ABBA
- Thread starter Hudvar
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Deleted member 304
I had a lot more respect for them when I heard they turned down a 1 billion$/100 date tour!
There's nothing you can say about them really. They're ABBA. That says it all. (Yes, I love them.)
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I must have heard some of their tracks, quite literally, thousands of times without getting bored. I can still listen to 'Dancing Queen' and marvel at how amazing it sounds, even though I hear it on a virtually daily basis.
Genius.
Genius.
I always loved their post-divorce material more, the brilliance of virtually every track on 'The Visitors' (bar Head Over Heels and Two for the Price of One) and aprts of 'Super Trouper' is astounding.
It's a crime When All Is Said and Done - the best account of the end of the groups rleations - was not picked for a UK single.
I couldn't possibly pick one ABBA song as my favourite, but I cherish WAISAD, The Winner Takes It All, Angeleyes, Summer Night City, the so-so-so much better '74 remix of Ring Ring, When I Kissed the Teacher and Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! more than the rest.
Love 'em!
It's a crime When All Is Said and Done - the best account of the end of the groups rleations - was not picked for a UK single.
I couldn't possibly pick one ABBA song as my favourite, but I cherish WAISAD, The Winner Takes It All, Angeleyes, Summer Night City, the so-so-so much better '74 remix of Ring Ring, When I Kissed the Teacher and Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! more than the rest.
Love 'em!
I'm amazed no recent artist has ever gotten Benny/Björn to write a song for them to record...surely they still write music.
Anyways, "I Am The City" sounds like some time traveler gave them help while writing it. It's completely amazing.
The best pop artists ever.
Anyways, "I Am The City" sounds like some time traveler gave them help while writing it. It's completely amazing.
The best pop artists ever.
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infinity_within
Two For The Price of One is 1 of my very favourites.  It's got so much pathos to it, and the twee-melody hits like a final, unbearable insult.  It's just gorgeous. ÂÂ
Everything was just so accomplished though I guess - their music just gets better and better with age.  And completely drenched with memories, entrenched in so many people's lives.
Everything was just so accomplished though I guess - their music just gets better and better with age.  And completely drenched with memories, entrenched in so many people's lives.
I've lost my copy of Abba Gold!
I love them. They are without doubt the best group ever. The girls voices are superb and their harmonies were a match made in musical heaven. The tracks that each girl took the lead on said a lot about her personality - Agnetha was always deemed the fragile, unable to cope one (The Winner Takes It All and S.O.S), whereas Frida was the stronger, able to move on (Knowing Me, Knowing You and When All Is Said And Done). What I love about ABBA is that their happy songs make you so happy and their sad songs are so tragic - intensified more after the divorces. Some might say that S.O.S and Knowing Me, Knowing You were predictions of what was to come.
What still puzzles me is why they have never released the full versions of Under My Sun, Just A Notion and Just Like That when they are all on poor quality bootlegs. They all stand up as good tracks and could be put alongside the other tracks not on albums like DreamWorld, I Am The City etc as well as the remixes that Benny and Bjorn did on the ABBA hits a few years ago that got shelved.
Milky x
What still puzzles me is why they have never released the full versions of Under My Sun, Just A Notion and Just Like That when they are all on poor quality bootlegs. They all stand up as good tracks and could be put alongside the other tracks not on albums like DreamWorld, I Am The City etc as well as the remixes that Benny and Bjorn did on the ABBA hits a few years ago that got shelved.
Milky x
MilkyBarKid said:
There are loads of different versions of "Just Like That" floating around I believe- well, maybe 3. Benny and Bjorn were never happy with them and still aren't so they won't release any of the versions.
"Just A Notion" wasn't finished. The half a song that exists on the "Thank You For The Music" box set is apparently all there is. Some bootleggers have cut and pasted it together to make a full 3minutes song, but it's just the same bit looped again.
They won't release "Under My Sun" because they shredded it to make other songs (notably Under Attack), and this is also the reason they won't release the full version of "Get On The Carousel".
