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Post by jj on May 15, 2024 15:48:11 GMT
I feel a few people here are noticeably starting to feel depressed with the growing realisation that soon there will no longer be anything new from ABBA.
As fans, we've been extremely spoilt - EXTREMELY SPOILT - with the release of nothing less than a brand new album from ABBA, something none of us even dared think would happen even as little as 5 years ago. Yet they gave us exactly that! Amazing!! I sincerely think it's partly because they knew an album would make their fans extremely happy that they persevered in the studio and recorded an album's worth of new material. I even think ABBA thought that they somehow owed it to their oldest and most loyal fans, and that's partially why they did it. So how generous this was of ABBA!
But now, after a roughly 28 year period (1993 to 2021) where ABBA kept drip-feeding us with releases, starting with "I Am the City" on More Gold, followed by the Undeleted Medley and other gems on the 1994 Thank You for the Music box-set, then the FATSTAPA medley, finally culminating with the greatest of all gifts, the Voyage album, it seems fans are bracing themselves for some kind of horrible, post apocalyptic End-of-Times, as if a kind of miserable existence awaits them in the final chapters of their lives simply because ABBA's output will be back to zero. Yes, it is obvious (and also quite logical and natural) that we're headed back to the future, back to those non-ABBA years again, back to the status quo as it existed during the 1983-1993 period of ABBA's non-being.
It's become obvious a few fans here are already grieving, knowing that we're about to re-enter this new 1983-1993 period. Realistically, there is no avoiding it, because it's... unavoidable. It will happen, because logically, it has to happen. If it's not already completely true, eventually there will in fact be nothing of ABBA's studio recordings left in the vaults to release.
Some of the older, diehard fans here on this forum seem to be absolutely dreading this upcoming, soon-to-be-upon-us, reversion back to that 1983-1993 "no-more-ABBA" period. I would like to predict that it won't be so bad after all. Why? Because we've lived happily through such a period before! From 1983 to 1993, almost completely bereft of anything new from ABBA (save for a few low quality bootlegs of a few unreleased songs doing the rounds), we soon got used to not having ABBA around anymore. We adapted. Very quickly, too.
Cast your mind back, older fans! Suddenly no longer chained mostly to ABBA's 90 odd songs, didn't you quickly discover lots of fun, interesting, amazing, wonderful, or great (or all five) NEW ARTISTS?? Didn't these new artists keep you entertained, a few of them maybe even thrilling you, over the years? Even when the smallest hope you had that ABBA would record again had finally died, weren't you at this point eagerly taking in the newest sounds from great new artists you'd started following? Weren't some of the 1980s groups and singers simply wonderful?? Didn't you love some of the many, many new-wave British groups or pop acts? There was an explosion of great stuff coming from the UK, America, Europe and Australia to suit every possible taste over that period. Too many great songs and great artists to name!
So, if we're honest and being realistic, those post-ABBA years were actually a glorious time - even for diehard ABBA fans - because we were finally forced, through a lack of ABBA, to broaden our tastes, and to seek out other artists' albums, which led to our reveling in new sounds, new flavours, and maybe also taking a chance and discovering some older artists and the back catalogues of artists whose careers we'd perhaps not even noticed before.
A good thing that will be very different from 1983-1993, is that, at least this time around, ABBA will now be widely accepted and remembered as the great artist we fans always knew they were. There'll never again be a need for some to hide their fandom out of a sense of shame.
Far from dreading this coming new period of zero ABBA activity, we should accept it with open arms, because if the so-called "dark years" of ABBA are any indication, there'll be a lot of great new music from other artists to enjoy. In terms of music, if 2025 and beyond are as good as 1983-1993 were, then I personally very much look forward to "Life Sans ABBA: Part 2".
No-one need feel down and depressed about the inevitable end of anything new coming out of ABBA or their vaults. You're going to be absolutely fine if the past is prologue.
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Post by johnny on May 15, 2024 16:24:58 GMT
Great post!
I started to discover new artists in 1978 - after the ABBA peak period from SOS to Take a Chance On Me. Yet still liked (most) of their output after that.
People need to remember the commercial failure if 1982. Yes, many fans love TDBYC but it wasn't genetally liked - and nothing special from other 5 songs that year.
