ABBA Greatest Hits Volume 1 & 2 Target CDs. What great sounding discs!!!

I recently went on the search to purchase these & was lucky enough to find them both in mint condition. I have never been happy with the sound of any of the ABBA compilations. These just hit the "spot" for me sonically. Just curious about other people's feelings on these CDs.

 

I think they are identical in mastering to the first pressing Polydor and Polar versions. They sound reasonably good.

 

Shhh!! Don't tell anybody! (I'm still looking for volume 1)

 

Compared to what?

 

It can be pricey.

 

Why does anybody have to compare them to something else to say they sound reasonably good?

 

So you bought these at Target?

 

I think they sound more than "reasonably good" compared to all the other loud and brick-walled representations of some of their catalog, that'sall

 

Were GH and GH2 released on CD in Europe? I thought they were Atlantic only for CD? I could be wrong of course.

On LP they were on Epic here in the UK.

The Atlantic CDs are better (masters?) than Singles - The First Ten Years on Polydor/Polar (dubs?)

 

I take that as a no....

I'm not sure if this is the same CD you are referring to but I bought the ABBA Greatest Hits CD long long ago from a used CD store and when I got home to play it, I realized that the cover art front and back was not for the CD inside, the cover art was for the Greatest Hits Vol 2 but I had just the Greatest Hits so I later I had to find the correct cover art and print it for my jewel case. Shame on that person who did that to me.....The Greatest Hits CD I have is by Atlantic 19114-2...it is the silver mirror with a red circle going around the outer rim with a thinner black circle (I'm assuming this is what you meant by Target as it looks like a bulleye target. This CD does sound fantastic to me, no loudness wars.

 

Target CDs in this case are those released by Warner/Elektra/Atlantic in the mid 80s when CDs were still pretty new. Their label design resembled a target, so they've been dubbed by early-pressing aficianados as "Target CDs."



The three Atlantic releases (GH1, GH2, SUPER TROUPER) are considered among the better-sounding ABBA releases on CD.

Harry

 

GHV2 was (on Polydor and Polar, same mastering as the Atlantic) and remained in print for quite a while until the Gold comp came along. GH was never released on cd in Europe but I think that was because Polydor released an old compilation from Germany called ABBA's Greatest Hits/The Very Best Of... which was what Germany got in place of the original Greatest Hits cd. It features 24 tracks across 2 LPs but when the CD came along they removed 4 tracks... and released it as a double cd (!!!) You can fit all those 24 tracks onto one disc but maybe that was too much on the early days of the cd...

 

This was the cover of the 30th Anniverary GREATEST HITS, released in 2006. The design cover was the original one from the Sweden LP:



Harry

 

Exactly!

 

Thanks Mal. Didn't look for the full-extended picture! That's what it looks like when you unfold the gatefold.

 

I think that the use of the word reasonably gives the impression the poster may have listened to other versions that he thinks may be marginally better or fractionally worse or microscopically identical.

 

Was this where the 1990 IMP Pickwick "The Hits" pressed by DanDisc volumes came into play?

 

That's a big leap to make from somebody saying "that sounds reasonably good".
You are reaching.

 

Well, audiomixer apparently thought the same thing so I guess I'm not the only one reaching.
Perhaps you're reaching.

 

I'm not sure. I know it came out sometime in the mid 80s and then it was bundled with the other 2 volumes for the Pickwick box set but other than that I have no idea.

 

That is really some wild cover art...so much stuff going on to look at, little details.

I just realized I have the reissue CD of Greatest Hits and looks like this one


the one Harry posted above was the original issue pressed in West Germany by PolyGram.

 

Thanks for the info, yeah to me this box is kind of a mystery
1 The Hits-DanDisc UK 1990
2 The Hits-Volume Two Manufactured In France 1988 by MPO
3 The Hits-Volume Three Manufactured In France 1988 by MPO

 

Apparently these compilations were re-pressed/re-released for several years. Volume 1 was first released in 1987. See also here:
http://abbaoncd.wordpress.com/european-compilations/g-to-hi/