|
|
Post by Alan on Jun 6, 2023 15:16:58 GMT
johnny, Carl Magnus Palm (and others) have confirmed it numerous times that any planned album was abandoned (though “postponed” was the wording used) when it became obvious that it wasn’t working (and that the three songs recorded weren’t good enough). As they wanted a release of some sort in 1982, they had no choice but return to the studio to record songs worthy of single release, hence the other three songs. Of these three, Cassandra only became a b-side and as they only had three new tracks they resurrected You Owe Me One, but the latter three songs were never intended for a studio album. I can’t believe the myth of an unfinished album persists. Yes, Just Like That, I Am The City and You Owe Me One were recorded for it, but three tracks is a long way off from an album. Not sure if this will be readable, but here is the relevant page of Carl Magnus Palm’s booklet notes in The Visitors (2001 CD). 
|
|
|
|
Post by Alan on Jun 4, 2023 21:21:25 GMT
is there any audio (or better) video footage of the concert? I already saw the concert threes times and I'm kind of obsessed... Not that I’m aware of… if any of it ever gets uploaded onto sites like YouTube, it quickly gets removed. |
|
|
|
Post by Alan on Jun 4, 2023 15:59:53 GMT
I like Kylie, despite her first two albums being of no merit. She gradually improved over time but hit a roadblock after 'Fever'. Neighbours was so big in the UK in 1988 and I was pretty much obsessed with anything associated with it. I bought I Should Be So Lucky well before it was a hit, and even though the album “Kylie” was Stock/Aitken/Waterman trash, I quite liked it at the time. I remember buying Especially For You on the day of release and asking for it at the counter, with the HMV assistant asking “do you want it?” when they were clearly thinking along the lines of “why on earth is a 17-year-old lad buying this??” I then lost interest for a few years, though was well aware of the singles and her transformation into SexKylie. I agree, after Fever I did lose interest again. Kylie herself is generally much more of an appeal than the majority of her music, whoever is producing it. Is it unusual for an act to record two completely different songs with the same title? Both Kylie and Madonna have done it. Kylie had “Love At First Sight” on both “Kylie” (1988) and Fever (2002), while Madonna used “Forbidden Love” twice, for Bedtime Stories (1994) and Confessions on a Dancefloor (2005). |
|
|
|
Post by Alan on Jun 3, 2023 17:02:03 GMT
The myth seems to persist that ABBA had an unfinished 1982 album after completing six tracks (Adam raised it not long ago) when actually they only had three before abandoning it completely. One of those three tracks - You Owe Me One - arguably would only ever have been a b-side, and the other two weren’t considered good enough for release at all. There are those that think they were being saved for a future album but I really don’t think so.
Voyage is therefore from a very different place. Yes, it was built around the original two tracks (which, unlike I Am The City and Just Like That, definitely were considered good enough for people to hear) but the rest of it really isn’t that bad. Those two tracks had to be good - at the time it was thought they would be the only ones, and they were written and recorded for inclusion in the Voyage show so had to match the quality of the other songs selected for it.
The rest of the Voyage album didn’t have the same emphasis. They were making album tracks or secondary singles, and none would appear in the show. They had much less pressure to come up with the goods. My gripes are only with Little Things, which I think should have been a standalone single only, and Just A Notion, which could have been saved until 2024. However, if the two unfinished tracks weren’t considered good enough, and an eight-track album would not be sufficient, then so be it for the album to be issued as it is.