Nothing for that decade you mention,JJ. I would say to 1992 with Gold.
But then Mammia Mia! Stage musical in 1999. Film in 2008 and another one in 2018.
Then Voyage album in 2021 and extraordinary Voyage show in 2022.
ABBA members are now aged 74-79. There's nothing new to give!
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Post by jj on May 15, 2024 17:08:00 GMT
This feeling of sadness/disappointment and gloom I've sensed in a few older fans' recent posts is actually quite unreasonable - even quite illogical when you actually think about it - because it would seem that these now newly-disappointed fans were somehow expecting, after the release of Voyage, that ABBA was on the verge of a new stage in their career. They were wishing this to be true, that ABBA had reunited and that they'd now carry on as before with more new albums every few years. This is what the surprise release of Voyage seems to have triggered in those old fans: that maybe ABBA were back now. This album was simply a final gift from ABBA to their die-hard fans. Somehow some fans allowed themselves to imagine it might be the dawning of some new golden era of ABBA.
But when you actually look at things, since Gold in 1992, and despite the release of several tracks I mentioned before over the period 1993 to 2010, there has been nothing completely new from ABBA themselves released until the Voyage album. Nothing at all. And yet some fans got used to feeling a buzz around ABBA thanks to the Mamma Mia! franchise and its metastasizing into films, restaurants and car-washes. I actually think that because of these offshoots, ABBA fans had gotten used to ABBA being talked about, and seen and heard again everywhere, and that the Voyage album was the group signalling their relaunch, and that there would be many new and glorious gold-plated evergreens like Dancing Queen, Knowing Me, Knowing You and Take a Chance on Me in the pipeline. This is completely unrealistic. Voyage created a false hope among a group of diehard fans who refused to come to their senses and admit that the members of ABBA were in fact in their mid to late 70s and couldn't possibly fulfill such an outlandish wish.
The Voyage album was a final album. A gift to fans. Not a promise of more to come.
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Post by foreverfan on May 15, 2024 18:14:04 GMT
I have to agree with posts above, and in reality to think of a reform or whatever is naive..... Voyage was a wonderful surprise, wished for by many for years...
Yes we would liked to have had more, human nature I guess , and Benny being Benny did hint of at least 2 unfinished tracks, which was fuel to the fire and where probably most of the hope / rumours come from...
Hand on heart time... I would have liked a group goodbye , but am more than greatful of their legacy, which will keep me happy for the rest of my life...
This forum has been fun , interesting , argumentative... I and the forum will no doubt slowly fade away... but we all have one thing in common... the love of them and their music... god that sounds twee, but you know what I mean....
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Post by baab on May 15, 2024 18:56:01 GMT
^^ Thank you for this great post jj ! There is no reason to feel depressed- the songs we got - no one can take them away! Although I also speculate about the e.g. two left Voyage songs, I do not get depressed, if they are not released. I‘m not only a big ABBA fan but also fan of CHESS and Kristina Från Duvemåla. There were times when I had hope that B&B would take on another project in the scope of those works, but their latest projects show that a new big musical score might be a too demanding task. But I will ever be grateful for those 2 master works and KfD will have it’s German premiere next year, 30 (!!) years since its creation. This enduring interest in ABBAs and B&Bs work is so thrilling - even without any more music. If we look back to 1990/1991 who in all honesty would have believed that ABBA would be so prominently around in 2024??
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Post by jj on May 15, 2024 19:52:21 GMT
I mean, by 1986, who amongst us here hadn't occasionally been very impressed by, or even become fans of, or keenly anticipated new releases from, at least one (or several) of the following artists:
New Order, The Style Council,
Adam and the Ants, Tears For Fears, Culture Club, Boy George, Bananarama, Bronski Beat,
Wham!, George Michael, Cyndi Lauper, Bruce Springsteen, Dire Straits, Depeche Mode,
David Bowie, Nena,
Bucks Fizz, Kate Bush, ABC, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, A Flock of Seagulls, The Pet Shop Boys, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Spandau Ballet, Sting, Human League, Kraftwerk,
Queen, Eurythmics, Talking Heads, Devo, Peter Gabriel, etc, etc...
