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Post by Alan on Aug 16, 2023 12:37:14 GMT
Showcase as well, booked for Sunday 17 Sept.
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Post by Alan on Aug 15, 2023 18:37:42 GMT
Apparently, Everyman, Odeon and Vue cinemas are involved with this. There’s an Odeon near me so I’m hoping that one is participating.
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Post by Alan on Aug 12, 2023 7:54:45 GMT
It’s certainly true that they didn’t spend much on ABBA releases later on. The studio albums were continuously available but became part of the CBS “Nice Price” series. In the process, most lost their inner sleeve lyrics and were given generic “Nice Price” inner sleeves advertising other albums in the series. Both Greatest Hits and Greatest Hits Vol 2 lost their gatefold sleeves (these days, these editions are worth more than the originals as they’re fairly rare). The Album got off lightly, as it kept its gatefold and there was no artwork inner sleeve to lose.
They did, however, reissue the Waterloo single in 1986. This was because Doctor and the Medics covered the song (it missed the top 40, even though it was following up a number one hit). The ABBA reissue re-used the sleeve artwork from the 1984 blue vinyl boxed set version and was the only ABBA single ever pressed on the late 1980s white label with blue Epic logo.
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Post by Alan on Aug 11, 2023 20:30:18 GMT
I remember reading that CBS in the 80’s found the ABBA catalogue to be a chalice around their necks, that’s why there was different compilation albums released in late 80s as CBS loaned out the licences to anyone who asked for them, hence the Pickwick, Castle Communications and Telstar all releasing ABBA albums. The latter was a joint venture between CBS & Telstar. By memory I think the first Hits album sold more than 200,000 copies. I recall that the Hits Box regularly charted in the top ten independent chart in 1992 after the erasure ep. If it was a chalice, then not sure why they would renew the licence? Presumably there was no pressure on them to do so. And I would assume that sub-licensing ABBA out to all and sundry was lucrative enough. And 200,000 units is pretty good, though of course they were selling them at budget prices. Perhaps CBS and the others were hoping for an ABBA revival while they still had the rights. In the end, that possibility was taken from them as PolyGram was not going to give them the opportunity to renew again. I did read somewhere that audiophiles tend to speak quite favourably of these cheapo compilations as some tracks offer the best non-remastered audio on a digital format (particularly the non-album b-sides which weren’t otherwise available until the “bright” CD boxed set in 1994). |
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Post by Alan on Aug 11, 2023 16:34:43 GMT
Take A Chance On Me isn’t a love song. Or if it is, it’s very one-sided. It’s about a stalker. They’re being told to leave it there, and that they’re wasting their time, but they’re taking no notice. I feel quite sorry for the person that’s the object of their affections as it’s clear from the lyrics that they won’t leave them alone and that they are always there.
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Post by Alan on Aug 9, 2023 23:13:30 GMT
Certainly a pointless release. Were ABBA still under contract with EPIC in the UK? When did ABBA's various record contracts end eg Epic in the UK, RCA in Australia, Atlantic in the US? Collection of Ballads would have made moew sense. The various licences had to be renewed at three-year intervals. It seems that they ran from 1973, 1976, 1979, 1982, 1985 and 1988, meaning most expired in 1991 (note that compilation albums appeared in many of these years as it was conveniently the end of each licence period). This was the reason Gold didn’t happen until 1992. PolyGram had acquired Polar in 1989 but had to wait for the various licences to expire so they could release Gold worldwide on the Polydor label. PolyGram’s eventual merger with MCA created Universal. It seems that Sony (which CBS had been taken over by) still retained ABBA’s UK sub-masters into the 21st century before they were handed back to Polar/Universal in Sweden. Carl Magnus Palm confirmed this once, when it was believed that the two mixes of Medley (1975 and 1978) were substantially different. The UK sub-master had to be the 1978 mix which appeared to confirm that the two mixes were pretty much identical. The UK sub-masters also provided the count-in version of Should I Laugh Or Cry along with the Ring Ring 1974 remix. CBS were not alone in releasing a love songs compilation after 1982. Several different albums appeared, so it would appear that the licensees had the option of releasing it and selecting their own track listings. |
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Post by Alan on Aug 9, 2023 20:42:11 GMT
It perhaps should have been subtitled “A Collection of Ballads”.
Not sure what the reasoning was for putting the Spanish version of Fernando on it rather than the English one. A selling point? Should I Laugh Or Cry as an increasingly rare b-side must have also have been put on it to help it sell. Lovelight would have been a good inclusion, though it’s a love song but not a ballad.
