ABBA are reuniting

Bass Player Guy: I'm playing a wedding in December. Some very wealthy people. We're the opening act. You know who the headliner is going to be? ABBA.

KL: Abba? Get out. There's no way. ABBA is going to reunite and fly to the US to play some guy's wedding? How much money is the guy really going to sink into this? Surely it's Bjorn Again, the ABBA tribute band.

Bass Player Guy: ABBA is going to reunite to do this one show. If you pay these people enough money they'll do anything.

Months later:
KL So how was the wedding gig? How was ABBA?
Bass Play Guy: You know what, you were right. It wasn't ABBA, it was Bah-jyorn Again.

When I saw Bjorn Again, when the ladies had a costume change, the boys played Black Sabbath's "Paranoid"!! (I guess they need to break the monotony somehow - I'm betting they play more or less the same set every night i.e. most of ABBA Gold plus "Ring Ring" and "Honey Honey".)

If someone can learn me how to post pictures to this thing, I can oblige.

Sadly, I went to go find the un-airbrushed picture of Agnetha I had seen on the web so I could post the URL, and it is now gone (quel surprise!).

One of the things that made 2005 a little better than expected. Gawd, I hate reunions.

Reviving as all four made an appearance together (at the Mamma Mia premiere)

http://www.reuters.com/resources/r/?m=02&d=20080704&t=2&i=5036718&w=&r=2008-07-04T195818Z_01_L04364676_RTRUKOP_0_PICTURE1

http://www.reuters.com/resources/r/?m=02&d=20080704&t=2&i=5037136&w=&r=2008-07-04T222408Z_01_L04364676_RTRUKOP_0_PICTURE0

Frida looking great.

But when did Meryl Streep become a member of ABBA? :)

http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/1551303/abbas-agnetha-faltskog-drops-comeback-single-album-to-come

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w95WdpE6QAI

Productionwise, it sounds like it's from about 1998.

Instrumentally it sounds like the Lightning Seeds only worse.

Horrible.

It's a Gary Barlow co-write. Pretty much how I thought it'd sound.

A real shame to see Agnetha stuck with one of Barlow's boilerplate 'X Factor Winner's single' songs.

There's even a separate thread now. Take y'all's pick, I guess.

ABBA mulls possible reunion

ABBA perform together in Stockholm (briefly)

Previously the group have been offered $1 billion to reform.

O_O

Surely there's some kind of typo in there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5nYTGQfnnQ

A little shaky but when they harmonise it can only be them. Maybe Michael Tretow was off-stage, fiddling with his dBX and Eventide ;)

Funny that this momentous event takes place under a projection of a ticket-stub from Wembley '79. £7.50 was a lot of money back then.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/oct/26/abba-announce-virtual-live-experience-2018-simon-fuller

http://s3.amazonaws.com/quietus_production/images/articles/24479/image005_1524829793_crop_457x287.png

ABBA confirm they have recorded new music for the first time in 35 years calling it an 'extremely joyous experience'

ABBA has recorded new music for the first time in 35 years, according to a statement from the band.

They told Swedish site Afton Bladet: ‘The decision to go ahead with the exciting ABBA avatar tour project had an unexpected consequence.

'We all four felt that, after some 35 years, it could be fun to join forces again and go into the recording studio. So we did.

They're back! ABBA have confirmed they have reunited and recorded new music for the first time in 35 years calling it an 'extremely joyous experience'

'And it was like time had stood still and that we had only been away on a short holiday. An extremely joyous experience.'

'It resulted in two new songs and one of them, I Still Have Faith In You will be performed by or digital selves in a TV special produced by NBC and the BBC aimed for broadcasting in December.

They added: 'We may have been old, but the song is new. And it feels good.'

Just two days ago, fans were overjoyed to hear ABBA are launching a comeback... but they won't be the ones singing or dancing.

Instead, virtual 'Abbatars' are being created to represent the four members of the Swedish pop group for an upcoming digital gig.

Singer Björn Ulvaeus, 72, revealed the news of the gigs during a speech in Brussels. The two-hour show is expected to be broadcast by the BBC in Britain and simulcast across the globe.

A world tour is planned for 2019 or 2020, which could generate hundreds of millions of pounds in ticket sales, according to the Times.

The band will appear as they looked at their musical peak in 1979 thanks to high-tech imaging equipment.

'We thought we looked good that year,' Ulvaeus said.

Silicon Valley experts are using old videos to replicate how the band danced, dressed and sang so they can be programmed to reproduce hits such as Waterloo, Mamma Mia and Dancing Queen.

Ulvaeus described the effect as 'simply mind-boggling'.

Video playing bottom right...

'You'll hear the voices of ABBA coming out of the mouths of the Abbatars,' he said.

'You won't be able to see that they're not human beings. It'll be spooky, I assure you, but great fun and no one has done it before.'

The band sold more than 400 million albums but have not performed since 1986, apart from at a private party in 2016.

The four members - Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, 71, Anni-Frid Lyngstad, 72, and Agnetha Fältskog, 68 - have previously resisted reunions but are all behind the Abbatar project.

If successful the technology could allow bands to stage concerts anywhere in the world without the celebrities being present.

If the technology is embraced by fans it will allow artists to stage concerts anywhere in the world without leaving their homes.

Ulvaeus said US 'techno artists' had scanned the band last year.

'They photographed us from all possible angles, they made us grimace in front of cameras, they painted dots on our faces, they measured our heads,' he told broadcasting executives last week.

'Apparently, a cranium doesn't change with age the way the rest of your body falls apart.'