Now robbed of ABBA, we were suddenly inundated with all sorts of musical treasures and a whole new menu of genuinely exciting new artists - some of them seemed edgy and exciting! Visually, too. Many looked defiant and iconoclastic. The more out-there the better. I remember being quite taken by some acts because they seemed so daring. I guess they appealed to a side of me that had outgrown the clean, wholesome and homely vibes that had made me so attached to ABBA. I was attracted to what I felt at the time was a darker, riskier element I couldn't define. I realise now that I had developed a kind of romanticised idea of a post-punk London club culture, where rebels and outcasts, flamboyant singers and misfits lived on the edge. Defiant outsiders were suddenly in.
Without being fully conscious of it, ABBA's disappearance in the 1980s was liberating, and, although I missed them and still hoped they'd come back one day, the new sounds and looks were very exciting, much more exciting than ABBA if I had been honest with myself, but I somehow stopped myself from ever comparing them to all the new stuff happening at the time. It didn't occur to me that they even could be compared anyway, apples and oranges. So I kept ABBA quietly tucked away at the back of my mind while I thoroughly enjoyed the New Wave, New Romantics, post punks and every dark, sinister, or crazy-looking (but tuneful) artist I saw on music shows each week. I particularly loved the daring, out-there, in-your-face, British underground look, anything counter-culture (though of course, they were ironically very "in" simply by looking/dressing like that!).
Oh yeah, so much great music and amazing-looking singers instantly filled the void left when ABBA disappeared. I missed them, of course, I hoped they'd be back one day, but there was just so much to marvel at and listen to that I now think the 1980s was probably the most exciting time of all. Between the ages of 16 and 24. I hadn't left ABBA. They'd quit. They had left me. And now I was free and open to discovering and enjoying so many new acts I wouldn't even have dreamed I'd ever be attracted to while ABBA had been around.
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Post by baab on May 15, 2024 20:10:00 GMT
^ Haha, when ABBA vanished, I was 16. Of course I wanted to look like the young Dave Gahan, not like Björn or Benny :-D
I loved Wham, George Michael, Franky Goes To Hollywood, Bronski Beat, I was a young gay, bullied because of my love for ABBA. And I loved Gitte Haenning, a German Singer. I still love her and go to her concerts. She‘s 72 but still has a great voice.
Also, I loved ABBAs Swedish successors Ace Of Base, Roxette, Svenska Björnstammen, Eva Dahlgren and Robyn.
All great artists!
In Germany, many people became fans of Musicals through CHESS, that is true, although it wasn‘t staged in Germany until 1990 - just from the score!!
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Post by HOMETIME on May 16, 2024 8:37:45 GMT
Are there many fans expecting new material beyond the two teased off-cuts?? Surely not. But you raise a great point, jj , about new music. The 80s were a massive treasure trove of new music. I discovered so many new artists, new sounds. I know I was already biased towards them, but I regarded the solo releases as separate entities. Agnetha (initially) presented ABBA-adjacent sounds, which was a way of weaning me off the ABBA obsession. Frida's was further away from those roots, darker and a bit edgier, and it helped open my ears to other styles and genres. And while Chess and Kristina didn't make me a musical theatre fan, they helped accelerate my love of choral music in particular. They're sublime projects. For me, that era of music has not been surpassed (#OldCodger). I loved - and still love - so much of the music from then. Human League, Yazoo, Eurythmics, Bucks Fizz, Pat Benatar, Pet Shop Boys, ABC (basically almost anything Trevor Horn has his hands on), Peter Gabriel, Belouis Some, Kiki Dee, George Michael (less keen on Wham), Depeche Mode, Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, OMD, Fleetwood Mac, Alison Moyet, Prince, Sheena Easton, Communards, Bronski Beat, Pointer Sisters... Some of those have waxed and waned for me over the years but I rediscover them and get obsessed all over again. I found the 90s a lot less interesting but managed to fall in love with the sublime Eddi Reader. Had a short-but-intense affair with Massive Attack. Crowded House. All Saints. The 00s were surprisingly good - I loved Franz Ferdinand, Elbow, Goldfrapp, Scissor Sisters, Robyn, The Killers, a lot of Max Martin-produced output. Now I like The Weeknd, Ariana Grande, some Taylor Swift, Jessie Ware. But these days I'm more likely to champion a song or an album rather than an artist. All that time with other music has recalibrated how I feel about ABBA's music. It's made me more objective, a little more critical maybe. I have new favourites, songs I'm less forgiving of. I find that an ABBA session makes me crave something different afterward. Ella Fitzgerald after Voulez-Vous. The Weeknd after Voyage.
