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ABBA - Voyage

Not sure it’s worth commenting on in any depth. For some people it’s the second coming whilst for the rest of us it’s plodding and mediocre. Pays your money and makes your choice. A few years from now no-one will be playing these songs.
 
Mike Hughes said:
Not sure it’s worth commenting on in any depth. For some people it’s the second coming whilst for the rest of us it’s plodding and mediocre. Pays your money and makes your choice. A few years from now no-one will be playing these songs.
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Fine, so let those of us who find it better than plodding and mediocre enjoy it. Never understood the mentality of posters who profess to dislike something and feel compelled to tell everyone repeatedly that they don't like it. We got it the first time you told us so what does the repeating it achieve? Are you hoping we're all going to think ' You know what ..he's right... thank goodness he told me over and over as otherwise I'd never have realised if he'd only told me once'. :rolleyes:
 
tiggers said:
Fine, so let those of us who find it better than plodding and mediocre enjoy it. Never understood the mentality of posters who profess to dislike something and feel compelled to tell everyone repeatedly that they don't like it. We got it the first time you told us so what does the repeating it achieve? Are you hoping we're all going to think ' You know what ..he's right... thank goodness he told me over and over as otherwise I'd never have realised if he'd only told me once'. :rolleyes:
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I'm far too much of a gentleman to refer you to some of your posts regarding a certain Mr Collins.o_O
 
tiggers said:
Fine, so let those of us who find it better than plodding and mediocre enjoy it. Never understood the mentality of posters who profess to dislike something and feel compelled to tell everyone repeatedly that they don't like it. We got it the first time you told us so what does the repeating it achieve? Are you hoping we're all going to think ' You know what ..he's right... thank goodness he told me over and over as otherwise I'd never have realised if he'd only told me once'. :rolleyes:
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If my post expressing an opinion upsets you so much you can no longer enjoy it then there’s something really wrong. My post does not reflect a “mentality”. It is an opinion, just like yours. Or is what you’re saying that you only post fact and the rest of the world is therefore wrong. I am unaware of repeating anything. My original comments related to the singles and the comeback whilst my latest relates directly to the album. That aside, I was unaware of your administrative role and that only one post per subject was allowed. I do apologise. I got really confused by being in the section marked “discussion”.
 
webster said:
On a scale of 1 to 10 compared with Abba he's a stIck on 11.:p
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Oh I don't know so much, at least when Abba couples divorced each other they didn't do it by fax, they also didn't write a song about the plight of the homeless and then leg it when a quasi-socialist government came along... jeez, you've started me off again :D
 
I like their latest. It's not as good as their previous 2 albums, but then what would be? The song craft, and particularly some of the keys, is very nice indeed.
 
Andrew C! said:
I recall hosting a riders evening some years ago. Everyone attending brought with them some really eclectic music. It was a good night, actually. Mid way thru the evening I thought I'd throw a spanner in the works. I put on the CD of the 1st track from "The Visitors". Nearly all there stopped and listened to it for several minutes, clearly liking what they were hearing - until someone asked who it was. When I responded, some clearly were not happy they'd 'liked' an ABBA track.

Its not the done thing, you know.:rolleyes:
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That track in question is mental- in a good way.:)
 
The thing which makes me laugh here is that there’s really simple processes in play.

