38 GMT
I’m guessing this would not have affected the various remasters over the years? Presumably they used the master tapes or mixdown tapes. Certainly I’ve not heard of this before (unless they just kept quiet about it when the remasters were released).
I wonder how many songs this applies to? If SOS is the only one in the show, and I Have A Dream isn’t in it, there must be others where this happened? Especially those recorded in other languages, either by ABBA or anyone else.
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Post by Alan on Oct 6, 2023 9:02:00 GMT
My expectations were low but these two songs are OK. I’m not especially keen on the vocal manipulation. It’s similar to what was done with part of the original I Keep Them On The Floor Beside My Bed, but I’m not sure we need it on every track? But they’re OK. Better than the Gary Barlow one, which seemed to have too much of him on the new version and less of her.
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Post by Alan on Oct 5, 2023 15:37:18 GMT
Is this the photo that was used for the single artwork?  |
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Post by Alan on Oct 5, 2023 15:32:01 GMT
A+ versions of "Dance Your Pain Away" and "Perfume In The Breeze" apparently out at midnight.
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Post by Alan on Oct 5, 2023 15:23:47 GMT
Hmm… “Ludvig adds: “The [multitracks containing the] lead English vocals for SOS do not exist – they deleted those and recorded over them the German version.”
There was no German version of SOS. Not by ABBA anyway. There was a Swedish version recorded as an Agnetha solo.
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Post by Alan on Oct 4, 2023 15:29:57 GMT
Another, sort-of new photo.  |
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Post by Alan on Oct 4, 2023 15:27:35 GMT
I’m getting way off topic here but there were two blokes who used to appear on the French & Saunders show who did an amazing parody of The Pet Shop Boys. Yes, Raw Sex (Rowland Rivron and Simon Brint). They also played Björn and Benny in the ABBA sketch. Simon Brint died in 2011. |
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Post by Alan on Oct 4, 2023 15:25:27 GMT
It’s nice that there’s a wee bit of Scotland in Super Trouper, although I’d much preferred it if they’d mentioned Edinburgh rather than Glasgow 🤪 They didn’t go to Edinburgh in 1979 though, only Glasgow, and the song is about the 1979 tour. Plus Edinburgh wouldn’t have rhymed with “last show”! Glasgow was the penultimate date in that leg of the tour though, as it wouldn’t resume until March 1980 in Japan. |
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Post by Alan on Oct 3, 2023 9:02:23 GMT
Yes, that Not The Nine O’Clock News skit was brilliant! As we seem to have a sense of humour by-pass these days, I’m sure there are plenty that won’t see the funny side. I recall on a previous forum there was offence taken that Frida was played by a man. I remember explaining that it wasn’t trying to cause offence, and that simply the Not team was three men and one woman, and the youngest and best-looking of the men played Frida.
The lyrics:
Super duper, super duper, super duper, super doo
One of us is ugly, one of us is cute
One of us you'd like to see in her birthday suit
Two of us write music, two have way a song
Sorry, in translation, that line come out wrong
But still, super duper, it's super duper that we're number one again
Singing super duper duper, makes a super duper refrain
We believe, that if you have three tunes in a song
And a showbiz cliché nothing can go wrong
The world is just a great big stage
Each man plays his part
In this concrete jungle, my sleeve is on my heart
On the beaches we go swimming in the nude
Oh how I wish now and then that we could sing something rude
Breast and bottom, tongue and inner thigh
Heaving bellies come up from behind
But still super duper, it's more super, super than we would have thought
If it's super duper duper, make it super duper short
Super duper, super duper, its a super duper refrain
So we thought how super duper to sing "super duper" again
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Post by Alan on Oct 1, 2023 14:23:14 GMT
ABBA Magazine #33, March 1981 (published February).   |
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Post by Alan on Oct 1, 2023 14:09:14 GMT
Yes, it definitely has that association for me. I’m not sure I knew who John Lennon was prior to his murder. I think I’d heard of The Beatles but didn’t know much about them. I was nine at the time. His death really upset me though, and I couldn’t sleep properly for weeks. When the Imagine video was shown on Top of the Pops I’d cover my eyes and I didn’t like hearing his records.
It was a strange reaction considering he had meant nothing to me prior to that, but it was such big news that it quickly became apparent to me how important he and The Beatles were. Perhaps I wasn’t aware of anyone being murdered before then, certainly not anyone famous anyway.
I imagine ABBA must have been affected by it. Around this time, there were kidnap threats against Björn and Agnetha’s children so nearly all promotional activities for the album (including a planned UK visit and a second Christmas Day appearance on the Mike Yarwood show) were cancelled.
I did have a dislike of much of the Super Trouper album for a while and I’m still not a fan of the song itself. Maybe some of that is because of the John Lennon connection and how it affected me. I don’t think anything has affected me in quite that way since, certainly not a celebrity death.
