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Post by johnny on Aug 8, 2024 9:57:03 GMT
What 3 songs would you have chosen as Voyage singles?
My choices
Don't Shut Me Down
No Doubt About It
When You Danced With Me
All with physical releases both CD and vinyl and proper videos.
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Post by voyage2 on Aug 8, 2024 11:24:21 GMT
ISHFIY and DSMD were the best choices for singles, and I haven't changed my opinion on that. 3rd choice for me WYDWM (just wish it was a minute or so longer)!!
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Post by bjorenny on Aug 8, 2024 13:56:21 GMT
My choices match Johnny's, and I agree that they needed proper videos and physical copies (I'd be up for limited editions such as gatefolds, picture discs, coloured vinyl, a proper B-side that wasn't on Voyage etc.). ISHFIY is a bit long and takes too long to get to its crescendo to be the 'main' single, in my humble opinion.
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Post by johnny on Aug 8, 2024 14:15:38 GMT
ISHFIY is fine as a song but it really wasn't single material.
I know it was the first song recorded from the album but that's not reason to release as a single.
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Post by Alan on Aug 8, 2024 18:15:46 GMT
ISHFIY and DSMD were the best choices for singles, and I haven't changed my opinion on that. I agree. I Still Have Faith In You was too good for it not to be a single. It was perhaps overshadowed slightly by Don’t Shut Me Down but it was the right choice. Plus, we wouldn’t have had that video without it being a single. Third single I’m really not sure about though. There’s such a huge gulf between ISHFIY & DSMD and the other eight that any of them would be a let-down as a single. Is it just me that can’t stand No Doubt About It? It seems to be the one song from Voyage that’s constantly going round in my head, but that’s not a good thing. Too fast and too short. And the “hey” cheerleader bits irritate me to death. No criticism of Frida, she does a good job of it, but the song isn’t that good. I’m not keen on When You Danced With Me either. |
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Post by HOMETIME on Aug 8, 2024 19:12:20 GMT
One of my favourite daydream-type activities is to pretend at being an A&R guy, picking singles and hypothesising how they'd perform. While the charts have made singles virtually obsolete, there's a lot of fun to be had in speculating which might be the most commercial selection. Fair to say, I reckon, that the best song is not always the best single. But that's all subjective.
With ABBA these days, picking singles is a pretty arbitrary job. The twin comeback A-sides had the benefit of the remarkable, historic reunion. Personally, I think the strategy was off: making two songs available together was squandering them. Irrespective of anyone's view of what was a good/bad single choice, ISHFIY has something iconic about it. The self-references, the emotion, the grandeur. Brave too - waiting two minutes before unleashing the chorus takes some cajones. But it was a full-on physical and digital release with a great video and a wave of nostalgia and love. It should have had its individual moment in the sun. It might possibly have had a better chart peak, without the distraction of a "competing" song. IMO, it would have bolstered and elevated the release a few weeks later of DSMD - which is more "trademark" ABBA. It would have needed a full physical release and video too, but I think this method might have laid better groundwork for the album.
While it didn't set the charts alight, I certainly heard more of JAN on radio than any of the other singles. I really enjoy NDAI - it has a bit of zest about it, and those solo passages are as good an attack on ageism as you could muster. I reckon anyone could make a case for any song as a single. But, with ABBA at this stage in life, it would be about picking something that'd appeal to radio playlist curators than as chart contenders. Personally, I think they got the single choices right: but the lack of vinyl and, in the case of NDAI, even a CD was a big hinderance. Then again, with no B-sides/bonus tracks, they could have been justifiably been chided for fleecing fans/completists. And I don't think the sleeves were good enough either.
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Post by jj on Aug 8, 2024 19:25:55 GMT
Is it just me that can’t stand No Doubt About It?
I loathed it the second it finished on first play. I was gobsmacked, actually, at how awful I thought it was. I kept my opinions to myself as it quickly became a big favourite here upon the album's release. Frida does an excellent job on vocals, yes, but the tune itself is trashy. It sounds like the child of "Ricky Rock'n'Roller" and "Elaine". It could have been a B-side from recording sessions between 1978 and 1980.
As for WYDWM, I was terribly disappointed the second I heard the word "Kilkenny". (Glasgow was okay, because it referred to one of ABBA's 1979 tour dates.) Kilkenny, though, is a specific place in Ireland. A Swedish group singing a song about an Irish fair and a jilted lass in a rural county? It comes off as completely inauthentic. International pop group from Stockholm, Sweden, singing about small-town Ireland? Really?? Bjorn should definitely have let the listener decide where the story was set. As it is, mentioning Ireland and Kilkenny - for a Swedish group! - sounds terribly twee and even silly. It was a huge mistake. It's yet another example of Bjorn being too specific and not leaving things to the listener's imagination. The more you specify details, the less universal a song is. Bjorn's tendency to throw in specific details in his later songs means they end up having one, narrow, particular interpretation. That Bjorn set WYDWM in an annual fair where a girl meets her old flame was a good idea, as it went well with the music. But he should never have set it anywhere in particular. He should have left it to the listeners to situate the story wherever they wanted to, in their own minds.
"Fighters in a ring" is odd too, though ISHFIY is still a very good song despite that little glitch.
OTF is another of my favourites, but did Bjorn need to - once again - specify who the narrator was? Specifically, himself? Yes, Bjorn Ulvaeus, the tremendously wealthy and privileged ex-popstar?
