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After reading all about the different remastered versions of their work. I think it's time for me to buy their remastered albums.
I own ABBA (the self titled) and then Arrival-Visitors remastered.
I hate that ABBA Gold is so much lower, sound wise, than the rest of them.
I still need to get The Album and then maybe the other two early albums.
It was released in 1992, so I'm guessing they're still using the same master, whereas the reissued albums were a few years after that (CDs got louder around 1996).Originally Posted by tylerc904
I always hated that my copy of Gold has the track markings slightly off, so you get a snippet of the song before and lose the last second if you program the CD.
Eric's Generic World: http://ericsgenericworld.blogspot.com/
The original Gold has some edited tracks as well, Name of the Game (again) and Voulez Vous was also cropped, then they scissored The Visitors for More Gold.
If I could change one thing in their career, it would be that they completed a proper studio album in 1982. I think they wrote enough but B&B were too 'perfectionistic' to finalise much of it.
Yes! A whole album of stuff similar to The Day Before You Came and Should I Laugh or Cry probably would have been the greatest album ever. If only we could finally get a proper full-length version of Just Like That too.
I've got a bootleg of the various full length versions but the quality is quite ropey.
Bjorn Again did a respectable cover version.
Seasonal - Frida singing a traditional Christmas song:Originally Posted by Undisco_Me
Star of Bethlehem
Less seasonal, but I flew over Agnetha's snow-covered birthplace yesterday:
Join me in my balloon
It feels like I've taken a time machine from our beloved 70s, to a time when records don't exist and music is taken intravenously instead.
Listened to Arrival today and just wanted to stop in and say how much I love Happy Hawaii. It's just so fun!
I cannot rank Arrival, Voulez-Vous, and the self titled one. Visitors and Super Trouper are rightfully in the top 2 places
Don't! As part of a long-held aim to finally compile a proper chronolgical ABBA singles/singles-ish (!) collection using the best quality tracks available, I decided to test the same songs from the remasters with the Gold/More Gold counterparts. Dear god, what a shock. I had assumed the remasters would be better every time, but honestly they are not. Mostly they've just turned the sound up, distorting the top end and creating a harsher version of the music. I suppose growing up with the originals, that warmer 70s vibe, means I'm more inclined towards older mastering but the actual evidence in the visual audio files can't hide what they did with the remasters. They distort way too much, and sound quit harsh.Originally Posted by Macsun
I'm glad I kept hold of my Gold/More Gold CDs now, as I ended up using those versions 99% of the time.
Eric's Generic World: http://ericsgenericworld.blogspot.com/
I Let The Music Speak and I Wonder have became huge favourites of mine over the last few days.
ABBA really were pop genius, and I don't use that word lightly. Listening back to all their singles is always a remarkable experience.
Eric's Generic World: http://ericsgenericworld.blogspot.com/
Yes.Originally Posted by Eric Generic
Even their lesser singles would be killed for by most. When I was a nipper I was convinced I Do I Do I Do was a UK #1 and it couldn't have flopped any harder.
I still cannot decide whether I like the 70s material or the 80s stuff the most; the big hits from 76 to 79 are so ingrained in my psyche from growing up...I am thankfully able to separate them from the recent ubquity with which they've been afforded....they're truly magical records. But the 80s records are brilliant in a different way, they leave you totally amazed at the craftsmanship-meets-natural-genius involved.
Eric's Generic World: http://ericsgenericworld.blogspot.com/
They'd stopped touring by then, and much like the Beatles, it allowed them to be truly creative. It was so odd how they suddenly dropped chartwise by the public. I know the material became darker, but it didn't drop in quality.Originally Posted by Eric Generic
Their chart career is very odd; nothing peaked between the #7 of Lay All Your Love On Me and the #26 of Under Attack, I think. A very sudden drop-off indeed, which doesn't appear to be based on anything other than the public suddenly losing interest. The 1982 material sounds very contemporary for its time, it's not like they were "too 70s" or anything, and One Of Us was even an unofficial UK #1 at the end of 1981.
Eric's Generic World: http://ericsgenericworld.blogspot.com/
Head Over Heels at #25 only. It's like they took a misstep and couldn't recover from it. Perhaps the record buying public were aware that they were 'sorting through their issues' quite publically and wanted happy, skippy ABBA back again?Originally Posted by Eric Generic
I prefer the 80s stuff because it's entirely faultless, but you're right that their 76-79 period was also as close to perfect as could be, just with a slightly more optimistic disposition.
A bit like Katy Perry's 00's output.Originally Posted by Eric Generic
Check you lipstick before you come and talk to me.............. Let's go Zi Lin!!!
I am definitely more of a fan of their 80s post divorce gloomy stuff, The Day Before You Came sounds like it could not have been recorded by the same band as Dancing Queen! I agree with Pete Waterman that The Winner Takes It All is the best pop song ever written.Originally Posted by Eric Generic
I am probably more of a casual fan than most of you here having just had Gold and More Gold since their original release but I have decided to dive in a bit deeper. I picked up that boxset in HMV for a tenner but there is so much it's a bit overwhelming! I was gutted to discover that there wasn't a 1982 album as I love The Day Before You Came, Under Attack, One of Us, When All Is Said And Done, and I was hoping for some recommendations of where to start with their enormous back catalogue. Which album is generally considered their best and what are their best album tracks? I have got it all on my iPod now and just need to know where to start!
I'd say maybe Arrival (1976) and The Visitors (1981), but that's just my very subjective opinion. Voulez-Vous (1979) is loaded with hits, and The Album (1978) is a bit of a dark horse (I tend to play this more often than the rest).
Eric's Generic World: http://ericsgenericworld.blogspot.com/
I will give these a try, I am a little wary of their really early stuff! The good thing is that there are so many hits almost every album feels like a greatest hits.
True on both counts! Many album tracks were used on B-sides too, so you'd often have about 80% of the album on the singles.
Some of the best album tracks are on More Gold - On & On & On (a US club hit), Eagle (a non-UK single), I Wonder, When I Kissed The Teacher.
Eric's Generic World: http://ericsgenericworld.blogspot.com/
You could just go chronologically, wince your way through some of the bizarre lyrical combinations of the first two albums and slide gracefully into the brilliance of Arrival onwards.
I don't think I've listened to the Ring Ring album in its entirety in over a decade. 'I Saw it in the Mirror' has to be the worst thing they ever put their name to.
The lyrics to On & On & On are just too good. Full of wit and cleverly woven into the tricky melody lines of the verse.
"I wasn't exactly waiting for the bus".
Eric's Generic World: http://ericsgenericworld.blogspot.com/
What's this about One Of Us being an unofficial UK number one?
It's like a pop urban legend; there was 'no official chart' the week between Christmas and the New Year so all positions were effectively non-movers but it's claimed that One of Us was the top selling single of that week, so had there been an official chart they'd have bagged their 10th number one.Originally Posted by Dennis
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