ABBA make chart history: No.1 again!

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Loins Of London · #1 Post by **Loins Of London** » Sun 03 Aug 2008, 8:18 pm

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/article ... CHARTS.xml

Very well done to the Swedish Fab Four.

As well as being the fourth best selling album in UK history, the news story didn't mention that last week, ABBA Gold clocked up an astonishing SEVEN YEARS on the album charts. Again, this puts it in the top 5 of the longest-running albums ever.

I'm off to dust of my catsuit right now...

Radiophonic · #2 Post by **Radiophonic** » Mon 04 Aug 2008, 9:49 am

I must be the only person in the world that doesn't have this album. However I have all the other ABBA records.

Some of their best songs weren't even UK singles - One Man One Woman, Eagle, As Good As New, etc...

Well done. Now let's have a new album....

BlueSwan · #3 Post by **BlueSwan** » Tue 05 Aug 2008, 12:12 pm

Radiophonic wrote:Some of their best songs weren't even UK singles - One Man One Woman, Eagle, As Good As New, etc...

I Let The Music Speak, Slipping Through My Fingers, That's Me, Happy New Year, Kisses Of Fire, I Wonder, I'm A Marionette, Our Last Summer, Soldiers, etc...

Indeed you're right. While I "discovered" Abba when Gold was released in 1992, I didn't become a true fan until I heard their last two albums "The Visitors" and "Super Trouper". True pop masterpieces ahead of their time. "Gold" has lots of classic pop songs, but also quite a few throwaway trashy pieces. One needs to listen to the albums to fathom the true greatness of Abba - much like with PSB actually.

Abba - second best band of all time.

Hillbilly · #4 Post by **Hillbilly** » Tue 05 Aug 2008, 2:45 pm

BlueSwan wrote:
Radiophonic wrote:Some of their best songs weren't even UK singles - One Man One Woman, Eagle, As Good As New, etc...
I Let The Music Speak, Slipping Through My Fingers, That's Me, Happy New Year, Kisses Of Fire, I Wonder, I'm A Marionette, Our Last Summer, Soldiers, etc...

Indeed you're right. While I "discovered" Abba when Gold was released in 1992, I didn't become a true fan until I heard their last two albums "The Visitors" and "Super Trouper". True pop masterpieces ahead of their time. "Gold" has lots of classic pop songs, but also quite a few throwaway trashy pieces. One needs to listen to the albums to fathom the true greatness of Abba - much like with PSB actually.

Abba - second best band of all time.

What's good about the musical (and the movie, which I haven't seen yet) is that it features not only the big hits, but also some lesser known songs like "Slipping through the fingers" (one of my favourites too - a truly wonderful song) and "Our last summer". I've heard that the movie version also includes "When all is said and done" which wasn't in the stage show.

If you've only got ABBA Gold in your collection you should at least too get the "follow-up" More ABBA Gold. It still doesn't include "Slipping through my fingers" (from The Visitors), but the other two mentioned above, as well as a few b-sides and even a previously unreleased track, "I am the city".

Best of all it's got the brilliant melancholic, epic electro hymn "The day before you came" (a 1982 single release)!
Or listen to that song here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_teVqxC_YAE

redsock · #5 Post by **redsock** » Tue 05 Aug 2008, 5:04 pm

Hillbilly wrote:Best of all it's got the brilliant melancholic, epic electro hymn "The day before you came" (a 1982 single release)!
Or listen to that song here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_teVqxC_YAE

Best song ever.

Also look out for the "Real Tuesday weld" and the "Blancmange" versions.

Real Tuesday Weld
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1T3Yyk4WYQ

Blancmange
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7uJJPx4 ... re=related

sneakythesnake · #6 Post by **sneakythesnake** » Tue 05 Aug 2008, 8:55 pm

The Day Before You Came is fantastic! I have both Abba Gold albums at home somewhere.Must dig them out and give them a listen!

#7 Post by **StevePSB** » Tue 05 Aug 2008, 10:18 pm

I have no ABBA at all! - FACT.

StevePSB

markus · #8 Post by **markus** » Wed 06 Aug 2008, 1:04 am

The best Abba song IMO is "Put on your white sombrero" and it wasn't even considered good enough for a proper release. I think Psb is the only other band to have such amazing high quality in their output.