To stop at two tracks (or four, or five) would have been a wasted opportunity (and EPs of that length don’t really exist anymore). The two original songs deserved an album home and I wouldn’t say they are in any way embarrassed by the other eight.
|
|
|
|
Post by Alan on May 28, 2023 11:10:33 GMT
There's several "heritage" acts that I used to like and bought studio albums in the past who still release new stuff eg Depeche Mode, Tears for Fears, Madonna. But I am not the slighest bit interested in the new songs. The Tears For Fears album is really good, definitely up there with their best stuff. Perhaps helps that they aren’t prolific. It was their first album since 2004. Madonna has done nothing good for 15 years. As we’d got all her previous albums, I did get the more recent ones (though the last one only because HMV were flogging it cheap in-store). I don’t think I’d bother with the next one. Same with Kylie. I lost interest in her music decades ago but carried on getting it out of habit. I’m now ready to break such habits. Not sure if I’d even add Kate Bush to those. Last album 12 years ago but I very rarely listen to it. There is something to be said for stopping when you’re on top. Maybe ABBA have spoilt that by doing Voyage, I don’t know. Pet Shop Boys are still worth a listen though. |
|
|
|
Post by Alan on May 28, 2023 10:59:35 GMT
They had made a big deal of the first anniversary, as a fan club event, so I really thought there would be a setlist change. Is that being saved for when they have other venues? (Personally I’m a bit disappointed as that would have been my excuse to see it again. As it stands I’m not too fussed). |
|
|
|
Post by Alan on May 28, 2023 6:58:40 GMT
What I meant was that in the last few days, attention has been on Benny for apparently ruling out much happening next year. By Agnetha’s non-appearance last night, some attention falls on her as it could look like she might not be too fussed about doing much either.
Had it been just two of them last night, it wouldn’t have looked so bad, but as it was three, attention is going to fall on the one that was absent. OK, so they weren’t there to be interviewed and you could argue that their presence at the first anniversary night wasn’t too important, but it’s awkward seeing three of them. Sorry.
|
|
|
|
Post by Alan on May 27, 2023 20:45:19 GMT
Björn, Benny and Frida have attended the first anniversary night… no Agnetha. Disappointing, though Benny must be pleased as it takes the heat off him.  |
|
|
|
Post by Alan on May 25, 2023 6:35:13 GMT
^^ That’s true… a refusal to perform or even appear live doesn’t mean they won’t send something in. For the 30th in 2004 they sent in Our Last Video (which thankfully turned out not to be). Even if they don’t do anything new, they could show the Waterloo sequence from the Voyage show which would be appropriate as it includes archive footage.
The 50th will possibly be the last major anniversary when all four of them are still alive, so they really have to do something big to mark it.
|
|
|
|
Post by Alan on May 25, 2023 6:16:48 GMT
Blimey, he’s done it again.
"I don't want to," says Andersson, "and if I don't want to, the others won't. It's the same for all four of us - someone says, 'no' - it's a no."
The vibes I get though is that it’s more Benny saying no than any of the others.
I’m not a fan of Eurovision, so personally I don’t find this too disappointing, but surely even Benny could have managed a brief appearance on stage with the others. Not to actually perform anything.
Also not at all disappointed he appears to have ruled out Mamma Mia! 3 as I’m no fan of that either.
Still, I’m more excited about Björn’s comment about “not a reissue as we find that very boring”. There will be at least one reissue though - coloured vinyl box and picture discs for the Waterloo singles.
|
|
|
|
Post by Alan on May 24, 2023 20:58:41 GMT
I suppose it’s what we’ve come to expect of Universal. From what I’ve read, they are by far the worst of the three majors on both vinyl sound quality and sleeve reproduction.
I got the Kate Bush vinyl album reissues (now Warner Music, old EMI having been absorbed into Parlophone) from a few years ago and they were excellent quality sleeves. Some differences in text placings but the photos were sharp (noticeably they had adjusted the Lionheart back cover photo to remove some stray strands of hair). They were extremely impressive compared to ABBA issues.
|
|
|
|
Post by Alan on May 24, 2023 20:26:51 GMT
There was an issue with The Visitors as it appeared in the 2020 coloured vinyl box…. Someone compared the fonts and placings and they were very slightly different. Only noticeable if you compared the two (original and reissue vinyl - the CD of course even uses a completely different photo) but nevertheless different. I could have lived with that though. I got Ring Ring on vinyl once which was a complete scan, and the text wasn’t sharp.
