ABBA single by single thread

The girls (especially Frida) were never sexier than in the 'So Long' performance for the TV special 'Made in Sweden for Export'.

 

I don't think I can truly hate any song that has saxophones in it.

 

'So Long' was a huge disappointement for ABBA, probably the biggest flop in their career, as it failed to chart in the UK and most other countries.

 

These guys?

 

That would be a kick! But as holograms of their 1979 selves. The picture in the video though, not from 1979...........

 

With the talk of virtual ABBA, how about a vocaloid version of a recently discussed song?

​

 

I like So Long but i think the B-Side was the better song:

 

What is with the two guys chatting in the background around the 2 minute mark?

 

Atlantic in the U.S. passed on both "So Long" and "I've Been Waiting for You," I would guess because neither song was on an album, and not only was the next album still months away, but the Waterloo album was still fairly fresh (it had been released in July 1974).

By 1974, Atlantic -- for that matter, pretty much every label in the States -- preferred singles to come from albums, or, if it was the first from a new album, to have the new 45 available no more than a month before the album. Only a handful of well-established artists could get away with a non-album A-side in the States; at the time "So Long" would have been released, Elton John's "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and Paul McCartney & Wings' "Junior's Farm" were on the U.S. charts, but both artists already had a significant track record, and their labels (MCA, Capitol/Apple) allowed these indulgences.

Instead, Atlantic decided to see if it could milk a third hit single from the Waterloo album, and issued "Ring Ring" backed with "Hasta Mañana" (Atlantic 45-3240). My old price guides reversed the order of the A and B sides because I hadn't seen the promo 45, which has "Ring Ring" on both sides, mono/stereo. Thus "Ring Ring" was obviously meant as the plug side.

The U.S. Waterloo album had a remixed version of "Ring Ring" with even more overdubbed sax than the UK remix. But for the 45, Atlantic actually issued the original Swedish single mix! Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think this is it:



"Ring Ring" is one of the rarer Atlantic ABBA 45s. (It's not the rarest Atlantic 45; I'll mention that when we get to it.) Promo copies are easier to find than stock copies. The song wasn't a hit; it never appeared on the Billboard or Cash Box charts, and it only made the supplemental 101-150 singles chart in Record World, peaking at #112 on February 8, 1975.

Only two pressing plants are known to have made stock copies of "Ring Ring": Specialty (SP) and Monarch (MO). Both those plants also made mono/stereo promos.

In the U.S., "Hasta Mañana" is better known as a cover, as the B-side of most copies of the massive 1977 hit, "You Light Up My Life" by Debby Boone. Its appearance on that 45 made Bjorn, Benny and Stig a significant windfall in composer royalties (somewhere around $200,000 in U.S. dollars). Here's that version:

Debby Boone Hasta Manana

 

Oh Debbie Boone's version is pretty strange..

 

"So Long"

They tried to score again with a glam rock stomp but it didn't work this time around.

Still, it's been a favorite of mine ever since I first heard it on The Singles: The First Ten Years. It's also why I made sure to buy More ABBA Gold as well as ABBA Gold but I digress.

 

Maybe the sheer quality of SOS would have cut through and become a big hit anyway.

 

I enjoy it but am not keen on Ring Ring, Honey Honey, So Long or ....

To me they were just Europap whereas Waterloo and, especially SOS, were masterpieces that gave notice of the extraordinary Abba talent.

 

Incidentally, Lenny Krawitz must have been heavily inspired by that track ... - just listen to the Are You Gonna Go My Way guitar riff.

 

This was never considered as a proper music video. It's taken from a Spanish TV show IIRC.

 

I first heard So Long on the LP The Best Of Abba (different from the Greatest Hits elsewhere in the world). I immediately loved it and am still surprised it bombed everywhere, other than Sweden, Austria and Germany. A fantastic high-energy song.

 

Yeah that's the only stinker of their golden period.

 

Most people worked out what the next two singles were going to be so that counteracted I do etc

 

Wow - sorry for jumping the gun, but I wasn't expecting people to not like I Do (etc). I've always really liked it - it has a lovely melody and a beautifully sung vocal. The only dodgy bit is the key change, but I don't like key changes in general. I think it was the first UK Abba single to be on the orange Epic label if my memory serves. I know So Long was on yellow, and we had both of those 7 inches - one yellow, one orange.

I have to say the Abba singles I really can't stand (apart from the saccharin overdose snoozefest of Chiquitita) are Mamma Mia and Dancing Queen. The piano on the first is really twee stereotypical Abba (as mercilessly lampooned by many a comedian over the years) and I just can't see the appeal of the latter - it's OK for the first couple of listens, but after you've heard it for the 1000th time on the radio doesn't it just make you think "FF sake play one of their other songs PLEASE! Show some imagination why don't you?" There are better songs by Abba.

Edit - I just checked Discogs and the I Do (etc) orange label we had is a reissue of uncertain date.

 

I bought More Abba gold and not Abba Gold because I preferred the tracklist.

 

I used to like him back in the day - "Let Love Rule" and "Mama Said" were great, but you're right - that does sound like Kravitz on guitar. I think he was always a fan of good music - glam and Hendrix. He played on Buddha of Suburbia. You just have to look at the cover of Mama Said and he looks like David Johanson. He made a big thing about using analogue equipment to replicate the 1970s, so you're spot on IMO. I always like his female drummer on that video. Great song BTW. I'm not a Kravitz knocker. He tried to drag the 1970s kicking and screaming out of its grave and I had a great time freaking out to his albums with my 1970s mad glam/hippy friends in the early 1990s when all seemed lost.

 

'So Long' is probably my least favourite Abba single. It has always struck me as a semi-conscious rip-off of 'Waterloo' - an attempt to get another hit by rejigging a previous success. Its mix is also relatively poor - it manages to be simultaneously muddy and shrill. 'I've Been Waiting For You' would have been a far better choice of A-side.

 

I was wondering when you were going to show up here.

 

I've heard it sound magical and I've heard it sound dull. I was pretty disappointed when I heard it on cd and it didn't have the shimmer that I had been accustomed to.
If you've heard it on original vinyl though I suppose it'll just be down to personal taste. As I said above, it's probably my favourite and it gives me a tingle when I hear their voices on the bridge.

 

I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do (1975)


B-side: Rock Me, Bang-A-Boomerang (US)
Released: April 1975
Charts: #1 (Australia), #38 (United Kingdom), #15 (United States)