BlueSwan · #9 Post by **BlueSwan** » Wed 06 Aug 2008, 6:06 am

redsock wrote:
Hillbilly wrote:Best of all it's got the brilliant melancholic, epic electro hymn "The day before you came" (a 1982 single release)!
Or listen to that song here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_teVqxC_YAE
Best song ever.

Best song ever, indeed!

- and of course it was a major flop. Infact their three last singles were all absolutely incredible (Head Over Heels, The Day Before You Came, Under Attack) and they were all miserable flops.

Loins Of London · #10 Post by **Loins Of London** » Wed 06 Aug 2008, 9:45 am

markus wrote:The best Abba song IMO is "Put on your white sombrero" and it wasn't even considered good enough for a proper release.

It was partially used later on in Cassandra though. Que sera sera.

Here's James Masterson's thoughts on ABBA Gold at this week's Yahoo Launch chart commentary. The album looks like staying at No.1 again at the weekend, on it's 366th week on chart (53 of them in the top 10). It's sold an astonishing 4.2 million in the UK.

The new Number One album manages the rare feat of being both predictable and rather startling at the same time. Predictable in the sense that 'Gold - Greatest Hits' from Abba has experienced a surge in popularity thanks to the box office success of the film version of Mamma Mia! And has been steadily climbing the chart for the past couple of weeks, but all at once startling due to the chart longevity of the hits collection itself.

'Gold - The Greatest Hits' was first released way back in 1992 after a summer of Abba-mania spearheaded by Erasure's Number One chart success with the 'Abba-esque EP' and marked the first time their hits catalogue had been remastered in its entirety for the new CD age.

A hardy chart perennial ever since, it now becomes not only the first album of the modern era to top the chart on three entirely separate occasions but also far and away the oldest album ever to hit Number One. First time around it only managed a single week at the top in October 1992 upon the occasion of its first release. It returned to the top slot almost seven years later, spending five weeks at Number One in three different spells between April and June 1999 - this of course due to the stage premiere of the Mamma Mia! musical in London.

Nine years on and as the musical becomes a film, so it once again becomes the biggest seller of the week in what is now its seventh week as a Number One album. For a long player to return to the top of the charts almost sixteen years after it was first released is entirely without precedent in British chart history. Just remember that when the image of Meryl Streep's dancing is hard to get out of your mind.

Riikka · #11 Post by **Riikka** » Sat 09 Aug 2008, 11:25 am

The ABBA songs that I find really underrated (which are not yet mentioned here) are:

When I kissed the teacher (Arrival)
The visitors (The visitors)
Soldiers (The visitors)
If it wasn't for the nights (Voulez-vous)

Here you can listen to all songs from The visitors:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpfIJ2pzw-Y

BlueSwan · #12 Post by **BlueSwan** » Sun 10 Aug 2008, 10:29 am

Riikka wrote: Here you can listen to all songs from The visitors:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpfIJ2pzw-Y

Strong candidate for best album of all time. At the very least in the top 3 of best albums ever. Even better if one gets the remastered edition, which also includes The Day Before You Came and Under Attack as well as the b-sides to those tracks.

Radiophonic · #13 Post by **Radiophonic** » Sun 10 Aug 2008, 2:02 pm

I love every track of Voulez Vous and every song could have been a single...

Riikka · #14 Post by **Riikka** » Sun 10 Aug 2008, 6:23 pm

BlueSwan wrote:
Riikka wrote: Here you can listen to all songs from The visitors:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpfIJ2pzw-Y

Strong candidate for best album of all time. At the very least in the top 3 of best albums ever. Even better if one gets the remastered edition, which also includes The Day Before You Came and Under Attack as well as the b-sides to those tracks.

ABBA in 1982, during their last year, were amazing. It was great continuation after The visitors:

Sessions for a planned new LP
820503 You Owe Me One [B-side of 'Under Attack' Dec 1982]
820504 Just Like That [unfinished song]
820505 I Am the City [not released until 1993 on 'More ABBA Gold']

THE SINGLES (sessions for a new single for coll-2LP 'The Singles' 8 Nov 1982)
820802-04 Under Attack [single Dec 1982]
820802-04 Cassandra [B-side of 'The Day Before You Came']
820820 The Day Before You Came [single 18 Oct 1982]

markus · #15 Post by **markus** » Mon 11 Aug 2008, 12:28 am

"Just Like That" is really good, the original that is. There's a leak on the net with very poor sound but you hear what a great melody it is.