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Post by Alan on Aug 8, 2023 16:56:10 GMT
I haven't heard this compilation for many years, but if I remember correctly, the tracks all faded into each other, in the style of LAYLOM and TWOFD on Super Trouper. It did yes. Similarly I haven’t heard it for decades, but I remember most of the segues. The chances of it getting a CD release are zero as it was a local compilation for a local market. I keep hoping someone might put the segues onto YouTube, but it hasn’t happened yet. |
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Post by Alan on Aug 7, 2023 10:09:05 GMT
I think it’s more that Björn and Benny (and probably Stig) thought that Ring Ring might have a better chance at being an international hit if first-language English speakers (and American ones at that) wrote it? Unless both Sedaka and Cody spoke Swedish, there’s no way they could have helped translate it. And also, Björn and Benny had already written songs in English so hardly needed any help in that department! I’m sure they could have come up with something quite similar for Ring Ring.
B and B (and Stig) perhaps learnt something from Sedaka and Cody which gave them the confidence to continue writing English lyrics themselves.
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Post by Alan on Aug 5, 2023 21:01:56 GMT
I acquired another of my long sought-after variants today. The fairly rare injection-moulded Chiquitita was buried amongst a bundle of 16 ABBA UK singles in an eBay listing but I spotted it. Second of four orange-era “plastics” and the last to have the Epic logo in an odd position. Apparently these types are hated within the collecting community and known as “plasticraps” but I quite like them.   |
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Post by Alan on Aug 5, 2023 20:36:30 GMT
I agree. I see SOS as merely a Frida-less Swedish version of an ABBA song, in the same way that Frida’s solo Fernando is nothing more than a sans-Agnetha Swedish alternative. I get that they had to even things up.
As far as I can work out, Agnetha has only written or co-written six songs in the 48 years since this album was released (I’m Still Alive, När Du Tar Mig I Din Famn/The Queen of Hearts, Man, I Won’t Let You Go, You’re There and I Keep Them On The Floor Beside My Bed) so this is very much the last true Agnetha album. But there’s also a sense that it was a contract-fulfilling obligation. Can’t-Be-Arsed-ness had fully set in by this point. And I don’t blame her. Marriage, a young child and ABBA must have understandably stifled her creativity.
Still, it’s a great album. There’s probably a lot lost in translation with Doktorn! (Pimped port??? - it needs a fair bit of tidying up) but the “fat as a pig” line is a memorable one:
Doctor I'm stuck in a habit
Doktorn jag är fast i en vana
Yes, no one can guess how hard it is for me
Ja ingen kan ana vad jag har det svårt
You hypnotize people against vices
Ni hypnotiserar folk mot laster
That's what my aunt who pimped port said
Det sa min faster som pimplade port
Now I have to make an appointment
Nu måste jag få en tid
Oh please The Doctor mmm The Doctor
Åh snälla Doktorn mmm Doktorn
Heart beats can't climb stairs once
Hjärtat slår kan inte gå i trappor en gång
The Doctor, etc. The Doctor
Doktorn mmm Doktorn
Maybe it has gone too far
Kanske det har gått för långt
Oh the Doctor
Åh Doktorn
Tried to reduce consumption
Har försökt dra ner konsumtionen
But the situation has become precarious
Men situationen har blivit prekär
In the past, one a week was enough
Förr i världen räkte ett i veckan
Now there will be at least two a day
Nu blir det minst två om dan ungefär
I'm probably a hopeless case
Jag är nog ett hopplöst fall
But please Doctor mmm Doctor
Men snälla Doktorn mmm Doktorn
Tried snacking but I got fat as a pig
Har försökt med snask men jag blev tjock som en gris
The Doctor, etc. The Doctor
Doktorn mmm Doktorn
Please help me somehow
Snälla hjälp mig på nåt vis
Oh the Doctor
Åh Doktorn
Constantly the desire reawakens
Ständigt så vaknar begäret igen
And then I just have to have
Och då måste jag bara ha
But when I tremblingly lit another one
Men när jag darrande tänt ännu en
Does it feel good, etc
Känns det bra mmm
Hundreds have stopped smoking
Hundratals har slutat att röka
As tried at the Doctor's clinic
Som fått försöka på Doktorns klinik
My desire is not cigarettes
Mitt begär är inte cigaretter
And not tablets I'm probably unique
Och inte tabletter jag är nog unik
But give it a try anyway
Men gör ett försök ändå
I am asking you Doctor, mmm Doctor
Jag ber Er Doktorn mmm Doktorn
Take up my case so I can hope again
Ta Er an mitt fall så jag kan hoppas igen
The Doctor, etc. The Doctor
Doktorn mmm Doktorn
Please get rid of men
Snälla vänj mig av med män
Oh the Doctor
Åh Doktorn
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Post by Alan on Aug 5, 2023 18:52:02 GMT
Do you mean officially or unofficially? I’ve long suspected that if books can be ghost-written* then songs certainly can. Looking at Ed Sheeran’s latest album on Wikipedia, I can’t see many official co-writers but there’s probably many unofficial ones.