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Post by foreverfan on May 16, 2024 8:57:02 GMT
For a time after 82, I stuck with a similar theme....Bucks Fizz, Dooleys, Boney M etc... still enjoy the odd track now.. I guess it helped me ween off Abba... then as those who have said above, new artists filled the gap.....From memory.. Brian Adams , Tina Turner, Laura Branigan , Erasure, Yazoo, OMD, Duran Duran.. I could go on.. ending up with over a 1000 singles and 500 plus albums.... I'm lucky if I buy an album a year now !! ...
Yes I've broadend my scope, but I guess I'll always fall back to Abba and that genre....it always makes me happy and there's nothing wrong with that is there........
ps.. funny how similar our post Abba artists are... something in that ?
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Post by johnny on May 16, 2024 10:09:04 GMT
I discovered new artists during 1978/79 which I liked alongside ABBA.
I liked a lot of New Wave and Punk like The Clash, The Stranglers and The Jam. And Blondie who were very multi-genre.
At the same time I liked a lot of Disco stuff especially the Niles Ridgers stuff with Chic and Sister Sledge and also divas such as Donna Summer and Gloria Gaynor. I wasn't a fan of Boney M, apart from Rasputin.
Into the early 80s I liked both Ska acts such as The Specials and The Selector and New Romantics such as Depeche Mode, Yazoo, ABC, The Human League.
Not a fan of the second half of the 80s though liked Fleetwood Mac, The Pet Shop Boys and their album for Liza Minelli
Eatly 90s more laid back with Crowded House REM, Beautiful South.
I liked the Brit Pop era too but like previous decade, 90s finished on a damp squid.
The noughties was a great era for debut albums but artists imo never repeated that magic. Eminem, The Killers, Keane, Franz Ferdinand,The Kaiser Chiefs, The Coral, Scissor Sisters, Bruno Mars. After that liked stuff by the Foals
Totally out of touch with new music these days
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Post by HOMETIME on May 16, 2024 10:23:32 GMT
[...] Not a fan of the second half of the 80s though [...] Same. The first half of the 80s saw people being individual. People didn't look like carbon copies of each other. The second half of the 80s saw a lot of the rougher edges, the individualism being ironed out. Those who had shocked - e.g. Boy George, Pete Burns - dialled the freakiness down to a corporate sheen. PWL might have been responsible for a few pop classics but, as their success took hold from 1987 onwards, you sometimes had to wait for the vocal to kick in before you could identify which of their artists was on radio. The production was so similar. Kudos to the stuff they did for Princess, Mel & Kim, Dead Or Alive - they all had some individuality. But Kylie, Bananarama, Sonia, Jason Donovan, Rick Astley all seemed to have exactly the same production style. They all delivered the occasional pop peach, but the sound was very homogenous. And the other dance acts from that era sounded very similar too. And the acts looked a lot alike too. I much preferred the more erratic diversity of the first half of the 80s.
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Post by richard on May 16, 2024 12:17:36 GMT
It's been interesting for me reading about the other artists that appeal to you in relation to ABBA; and it makes me realise, again, how musically obtuse I was not to recognise ABBA's brilliance during their hit-making heyday - but I 'got it' much later, though. At the time I was more into other 70s artists such as Fleetwood Mac and Stevie Wonder, to name just two. And the 60s: for me, unsurpassed for out-and-out catchy pop. And I had to play 'catch-up' again regarding the 80s because during much of that decade I was passionately engaged in learning a classical musical instrument and lost a lot of interest in pop music in general before regaining that interest. I suppose we all have our different musical journeys.
So I can't say that ABBA was THE group for me that naturally led on to appreciating other, subsequent, artists. But I'll always be glad that, belatedly, I came to appreciate how great they were and are.
