The Winner's Gonna Take It All: The final...

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Deleted member 312

I'm never going to be able to forget 'My Secret Shart' am I?!

I look at your picture
And stare into space
I think I must know
Every line on your face
And you'll never know
The feelings I keep
Like the man in the moon
You're way out of reach

So dreams are all I have
Because we're worlds apart
All alone with my secret heart

I write you these letters
That I'll never send
It's crazy I know
But still I pretend
Though we've never met
Don't think I'm naive
I know you so well
Though it's all make believe

And dreams are all I have
Because you're far away
All alone with my secret heart
All alone with my secret heart

I must have held your hand
A thousand times
And felt your heart was beating
Next to mine
Even though it's just a lie
There are no tears in my eyes

If your picture could speak to me
What would you say
Maybe you'd just have to
Laugh in my face

And dreams would be much better
Than reality

All alone with my secret heart




Not while I'm breathing, lady!!!
 
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Deleted member 312

I quite like 'My Secret Heart'.

Of course you do. Of the 50s pastiche Enjoy Yourself tracks it's easily the best. I'd go as far to say that, after Wouldn't Change A Thing, Never Too Late and I'm Over Dreaming it's my favourite track on the album. It's got a glorious melody.

But anyway...yes...ABBA. Erm...did they ever do a 50s pastiche?
 
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Deleted member 312

I've Been Waiting For You, I Do, Marionette, Dream World, Does Your Mother Know, Happy New Year, Lovelight and Two For The Price of One are all on borrowed time by my reckoning, even if I did give at least three of them 8+.
 
He/Him
55.

'...We're not the stars of a Hollywood movie, so what's the use to pretend? I'm not so charming and you're not so groovy... You've got to face it, my friend...'
- Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad in Dream World -

abba_dreamworldPROMOCD_disc.jpg

"Fabulous."²

Average: 7.0870
Highest score: 4 *
10.00 - @haps @chris4862 @SecretsOfFatima @nlgbbbblth
Lowest score: 2 * 3.50 - @Gotnomoretosay @funkyg
My score: 6.50

One of our extras leaves us at #55. Dream World was recorded in 1978, during the early part of the Voulez-Vous sessions, but was deemed too weak to be put on the album, so Benny and Björn scrapped the recording entirely. Eventually (as a lot of you noticed) the middle-8 was re-used in Does Your Mother Know, which did see the light as the second single off of its parent album.

However, it did find its way onto a bootleg album, after it was played on a radio show in 1986, in which their sound engineer Michael B. Tretow was giving an interview. It's a slightly different version than the one we all know though...

The intro doesn't fade in as much and history has it that that's due to the tape partly being destroyed...

In 1994 it was reported that Benny and Björn were in the studio remixing this track and that remix is the one we got on the 1994 box Thank You for the Music. The song was released as a promotional single in Sweden, Germany and Australia (unarguably their biggest markets in their heyday) with some other rarities which never really saw the light of day before...

I only gave it 6,50 points and I don't think it's a bad song per sé, as I quite like the over-the-top intro, the chorus is fantastic and the girls sound great (though Frida's really drowned out in a lot of parts). Something about it just doesn't really resonate with me and I can't put my finger on it...

Hudweiser's with me on this one... "This seems to mark the beginning of Benny's synthesizer infatuation, but the fairground sound is really good and bookends the song perfectly. The rest is quite a pedestrian affair, but the girls are in great voice as ever.". Was 'pedestrian' the word I was looking for? I don't know...

Let's get a lot of the Does Your Mother Know-commentary out of the way, shall we?
Mina's "Glad that chord progression ended up going to the much superior Does Your Mother Know." and although that one's not a favourite of mine in the slightest either it is far superior though...
10-giver chris4862 knows that "if this had ended up getting a release we would't have had Does Your Mother Know, but god damn if this isn't one hell of a song. Up there with their best.".
"I take it this became Does Your Mother Know and... something I can't quite place?" asks VivaForever, before sighing "Thank God. Though the 'boy meets girl' part is rather catchy!"...
idratherjack prefers "this to Does Your Mother Know?" and ufint gets awfully punny... "Does your mother know that Dream World is far better?". Someone fetch ha coat!


constantino thinks of another song while listening to this... "Like I Am the City, this is fun but not particularly memorable. There are some great hooks to be found here, mind.". The vocal production actually reminded me a lot of I Am the City, as Agnetha sounds really pitchy and Frida's drowned out in the mix somewhere...