It’s a bit lazy not to entirely recreate the artwork, and probably done to reduce costs. They’ve had to find the original photos for use on the text-free picture discs, so it really shouldn’t be that difficult to do a better job on the coloured vinyl sleeves.
|
|
|
|
Post by Alan on May 24, 2023 15:10:35 GMT
What are the sleeves like, HOMETIME? Are they decent scans? It seems that (from recent issues) they’ve recreated the text but the photos still aren’t in the best quality. I think I saw that EMI credit on the People Need Love single that was in the 2014 40-single box. Presumably Frida signed to Polar very shortly afterwards. Isn’t it the norm to have the text in English if the recordings themselves are in English? I think Germany did it like that (though undoubtedly not France). |
|
|
|
Post by Alan on May 22, 2023 18:33:41 GMT
Björn’s comment “not a re-release as we find that very boring” is promising. I would hope that means they’re either opening up the vault and unearthing unreleased recordings, finishing off the two Voyage outtakes or recording something new (even if not a full album). I’m starting to feel more optimistic!
It seems from Ludvig’s interview that all of ABBA wanted The Visitors and Hole in Your Soul to open the show, so I’d be very surprised if they’re taken out. I hope they aren’t.
|
|
|
|
Post by Alan on May 21, 2023 18:28:06 GMT
Agnetha really was at her most beautiful in this era. She positively glows in all of these TV appearances. And it’s such a contrast to the prematurely-aged Agnetha that we got in mid-1980 to early 1982. I liked the more natural hair colour she had in 1983. Suddenly she looked much more her age (or younger). Someone really should have had a word with both Agnetha and Frida in 1980/81/82 and asked, “what the hell do you think you look like?”. Sorry. Though that question should have gone to Björn and Benny as well, neither of them ever looked that great and the visual focus was much less on them. Over 40 years, that Breakfast Time interview remained in memory, even if I didn’t see it for decades. I like what she’s wearing, I like her hair and make-up. Probably the best she had ever looked to that point. For the first time it didn’t matter that she didn’t have That Hair (the 1970s long bleached hair forever associated with most people’s image of ABBA). This was a new Agnetha. |
|
|
|
Post by Alan on May 21, 2023 17:04:40 GMT
OK then, so generally I have most of Agnetha’s output. There’s more of it than there is for Frida but usually tied-in with album projects, compilations or reissues. If I’m missing anything, I’m not aware of it. For Frida, it’s a different story. I’ve got 1967-72, Ensam (2005 issue), Something’s Going On (deluxe), Shine (all tracks on 2005 reissue), Djupa Andetag, To Turn The Stone (edit), Here We’ll Stay (Alternate mix), Time, Belle. There’s more I haven’t heard on the Wikipedia discography en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anni-Frid_Lyngstad_discography , but is there much else I should be checking out? With this I generally mean what’s officially been released on download, streaming, vinyl, cassette or CD. |
|
|
|
Post by Alan on May 21, 2023 14:54:23 GMT
Sorry Alan, do we need to splinter this off as a separate thread? I didn't intent to so comprehensively derail the WYAAM/A discussion. Yes, although there have been bits of Agnetha, it’s primarily been Frida solo in the recent part of this discussion so I’ve split it off accordingly. Another thing that’s always bugged me… why is Time / Belle not on any of the reissues? Time was a Polar release so shouldn’t be any problems there. Belle wasn’t, but shouldn’t be too difficult to get hold of. The Way You Are wasn’t a Polar release but has still turned up on various Agnetha reissues/compilations. Would B A Robertson be the stumbling block? Or do Bjorn and Benny not like the use of Arrival in that way? I heard Belle for the first time ever on Friday as well. I was expecting it to be the same arrangement as Time and was quite surprised it wasn’t. |
|
|
|
Post by Alan on May 20, 2023 14:50:51 GMT
I see that the coloured vinyl box has already been reduced slightly on Amazon (UK at least). Now £68.24. I’d still rather it be nearer £50 though…
|
|
|
|
Post by Alan on May 20, 2023 12:57:37 GMT
A consequence of Voyage (the album) for me is that it’s somehow made me look at the 1980s solo albums differently. For such a long time, I saw them as dated and part of ABBA’s 1980s death. It was the darkest time for fans as ABBA were seemingly being written out of history.
