ABBA on CD

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by el supernautico, Jul 24, 2017.

  1. sathvyre

    sathvyre formerly known as ABBAmaniac

    Location:
    Europe
    That can be possible, but the differences are not as big as you may think...you can hear it with headphones, but the frequency range seems to be mostly identical. I have to check again when I will find the time.
     
  2. c-eling

    c-eling They're made of light,We never would have guessed

    Yes, I've read about it over the years, thanks for the tip Jrr. Eventually I'd like to track one down :)
     
  3. TheLazenby

    TheLazenby Forum Resident In Memoriam

    Location:
    Pittsburgh
    I should know, I made the damn thing. XD There's only one copy like it, too - and I love it!
     
  4. motownboy

    motownboy Senior Member

    Location:
    Washington State
    Hey John, thank you so much!
     
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  5. sathvyre

    sathvyre formerly known as ABBAmaniac

    Location:
    Europe
    I think only the Japan ARRIVAL CD (Discomate and Polydor, two slightly different masterings, both sound great) is better, compared to the West German Polydor releases. It sounds a bit more clear and sparkling, maybe a better tape ???
    Now we should try to create the ultimate "Best-ABBA-on-CD" collection - what do you think ???
     
  6. Jrr

    Jrr Forum Resident

    They are from the UK so I got one off of eBay and I think it was a steal at around $65 for a 5 album set and the records were NM. Let us know what you think if you get a copy. The sequencing of the songs is well done imo. Older mixed in with newer, so it's a fun listen.
     
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  7. sathvyre

    sathvyre formerly known as ABBAmaniac

    Location:
    Europe
    I really love that 5 LP set from UK !!! It sounds fantastic and covers all essential stuff before "The Visitors" I think :)
     
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  8. Jrr

    Jrr Forum Resident

    You are correct. If I'm not mistaken, I think there are tracks from The Visitors. And the quality is at least as good as the parent albums in my $400 vinyl box set, if not better. It's a fantastic compilation.
     
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  9. LSP2003

    LSP2003 Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    I have that as well and enjoy it. It has most of their original catalog on it.
     
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  10. Jrr

    Jrr Forum Resident

    From what I've heard the cd was not mastered the same as the vinyl. The vinyl version is supposed to be much better.
     
  11. sathvyre

    sathvyre formerly known as ABBAmaniac

    Location:
    Europe
    That's true. Totally different masterings.
     
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  12. JP Christian

    JP Christian Forum Resident

    No tracks from The Visitors on the Reader's Digest 5LP box so I'm afraid you are mistaken - yes it did come out in 1981, but before The Visitors was released, so technically they should have called it The Best of Abba 1972-1980, as it only goes up to the Super Trouper album.
     
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  13. BeatleStair

    BeatleStair Senior Member

    Location:
    Fort Wayne, IN
  14. Edmoney

    Edmoney Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Jersey
    Really nice album-by-album run down. What are your favorite CDs (i.e. best sounding) for the non-album singles (e.g. Fernando)?
     
  15. Luxury_Liner

    Luxury_Liner Senior Member

    Location:
    Paradise City
    For Fernando, Greatest Hits (Atlantic), Summer Night City and Gimme!, Greatest Hits Vol.2 (Atlantic or Polydor, they're all clones) and for the 1982 singles either the Thank You For The Music box set or even the Deluxe Edition of The Visitors (while it has some issues, I don't find it terrible as some people claim it is) And I really dislike the sound of The Singles The First Ten Years CDs, the first disc sounds congested (for lack of a better word), there's something about the EQ that turns me off. Not to mention the many tape faults and drop outs...
    Heck even the Deluxe Voulez Vous is one I go to very often as the bonus tracks improve the original album. (Might be a tad loud for some delicate ears but to me the much loved west german cd sounds anaemic in comparison)
     
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  16. atoxique

    atoxique Forum Resident

    The "Thank You For The Music" box set does not retain all the dynamics. It seems as if the volume on it was just turned up because the tracks are clipped a little (not really noticeable). It should be noted that "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)" has a huge dropout in it on the box set. ABBA Gold and More ABBA Gold's original releases (1992 and 1993, respectively) have the same high treble sound, but they do have all the dynamics.
     
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  17. atoxique

    atoxique Forum Resident

    Yep, "The Album" is horribly mastered in every version. It's either got the infamous tape distortion or it's got strange EQ and/or loads of compression! Only Astley's remasters (1997 and 2001) have the proper, good sounding tapes but both have the weird EQ and compression. Personally I can deal with the strange EQ and compression when I listen to the 1997/2001 remaster of "The Album" because the songs just sound too good without the distortion. I've tried re-EQ'ing it in Audacity but I'm a n00b to that sort of stuff and can't ever get it to sound like the original versions unfortunately. "Eagle" is definitely the most strangely EQ'd. All other remasters that I know of use the distorted tapes and are compressed, brickwalled, etc. they sound terrible because the comperssion and brickwalling just makes the already distorted music sound worse. I wonder if the new 40th anniversary edition of "The Album" sound proper?
     