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Post by jj on Aug 1, 2024 14:32:40 GMT
^ Haha, when ABBA vanished, I was 16. Of course I wanted to look like the young Dave Gahan, not like Björn or Benny :-D
That's so true for most ABBA fans in the 1980s and especially by 1982! I have a feeling most ABBA fans knew very well that, though we still loved them in 1982, we knew they had an unmistakable uncool, mum-and-dad aura about them by then. While you, an ABBA fan, preferred to model yourself on Dave Gahan's look and as far away from Bjorn and Benny's as possible, I'm sure most 16 year old female ABBA fans of that time wanted to look more like Nena, Joanne Catherall (Human League), or even Siouxie Sioux, than to the much more conservatively presented Agnetha and Frida, the latter's flirtation with slightly edgier hair and makeup not quite hiding the fact that she was approaching her 40s. She couldn't compete with the younger singers' looks, let's face it.
ABBA, though they remained my biggest love, quickly became like my most beloved aunts and uncles: I loved them to bits, but I knew they looked decidedly uncool beside most of the exciting new acts of the 80s.
On the other hand, Sheena Easton, Bucks Fizz and many of those poppier (dare I say "more lightweight"?) 1980s acts, as well as many (but not all) American artists also didn't manage to look cool either, not like so many UK New Romantics and post punk artists managed to, like Visage, Soft Cell, Tears For Fears, Psychedelic Furs, Adam and the Ants, etc., did.
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Post by johnny on Aug 2, 2024 16:34:43 GMT
^when ABBA vanished, I was 16. Of course I wanted to look like the young Dave Gahan, Wow, what a coincidence David Gahan said he wished he looked like me!
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Post by baab on Aug 2, 2024 21:23:14 GMT
Wow, what a coincidence David Gahan said he wished he looked like me! 1. How did you come to know Dave Gahan, Jonny? 2. Now you owe us a picture of you, Jonny! :-D
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Post by eddie on Aug 6, 2024 13:23:12 GMT
I don't think this was a happy time for ABBA fans. Their popularity seemed to wane from 1982. They were no longer enjoying great success from the last couple of singles. the only saving grace is " The Singles The First Ten Years " reached number one in the album charts. I don't understand why some were saying their songs sounded the same. Each song is unique and very different to the last. Whereas bands such as Culture Club were actually boring. Their songs were very similar to each other in comparison to ABBA. A lot of people seemed to close the book on ABBA from 1983 onwards. It was regarded " uncool " to like them. A plethora of new bands had emerged and even a couple of disc jockeys confirmed " ABBA had ran out of steam " During 1986 Peter Powell announced a possible return of ABBA. I can remember I was excited. Alas, nothing transpired as all four were involved in different projects. During the eighties there were budget compilations released but not much interest generated from these ABBA collections. We would have to wait as the nineties approached. Suddenly ABBA were " re-born " with the release of the iconic " ABBA Gold " in 1992. Many musicians declared their love and appreciation of ABBA's music. ABBA were beginning to receive acclaim as pioneers of pop music. Many don't realise it was ABBA who initially created the pop video/promo clip. Who would have thought a return was inevitable with the conception of " Voyage " and its twin the digital " Voyage " concert from 2018 to 2022. " Wonders never cease ".
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Post by paulman2 on Aug 6, 2024 15:32:23 GMT
I don't agree that nothing happened around Abba from 1983-1993. More precisely around the members of Abba. After all, Agnetha and Frida released their albums and Benny and Bjorn their CHess. Moreover, there was still hope that Abba would get back together when Agnetha and Frida were musically active. Now the situation is completely different. Only things from the archive provide a certain possibility.
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Post by johnny on Aug 7, 2024 12:28:28 GMT
I reckon I Know Him So Well could have been a great ABBA single.
Agnetha on the Elaine Page bits and Frida taking over from Barbra Dickson.
Trashy, diminutive and nasal Elaine Page didn't have the lead single, Don't Cry for Me Argentina from Evita. She and Miss Barbara Dickson could have both been excluded from the commercial single too.
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Post by richard on Aug 7, 2024 15:27:30 GMT
Trashy, diminutive and nasal Elaine Page [...]. Trashy? Do you mean her singing or persona, or both, lack class or quality? That she's 'cheap' somehow? Diminutive? What's her size got to do with it? Nasal. I can understand using that word if that's how you regard her voice. By the way, Johnny, I'm not interested in Elaine Paige (her singing and persona), but you do have a tendency to occasionally run your mouth - even though most the time I think you have interesting things to say and are one of the tiny handful who help to keep this forum going. Yes, like most ABBA fans, probably, I think Agnetha and Frida should have recorded IKHSW. I'm sure it would've been great.