You probably knew all of this, but your probably as fed up as I am about it...
KittyLips said:
I know Benny & Bjorn are not happy with Just Like That but of the 3 versions I've got I personally can't see anything wrong with them, it really doesn't makes sense especially as they released I Am The City. I prefer the Na Na Na version over the Sax version but that's my opinion.
The reason why they won't release Under My Sun doesn't make sense either especially when they released DreamWorld which is EXACTLY the same backing track as Does Your Mother Know. While some elements of Under My Sun are apparent in other recordings the track is completely different in its entire form especially the vocal arrangement.
I always thought Just A Notion was completed?? I understood that the reason why Benny and Bjorn didn't want it to be released is because they thought it rambled on and didn't go anywhere.
Whatever Benny and Bjorn's reasons they seem to be a little strange considerring that they broke the same reasoning behind certain other tracks. If they gave the aforementioned tracks a bit of work I'm sure they would be up to their perfectionist standard.
Milky x
MilkyBarKid said:
In all honesty I never noticed that about "Dreamworld", although I know it is similar to other songs, the names of which escape me at the moment. "Under My Sun" was later reworked as Rubber Ball Man and sounds rather different- the backing track is slightly bizarre. Half of the verse is identical to part of "Under Attack", but as you say, when they've released "Dreamworld", this argument becomes folly. They really should just release "Rubber Ball Man"
MilkyBarKid said:
I can't remember if I read it in the box-set notes in the complete studio recordings" book, but one of them stated Just A Notion was only half recorded. You can here them just stop playing when it comes up to verse two on the "Abba undeleted" section of the box set. It's quite strange. I guess they wrote a full set of lyrics but didn't use them.
It took me ages to locate the Dream World / Does Your Mother Know cross-over ("take it easy, better cool it down, take it nice and slow..." / "when you reach out and you say to me how I love you girl...")
Can someone point out to me where Under Attack was previously heard in part?
I imagine B&B will eventually allow some of the holy grail tracks to be released on some 50th anniversary collection, just when we've all finished paying off the last one.
Can someone point out to me where Under Attack was previously heard in part?
I imagine B&B will eventually allow some of the holy grail tracks to be released on some 50th anniversary collection, just when we've all finished paying off the last one.
Thanks for that re: Dreamworld.
For "Under Attack", if you listen to the segment of Rubber Ball Man, compare the section:
"I guess I'll never get
a chance to know you
still you're close as can be"
to:
"it’s just like taking candy
from a baby
and I think I must be"
I'm sure there are other bits of Rubber Ball Man and Dreamworld that were incorporated into other songs, but I can't think...
For "Under Attack", if you listen to the segment of Rubber Ball Man, compare the section:
"I guess I'll never get
a chance to know you
still you're close as can be"
to:
"it’s just like taking candy
from a baby
and I think I must be"
I'm sure there are other bits of Rubber Ball Man and Dreamworld that were incorporated into other songs, but I can't think...
hudweiser said:
The other place (i.e. aside from 'Rubber Ball Man' where 'Under Attack' was heard before is in the slow and na na na mixes of 'Just Like That' - the guitar riff immediately before the vocal comes in is the same as the opening lines of the verse.
I think Benny and Bjorn have shown remarkable integrity in refusing to release tracks they're not happy with: most artists would have done simply for the guaranteed influx of cash that would inevitably be raised from doing so. But, given that these songs are fairly easily found online (and in rubbish quality bootlegs, at least in the case of the sax mix of 'Just Like That'), plus the fact that Agnetha and Frida apparently think they should be released, plus the fact that the Gemini version of JLT (which Benny and Bjorn consider the 'best' version) is actually utter crap, surely they might now give in? I think they've made their point...
Abba are great: perfect songs, perfect vocals, perfect production. The way in which they were at ease with so many different musical styles and lyrical themes, yet whilst also remaining recognisably 'Abba' must be pretty unique...