[*David Walliams and loads of other famous people that claim to be writing books for children. Did they really? Why wouldn’t they be ghost-written? The celebrity benefits, as does the ghost-writer. Far more will be read if it appears to have a famous name writing it. Same for pop stars - they can look far more talented than they really are].
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Post by Alan on Aug 4, 2023 19:50:39 GMT
johnny, I’m not all that keen on Voyage, no. And as time goes on, gradually less and less so. But part/much of that can and does depend on my age. You can usually tell someone’s age by their view on what the best era in music was. It will pretty much always depend on their age at the time. Voyage fits in with that really. Wrong age for me to hear it! Had the same album been released 40 years ago, I’d probably now be looking at it as a classic. But 2021, and me aged 49/50, I think not. Music is an extremely powerful memory-trigger. Much of ABBA’s output has that for me. Voyage doesn’t. If it ever does, it’s much too early yet. Dancing Queen is a great song, one of the best and perhaps one of my favourites, but I’ve heard it enough times to be able to say that I’d rather hear a much less exposed song more during the rest of my life than that one. So yes, if I really did have to lose 20 songs (and it’s a hypothetical situation that isn’t going to become reality) I possibly might choose that one. Nothing to do with the actual song whatsoever, but the fact it’s just a little too well-known.
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Post by Alan on Aug 4, 2023 17:01:37 GMT
Wow! That was harsh on Voyage, Alan. I posted a few posts that ABBA should have stopped after the first two Voyage songs. Nobody agreed with me. You saying now that the whole of Voyage shouldn't have been released? No, that’s not what I’m saying. What I am saying is that my “bottom 20 songs” would be different from “20 songs I could live without ever hearing again”. In other words, if someone said that I had to give up 20 ABBA songs - never hear them again - or die now, then I’d take the first option. I’d put all of Voyage in this category simply because those songs are new, and haven’t been with me for 40-odd years. No fault of their own, but part of ABBA’s continuing appeal for me is that I can still listen to, for example, The Name of the Game and be transported back to 1977 and hearing it on hospital radio in my hospital bed. Every song off every album has a nostalgic place in my heart. Voyage will never be able to do that, or at least not in the same way. In terms of bottom 20, there’s really just Little Things and Just A Notion from Voyage that I’d put in. To put it into further context, I might even be tempted to put Dancing Queen in a list of songs I could live without ever hearing again. This would simply be because I’ve heard it too much. And perhaps a few other well-known singles that are a little over-exposed. Would anyone else’s Bottom 20 and 20 they could live without ever hearing again also be different? |
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Post by Alan on Aug 4, 2023 15:09:04 GMT
It's a shame in the final years Frida was lead only on the singles I Have a Dream and Super Trouper. I don't like them either. Yes, it is a pity she only got those two in terms of the main (Polar-released) singles. Frida got, by far, the best leads on The Visitors but none of them were among the main two singles. I was expecting more than four songs from Voyage in gary’s list! If this was a list of 20 songs I could live without ever hearing again, I’m afraid I would put all ten from Voyage into it. That’s unfair and harsh, I know, but the fact is they will never hold the same place in my affections as the main bulk of ABBA’s output which I first heard in the late 1970s and early 80s. The other ten I could just about make up from the worst of my bottom 20, but I’d struggle. Sorry Voyage. You may be ABBA 40 years on but you’re not my childhood ABBA! |
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Post by Alan on Aug 4, 2023 14:46:06 GMT
That’s not the same Kevin Sharkey that presented The Roxy, ITV’s short-lived answer to Top of the Pops, in the late 1980s is it? He presented with David Jensen. It was pretty much an exact copy of TOTP and, as it was broadcast from Newcastle, struggled to get acts to travel up from London.
[Just checked his entry on Wikipedia and would appear it is the same person].