- is it possible to like ABBA? Yes, obviously. As an audiophile? Again, yes. Personally I love music rather than boxes.
- was their golden age something to aspire to? To a degree. Their singles made them famous but consisted a significant quantity of cheese allied to some quite brilliant pop music. Their album reputation was negligible but the Visitor and Arrival gave people pause for thought. A late run of clearly personal and melancholia tinged singles did the same and they belatedly got some recognition as a songwriting team, not least from other songwriters. That reputation has endured but is often bewildering to people who cannot hear beyond the cheese. Worth noting they were a popular but largely bang average live act.
- are comebacks a worthwhile thing? For those who have never seen an artist then yes absolutely. For those who have there is a split between people who love the fact they’re back and don’t see them as a non-creative facsimile of themselves and those who don’t wish to sully their memories of what that artist once was. Creatively almost every comeback in history lands somewhere between a creative dead end and embarrassment.
- the ABBA live comeback will not sully their reputation as a live band as it cleverly starts from the premise that you are definitely getting a facsimile. Fair enough. It has zero attraction for me but if it floats your boat then enjoy.
- the recorded ABBA comeback is the very definition of mediocre. It’s a set of well recorded demos which try to recreate a sound from nearly forty years ago but very much creates pale, staid mediocre version of that based on a vague muscle memory rather than creative muscles which have sprung to life miraculously as though the intervening years have not existed. Lyrically it’s also rather embarrassingly trapped in the amber of sexism from another era. Acceptable then for various reasons including an absolutely stunning melodic sense. Not acceptable now.
- people will split into two camps. Some, like myself, who have no issue with ABBA at all will hear the mediocrity. Some simply won’t get that at all. Neither camp is likely to move. Some will leap on track three as evidence of heinous musical crimes being repeated. You can see it that way if you wish. I can’t say it surprised me. When did ABBA not produce cheese? The genuinely disappointing, but absolutely not surprising thing, is that anyone expected what surrounded that to be a work of genius.

ABBA were an MOR pop group in it for fame and money who happened to produce enduring art along the way. It’s over now and, worth saying again, in a few years time all that will be left of this comeback will be a few distant memories of a weird gig and a contractual obligation to include two or three singles tacked on the end of the next greatest hits package.
 
See what happens when you really try… how much more eloquently put was that than your previous offerings? Well done.
 
Your post breaches the terms of the site as did your previous one aimed at me. What I think of it is neither here nor there. Your latest post is simply trite sarcasm. I have no problem with compliments but you haven’t posted one.
 
Mike Hughes said:
Your post breaches the terms of the site as did your previous one aimed at me. What I think of it is neither here nor there. Your latest post is simply trite sarcasm. I have no problem with compliments but you haven’t posted one.
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Just report it then, it was meant as an honest observation, but if you see it otherwise then I can’t do anything about that. Have a great day.
 
Mike Hughes said:
ABBA were an MOR pop group in it for fame and money who happened to produce enduring art along the way.
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A fair opinion, which will be shared by some and not others. Their songwriting has been lauded by many over the years.

Music means many different things to many different people. I don’t ‘get’ The Beatles’, but it doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate why other do ‘get’ them.

But anyway, a forum is for opinions…
 
Been interesting to listen to the album. It absolutely fits the stereotype of every flawed comeback ever. Three songs contain lyrics where you do wonder what possessed them. Execrable would cover it. However, that aside my big issue with such things is there in all its glory.

It’s possible to listen to an artist and detect different eras and developments. 1974 ABBA was a very different beast indeed to that of Arrival. Super Trouper was different again. Artists move creatively. Sometimes we go with them and sometimes we don’t. When you stop and then resume you don’t tend to pick up where you left off. Instead a kind of committee approach is taken whereby songs are selected which represent each previous era. That’s not hard to hear on this album. Some of that is because a couple of melodic lines are straight rip offs of earlier songs. Some because of the harmonic arrangements and so on. None of it is a step forward in the way that say Arrival was for example. Creatively it is a fax of their greatest hits diluted so there is something for everyone. Zero creativity other than stealing from yourself in the name of reinvention.

Our work album group has this as our album of the month so it’s four listens at minimum before offering a view. I will certainly never want to hear track 3 again. There’s a couple where your ears prick up with the melodic familiarity but then switch off when you realise it’s just then stealing from themselves to no great gain. Beyond that there is nothing especially memorable to talk about.
 
My wife is a huge fan. I can’t stand them. She listened to the album today and said it was a triumph barring a track about Christmas with a kids choir on it. I’m glad I didn’t bother.
However I am going with her to the gig thing next year. I’m genuinely interested in the tech side of it. Hope that sees me through!
 
Mike Hughes said:
There’s a couple where your ears prick up with the melodic familiarity but then switch off when you realise it’s just then stealing from themselves to no great gain.
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The gain for some is they came back and did this. It’s good to see that time (and money) allowed them to reconcile and do some new material.

The Roon review is very fair IMO. It says something like ‘they are not trying to be something they aren’t.’
 
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