Now though, with Voyage having happened, it’s almost changed history. I can watch that Breakfast Time interview with Agnetha and her comment “ABBA is resting for the moment but we’re sure gonna do some more records. I hope so anyway” and think, well, yes they did! The 1980s solo albums therefore have become the start of that journey to Voyage and I’ve found a new appreciation for all five of them.
Another side-effect is that it’s made me wish Frida had done more albums. She sounds so good on Voyage that I’m wondering what might have been. Three post-ABBA albums versus Agnetha’s five* isn’t so bad but it’s a pity there weren’t more.
* Six if we reluctantly include a vanity project. I downloaded that Agnetha and Christian album yesterday… like the Christmas album with Linda, I don’t expect it to be very good but for me it’s some unheard Agnetha.
[Not sure if anyone noticed but I discovered I’d somehow liked my own previous post! This was by accident and I’ve removed the like. I also put “lobs” instead of “lops” so corrected both my post and a quote of it].
|
|
|
|
Post by Alan on May 19, 2023 21:29:58 GMT
The SGO box was a real treat and very nicely handled, in spite of the fact that the only extra audio was the 7" edits of IKTSGO and HWS (I think they should have included the 7" edit of TTTS... I heard the edit of To Turn The Stone for the first time today. I’m not sure I was aware of it until I saw your post. It’s quite a brutal edit isn’t it? I guess it couldn’t not be as it lops a full two minutes off a five and a half minute track, but it seems to be over before it’s barely begun! I agree that if it exists, it should have been on the deluxe. There’s also the Alternate mix of Here We’ll Stay (still with Phil Collins on). I’m assuming it’s a bootleg remix. It misses out the “here we are” vocals in the chorus. The West German compilation “From ABBA With Love” came up in my eBay searches the other day, and has the single edits of both To Turn The Stone and Agnetha’s Wrap Your Arms Around Me. 20 years ago I would have been desperate for such a CD. I’m assuming it’s the only such release of both edits. |
|
|
|
Post by Alan on May 19, 2023 18:51:53 GMT
Not even ordered it yet! I’m hoping the prices will fall. I waited about six months on the Voulez-Vous issues and that paid off. Plus I’m less interested in these than I have been in the others. I’m sure I will get them (having got the other four so far, I can hardly stop now) but I don’t feel as much urgency. I object to paying more than £10 each for a 7” record!
|
|
|
|
Post by Alan on May 14, 2023 14:18:41 GMT
The last time the UK had a really good song, it won. And the fact that we almost won last year proves that our string of bad results is not because ‘everyone hates us’. It’s the poor quality of our entries. I don’t think that’s true. I agree this year’s entry wasn’t that good compared to last year’s, but I also don’t think it deserved to come second to last. It does show that the UK has to do something truly exceptional to do well in this now though. I thought we might do OK this year purely on the grounds that we were hosting it, but that was probably a little naive of me. I only watched the first hour and a half of it. That was more than enough. |
|
|
|
Post by Alan on May 13, 2023 7:41:23 GMT
40 years ago today, Agnetha appeared on the BBC’s Breakfast Time. As I previously mentioned, they’re quite relaxed interviews. They don’t seem rehearsed (though probably were).