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Post by paulman2 on Aug 7, 2024 16:38:52 GMT
I Know Him So Well performed by Agnetha and Frida would be really great. I think that after the breakup of both couples, a certain bitterness remained in the relationship. The combination of Agnetha and Frida's voice was unique and not fully utilized in my opinion. In 1983-89 this union would have been successful even without Benny and Bjorn. There were more good composers and arrangers in the world.
Elaine Page and Barbra Dickson The position and color of the voice was not unique, it was rather average, they were not vocally interesting as Agnetha and Frida.
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Post by HOMETIME on Aug 8, 2024 19:33:55 GMT
I don't agree that nothing happened around Abba from 1983-1993. More precisely around the members of Abba. After all, Agnetha and Frida released their albums and Benny and Bjorn their CHess. [...] I was thinking recently that there are solo albums I listen to more than ABBA albums. Enjoy more than some ABBA albums, even. I picked up a second-hand copy of Chess on vinyl recently and absolutely wallowed in it, from start to finish. I was never a big Elaine Paige fan - I find her delivery a bit shouty at times, and she has the tendency to "yelp" a little here and there. But I enjoy her contribution to this album. For my money, Barbara Dickson was underused: she has a lovely warmth to her voice, a really nice tone, and a storytelling ability that pulls you in. I love how she argues with Tommy Korberg on Endgame, shouting "liar!" and sounding like she wants to rip his head off.
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Post by johnny on Aug 9, 2024 5:30:23 GMT
Chess was very much the highlight of those years. Some pretty good tunes. The stage play itself didn't quite work but the album did.
Agnetha's firs album in this period had some memorable tracks and Frida got things off to a good start with I Know There's Something Going On.
Sadly, later offerings by Frida or Agnetha were very unremarkable.
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Post by johnny on Aug 9, 2024 14:33:31 GMT
I just looked up the international chart performances of I Know Him So Well and One Night in Bangkok. The former was really only big in the UK and Ireland. The latter a huge hit everywhere, well apart from the UK where it peaked at #12. #1 in several European countries including Germany, The Netherlands Switzerland and Spain. #2 in France. Also #3 in America. #1 in Australia and on the pan-European Chart that existed then.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 9, 2024 20:13:34 GMT
On 27 October 1984, a concert version of CHESS album was premiered by the original cast in London's Barbican Centre , on 22 October 1984 there was the last rehearsal in Stockholm and Benny and Bjorn were interviewd by Expressen. One of the questions was "Why can't Agnetha Fältskog and Annifrid Lyngstad be there?", here the typical Benny answer:
Expressen 1984-10-23
Why can't Agnetha Fältskog and Annifrid Lyngstad be there?
— They would have been a perfect fit, Benny replies. But now this is not an ABBA production, but something that Björn, Tim and I have done. The term ABBA has nothing to do with "Chess".
— To be honest, it's quite annoying to walk around and be ABBA all the time, adds Benny muttering. Three jacks stand for music, lyrics and story.