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Post by Alan on Aug 4, 2023 14:31:01 GMT
People seem to be forgetting Åh, Vilka Tider. Surely that has to be the worst ABBA song? And not just because it’s only in Swedish. Mine from over two years ago, from this same topic. Not changed in that time, though if I could have 22, I’d add Just A Notion and Little Things. If I can only have 20, I’d probably take out Does Your Mother Know and Head Over Heels. I’ll pick 20, in chronological rather than preference order: People Need Love Merry-Go-Round Santa Rosa Åh, Vilka Tider She’s My Kind Of Girl (not an ABBA song but does appear on international versions of Ring Ring, so I will include it) I Am Just A Girl Rock ‘n’ Roll Band Watch Out I Do, I Do etc Rock Me Crazy World Thank You For The Music Does Your Mother Know I Have A Dream Super Trouper The Way Old Friends Do Head Over Heels Cassandra Under Attack You Owe Me One. |
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Post by Alan on Aug 2, 2023 18:41:12 GMT
Yes it was. That’s the only release of it in stereo, but the mono version had earlier appeared on the bonus disc of The Complete Studio Recordings in 2005.
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Post by Alan on Aug 1, 2023 21:58:31 GMT
Honey, Honey was the last song recorded during the sessions in December 1973 so probably just on another master tape. Honey Honey is on that tape, do you mean Hasta Mañana? Well spotted though, about the recording order. I consulted the Waterloo album entry on Wikipedia, and sure enough, that’s the order they were recorded in. Was Bobby’s Brother really suggesting it would be the actual running order? I didn’t watch the video. As HOMETIME said, he is not an “official source”. |
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Post by Alan on Aug 1, 2023 6:19:37 GMT
Not so sure about that. It looks like someone’s been cutting up Post-It notes and having fun making up their own running order. And it’s a very odd one. Waterloo itself tucked away in the middle of Side 2? And no Hasta Mañana, which was recorded in December 1973 and was initially a Eurovision contender. Why would that be left off?
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Post by Alan on Jul 28, 2023 19:53:27 GMT
Welcome back, johnny. I’m guessing you put this in order to get a reaction, so I won’t disappoint you: “The reality is people won't swot up on songs they don't know before the show - and why should they?” Er… why on earth not? Any song by any act is nothing but a touch of a phone away. 30 years ago, yes, it took some commitment. You would need to find out what album it was on and then buy it. But now? YouTube anyone? How easy does it need to be? How brain dead do you think people are? As I’ve previously said, no sympathy whatsoever for anyone that has an internet connection. Those that haven’t, OK, but don’t assume that the “I love ABBA” brigade (translated as “I own/stream Gold and nothing else”) are not capable of hearing these songs for themselves. No artistic act should ever just be catering only for the masses. And certainly not in this day and age when there’s absolutely no excuse to. |
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Post by Alan on Jul 28, 2023 18:59:12 GMT
What I like best about history is that sometimes people are vindicated for what are seen as controversial actions at the time. Sinead was one of those.
Kate Bush posted on her website about her. She’s done it for David Bowie (a major influence) and Prince (with whom she’d worked) but it’s otherwise quite rare. The Irish connection is there though, and I somehow expected her to:
SINEAD
It’s like a light has gone out, hasn’t it? A beacon on a high mountain. Sinead didn’t just move us with her incredibly emotive voice, she stood up with it.
I salute her. We were lucky to have such a magical presence move among us.
Kate
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Post by Alan on Jul 28, 2023 8:54:00 GMT
This is one for HOMETIME. I agree, it’s definitely classic ABBA and one of their best ever songs/recordings. I don’t really see it as a single though, but I know others think differently on that. It seemed to fall out of favour quite quickly, and I don’t think that’s anything to do with UNICEF or Chiquitita. I believe there were other factors. However, that’s no disrespect to it whatsoever. It’s certainly a highlight of its parent album. |
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Post by Alan on Jul 28, 2023 8:42:37 GMT
Welcome to the forum, iiwftn. You’ve certainly livened up the place after it had gone a bit quiet. And another Angeleyes fan! |
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Post by Alan on Jul 28, 2023 8:39:42 GMT
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Post by Alan on Jul 22, 2023 11:52:50 GMT
On the subject of 1979 videos… the hurried, BBC-produced Chiquitita snowman promo wasn’t even filmed until mid-February, and the single had peaked by 17 Feb. Did they use the black outfit UNICEF performance to promote it? I must have missed any Top of The Pops repeats with that in.
I’d say Gimme Gimme Gimme, and even Estoy Soñando, are the best of the 1979 videos. It’s at least a real setting. All fake as they’ve already recorded the song by then, but still fun to see them where the song (and much of the album) was made.
