ABBA: Classic Or Dud?

(They were always princesses to me)

Just bought The Visitors for $5, absent the bonus tracks sadly, but remastered. Investigating their album tracks might be worthy of an ILM thread, actually...

Anyway!!!! I used to be like that, especially in the late 70s/early 80s when you couldn't switch on a radio or TV without hearing their latest number 1!!!! But even then, I liked the odd tune like "Knowing Me, Knowing You", "Name of the Game", "Eagle", "Voulez Vous", "Gimme Gimme Gimme" etc... And then some time in the late 80s Channel 4 showed "Abba- The Movie" in some graveyard slot, and I thought "Well, they did one or two good tunes, so I might as well give it a watch!!!!"... And I thorougly enjoyed myself!!!!! A much better concert movie than that pisspoor Led Zep "Song Remains the Same" thingie!!!! Bit ironic considering tha Zep at the time were the rock equivalent of Abba in terms of massive popularity and massive critical derision!!!!

Continuing the Zep connection, Abba even have an equivalent of "Hammer of the Gods" in the ace "Name of the Game", which is still one of my fave pop books!!!! (And it's co-written by Andrew Loog Oldham, for Cliff's sake!!!!!)

great column today, Tom

Yes, great article.

hmmm i'm going to suggest classic, because the girls could sing and when i feel in a certain frame of mind i'll put on the records and enjoy them.

faves: knowing me knowing you, gimme gimme gimme, fernando

"The Day Before You Came" was one of their last flops, not one of their first ones; between "Waterloo" and "S.O.S." none of their singles hit big in Britain at all.

Good point Marcello.

Thanks Dominique and Baaderonix!

'Dancing Queen' always struck me as one of the saddest hit singles ever. Partly because, yes, the "time of her life" is now, is gone. But also the knowledge that 30 years later, dancing queen is working at the post office in some provincial town listening nostalgically to 'Dancing Queen'.

As far as the lover/murderer equation goes in "TDFYC," the line "I never even noticed I was blue" probably tilts it in the "lover" direction, but of course lover and murderer could be the same person and the murder not necessarily physical - i.e. he came but now he's gone.

whoah.

i'd never thought about the murderer angle before! and tdbyc is in my top 5 abba tunes ever - it's always the one i bring out when people accuse them of being a shitty throwaway pop band or whatever.

great piece tom, kudos.

xpost

Blue = shade of a corpse, too.

I just ordered The Visitors. I better like it.

I only recently heard the Yngwie Malmsteen version of "Gimme Gimme Gimme," and I have to admit, it induced some kind of post-traumatic stress disorder that's limited my ability to listen to ABBA.

The Visitors >>>>> ABBA Gold

GOLD!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7539805.stm

Abba's greatest hits compilation Gold, first released in 1992, has become the oldest album to top the UK album chart. The record, which has made it to the top spot on four previous occasions, knocked Coldplay's Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends down to two.

This is a question? ;) The terms ABBA and Classic are almost interchangeable. Best singles band ever. They had an Olympian aura, when joyous the world feels lighter, more colourful and justified. When they explore sadness trees cry, the world turns grey, loss attains a mythical quality. My 3 favorite ABBA songs are 'Knowing Me, Knowing You', 'S.O.S.' and 'Chiquitita' (the outro always makes me misty-eyed, something to do with perfect childhood memories I guess).

I like ABBA fine, but this goes a bit far.

"Olympian aura" = proto-riot grrrl?

I don't think it even approaches ABBA's greatness

Thank you for the music just came on the radio the second I pressed submit

No Abba thread on HYS...

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/wingsounds1

!

cover for her 'Beat It' CD:

http://cdbaby.name/w/i/wingsounds16.jpg

I mean... God bless these fucking guys right?

Did "Summer Night City" ever get wide release as a 12 inch? Which sounds better, the 7 inch or its appearance on Greatest Hits Vol. 2?

The "previously unreleased full-length version" debuted on the box set.

Yeah, with the string intro or whatever. I'm thinking of record fidelity. The greatest hits vol. 2 is one of those records with a lot of tracks on each side, and I think "Summer Night City" is on one of the inner bands (and I'm superstitious of inner bands because I always think of them as lower fidelity because they're smaller than outer bands - I think a lot of singles lead off on the outer bands). I have a source for the GH, but not the 7 inch. Sometimes 7 inches sound like ass, anyway. I thought a nice fat-grooved 45 rpm 12 inch of this song would be cool.

That is way too much information.

A side note: Waterloo the album kicks ass.

how is this thread so short?

Abba are great, what's left to discuss?

i think it's cause we did so many other threads about them over the years. but yeah there's no debate is there.

Summer Night City on Greatest Hits Vol 2 vinyl sounds great. That's the format that I have mostly experienced it in. Comparitively speaking, I can only compare it to some illegaly downloaded mp3 and I have to say it is superior.

Best Band Ever right?

yeah - i'm listening to them now

Looks like I was referenced early on here. Just saying... No... They aren't the best band ever. But they are still classic.

However, their best album was one that was among their least selling. Probably because they were seen as sort of old-fashioned and their brilliant take on the synthpop sound went unnoticed by those (well... like me...at the time, even) who should have been supposed to like it.

Hardly a day goes by that I don't think about the chorus of "Angeleyes"