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Post by eddie on Aug 10, 2024 11:25:28 GMT
During the " Chess " period and after there were a lot of rumours and speculation ABBA would reunite but not until forty years later. I can remember I was sad ABBA bid farewell in 1982 although they never officially announced splitting up as a band back then. I would have loved ABBA to have recorded " I Know Him So Well ". It would have been great to hear Agnetha and Frida perform the song.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 11, 2024 19:57:01 GMT
Everybody, including UK press, expected ABBA to be together to collect GOLD Discs as individual artists, kind of reunion for one night. But Frida didn’t show up. --------------------------------------------------------------- GT (Gothenburg Expressen edition} 1985-05-24 ABB… It was nothing more By PER-ER1C ÓDEVALL STOCKHOLM (GT) No, it didn't work yesterday either. Stikkan Anderson failed to reunite ABBA, not even for one night. — Frida is skiing in Mallorca, Stikkan announced before handing out gold discs to Björn, Benny and Agnetha. ABBA as a group will never be resurrected. Benny Andersson definitively dismissed all rumors to the contrary yesterday: — You can forget whatever is written in English newspapers. However, the two A's and the two B's were meant to be temporarily reunited with Stikkan Anderson at Polar yesterday afternoon. Gold for all The program included the distribution of gold records, and all four had records to collect. • Björn and Benny for 300,000 sold copies of the double LP "Chess" in Scandinavia. • Agnetha for "Wrap your arms around me" and "Eyes of a woman" together sold 1 million copies in Scandinavia. • And Frida because her solo album "Shine" sold 50,000 copies in Sweden. But Frida never appeared. While Björn, Benny and Agnetha ate peanuts, sipped the party wine and talked about future plans, Frida preferred to stay in the sun at "Mallis". — It's strange. She lives there now, Benny said and switched to talking about work. Benny's next work is already mortgaged. Together with Björn, he participates in the work of staging the musical Chess in London. In addition, he himself will write the music for the film "Mio, min Mio", a Russian-Swedish-English co-production based on Astrid Lindgren's classic book. — And so Björn and I write a part for Karin and Anders Glernmark's upcoming LP. It will be entirely in English, and we have already delivered five songs. We will see if there will be more. Björn and Benny are producing themselves, and the plan is for the record to give "Glenmarks" a kick on the world market. — As for Chess, we hope for a premiere in March next year. We have just been over in New York and settled on a collaboration with director Michael Bennet, one of the big names in the industry. His track record includes "A Chorus Line", which he staged on Broadway. — In two weeks, we will go to London and look for a suitable scene. Then it is necessary to select the right singer for all roles. — Björn and I would like Tommy Körberg to sing in the stage version as well. But there is a long way to go. Tommy and Michael haven't even met yet, says Benny.
Picture caption:
— Three quarters of ABBA, Benny Andersson, Agnetha Fältskog and Björn Ulvaeua reunited. The missing link, Anni-Frid Lyngstad, preferred to stay in the sun on Mallorca.
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Post by jj on Aug 12, 2024 13:50:54 GMT
Everybody, including UK press, expected ABBA to be together to collect GOLD Discs as individual artists, kind of reunion for one night. But Frida didn’t show up. --------------------------------------------------------------- GT (Gothenburg Expressen edition} 1985-05-24 Really? That's surprising! I didn't know the UK press would've bothered reporting on any story regarding ABBA, let alone on such stories as "Gold records awarded to ABBA in Sweden", by May 1985.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 12, 2024 18:12:45 GMT
Everybody, including UK press, expected ABBA to be together to collect GOLD Discs as individual artists, kind of reunion for one night. But Frida didn’t show up. --------------------------------------------------------------- GT (Gothenburg Expressen edition} 1985-05-24 Really? That's surprising! I didn't know the UK press would've bothered reporting on any story regarding ABBA, let alone on such stories as "Gold records awarded to ABBA in Sweden", by May 1985. You are right, I was actually quoting Benny (— You can forget whatever is written in English newspapers), but checking the "British Archive newspapers" in May of 1985 the only articles mentioning ABBA (actually ex ABBA members) were about CHESS (Benny, Bjorn and Tim hiring Michael Bennett) and Agnetha's "Eyes of a Woman" (" a thoroughly professional production from an ex ABBA member, as expected")
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Post by Alan on Aug 12, 2024 19:35:57 GMT
Oh. Marc appears to have deleted his profile. That’s a pity. From an historical context, his posts were interesting. I had no idea until quite recently that Björn, Benny and Agnetha were photographed together in the 1980s (apart from the This Is Your Life appearance). As jj says, that news never made it to the UK. This was in the era when ABBA was a dirty word. Only mention them if it was unavoidable (ie. one of them was promoting a solo project, but even that was rare). Frida would have had a very good reason for missing it. In later years we were more used to Agnetha missing a reunion. Here’s another photo from then anyway.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 12, 2024 21:06:03 GMT
