ABBA: Lovelight - why was a new mix commissioned in 1993?

Though I consider myself to be quite an expert on ABBA matters, I have been wondering about the alternate edit/mix that was released on More ABBA Gold in 1993. It is somewhat different and shorter than the version that was the original B-side to the Chiquita single in 1979 and which I have on a Hungarian 7" single and of course that original mix was featured on the The Lovesongs CD on the Pickwick label.

So does anyone know if the alternate was created in 1993 or if it was a version used also in 1979 in some territories?

 

According to Carl Magnus Palm (in his book The Complete Guide to the Music of ABBA) it appears someone simply "picked the wrong the tape off the shelves" when More ABBA Gold was put together.

 

I can't believe that they don't have a better filing system to know what is the right tapes.

 

In the same book Palm hints that at the time of both Gold collections and the TYFTM box the the ABBA tape archives were in a bit of disarray (how long did it take them to find the stereo mix of the full-length On & On & On?) The masters for some of the foreign language versions of the early hits were not even available in Sweden either. And let's not get started with The Name of the Game (unedited and non-distorted) it's almost 30 years since that song started appearing on cd and they still can't get it right.

 

Yeah, I guess you are right. But at least most of the tapes seem to be available now - apart from the tracks that were sent to Japan which CBS junked after their license ran out - and the occasional live track + Waterloo (alternate version). However, it should be possible to make new mixes from the master tape but obviously Universal won't spend the money on it.

 

New mixes... I guess the major stones in the road would be B&B seeing how protective they are of everything, I'm not sure how they would react to the notion of new mixes. Speaking of new mixes, Palm (again) mentioned that there was an ABBA remix project considered at some point and Benny even managed to remix Dancing Queen in 1991 but they pulled the plug on the whole thing.

 

I am sure the two Lovelight mixes were done around the the same time when they finished the work on that song. I don't think that they did a new mix in 1993...it was just the wrong "not for release" version they used accidentally I think.
About the remix project: I am very happy that they never did something and stopped these ideas in 1991...leave it as it is

 

I wasn't talking about a remix. They still have the Waterloo multitrack, so it would be possible to re-create the "alternate mix" - at least in theory even though it would be almost impossible to make it sound the exact same.

 

I hope they found the mastertape of the Waterloo alternate mix for the Deluxe Edition...

 

According to CMP, unfortunately not.

 

Some further digging: The same "new mix" was used on the "Thank You For The Music" box in 1994, and then again on the 1997 remaster of Voulez-Vouz (the album). Wouldn't it be strange that they keep using the wrong tape (unless they didn't have another but then again they could just rip the 1989 The Lovesongs CD). I seem to recall that I had trouble finding the 3:46 version of Lovelight that is available on the Pickwick CD "The Lovesongs" from 1989 back in the days. I finally found a Hungarian single of Chiquitita with that version on the B-side. However, I am fairly sure that the shorter 3:18 version that was used on More ABBA Gold from 1993, TYFTM from 1994 and Voulez-Vous (1997 remaster) was also released as the B-side of Chiquitita in some (if not most) territories, and Discogs.com seems to back it up, e.g. as the German 7" of Chiquitita featured a 3:28 edit of Lovelight.

 

What's the story here? What tracks does this refer to?

 

That would be "Love Has Its Ways", "Rock 'N' Roll Band" (first version) and "Merry Go Round" + two German tracks "Was die Liebe sagt" and "Hey, Musikant" released on the BASF label in Germany.

 

So...CBS/Japan had the only masters for these songs and tossed them?

 

Yes, for the first three songs in my above post. To be precise it was the Epic label.
It is rather incredible that Polar didn't just send a copy to Japan rather than ship the original.

 

Yes, that's amazing. Really head scratching. I mean, even if you were going to send the originals, and not dubs, you'd keep safeties at home. Or at least, you would be expected to do that.

 

The 1999 singles CD box set contains the original mix of "Lovelight", but remastered by Jon Astley.

