Hey, ladies & gents: I was finally able to locate the ABBA GHI & II at a reasonable price & in excellent condition. The ceedees arrived yesterday. What an improvement between these "old" recordings and the new remastered stuff which I unfortunately have & put up with all this time. A big thanks to Steve and everyone who gave me the heads up on the Atlantics. Man, what a difference! Cheers, Jet
Agreed. The ABBA Atlantic discs are wonderful. When I became an active member here in 2002, I only had ABBA Gold was all set to buy The Definitive Collection. Then the kind folks here set me straight. I tracked down the ABBA Atlantic discs and never bothered with The Definitive Collection. You're set with the greatest hits discs, but if you are real ABBA fan, look for the Atlantic version of Super Trouper. It too is excellent.
Gentlemen, Is ABBA GHI GHII mastering the same on target and non target early Atlantic CDs ? -Mikhail
I thought the Golds were pretty good until you all started showing us the way. Then, through a very good forum friend, I finally got both volumes in darn-near mint condition. Yup! the Atlantic CDs are the way ABBA really sounds like, without all the awful, overdone noise reduction and the very obvious artifacts. The Atlantics are so full and detailed, and sound natural. ANYONE who thinks anything later sounds better must find a way to hear the Atlantics!
I found these on Ebay doing an "Abba Greatest Hits" search. At times the add descriptions are not clear as to what disc it is (a good thing for shoppers) so I emailed sellers to get the scoop. The Atlantic vinyl of these recordings seems to be available for reasonable amounts for some reason. I certainly agree with others that these CDs are not an easy find and have seen some well advertised examples sell for not a small sum. I wonder if this forum has anything to do with this phenomenon? Thanks for the tip, Keith. I may just start looking for that one. Jet
I compared the West German Polar (Polydor) and US Atlantic versions of Super Trouper, and the Atlantic is better. The Polar disc isn't awful, mind you. It sounds like a flat transfer, but perhaps not from the orignal masters because it sounds recessed or stuffy. The Atlantic disc sounds full, and as Grant said, detailed.
They sound the same to me. The non-targets aren't too easy to find, but if that's all you can track down, you'll be fine.
I should note that I only have "Arrival" and "Voulez-Vous" on Polydor/Polar, and those sound passable to me, without having compared to the Atlantics at any point.
Keep checking eBay, as the greatest hits compilations come up every so often. The Super Trouper is quite hard to find.
You guys keep saying "Polar/Polydor" ... in UK/Europe, these were different releases (it was a Polydor CD, or Polar CD, but not both). Are you saying that, in the US, they were released as joint efforts, so to speak? As for Polydor CDs - I've got a W.German "Arrival" on Polydor; the tracks common to this and the Atlantic GH 2 are best heard on the Arrival disc IMO (on GH2 they're a bit crunchy in the upper mids) . The Arrival disc is fairly easy to track down at the moment.
Phil, my Voulez-vous disc has a separate Polar and Polydor catalog #, Polar logos on the packaging and a standard orange/black Polydor setup on the disc. Hence, Polar/Polydor... Arrival just has Polydor logos and #s, though.
The Polar and Polydor CDs weren't issued simulataneously, were they? I always thought that the Polar CDs came first and were replaced by the Polydor discs. In any event, I have a West German pressing of Super Trouper on Polar label. The disc has a light blue coating with royal blue text.
Really? I have no issues with the Atlantic Greatest Hits Vol. 2 disc, but you have me intrigued by the Arrival CD.
I see .... odd! Oh well ... When my GH 1 turned up, as I was giving SOS a listen for the first time, I was initially a bit dissapointed. Somehow I was expecting a warmer sound during the first part of the song. Then the chorus kicked in. WHOAW! I realised that SOS will never sound better than this. It's meant to sound clean and bright. "So Long" was a revelation aswell; on the Polydor "The Singles", you can't really make out what the hi-hats are doing - this sounded clearer on my Epic LP. But on the Atlantic GH, you can make everything out clearly.
You >definately< need GH2 for the best versions of Gimmie ... and Summer Night City. Although I don't think GH2 is perfect all the way through, I won't get rid of my copy for anything - but do hunt down Arrival As for the other tracks on GH2, I only have The Singles on Polydor to compare them to; it's a case of which is the lesser of two evils - the forward upper mids on the Atlantic, or the compression on The Singles. You can fix EQ easily if it bothers you - if you had to get one or the other, get the Atlantic . All IMO of course
The real revelation of the quality of the sound on the Atlantic CDs is on the track "Does Your Mother Know That You're Out". In doesn't sound right on any compilation afterward because of noise reduction.
That's how I understand it aswell. I saw "The Singles" on Ebay once on the blue Polar label; the description said this was quickly replaced by Polydors in UK.
I paid about $30.00 each for my WG copies of both "Greatest Hits" volumes on Ebay. Given what they sometimes go for, I think I got a pretty good deal. This past weekend, while on a used CD hunt, I came across a West German pressed copy of "Greatest Hits, Vol. 2", plus a US pressing of "Super Trouper" for $7.00 each. Both discs were near mint, so they do show up outside of Ebay now and then. One thing I noticed about the West German "Greatest Hits,Vol.2" on Atlantic is that the matrix number etched in the inner ring of the disc is the same as the catalog number of the Polydor issue of this title. The Atlantic CD also lists the Polydor catalog number under the Atlantic catalog number on the disc and the back insert. So does this mean that the Atlantic "Greatest Hits Vol. 2" is a clone of the Polydor version? One more thing, does anyone know how long these Atlantic CDs were in print? I have US pressings of both "Greatest Hits" CDs,which I won on Ebay for someone who hasn't paid me for them yet .
I don't know why the Atlantic Greatest Hits Vol. 2 disc bears the Polydor catalog number. Both my West German target and US non-target discs show the Polydor catalog number. That is odd. I don't have the old Polydor CD, so I don't know if they are clones. Could be. The Atlantic discs weren't in print for too long. My CD price guide says that the targets were released in 1983 and the non-targets of the greatest hits compilations were released in 1986. I assume that Super Trouper was released at or around the same time as the non-target compilations.
Did Atlantic issue the whole Abba catalog on CD or was it only the Greatest Hits discs and Super Trooper?
