ABBA

If it didn’t have Shittle Things plonked at track 3 and Just A Notion sticking out like a sore thumb (as good as it is, it should’ve been a bonus track), it would be better.

If they’d kept going with Hit By A Train and My Story Ends With You, it would’ve been interesting to see I how they’d sound and we could play around with the running order etc.

As it stands, it feels more like a random collection of songs, some very strong, rather than an album.

However, nothing on Voyage is as dire as I Saw It In The Mirror and Me & Bobby & Bobbys Brother. Bleuuggh.
Yes, it does lack cohesion, one of my least favourite things about it. It does not flow together well at all I think.
 
Yes, it does lack cohesion, one of my least favourite things about it. It does not flow together well at all I think.

I’ve fiddled about with it a bit, based on 2 sides of an LP:

1. I Still Have Faith In You
2. When You Danced With Me
3. Just A Notion
4. I Can Be That Woman
5. Little Things

6. Don’t Shut Me Down
7. Keep An Eye On Dan
8. Bumblebee
9. No Doubt About It
10. Ode To Freedom

It works a tad better like that and makes side 2 all top tier.
 
I’ve fiddled about with it a bit, based on 2 sides of an LP:

1. I Still Have Faith In You
2. When You Danced With Me
3. Just A Notion
4. I Can Be That Woman
5. Little Things

6. Don’t Shut Me Down
7. Keep An Eye On Dan
8. Bumblebee
9. No Doubt About It
10. Ode To Freedom

It works a tad better like that and makes side 2 all top tier.
Side one works quite well especially I would say with what you have done there, with the more traditional ABBA songs back to back.
 
The thing about Voyage is that it's actually like most ABBA albums in that there's some brilliant material, some slightly less brilliant but still great stuff, and an occasional moment which I personally appreciate but still wonder what they were thinking. Little Things falls into that last category - it's not so different from the way that Arrival gives us Dum Dum Diddle two songs after Dancing Queen, or The Visitors has Two for the Price of One, or (dare I say it), Voulez Vous crashes to a halt at track 3 with I Have A Dream.

Voyage was never going to be ten Gold-worthy songs, but its highlights are up there with the best of what's on Gold, and the rest is pretty good. As a fan since my teenage years in the mid-90s, I never expected to get another album and in many ways didn't want one in case it was rubbish. To have had one (last?) album, and a good one to boot, is still very special and I'm grateful for it.
 
Arrival gives us Dum Dum Diddle two songs after Dancing Queen, or The Visitors has Two for the Price of One, or (dare I say it), Voulez Vous crashes to a halt at track 3 with I Have A Dream.

I like all those songs! Someone proposed chucking I Have A Dream off Voulez-Vous and adding the full version of Summer Night City, then chucking either I Wonder or Rock Me off GHV2 and replacing it with I Have A Dream, so GHV2 has 2 new songs and IHAD is still a December 1979 hit. I thought that was an interesting idea.

There’s very few ABBA songs I dislike and most of the ones I do are either on Ring Ring (which I can avoid) or were b-sides. Of the original run of albums, there’s only really the inclusion Man In The Middle and The Piper on studio albums that bother me. I’ve swapped them for Crazy World and Elaine.

For Voyage, Just A Notion sounds so weird with 1979 vocals plonked on a 2021 album. It’s an odd choice to recycle half an old song. But I like the song.

Shittle Things can get in the bin.
 
I like all those songs! Someone proposed chucking I Have A Dream off Voulez-Vous and adding the full version of Summer Night City, then chucking either I Wonder or Rock Me off GHV2 and replacing it with I Have A Dream, so GHV2 has 2 new songs and IHAD is still a December 1979 hit. I thought that was an interesting idea.
Yes - I like all those too - even I Have a Dream, much as it sticks out a bit on its original album

The only Abba song I have ever actively avoided is I Saw it in the Mirror, which never made it into my iTunes library from the CD so I haven't heard it in 20+ years. I probably should listen to it again!
 
Having just posted that, I've listened (for the first time) to the original version of I Saw it in the Mirror by Billy G-son, and it's certainly got more about it than the ABBA version
 
Yes - I like all those too - even I Have a Dream, much as it sticks out a bit on its original album

The only Abba song I have ever actively avoided is I Saw it in the Mirror, which never made it into my iTunes library from the CD so I haven't heard it in 20+ years. I probably should listen to it again!

I wouldn’t if I were you, it’s just as bad as you remember it being
 
The only Abba song I have ever actively avoided is I Saw it in the Mirror, which never made it into my iTunes library from the CD so I haven't heard it in 20+ years. I probably should listen to it again!
Same. I tried it out again last year and couldn’t even get through it.

Remembering when it was rightfully the first song out in @Remorque’s rate here.

Man in the Middle circles the drain too but I can take it once every few years out of morbid curiosity.
 
There’s never been a rarities disc on its own but they’re included on so many boxsets and compilations now, it would be a bit of a redundant set. The 40th Anniversary Gold came with a 3rd disc of just b-sides. Maybe RSD
exclusive would be good?

I get why people dislike it, but I really love the Waterloo album. My Mama Said, Dance (etc), Hasta Manana, What About Livingston, Gonna Sing You My Love Song are all gems. I even really enjoy Sitting In The Palmtree and Watch Out.

On the flip side, Super Trouper is an album I very rarely listen to in full. It’s….fine. I’ve always found it far less exciting than Voulez-Vous.

Current album rank:

The Visitors
The Album
Voulez-Vous
ABBA
Arrival
Waterloo
Super Trouper
Voyage
Ring Ring
I need to reappraise my albums list, but I don’t think it’d be too different from yours. Somewhere I also did one based on the cover art - Arrival wins hands down, I love those helicopter photos
 

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