ABBA - new album!

The Zimmer Takes It All.

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In some ways you’re better off with the original albums than the compilations as the latter always ups the cheese ratio. I have an Abba playlist of around 30 songs which marks them out as greats. It’s equally possible to put together a 30 song playlist which marks them out as nothing special.

A Beatles playlist which started with Maxwells Silver Hammer, Yellow Submarine and Octopus Garden could of course do similar.

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:joy: :joy: :joy: :joy: :joy: :joy:

Brilliant!
:rofl:

I would agree with your post. I would also agree with your comments ref MSH and OG. However, Yellow Submarine is a brilliant classic, imho.

I love Abba but I can’t help think they are milking it a bit (sorry) I’m happy with my memories, I honestly think it would be more dignified to let it rest, rather than risk tarnishing their fans memories.
When I lived in Stockholm in the 80’s there even then tended even then to be a excess of memorabilia for tourists. perhaps it should just be a happy memory now, thank you for the music, ymmv

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Gosh Mike you can be a miserable so and so at times - can you honestly criticise them for life events that affect so many people, self-inflicted or otherwise?

It won’t be old ABBA (much like new Toyah isn’t late 70’s Toyah) but so many other bands produce stuff in the modern age with little criticism.

The press photos with the ‘scuba suits’ and coloured ‘dots’ I assume for joints and CGI processing do them little justice.

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Heard two songs from the Voyager and can confidently say the old magic has truly vanished. Most probably they needed the money which compelled them to unite.

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You must be ironic or miss some children around you.

Regardless that, my children are often online but it is just another way to communicate with peers. I’d say they have actually much more options to have social contacts.

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Yeah, bad call on my part.

I’m not criticising them for life events. More that I’m dismissive that there is any creative impulse behind the reform and equally dismissive of the idea there’s anything unique or innovative going on here. It’s one of the oldest stories. Some members of a band fall on hard times and a reformation is agreed to help out. The list of others who have done the same goes on forever. I can think of maybe one occasion where that was creatively rewarding but even then it would be controversial/arguable at best.

Creatively such things split people right down the middle. Half the world wants to see what they were missing and are capable of fooling themselves into believing that they’re seeing exactly what the fuss was all about when they are of course seeing nothing of the sort. They find evidence of incredible creativity restored/resumed where there is almost inevitably near none.

The rest of us see this for what it is. An economic decision powered by nostalgia for something which does not, nor cannot, exist any more. ABBA of course have enough money and ability to create a passable facsimile of what they did 40+ years ago but that’s all it is. A facsimile driven by muscle memory.

I would not be alone in falling for such things. Fuelled by over enthusiastic friends and colleagues who failed to see the Specials first time around I went to see their comeback tour. Yes the atmosphere was great. Yes it was great to hear those songs again but the band was a slick, 21st century, professionalised version of the original excitement. The atmosphere was people enacting rather than reacting. That band was nothing like The Specials. Not even close.

I made the same error with Pixies. They had all the songs; all the moves and literally none of the incredible intensity which characterised them first time around. Nevertheless there’s always a group of people who can’t wait to lap it up and convince themselves and others they have seen the real thing; experienced what others did decades earlier and so on.

Same with the Replacements. Westerberg and Stinson playing at being shambolic and fuelled by alcohol/class A drugs. A great night out but absolutely not the band nor experience I saw back in the 1980s.

I absolutely loved the Velvets reformed. The number of people I was with in Manchester who to this day believe it was some kind of authentic Velvets experience beggars belief.

Is there anything miserable about being honest? Hmm.

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No, but taking umpteen paragraphs to stretch out the critique and sarcasm is. Just take it down a notch!

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Behave.

4 average length paragraphs; 3 separate sentences and a link.

As opposed to the post I was responding to… 5 huge paragraphs.

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I didn’t find it sarcastic, as a fan of the velvets, pixies and the replacements, but alas not abba, Mikes comments were spot on and could be applied to numerous other bands.

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Yeah, must admit, I read it back and I’m struggling to see any sarcasm. Straw man response. Always a good indication you touched a nerve.

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Now you’re critiquing grammar!

I don’t think what ABBA are doing is unique or innovative either, but you don’t need to climb into the poor fella over it.

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For the sake of clarity:

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Not sure why people feel the need to come onto the OPs thread to rain on their parade. They were genuinely happy, why detract from that, just move onto a cable thread or something.

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It’s just fun, if someone has fun, what’s the problem?

I saw Pixies 1 and Pixies 2, Pixies 2 was strange with thousands of high pitched voices singing about gouging out eyeballs BUT they were having fun.

As John sang, whatever gets you through the night.

Cheer up guys!

.sjb

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