Oh. Marc appears to have deleted his profile. That’s a pity. From an historical context, his posts were interesting. Alan I just changed my username from Marc to Marco, more like my real name, didnt find how to rename, then I deleted and created a new one Regarding the reason Frida didn't attend the event: I believe she was living a very private life , dealing with her moving from London to the small city of SCHWYZ in the canton of SCHWYZ in Switzerland and enjoying life with friends, here 2 articles about Frida from the same period in 1985 ------------------------------------------ Aftonbladet 1985-04-15 SCHWYZ (Aftonbladet) Annifrid Lyngstad, 40. Annifrid Lyngstad has moved from London to the tax haven of Switzerland, Kvällsposten says today In Switzerland, she avoids the rising income tax in England as well as wealth tax. Kvällsposten quotes a Swiss newspaper which states that Annifrid Lyngstad earns half a million a year by moving from England to the canton Schwyz. There, the income tax is 19.44 percent, the lowest in Switzerland. Previously, England, where Annifrid Lyngstad moved at the end of 1982, only had a tax of 50 percent of the income of foreign citizens. But last autumn Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government changed the rules for taxing foreign nationals in England The new rules come into force during a five-year transition period The new right-wing income tax is taking full effect 1989-90. When she moved to England at the end of 1982, she only had to pay tax on 50 percent of her income. In five years, she will have to pay 60 percent in income tax. With the new English tax rules, she would therefore lose an estimated half a million kroner a year. There have previously been reports that Annifrid Lyngstad moved to Schwyz, but she has denied this. We have information from authorities here that Annifrid Lyngstad has been registered in Schwyz since August 13, 1984, says one of the editors of the local newspaper Bote der Urschweiz - She, like a number of other celebrities, has chosen to move to our canton because of the low taxes we have here, he says. Last Friday, the newspaper also published photo evidence that Annifrid Lyngstad actually has connections to Switzerland. These are pictures taken from the newspaper's editorial office. Annifrid Lyngstad stands with a male acquaintance on the terrace of her four-room apartment. Switzerland and Sweden have a double taxation agreement in which it is clearly stated that "a person who has permanent residence in the second treaty country, i.e. Switzerland in Annifrid Lyngstad's case, must be taxed there. But the move to Switzerland does not mean that she escapes the problems that a number of Swedes abroad received in England. The government has made an amendment to the double taxation agreement with England, an amendment which means that wealthy Swedes who have settled in England can nevertheless be taxed in Sweden The new agreement came into force at the turn of the year. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Aftonbladet 1985-06-09 Blonde Frida smiled and sang along when Springsteen played "Twist and shout" By her side she had her friend Charlotte Klingspor-Zimmerman --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bruce celebrated with Frida last night. GOTHENBURG - Immediately after the concert, Bruce Springsteen invited to a party. At the party, he somewhat embarrassedly accepted praise from Frida Lyngstad - An absolutely wonderful concert, said Frida. And then Springsteen was very, very pleased. When the crowd was still applauding for more - it was after the "Twist and shout" - Bruce and his band were already on their way to the hotel They jumped straight into two minibuses that were right behind the stage - in front of the main entrance of the hotel hundreds of people were waiting A dozen or so cops were called in to keep order but Springsteen fooled them all - he slipped in quickly through a back road. He was dripping with sweat when he got off the bus he looked tired and happy. Over his stage clothes he wore a long black coat - This was one of my best concerts ever. The same intimate stuttering as when we play indoors in front of 10,000 spectators at home in the USA. The crowd - It was absolutely fantastic it kept giving us more and more energy, I could have played at least another hour. Bruce was also very satisfied with the job of the organizer and the police - I am grateful that the police provided a police escort to and from Ullevi. The police and guards also did a very nice job with the crowd. For an hour, Bruce relaxed in his suite before taking his wife Julianne and two bodyguards under his arms and going to his party. At half past one, Bruce arrived and then stayed for just over an hour before disappearing with Julianne. It was a very exclusive buffet laid out on the top floor of Park Avenue, every imaginable kind of fish, shellfish and Russian caviar. Bruce and the saxophonist Clarence Clemons talked for a few minutes each with Frida. "You can't get much bigger than ABBA," Clarence told Aftonbladet the other day. Bruce, dressed in blue jeans and a yellow T-shirt, also received a gold record for his latest LP "Born in the USA". Björn Borg and Jannike Björling who stayed at the suite next to Springsteen did not come to the party - We didn't know Borg was here says Clarence. But we hope he will come to Sunday's concert as well. The only disappointment so far for Bruce Springsteen after all He hasn't seen much of Gothenburg - I have never been in such a commotion. This is flattering, but I really wouldn't have minded walking around and looking at the town and the people.
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