I love ABBA. This is as clean as I've ever seen this, "Waterloo" Eurovision broadcast, 1974.

ABBA FOREVER !!!

 

Now that was random! Sure have been enjoying the vinyl box set lately, however.

 

Yup. Loved them as a teen, but I sure couldn't say that to anyone! Their husbands were about as good as it got in the studio, production wise. What a contrast when you listen to the girl's solo albums, though they certainly weren't bad by any stretch. Very complex songs. No wonder we can still enjoy their music today. You can still hear new elements in their music.

 

Definitely like Friday better. Always looked like she was enjoying herself.

Darryl

 

SOS is my favorite ABBA song because it is so perfect.

The track has a number of music industry devotees. The Who guitarist Pete Townshend has said "SOS" is one of the best pop songs ever written, adding that when he first heard the song he "was transported by it".

Former Beatle John Lennon declared that it was one of his favorite pop songs, while Ray Davies of The Kinks said that he was taken with the song after seeing the group perform it on the television show Seaside Special.

American singer-songwriter and former Czars frontman John Grant has called "SOS" "one of the greatest pieces of music ever made", adding that Agnetha Fältskog's "perfect" lyrical interpretation and emotional delivery is "a beautiful thing".

British conductor and producer Charles Hazlewood called the song's "supersonic" transition from an acoustic D-minor key to an electric rock motif "absolutely genius".

Frida is a mezzo soprano and Agnetha sings in a high soprano, which helped create the nice contrast in their vocal sound.

 

I am just playing my "ABBA The Singles - The First 10 Years" compilation, a nice, cleaned UK press but I have to say it sounds a little ... I dunno, thin, maybe? Just not very punchy. It's a double LP with only 5/6 tracks a side so I guess it isn't the usual overcrowding issue.

I A/B'd "Waterloo" with my original UK pressing that spent some time on turntables of my youth and that was no different to the compilation to my ears, really.

Can anyone verify if this particular set is known to sound like pus - or maybe it's just a bad day in the power lines?
Thanks,
DD

 

Compilations are never, as a rule, going to be as good as the actual albums because of the way they have to compile it. Will almost always be at least one more generation away from the original tapes than the albums the songs are from. Learned that here! I have heard a couple exceptions, but I don't play compilations for the quality, it is more for convenience and fun.

 

When I started hearing live ABBA stuff I was really surprised how talented their band was and how much they would just JAM sometimes. I had them pegged as studio rats, but a lot of times they seem to be having a lot of fun.

I think this is my favorite clipwith them "in traditional 18th Century costumes as they debut this classic song for King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden the night before he was married to Silvia Sommerlath, Queen Silvia of Sweden."

I like all of their tour videos, but I particularly like
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0001WPQJ2
It's not a concert film, it's a documentary, but the songs are not all cut up and the performances really surprised me. This one started me to buying more.

This
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00006AUG0
has a lot of original promo videos-funny stuff to see now, early videos, but still really interesting.

 

Love Abba!! Thanks to all for the video clips!! Has anyone here purchased the ABBA Live at Wembley LPs?? Any comments much appreciated.

http://store.acousticsounds.com/d/9...h_1979_At_Wembley_Arena-180_Gram_Vinyl_Record

 

Stay away from the horrible vinyl edition and go for the CD. There is something wrong with the treble range on the 3LP set...it sounds horrible.

 

I have it...jacket is flimsy to hold 3 180grms of vinyl albums and my tore. I don't remember it sounding bad enough to recall not liking it. I never expect much from live recordings anyway though, and rarely buy them, but couldn't pass up one of my top three bands with a new album.

 

Please listen to the 2nd half of Side A. I think you never listened to the vinyl when you don't remember the bad sound.

 

Oh yes, Agnetha was the stuff of school boy fantasies. Then in later life she had a stalker and ended up in a relationship with him. Go figure.

 

If memory serves, I was not able to choose between them. But I do remember spending time enjoying the LP covers, and the concerts on TV, later the story about them. The funniest thing happened when they were in Melbourne. Alice Cooper woke up at his hotel, hearing shouting from outside, and he thought it was like "Alice-Alice-Alice". When he came out onto the balcony, he discovered they were shouting "ABBA" - because they stayed at the same hotel

I'm going backwards with ABBA as well, started with "Voulez-Vous", and still in the process of buying older stuff. I like a lot "dramatic" music, and till today, "Eagle" is still my favourite. And now I have two versions of it, on the "The Album" Deluxe version. When buying more in the future, I think I may purchase LP's, just to get those big covers, as I plan to do with Joe Jackson's "Beat Crazy", because I think that cover is priceless.

 

Listened to it twice, but probably won't again except to hear your suggestion. I was playing it as background music so perhaps I just didn't notice. That's the problem with live albums for me, I just don't play them much but as a huge ABBA fan I couldn't pass it up.

 

They are one of the very few groups that had great songs from day one. Their whole catalog is worth having...a very rare occurance for me personally. Most bands seem to start out weak, trying to find their sound, or strong, and then they run out of ideas. These guys strarted good and imo just got better. Even their last album was terrific. I do think most of their later non album tracks showed they were running out of steam though. They quit at the right time, I believe, and now we have a very strong set of albums.

 

I was very disappointed when I heard they would quit, but at the same time, I slowly started to accept they could not go on forever. Maybe I was more afraid of not seeing the girls, than missing new music. I may end up with all their albums, like with J.J. Cale.

 

This seems to be it judging by the kimonos:

 

Euh on Youtube ;-). Simple search for ABBA Midnight Special. When it comes to tv shows YT is a treasure trove at times.

 

Steve...you should order the dvd sets of all the best musical guests on that show. I think there is a best of condensed volume, but you should probably just order the whole thing. I believe there are about 15 volumes and it's a great series. It was one of those mail order deals, but I emailed and they let me buy them all in one shot instead of getting them mailed to me one per month. I have since seen them in Costco so I know they are out there. Most of the acts are from the 70's to 80's. Fun stuff.

 

That is great viewing, thanks for posting this.

 

I should have commented earlier: this does show how great an analogue video recording can look if you can find the original master, play it back on good equipment, and have good people doing the work.

The video was great, but doh, that mix was terrible. But this was very typical for 1974 TV. Given that this appears to be live TV, it's pretty amazing across the board.

 

4am Abba? Sure, why the hell not.

Tough call to make; what's the better song? Waterloo or SOS? Waterloo's got that groove, SOS has those exquisite synths...