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  18. Mbe

    Mbe Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    When a situation arose with Super Trouper (reading down the page from c-eling’ post);
    Question about ABBA -Super Trouper 1984 Polydor!

    Someone (with great care / attention to detail) at the time had noticed the drop-out, so for that particular 1995 release decided to rectify the issue,
    could this also be the case for The Album 1995 or would this not be possible?

    Uploaded 'Super Trouper' samples again;
    1 – German Polydor 04 Matrix with dropout – Peak 94.8 / DR14
    2 – US Polar Polydor – Peak 94 / DR15
    3 – The Hits Box IMP DANDISC – Peak 83 / DR15
    4 – The Singles First 10 Years Polydor – Peak 91.8 / DR14

    dropcanvas - instant drag and drop sharing
     
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  19. Bobby Morrow

    Bobby Morrow Senior Member


    Did you try the Mastered For iTunes version of The Album? I didn’t think that was bad..
     
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  20. humanracer

    humanracer Forum Resident

    Location:
    Edinburgh,Scotland
    Thanks. I will use this as my reference guide. If I have all of that, do I need any of the compilations? Did ABBA do much in the way of b sides?
     
  21. c-eling

    c-eling They're made of light,We never would have guessed

    They had some good ones I enjoy-
    Santa Rosa
    Happy Hawaii
    You Owe Me One
    Cassandra
    And my favorite-
    Should I Laugh or Cry
     
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  22. RichC

    RichC Forum Resident

    Location:
    Charlotte, NC
    Don't forget Elaine! Better than a lot of the proper songs on Super Trouper. (White Sombrero, though, is.... OOF.)
     
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  23. Wombat Reynolds

    Wombat Reynolds Jimmy Page stole all my best riffs.

    Location:
    Atlanta, GA, USA

    "You might also want to grab their recent 2 CD live album that came out in 2014, “ABBA Live at Wembley Arena”. I bought it on a whim and I must say it’s one terrific sounding CD."

    wow. different strokes for different folks I guess. I thought it sounded pretty bad. The reverb on those drums is.... well,, to me it sounds suspiciously artificial, like Ludwig added it to mask the fact that one of the tom mics failed on the main night, so he had to fly in a recording from another night, and puked a lot of digi verb all over the kit to cover it up.

    However, its possible that the venue actually did sound like that, or perhaps at some earlier point, Tretow or somebody else, drenched the entire affair in reverb.

    Anyway, I think it sounds pretty bad.

    But thats just me.


    anyway, back you your discussion of best sounding Abba CD versions.
     
  24. Luxury_Liner

    Luxury_Liner Senior Member

    Location:
    Paradise City
    It depends on what you go for. For the first three albums the deluxe editions will serve you just fine, you have the entire 1972-1975 covered, b-sides, alt mixes and foreign language versions (there is one b-side missing at the behest of B&B) For Arrival... I'd say an old Polydor will do (unless you can tolerate the loudness of the Deluxe Edition)

    For The Album is "pick your poison": the deluxe is, IMO, unlistenable. The other remasters have odd EQ choices... At least with the old Polydor disc you get to hear the album the way everyone heard it in the 70's... :D For the next 3 albums, the deluxe configuration will do. (Some people got their knickers in a twist over Voulez-Vous being a tad loud... I think it sounds fine, probably more detailed than the Polydor which is laden with drop outs. Plus you get the bonus tracks which in this case enhance the album)

    Again, it depends on whether you have fussy ears too (some people go too far with the nitpicking and I say that with all the love in my heart... :D) And if you want to have a manageable collection and not have to get duplicate items just because one single track sounds better on some random compilation released in Germany in 1985. Or something. -If you're not bothered about alt mixes or regional variations another option would be a set of the Polydor discs (they're cheap) and the Thank You For The Music box set for the b-sides and oddities.

    For the current compilations... if you have the deluxe versions then these aren't necessary (if you want the unmixed version of Lay All Your Love On Me without the applause at the end then the original ABBA Gold will do or if you find it cheap the Thank You For The Music box set -you get the medley of rarities on this one plus a couple of other things exclusive to this set)

    Finally... all of the early japanese (Discomate and Polydor) discs (except 1975's ABBA) live online in the form of lossless rips with HD scans of the artwork and more if you want to see what the fuss is about. Google will help you here. -Now if the masterings of these early discs would've been used on later re-issues then we wouldn't need google to hear them. :D

    Have fun!
     
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  25. humanracer

    humanracer Forum Resident

    Location:
    Edinburgh,Scotland
    Thanks! I also just found this site which is really great ABBA Discography..
     
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