The singer said there was an 'existential dimension' to the project, as the band explored the idea of being young again: 'The wisdom that we hopefully possess now in combination with the youth of the Abbatars.'

living in the future is wild

First I learn that Fugazi occasionally gets together and jams, and now ABBA. Following a Cubs win, death of Bowie and Prince, a couple of weird Super Bowls, that Oscars best picture debacle, Trump ... yeah we are living in an alternate reality. It's pretty much the right time for Tupac to call off the ruse and go on tour.

it can only be a matter of time before hologram fugazi hit the road

We are all holograms living in a world where Fugazi is still on hiatus. There is another dimension where Fugazi still records and tours, but there are no other people.

Soldiers is so fucking good

otm

First I learn that Fugazi occasionally gets together and jams, and now ABBA

tour 2019

(been wanting to try out saying that, feels great)

Still feeling them

New song teaser sounding great.

I like the “f**k this 21st Century bullsh*t” look on their faces

https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2021/09/02/abba-2021-reunion-12d8b48a1226e153bd6d24dab72e04e4f7bd1a65-s1200-c85.webp

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZhrf32Tq1A

SCHLAGER SCHLAGER SCHLAGER!

I love how they're absolutely refusing the temptation to go all drum'n'bass or whatever

OTM. Though at first I read that as, "I love how they're absolutely refusing the temptation to go all dumbass or whatever". The OTM still applied.

holy shit this one hit for me

I like that one, kinda ELO.

they apparently first tried recording this one in 1978 but weren't satisfied with it at the time

Holy shit, this could be off Ring Ring.

Yeah, part of the old demo version is included on the 23-minute "Undeleted Medley" that was released in 1994. The other one from that medley which will be on the new album is "Bumble Bee".

"distiny"

Yeah I was wondering if I might’ve first heard it there.

That hook is ridiculous. Listened twice and hummed it for hours.

Holy shit, this could be off Ring Ring.

It could and I'm loving that!

this is much more like it

Is there some practical explanation for why the previous two new songs charted high in the UK (and across Europe) but did not enter the US Hot 100? Has the Billboard chart gone rogue?

ABBA generally much more celebrated on this side of the pond than the US I can imagine?

Yeah, I assume it’s for the obvious reason (the tracks not being played on the radio here).

They both made the billboard global 200, which doesn’t include airplay, just streaming and sales.

Was this reunion a major news story in the US? It was over here!

Not that I’ve noticed.

Not quite the Beatles reforming but not far off it, put it that way.

I would've thought that after the two Mamma Mia! films every man woman and child in America would know ABBA, but yeah somehow that doesn't translate to radio play, which perhaps is the deeper mystery

their songs would sound very out of place on contemporary radio, regardless of how popular they are

Sadly feel their stuff is relegated to DJ wedding playlists at this point.

My daughter got excited when she heard about it and told my wife, but I don’t remember seeing any news alerts or stories about it.

America's relationship to ABBA is basically, like, lots and lots of people own 'ABBA Gold' on cd and play "Dancing Queen" sometimes and maybe they watched either or both of the Mamma Mia! movies, but that's the extent of it.

Pretty much

...and "Waterloo" & "Dancing Queen" get played on 'Classic Hits' radio from time to time.

One of my earliest music memories of any kind was seeing this TV 1978 special when it originally aired, featuring ABBA, Olivia Newton-John, and Andy Gibb. I just watched it again recently and was surprised that it was actually called Olivia!, with ABBA and Andy only getting second billing. Despite this, ABBA was big in the U.S. then, if not quite as much so as in the UK and throughout Europe. They had ten top-20 hits here and were all over the radio at the time, if not now.

Also, the segues between songs on that TV show are all-time. About half the show is elsewhere on Youtube in stereo, rare for 1978 TV.

lol what the hell is "when you danced with me"

There's a very good 4 or 5 song ep in this 10 song album.

From the Guardian review:

'When You Danced With Me' tells the story of a girl left behind in Kilkenny when a boy she loved “left for the city”. She’s spent years waiting for him to return, we’re told; presumably she’s oblivious to the existence in Ireland of train routes, driving tests or text messages. The Celtic-leaning melody in the intro recalls Abba’s incursions into other global settings, such as the Mexican battlefields in Fernando, or the Spanish-Peruvian musical moodboards of Chiquitita. The overall effect doesn’t prompt folkloric nostalgia, but mild nausea.

Pitchfork with a 7.4: https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/abba-voyage/

Surprised to find that Bjorn doesn't play any instruments at all on this album.

i love "keep an eye on dan"

i may be a emotional schmaltz-loving dumbass tho as i'm crying through most of this album

oh yeah "no doubt about it" that's the stuff

i just love abba so much

i even think the gelatinous ballads are dope i'm helpless

Great record

Fun record. Witless Guardian review. First two singles probably the best tracks but the rest is great. I despair of people who can't be moved by good schmaltz.

I’ve been playing it over and over again today. It’s such a strange record, and like a lot of ABBA, a lot of it sounds off-kilter and naff, but that’s something to push through. “Little Things” in particular is… challenging… but then it segues straight into “Don’t Shut Me Down”, which immediately reframes the idyll. And then there are the subsequent songs about marital/post-marital strife, which sit all the better in its wake. B&B’s ventriloquising is unsettling in much the same way as “The Winner Takes It All” was us telling - all that self-denigration - but A&F interpret the sentiments beautifully, and in a way that suggests that they’re fully on board.

(“us settling” = “unsettling”… I may have had a drink or two)

Don’t get the hate for Little Things. Fits in the long tradition of sickly twee Abba songs haunted by a sense of loss.

Yeah, that one works for me. The two I’m still a bit cool on are Bumblebee and Ode To Freedom.

I'm having a lot of fun writing about Voyage, and the reaction to it, for a glossy gay lifestyle magazine. It does help enormously when you're not welded to the hot take.

:)