Aside from the “cold shower” comment, it’s amusing when Nick Ross makes a seemingly flippant comment about buying a tanker of oil (this after going completely overboard on her looks). And her facial expression when asked by Mike Smith about her “prettiest rear” says it all (clearly there was no way the BBC were going to say “sexiest bottom” at that or any other time of day).
|
|
|
|
Post by Alan on May 12, 2023 17:21:22 GMT
No, not again. It is meant to be a song contest What would the point of it be if people voted on political grounds. They’ve been doing that for years though. Neighbouring countries voting for each other etc. It’s one of the reasons the UK has done so badly in recent years as they don’t have any political allies in Europe (and that was well before Brexit). I know the songs weren’t great until last year but didn’t deserve to do as badly as they did. It will be interesting to see how both the UK and Ukraine do. I’m not particularly enamoured by the UK entrant but I hope it doesn’t come last or in the bottom quarter. I’d be happy to see Ukraine do well again. I think it’s gone well beyond a song contest now. The songs themselves are more of a by-product. It’s about how both the acts and the stage look. It’s become such a huge event now. Fewer people care about how good or bad the songs are. |
|
|
|
Post by Alan on May 12, 2023 11:19:13 GMT
I suppose I’m just curious to find out what these ten songs sound like, being as I heard them many times before I heard the ABBA versions. Once my brother had both Arrival and Greatest Hits (by about mid-1978) this album became redundant, though remained in our possession until we cleared out my mum and dad’s house in the mid-1990s.
|
|
|
|
Post by Alan on May 12, 2023 11:15:23 GMT
Even sufficient amounts of alcohol didn’t help. It’s like watching a series of support acts when you’re waiting for the act you’ve really come to see. Except that, in this, that doesn’t happen.
There was one that sounded very much like Space Man.
|
|
|
|
Post by Alan on May 11, 2023 20:50:36 GMT
This is a long shot, I know, but I don’t suppose anyone had this album? This was actually my introduction to ABBA back in 1977 when my brother bought it. In our household, it wasn’t unusual to get soundalike albums as they were cheaper than the real thing. It wasn’t until much later in the year that he got his first proper ABBA album, Arrival. It’s almost certainly the first time I heard any of the ten songs on it. Aside from the seven biggest UK ABBA hits to that point, it also included three familiar songs from Greatest Hits. Mamma Mia is spelt incorrectly, and in a very British way, Hasta Mañana is missing its accent on the “n”. I keep hoping someone will upload the album on YouTube, but no luck yet. It seems to be quite common though, with several on eBay. The one we had is long gone. Hideous artwork - those pink faces! But I’m fairly certain that the five-year-old me didn’t know anything about ABBA prior to my brother getting this.  |
|
|
|
Post by Alan on May 8, 2023 21:18:12 GMT
I tend to use Tapatalk to upload photos on here.
|
|
|
|
Post by Alan on May 7, 2023 22:03:09 GMT
I clicked on that link and then wished I hadn’t. I know it’s free to the reader but doesn’t the Mail benefit in some way from advertising whenever anyone goes into their site? It’s always been a horrible paper but in the last few years has become more right-wing and fascist than ever.
|
|
|
|
Post by Alan on May 7, 2023 21:54:32 GMT
The one thing I would like to see released is Agnetha's carreer-spanning DVD. It's long overdue and there is plenty of material available. But the problem really seems to be the three labels involved... "sigh". I don’t think that is the problem. Over the last 30 years, there have been three main Agnetha compilations (My Love, My Life in 1996, That’s Me in 1998 and My Very Best in 2008) and all three companies collaborated for each of them. Of the three, it’s Warner that is less interested in doing anything on its own but it supplied tracks to those three compilations (two of which were released by Sony and the other by Universal). The real issue is the lack of interest in either the CD or DVD format by record companies. A DVD could have been released for My Very Best but the fact it wasn’t suggests the boat has long since sailed. I got the Sjung Denna Sång compilation from the Music on CD series, because it had eight tracks that can’t easily be found on CD elsewhere (other than the De Första Åren set from 2004 that I didn’t get). |
|
