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March 29, 2024, 08:55:52 AM

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ABBA are good, right?

Started by bgmnts, May 11, 2022, 05:52:23 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

pigamus

Why this fixation on Dancing Queen? That's like thinking Bob Dylan is just Blowin' in the Wind, it's daft

SteveDave

Because it's the only song that gets played EVERYWHERE. Absolute S4C.

Fambo Number Mive

My favourite ABBA song is Bang-A-Boomerang.


pigamus

You never hear Ring Ring as much as the others - I think it was on a different label?

Dr Rock

I like
King Kong Song
Voulez Vous
Summer Night City
On And On And On
and Keep An Eye On Dan

the most at the moment.

daf

#35
Quote from: pigamus on May 12, 2022, 10:16:55 AMYou never hear Ring Ring as much as the others - I think it was on a different label?

No, everything's been released through Polar. It was originally released in the UK in October 1973, but stiffed. After 'Waterloo' hit number 1 in April 1974, they had another go with a remixed version - which peaked at #32 in the UK charts in July 1974.

It also had a couple of different mixes - the US one has extra sax during the chorus :
1973 Swedish Version  |  1973 English version  |  UK 1974 Single  |  US 1974 single

QuoteIn 1974 after the number one success of 'Waterloo', Epic Records in the UK decided that ABBA's 1973 Eurovision hopeful 'Ring Ring' should be re-released as the follow up single. But rather than re-release the 1973 version, Epic Records A&R man Paul Atkinson suggested it should be "beefed up" to more closely resemble the sound of 'Waterloo'. Atkinson flew to Stockholm to oversee the makeover, which featured a heavier sounding guitar riff, and a short saxophone riff near the end of the choruses. It seems that it may have actually been a different take of the vocal. As well as being released in the UK (where it reached a dismal number 32), it was also released in Australia and West Germany. Curiously, it appears that in West Germany it was intended as the A side, backed with 'Honey, Honey', but it was 'Honey, Honey' that was promoted and sold as the A side. It's certainly the side that ABBA promoted on various West German television shows. This mix was also used on the promotional clip, filmed in June for distribution for television stations around the world.

A different mix of the alternate version appeared on the Atlantic Records Waterloo album in the USA and Canada, with an even heavier and noisier mix, and saxophone riffs after every line of the chorus.
https://abbaomnibus.wordpress.com/tag/ring-ring/

DrGreggles

I don't think you can like pop music and not like at least some ABBA stuff. That wouldn't make sense.

Add me to the list of S.O.S. lovers.
The way it has that insanely catchy chorus and ramps it up even more with the "When you're gone..." bit gets me every time.
It's pretty much perfect for me, Clive.

Listen to Gold and Gold II - there's barely a dud on there, but S.O.S. just has something extra to my ears.

pigamus

Quote from: daf on May 12, 2022, 10:54:06 AMNo, everything's been released through Polar.

Ah right, thanks. Probably just because it came before Waterloo. And it wasn't on ABBA Gold.

Kankurette

Ring Ring is a banger.
Quote from: itsfredtitmus on May 12, 2022, 07:20:41 AMnever hearing their plinky plonky oompah pianos again wouldn't bother me. when's the nolans and ace of base going to get in on this retrospective reappraisal that they sorely deserve? never hearing abba's plinky plonky oompah pianos ever again wouldn't bother me
Give Ace of Base 10 years. Are the '90s still trendy?

pigamus

I'd like to see it happen to the Nolans as well. Attention to Me, Gotta Pull Myself Together, Chemistry, Who's Gonna Rock You...

crankshaft

Quote from: pigamus on May 12, 2022, 11:50:57 AMI'd like to see it happen to the Nolans as well. Attention to Me, Gotta Pull Myself Together, Chemistry, Who's Gonna Rock You...

The Nolans had an amazing run of total bangers. And Bernie never got the respect she deserved for having a great pop voice that cut right through.

TheMonk

That new album seems to have sunk without a trace. I listened to it a bit when it came out. "Keep An Eye On Dan" is really good and almost makes it worthwhile. The rest is a bit naff and using old recordings makes the whole thing a bit pointless. At their best they are sublime.

the science eel

Quote from: TheMonk on May 12, 2022, 12:15:18 PMThat new album seems to have sunk without a trace. I listened to it a bit when it came out. "Keep An Eye On Dan" is really good and almost makes it worthwhile. The rest is a bit naff

I don't know what makes 'Keep An Eye On Dan' NOT naff! there are better songs on there and I'm surprised that one's been singled out twice in this thread already (the only song from the album to do so)

crankshaft

Quote from: TheMonk on May 12, 2022, 12:15:18 PMThat new album seems to have sunk without a trace.

Two million sold worldwide, I think they'd be pretty happy with that.

daf

Quote from: TheMonk on May 12, 2022, 12:15:18 PMThat new album seems to have sunk without a trace. I listened to it a bit when it came out. "Keep An Eye On Dan" is really good and almost makes it worthwhile. The rest is a bit naff and using old recordings makes the whole thing a bit pointless. At their best they are sublime.

Only one old recording - Just a Notion - and that was just the vocals. The backing was newly recorded.

The album is certainly no classic, but no stinker either - I'd place it on a par with 'Abba' from 1975 (roughly 'Help' in Beatles terms).