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Post by Alan on Sept 30, 2023 15:07:15 GMT
What does piss me off is someone making claims that clearly aren't true. I'll bloody challenge that every time. Well, I’m guessing that was a very thinly disguised pop at me? I wasn’t, I said I hadn’t seen any elsewhere. I have since checked YouTube and you’re right, there are some positive comments there. I guess remixes aren’t for me. There are some exceptions. I liked the “blue” mix of If I Thought You’d Ever Change Your Mind, and also the orchestral mix of I Was A Flower, but generally the original version of any song I hear will remain the go-to one. I’ve amended the title of the topic in response to BAAB’s post. I wanted to keep “Where Do We Go From Here?” in there though, as that is the one new song and therefore the one Agnetha had the most involvement with, and is also the only one to have new vocals. |
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Post by Alan on Sept 30, 2023 8:24:36 GMT
I’ve just heard it but once is enough. Seems to be more of Gary on this and less of Agnetha somehow?? As with Kate Bush’s Director’s Cut (though that was different as it was re-recorded vocals and partly retained instrumental performances), at the least the originals are still there. We haven’t heard from HOMETIME in a while. I wonder what his take on this new mix might be? |
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Post by Alan on Sept 29, 2023 18:31:27 GMT
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Post by Alan on Sept 29, 2023 18:22:04 GMT
I have had a good look around social media and it's clearly NOT true that the song is universally disliked with no positive feedback whatsoever, despite what anyone says here (although it definitely divides opinion). Many appear to really dislike it, calling it horrible/horrendous and so on which I find really over the top. If I didn't know any better I'd swear they were trolls. Where were you finding the positive comments? Even in the official ABBA fan club page/group (whatever it is), there wasn’t one positive comment, with a general preference for the original. I was a bit surprised at this, as I think reaction in that group/page was quite positive with the new song. Some of it does stem from the fact that Gary Barlow was involved in it though. He’s generally hated (and not just because of tax avoidance reasons). Call me cynical but this new version nicely co-insides with Take That’s new song which is being played to death on Radio 2. Are they with BMG? I don’t know, but I’d say it was deliberately co-ordinated. As I’ve said before, Agnetha can easily be detached from these new versions if they aren’t new vocals. Her involvement, other than the new song, would have been minimal. Jörgen probably played her the new completed versions and told her people would love them, and she had too much (albeit misguided) respect for him to disagree. Not really her fault, she’s merely had the wool pulled over her eyes. |
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Post by Alan on Sept 28, 2023 18:44:20 GMT
Who cares about pop justice? Exactly the same could be said about you, or indeed, me or anyone else. Dismissing a comment (or several) just because it doesn’t agree with yours doesn’t make it go away. |
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Post by Alan on Sept 28, 2023 12:39:30 GMT
Single “artwork”:  |
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Post by Alan on Sept 27, 2023 20:55:31 GMT
It's the music of today. For many older abba fans this step will be too big. I’m afraid your ageist comment doesn’t carry weight. On PopJustice I went into profiles of those making comments and it was showing ages as 27 and 30 (on the ones that included their ages). The problem with trying to be up-to-date is that it doesn’t stay that way for too long. Soon enough, it will sound horribly dated and people will tend to revert to the original album. Aside from the one new song, the revised album will soon be forgotten about. Agnetha deserves better than this, if it’s to be her final solo project. |
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Post by Alan on Sept 27, 2023 19:08:32 GMT
I cant say the snippet did anything for me! I’m debating with myself whether to cancel my order! And before any uber fan starts, and calls us “sour” again, I’ve not seen anything positive elsewhere. Take a look at what they’re saying on PopJustice about this clip. |
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Post by Alan on Sept 24, 2023 15:40:29 GMT
From that link I posted earlier in the topic:
“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.“
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Post by Alan on Sept 23, 2023 20:22:38 GMT
I heard the song played on Vernon Kay’s show yesterday. He followed it up with a full promotion for the album - what it was, when it was out etc. I don’t listen to the radio that much but I’m assuming this is the standard requirement from Radio 2 as arranged with BMG.
Hopefully no one expected the song to chart. I did check just in case but it was an extremely long shot/impossibility. The purpose of this song’s release was to generate interest in the album and the “Record of the Week” playlisting by Radio 2 has hopefully built up some pre-orders.
Had it been a new album, my expectations would be higher but as it’s apparently her original vocals other than on this one new song, it’s unlikely to do particularly well. Even if it makes the top 10, which is possible, it could fall very heavily in its second week.