Not quite getting it right are One Stop Candy Shop, who, while thinking it's excellent, says "It could do without that Does Your Mother Know snippet though." and kalonite... "Um, you can't just cannibalise Does Your Mother Know. Not really a fan of this.". Sistren, Does Your Mother Know is actually the spawn of Dream World... But you're totally forgiven for not really being a fan. 's All good.

Mikey1701 is confused, though something tells me he knows exactly what he's talking about...
"Sometimes I really don’t understand Bjorn and Benny: not liking Summer Night City despite it being one of their best, refusing to officially release Just Like That despite being it being amazing, thinking that Two For The Price Of One and I Have A Dream were good ideas… and now leaving Dream World off the Voulez-Vous album. Yes, it doesn’t really fit with the album but I would have much preferred to listen to this than I Have A Dream, Lovers (Live A Little Longer) and Does Your Mother Know (which uses elements of this). A missed opportunity.".
I'll forgive you that Two for the Price of One slander, as you're actually kinda spot on about the rest.

Someone who was pleasantly surprised is WhatKindOfKylie?! "What a very nice discovery!!! I am baffled something as top notch as this, laid hidden in the vaults for so many years. Love its fusion of different genres going on, sounding 'old fashioned', but yet, also modern for the time, with synthpop being prominent in it too.".
Same goes for tylerc904... "What a discovery!!! I spent years as a die hard ABBA fan before getting my hands on this and I really adore it. The repurposed bit for Does Your Mother Know sounds odd now since I associated it with Does Your Mother Know for nearly 20 years.".
It's very refreshing hearing you're all just discovering this and loving it as much as you do. So thank you!

TrueBeliever wasn't so sure what to think when hearing this for the first time though... "As a huge lifelong ABBA fan, I’ve never heard this song until this rate. It’s great to have a new song to enjoy from here on out. I could do without derivative quality (i.e. Does Your Mother Know), and I’m still unsure if I can embrace its circus antics.".
Meanwhile, for poor ol' Sprockrooster this should have stayed in the vaults for sure... "Oh wow. This should have remained unreleased. So sad this is the last song I rated. Let me put my 11 on again to cleanse myself.". We're all at the edge of our seat wanting to know your elusive 11, sis!

CasperFan calls it a "Brilliant song, pity it was unreleased and reworked as other songs- wonder what they didn’t like about it.". It has always irked how Benny and Björn stayed silent over a lot of these recordings over the years...
bichard asks "This is from the Voulez-Vous sessions right? The song they pilfered a bit for Does Your Mother Know? It's pretty good actually. Even for a song I'm not that familiar with, I like it instantly.". It is quite instant, I'll give you that!

Before admitting to liking Agnetha's vocals on this one, Filippa says "Ok but not mine."... Okay.

We'll end with SecretsOfFatima who "won’t have a bad word said about this song.".
You must've really enjoyed this write-up then, eh.

 
Wait, that was still in? It's decent, but there are so many songs that left before it that are better. I honestly forgot about it.
 
Voulez-Vous seems home to most of their almost-but-not-quite material: They ditched Summer Night City, moulded this into DYMK, Just a Notion was canned, Under My Sun/Rubber Ball Man was never finished, the Hamlet III scraps sound a bit like they were made into I Have a Dream...

I guess they were having 'confidence issues'.
 
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Deleted member 312

Aww I quite like Dream World. Like @Mikey1701, I'd have rather had it on Voulez-Vous than I Have A Dream (how could they think Dream World was shit but allow that arse-vomit to pebble-dash the album?) or Lovers. But then, they also had Lovelight and Summer Night City in their back pockets for crying out loud.

Voulez-Vous seems home to most of their almost-but-not-quite material: They ditched Summer Night City, moulded this into DYMK, Just a Notion was canned, Under My Sun/Rubber Ball Man was never finished, the Hamlet III scraps sound a bit like they were made into I Have a Dream...

I guess they were having 'confidence issues'.

Well according to Bright Lights Dark Shadows this is very true. They were working on the album but felt much of it was sub-par, so buggered off to Miami where they got their inspiration for the title track and much of the rest of the album.
 
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