"If I ever wrote my ode to freedom
"Being privileged and spoiled for choice
"Then I fear that you would be suspicious
"Of the cause to which I'd lend my voice"
It really was a terrible mistake inserting himself into this song. It completely distracts from the very noble idea at the song's heart. It's a terribly awkward moment in this song, for me. I think he probably thought it'd be nice to admit that he might sound hypocritical and dishonest, being the fabulously wealthy centi-millionaire he is, without any of the worries of the common man, but again, he didn't need to and it sounds quite silly of him to even say that, as well as possibly even slightly haughty, too.
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Post by johnny on Aug 8, 2024 20:14:44 GMT
Am I alone on thinking ISHFIY and DSMD could have been released much earlier? The songs would have done better too without knowledge of an album about to be released. Hometime -:I agree about releasing both songs on the same day wasn't the best of ideas - (nor releasing them on a Thursday) The decision to release simultaneously was "last minute:. The plan had been to release ISHFIY first. www.musicweek.com/labels/read/fantastic-voyage-polydor-on-the-second-coming-of-abba/084823JJ - I didn't like WYDWM first and indeed for a long time. As a rule I am put off with songs that have time references - and even worse celeb name dropping. They instantly date. Agreed about that clumsy "like fighters in ring line in WYDWM. |
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Post by Alan on Aug 8, 2024 20:37:41 GMT
Am I alone on thinking ISHFIY and DSMD could have been released much earlier? The songs would have done better too without knowledge of an album about to be released. Hometime -:I agree about releasing both songs on the same day wasn't the best of ideas - (nor releasing them on a Thursday). Not sure… they wanted maximum impact on pre-orders for the album. Also, extremely heavy hints were being dropped about a full album long before the official announcement, so the option of pretending there were just the two songs was not really possible. Also there was a very long gap between the two singles and the album. If it was, say, a week, I’d agree that it might have had an impact. But two months, definitely not. I’m in favour of the decision to release both songs on the same day. Releasing separately may possibly have helped achieve a higher chart position for the first one, but would probably have had the opposite effect on the other. The way they did it meant a top 20 placing for both. I’m not so sure about a Thursday though. They perhaps thought that a Friday release would allow time for rips from YouTube, or that a Friday evening live stream would have a smaller audience. The novelty value of an ABBA return had worn off by the time of the third single. Just A Notion isn’t a great song but I doubt anything else would have done any better. Its purpose was to promote the upcoming album, and it achieved that. I concur with HOMETIME - this song seemed to get more Radio 2 airplay than any of the other three singles. It was always being played! Little Things was the only real mis-fire. It neither became a novelty hit nor promoted its parent album. Björn really did disappear up his own backside if he thought those lyrics were a good idea. No Doubt About It was NOT a single. It was merely released to radio for promotional purposes, so I don’t count it. Again though, it failed to promote its album. |
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Post by Tinneke on Aug 8, 2024 20:49:10 GMT
ISHFIY is a good album track but no single material. Not commercial, as benny said. Don't shut me down is classic ABBA and should have had a video. The rest of the tracks are simply not good enough to be released as a single. The song that got the least downloads is NDAI. I agree. I don't like it at all with the cheerleader thing. One of my least favorite Abba albums is Voyage.
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Post by johnny on Aug 8, 2024 20:49:32 GMT
We knew about the first songs in 2018 - a very long time before any inkling of an album.
No takers for Little Things, JAN or KAEOD yet.
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Post by clumsylikeaclown on Aug 9, 2024 18:07:14 GMT
Don't Shut Me Down and I Still Have Faith In You are comfortably the two best songs on the album, so those two as the first singles were the right choice.
After that I'd have gone with When You Danced With Me and No Doubt About It. They're both very strong tracks as well, and most closely resemble the 'classic' ABBA sound.
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Post by eddie on Aug 10, 2024 11:48:03 GMT
" I Still Have Faith In You " and " Don't Shut Me Down " are pure class. My choice as single material. The third goes to " When You Danced With Me ". Catchy and emotionally uplifting.
I must admit when I first listened to " Voyage " I had to sort of pinch myself this is really ABBA back in good form despite the forty year gap. Initially I thought all the songs were unique and different. As time slips by I find myself not listening to " Voyage " as often and it is rather frustrating as I can't find an explanation why. However to be brutally honest I was a little disappointed with " Ode To Freedom ". The final track on the album required a few more spins to gain my appreciation for its theatrical eloquence.
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Post by ianunderattack on Aug 19, 2024 9:02:43 GMT
I think the melody to Ode to Freedom is exquisitely beautiful and it's my second favourite track on Voyage. My only slight criticism is that the production suffers from the same muddiness that lingers over the whole album, with the vocals too low in the mix and slightly muffled. I'm not sure it was the right decision to have the ladies sing the melody an octave apart either on this occasion. Maybe the melody is too wide-ranging for that, but Agnetha sounds a little feeble and it's a bit too low for Frida.
And surely the second verse is crying out to have lush, multiple choral harmonies throughout - not just every time the words 'Ode to Freedom' is sung? That would really have elevated the song. Maybe they ran out of time or the ladies just didn't want to do any more work on it?
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Post by johnny on Oct 31, 2024 12:43:38 GMT
Thinking about this again, if you had 3 uptempo songs as singles (Don't Shut Me Down is in the chorus) this would have given a false impression of the album, which is quite ballady.
Both ISHFIY and DSMD could have been released a long tine before any inkling about the Voyage album.
I think the final songs recorded in 2021 - WYDWM, NDAI, KAEOD were an attempt to give a bit of 'ooomph' to a rather dull collection of songs at that point.
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