 

The version of Lovelight that appeared in 1993 was an earlier mix of the song and edited differently. It appeared for the first time on that title. The short version that was used as a b-side in some territories is an early fade of the regular version and the "fade" version was recreated for the singles box set that appeared in 1999. (There's also an early fade version of Angeleyes on that set if I'm not mistaken, I'd have to look at it and I don't have it in front of me right now...) So you have 3 versions: original B-side version; early fade of B-side version released in Germany and other places and 3) alternate mix used on More ABBA Gold.

Quite why they needed to shorten the track by 20 seconds in Germany is anyone's guess. It's not like it runs for 6 minutes like Eagle....

 

"Lovelight" is 3.46 as the US Atlantic B-side of "Chiquitita".

 

The longest fade is on the Pickwick CD version.

 

Looks like it, yes. My Dutch copy of the Chiquitita single lists the B-side as 3.36. Not sure if it's the same version as the 3.46 version on that Pickwick CD, or that it really fades a few seconds earlier.

BTW I seem to come across those Pickwick releases quite often in second-hand stores, and usually for a few bucks. Didn't pick them up yet, because they seem to contain rather a hodge-podge of songs with no clear concept (well, maybe except for the Love songs disc). So I understand that the Love songs disc is the only place to find the 'original' or 'right' mix of Lovelight. Are there any other good reasons to pick these up? I seem to remember that one of the 'Hits' CDs (I believe there were three of them) contained the song Should I laugh or cry, which originally was the non-album B-side to One of us. That one is available on the remastered version of the The visitors album, but I don't like the sound of the remasters. Are those Pickwick discs sounding better than the remasters?

 

Despite the fact that they were conceived in England, the Hits disc go beyond the obvious British hits so you find things like As Good As New (which was a single and a hit in Mexico of all places) Happy New Year (the Spanish version was a single in South America) or even things that were released as b-sides (The King Has Lost His Crown, Kisses of Fire, The Piper, etc...) The original mix of Lovelight is also available on the Deluxe Edition of Voulez-Vous (I like the sound of that but it has its detractors...) but if you get the Pickwick Love Songs CD you can do with that one (Should I Laugh Or Cry appears on this disc as well) Sound quality is good overall, much better than the current configuration of ABBA Gold probably... although a few tracks sound quite awful like Under Attack and there are loads of drop outs on Fernando, but for the price it goes these days I say go for it... I've mentioned this before but assembled cd of Arrival using the Pickwick tracks and that's the Arrival I listen to. -I'm not saying it's better than other versions or not, but I certainly prefer it. You know how this is... some people even speak highly of the much maligned Astley remasters from 2001. After witnessing a few heated debates over the years (I think the Voulez-Vous deluxe thread here turned into a war zone at some point) I say trust your ears and take your pick...

 

Thanks for the reply, Luxury_Liner. I will definitely pick these up, even though I have most of the original Polydor CDs of Abba's individual albums, along with the 1992 versions of Gold and More Gold. But it seems these Pickwick releases overall sound more than OK, and they have a few gems and oddities as well.
All in all the tracklists, all over the place as the sequence may be, warrants a nice listening experience, with some surprises here and there. Like you say, I usually see these being offered for a few bucks around these parts. And besides, you can never have too much good-sounding Abba discs, can you?

 

I bought my Pickwick 3 CD box on Amazon for less than 10 Euro and I never regret it. Besides the regular Polydor 80s CDs, I own the early 90s US CD versions (sounds very similar to the original Polydor CDs from the 80s, but "Super Trouper" is included without the dropout here) as I like the layout of the "Waterloo" and "ABBA" album with the original logo and title, used on the LP versions. I also own "From ABBA With Love" and "Honey Honey" (both Polydor CDs), they all sound great.

 

I have the 3:48 version of Lovelight on the 2001 remaster of Voulez-Vous.
Are all digital versions of this song prior to 1993 the longer version?

Darryl