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Post by Alan on Sept 23, 2023 20:10:52 GMT
Thanks for the clarification, evilincarnate. One thing I didn’t know about Kirsty MacColl until more recent years is that the “Baby” in Tracey Ullman’s cover version of Kirsty’s They Don’t Know is actually Kirsty herself, as Tracey couldn’t reach the note. It’s hard not to feel a bit robbed when talented people are taken from us in accidents/murders. Kirsty MacColl could have done a lot in the last 23 years. We may find fault with some of Voyage and we might not be over-excited by Agnetha’s new song but it’s still something to be thankful for that all four of ABBA are still with us and have made it to their 70s. Compare that to, say, half of The Beatles that were either murdered at 40 or succumbed to a terminal illness in their late 50s. |
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Post by Alan on Sept 23, 2023 11:30:29 GMT
So many great ABBA songs; Our Last Summer, Gonna Sing you my Live Song have no tv appearance or video accompaniment. Top of my list there would be Angeleyes, the only song on Voulez-Vous that never had a visual performance nor was played live. Voyage has rescued Lay All Your Love on Me from that list. |
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Post by Alan on Sept 23, 2023 10:41:10 GMT
Estefans? As in Gloria? Sorry, I don’t follow! What’s the connection, evilincarnate? |
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Post by Alan on Sept 23, 2023 0:33:33 GMT
Was it not released as a single in the Scandinavian countries? I thought it was, hence the video. That’s Me, One Man One Woman, Thank You For The Music, On and On and On, Happy New Year and When All Is Said And Done weren’t Scandinavian single A-sides either, but, like Bang-A-Boomerang, had a video. As Johnny mentions, it was a promotion for the ABBA album. The four videos were produced at the same time and sent out to record companies (this had also been done for Waterloo and Ring Ring, which were filmed on the same day and - I think - after Waterloo had been a hit). If you notice, the four videos all have their titles stamped onto the first few seconds. This was because the songs were all new. It was only by chance that three of them eventually became international singles (Mamma Mia only because Australia requested it as such - hard to believe now but Polar were reluctant to release it). Not sure what the strategy was - it seemed they wanted to promote ABBA as an albums act at the time. Curiously So Long wasn’t amongst the four videos - not sure if they were produced after the song had flopped in most markets, in which case there was no requirement for a video. |
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Post by Alan on Sept 19, 2023 19:18:34 GMT
If I remember it correctly, there was exactly the opposite information - only the parts featured in The Movie were overdubbed, not complete songs. Yes, this is more as I remember it. I want Matt to be right but I somehow think you are. It’s similar with the 1979 stuff isn’t it, in terms of visuals. Only what’s in that tour film still exists. Some info about the 1977 tour, including recordings of it, along with Ludvig’s comments that it’s not up to the standard they’d want to release: www.abba-theconcerts.de/1977.html |
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Post by Alan on Sept 18, 2023 22:08:30 GMT
Hi all, I can't go to see the movie but I want to say that one of the high points for me when I saw it in 1978 was 'Get on the Carousel'. It was a rocker and I loved it so much I was devastated they never released it. When I saw the movie 2 more times in 1978 and about a year or two later one of the reasons I went was to try to memorize the song. I know it was subsumed into Hole in Your Soul .. but still I think it is different and energetic enough to get its own release. Anyone else a fan of it? Martin I’ve always quite liked it. For me it’s completeness (or lack of). We have the other three songs (albeit with different arrangements and in some cases, lyrics) on The Album but not this one. It’s quite a long sequence for this song in the film, so I’m sure they could release the audio and make a decent-length track. I like the drama of it. It takes place after I’m A Marionette and she’s even further lost in this life she thought she wanted but has turned out nothing like she expected (“Well all I really wanna do is get off! It‘s only making me scared! But I don’t really care”). I just found something online where Ludvig Andersson said about the 1977 tour recordings: “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.” I think he is referring to the Royal Albert Hall recordings and not the overdubbed Australian stuff that’s in The Movie. The annoying thing about them is that many of the songs aren’t complete in the film, so this makes an audio release unlikely, even if the likes of me would settle for it. Lyrics for The Girl With The Golden Hair, including narration and the partially different lyrics for Thank You For The Music: www.karaoke-lyrics.net/lyrics/abba/the-girl-with-the-golden-hair-mini-muzikal-1061493 |
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Post by Alan on Sept 18, 2023 21:51:14 GMT
So when Frida is romping around the stage in her element singing ‘Why Did it have to be Me’, I assume Agnetha clocked off for a tea break and a quick ciggie? Her absence is very noticeable, isn’t it? I think there’s only Intermezzo where only Benny is present, but otherwise we see all four. I would hope not a ciggie, but she was quite contradictory on that anyway. Didn’t she supposedly have to give up years before due to tonsillitis? But then she’s seen at public appearances in 1978 and 1981 smoking, and the latter was after she’d been involved in an anti-smoking campaign. The tour finished on 12 March and Christian was born on 4 December. Was he conceived in Australia?? I hadn’t realised that the film takes some liberties, not only with the setlist (songs in different order) but also the order of cities visited. The film has it that it was Sydney, Perth, Adelaide and Melbourne. Apparently it was actually Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth. This makes slightly more sense as presumably a flight from Perth back to Sweden would be slightly shorter than from Melbourne. |
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