What does save the 1979 videos for me is the fact that all four of them still looked good. They still looked like classic ABBA, for the last time. I’d take cheap videos with that look than better videos where they look crap (ie. all 1980 to early 1982 promos).
Back to Angeleyes / Voulez-Vous… looking again at the charts on Wikipedia, there’s only Belgium where Voulez-Vous did better than the double A-side in both the UK and Ireland. Belgium can perhaps be ignored as they seemed to be guaranteed to make any ABBA single a number one. However, in the other ABBA-loyalist country, the Netherlands, it only made number 3 or 4 (depending on which chart you use). In other countries it did considerably less well.
(Does anyone else’s auto-correct insist on changing it to “Voulez-avoid”? Indeed, that seems to be what some listeners did worldwide…)
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Post by Alan on Jul 21, 2023 22:51:21 GMT
I’m resurrecting this thread because I happened to catch Top of The Pops from this week in 1979 on BBC Four tonight.
David Jensen introduced the Voulez-Vous video by explaining it was a double A-side, with Angeleyes on one side and this one on the other.
Angeleyes remains the only track on the Voulez-Vous album for which no visual performance was ever made. Even As Good As New was performed on the tour that year (though no footage of it exists).
My understanding is that the two tracks were alternated on radio chart shows (and presumably both tracks got airplay outside of that?) but any TV promotion had no choice but to use the Voulez-Vous video.
The double A-side strategy clearly worked, as the single was a bigger hit in the UK than it was in most other countries, but I’d still love to know how it came about. CBS/Epic didn’t just choose it randomly, they would have done market research on the popularity of the two tracks. The outcome led to Angeleyes being the favoured A-side and therefore listed first.
There was no chance of ABBA filming a video for it, or coming to the UK to promote it, and Angeleyes wasn’t one of the tracks performed on ABBA In Switzerland. Therefore what made the UK licensee so sure of it that it could overcome such obstacles? And also that, as the track was listed first, it was intended to be the primary A-side even though in reality both tracks would have to get exposure?
It wouldn’t be the last time this happened either. Lay All Your Love On Me similarly had no visual performance whereas its b-side, On and On and On, kind of did. That time there was no double A-side and a rather dodgy video assembled, but again it somehow worked commercially.
This is where I really wish someone who worked for CBS in the UK at that time would come out of the woodwork and give an insight on how and why certain decisions were made. As a major player in a major market, they could advise and influence Polar to their advantage, but clearly not in all cases.
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Post by Alan on Jul 21, 2023 15:41:27 GMT
Issuing now a Deluxe Set with those two Songs would signal: "Hey, we might haven't done it properly first time around". But this never was or is how ABBA work. It kind of is, at least retrospectively. Since 1997, ABBA’s albums have been reissued multiple times (well, four anyway) with bonus tracks relating to the period. Voyage is therefore lacking in that department at present. Waterloo and The Album lack exclusive tracks but do at least have alternate versions. If it is just the two “outtakes” that we are to get, then they’d serve the same purpose as the likes of the b-sides added to other albums do now. Not good enough for the album proper but closely related to it. And let‘s face it, modern deluxe editions (released the same day as the standard version) merely have extra tracks that would have been b-sides in the old days, ie. not considered good enough for the main album (just today I saw Blur’s new album, with the deluxe edition having two extra tracks). However, if there are more than these two tracks (and if any others do not relate to the Voyage sessions) then I agree, there might be a better way of releasing them. I would hope that an anthology does not have anything previously released in the exact same form on it. If it met that criteria it would be extremely exciting! |
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Post by Alan on Jul 20, 2023 17:47:58 GMT
As an example, Sophie Elis-Bextor's 'Read My Lips' CD was reissued with bonus tracks a year after its original release - the song order was moved around and the extra tracks were not simply added to the end. That’s a good example but it’s quite rare. With that album, it was more of a re-launch/re-release. I don’t see that happening with Voyage. In any case, Ode to Freedom would still be the last track of the album proper, no matter how many tracks came after it. |
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Post by Alan on Jul 20, 2023 17:42:44 GMT
Unless anyone on this forum heard Catherine Tate speak about the ABBA tracks, I’d take it with a massive pinch of salt. It was reported elsewhere in the ABBA community, so she definitely said it. However, the subsequent post by a member on here refers to a very reliable source. It is not related to what Catherine Tate said, though it supports it. I therefore definitely think it will happen, but it’s not yet confirmed. |
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