The mix is bloody awful though - really dull and flat - no dynamics to speak of. The vinyl also sounds much worse than the CD - like it was pressed on wet cardboard!

daf

#45
Quote from: the science eel on May 12, 2022, 12:49:56 PMI don't know what makes 'Keep An Eye On Dan' NOT naff! there are better songs on there and I'm surprised that one's been singled out twice in this thread already (the only song from the album to do so)

'When You Danced With Me' is my favourite on the album - which has a bit of the 'Arrival' bagpipe-synth thing going on.

buzby

#46
Quote from: daf on May 12, 2022, 10:54:06 AMNo, everything's been released through Polar. It was originally released in the UK in October 1973, but stiffed. After 'Waterloo' hit number 1 in April 1974, they had another go with a remixed version - which peaked at #32 in the UK charts in July 1974.
ABBA's recordings are owned by Polar Music, which was their manager Stig Anderson's label (later co-owned with the band, and eventually bought out by Polygram). They were released in Scandinavia on their own label and licenced to other labels overseas (Epic/CBS in the UK, Atlantic in the US, RCA in Australia, for example).

Quote from: pigamus on May 12, 2022, 11:09:58 AMAh right, thanks. Probably just because it came before Waterloo. And it wasn't on ABBA Gold.
The reason why the UK remix of Ring Ring did not appear on ABBA Gold in 1992 was because it was paid for by Epic, and they retained the master tape of it until their licence expired and it was handed over to Polar Music (who by then had been bought by Polygram). The Definitive Collection, released in 2001, was the first compilation to be released after the licence expired and includes the aforementioned version of Ring Ring alongside all their UK single releases, including the other 'unofficial' (not released as singles by Polar) UK singles, Angeleyes, Lay All Your Love on Me and Thank You for the Music (which also explains why there was no official promo video made for Angeleyes and Lay All Your Love On Me).

My top ABBA tracks, in no particular order, are Summer Night City, Lay All Your Love On Me, Voulez Vous and The Visitors

the science eel

I think I'd go for 'Waterloo' above all else. It's triumphant.

I love the live vocal on this - there's a nervy quality which adds to the appeal somehow, you can actually feel a happy energy in the room. It's irresistible.


The Mollusk

Quote from: idunnosomename on May 11, 2022, 10:54:38 PMi've always thought metalheads love ABBA? so much minor key stuff

The outro to "Better By You, Better Than Me" by Judas Priest is ABBA as fuck. Same decade as well.

Famous Mortimer

Quote from: idunnosomename on May 12, 2022, 12:16:12 AMGimme Gimme Gimme for instance was covered by Yngwie Malmsteen (it's nowhere near as good as the original, although the arpeggios do lend themselves to metal)

Yngwie Malmsteen is playing about a 5 minute walk from my house in a few days, but it's slightly too expensive to just take a punt on.

Kankurette

Oliver's Army by Elvis Costello is pure ABBA as well. Just listen to the piano. Benny could have written it.

the science eel

I think it was deliberate - EC was an ABBA fan, the piano touches were Steve Nieve's sort of tribute

The Mollusk

Actually loads of Judas Priest sounds like ABBA. The perfect ride of bombastic operatic flamboyance which is totally self aware but just riding the wave as hard as possible.

non capisco

If It Wasn't For The Nights is my favourite ABBA deep cut. The fact a song that catchy was deemed not to be single material is just showing off, really.

Benny from ABBA is one of the few celebrities I have ever hallucinated, in this case due to food poisoning. It was him in the room playing Dancing Queen on his piano, winking and singing 'Time to be sick again!' to the DANANG-NANANG-NANANG frill. He shares that honour with Darnell the albino bloke from Big Brother series 9 and Bez from Happy Mondays with a sweeping lizard-like tail (both sleep paralysis)

prelektric

#54
Having read this thread, I don't know where to start with all this. Gonna have to save it until later today. Today? Yes, today. It's after midnight now...

(Let's just say, I'm a fan. albeit a sensible one).

famethrowa

I like them, and it's probably one of my first musical memories.

When would we say was the absolute lowest point for ABBA worship? I guess around 1984-85, they were just a punchline and a byword for "lame". Then things started to pick up...

non capisco

Quote from: famethrowa on May 13, 2022, 12:17:00 AMI like them, and it's probably one of my first musical memories.

Super Trouper just beats This Ole House by Comrade Shakey to the punch for the first song I ever remember going absolutely nuts for.

Harry Badger

Quote from: non capisco on May 13, 2022, 12:20:46 AMSuper Trouper just beats This Ole House by Comrade Shakey to the punch for the first song I ever remember going absolutely nuts for.

Super Trouper really is superb and hilarious. It popped up in my Youtube list the other week and led me to the NTNON parody which I sent to my obsessively Anglophile Swedish friend, though I am yet to get a response. I might have to goad her with a scan of their interview in the Sunday Times last week.

A&A look totally dead behind the eyes in that video.

famethrowa

Also greatly amused by the jolly anti-noncery of Does Your Mother Know, imagine it being such an issue that you have to write a hit song about it? Different times.

idunnosomename

Quote from: The Mollusk on May 12, 2022, 11:25:01 PMActually loads of Judas Priest sounds like ABBA. The perfect ride of bombastic operatic flamboyance which is totally self aware but just riding the wave as hard as possible.
i'd say Queen are the big influence at first. Very sophisticated vocal layering on Sad Wings at times, an album that gets rather overlooked because of the publishing problems