ABBA single by single thread

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Haristar, Apr 7, 2018.

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  1. Jarleboy

    Jarleboy Music was my first love

    Location:
    Norway
    Excellent! Let´s get to the "Main Course"! If others don´t start following the new thread, it´s only because "we´re living in a world of fools". Of course. :righton:
     
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  2. filip_kbh

    filip_kbh Forum Resident

    I prefer this remix:
     
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  3. John Adam

    John Adam An Introvert In Paradise

    Location:
    Hawaii
    We can't listen to this in the States, so I can't comment on this remix! :(
     
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  4. torcan

    torcan Forum Resident

    Location:
    Toronto
    I've seen that one - good choice!

    I know we've got a couple more going right now and we don't want to "over saturate the market", but would there be any interest in any of these sometime down the line?:

    --Hall & Oates
    --Bob Seger
    --Bruce Springsteen
    --Madonna

    Just throwing it out there to see if there may be any interest in these or other artists. If Tim's in on any of these I'd love to read his comments!
     
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  5. torcan

    torcan Forum Resident

    Location:
    Toronto
    It always surprised me how fast songs dropped in that era. I Know There's Something Going On didn't reach its No. 13 peak until its 23rd week on the Hot 100 (at least that was the week it finally lost its bullet and was ready to drop, anyway) but was gone from the charts a mere 6 weeks later. You would have thought it would have had a slower drop based on its slow climb. I guess we didn't get a true reflection of how fast a song really dropped until the charts changed in Nov 1991.
     
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  6. John Adam

    John Adam An Introvert In Paradise

    Location:
    Hawaii
    I Like the Bee Gees too, but don't forget to come back also to this thread and continue to contribute, even if less frequent! :)
     
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  7. MCT1

    MCT1 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Worcester, MA
    I also hear this on classic rock stations every now and then, and always find it amusing. I am guessing that most of the station's listeners (maybe even the DJs or programmers) don't realize that the person who sings this song was a member of ABBA. These stations generally wouldn't be caught dead playing an ABBA song.

    When this song was new, I was 12 years old and was strictly a Top 40 listener, so I have no personal memory of rock stations playing it as a current track. But back then it must have been common knowledge who Frida was, which makes it all the more remarkable that this actually got picked up for airplay by rock stations.

    It's my impression that around that time this song was on the charts, rock radio in the U.S. was at a bit of a crossroads. The format was concerned that it was losing younger listeners to new styles of music (most notably, but not exclusively, the "new wave" styles that MTV was at the epicenter of), and many rock stations were incorporating those types of music into their playlists. At many stations, this turned out to be largely a temporary fad. While it was occurring, though, it probably made many rock stations more receptive to playing things they wouldn't have in the past. That may have opened some doors for "I Know There's Something Going On", along with the credibility it got from having Phil Collins' name attached to it.
     
  8. MCT1

    MCT1 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Worcester, MA
    Some Atlantic catalog number minutiae, as applied to ABBA's U.S. singles:

    Back when we were on 1974, Tim noted that there is an unusually large gap between the catalog numbers for "Waterloo" and "Honey, Honey", because Atlantic skipped ahead in its numbering to mark a change in the retail list price of 45s. There were three more skips like this later in ABBA's tenure with the label.
    When ABBA first signed with Atlantic, the standard retail list price for 45s in the U.S. was 99 cents, and Atlantic was using a numbering sequence that had just gone past number 3000. "Waterloo" was the only single Atlantic released while the 99 cent list price was still in effect. The highest commercially released catalog number shown on 45cat before the price change is 3045.
    In mid-1974, the retail list price of 45s increased to $1.29. So that records released before and after the price increase could be easily distinguished by distributors and retailers, Atlantic jumped ahead in its catalog number sequence to 3200. The $1.29 list price remained in effect throughout the 3200s, 3300s, 3400s and 3500s.
    In mid-1979, the retail list price of 45s increased to $1.49. To mark the increase, Atlantic jumped ahead in its catalog number sequence to 3600. This one is a bit odd, as Atlantic didn't skip ahead very far. The highest catalog number shown on 45cat before the skip is 3590, so Atlantic only skipped over about ten numbers. Usually, these skips were done in a way as to be much more obvious. Atlantic wouldn't even get all the way through the 3600s before the next price increase hit. The highest catalog number shown on 45cat before the next skip is 3674.
    In mid-1980, the retail list price of 45s increased to $1.69. To mark the increase, Atlantic jumped ahead in its catalog number sequence to 3750. This list price remained in effect for the remainder of the 3700s and most of the way to the end of the 3800s. The highest catalog number shown on 45cat before the next skip is 3894.
    In early 1982 (a couple of weeks into the New Year), Atlantic raised the retail list price of 45s to $1.99. To mark the increase, Atlantic jumped ahead in its catalog number sequence to 4000. This numbering sequence was only used for about six months before Warner Music (Atlantic's parent company) decided to completely revamp all of its catalog numbers. The highest catalog number shown on 45cat is 4072.
    In mid-1982, Atlantic completely revamped its catalog numbering for both singles and albums, part of a larger Warner Music initiative to tie catalog numbers in with the numbers used in bar codes. Tim discussed this numbering system extensively in a previous post. I won't rehash the details here other than to note that Atlantic's main sequence for singles began at 7-89999 and worked backwards. The two singles above were part of this numbering sequence, as were the singles from Frida's first solo album and Agnetha's third solo album (both of which were released on Atlantic in the U.S.).

    Under the new numbering system, list price was no longer coded into catalog numbers. The idea was that the price of an item could be determined by scanning or looking up the bar code. The retail list price for 45s would remain $1.99 at least until 45s ceased to be a mass-market item in the U.S. around 1989 or 1990, however. Cassette singles, which U.S. record labels began to aggressively market as a replacement for vinyl 45s beginning in the spring of 1987, were initially also $1.99, but were raised to $2.49 in 1988, to $2.99 in the fall of 1989, and to $3.49 a couple of years later.
     
    Last edited: Jul 18, 2018
  9. John Adam

    John Adam An Introvert In Paradise

    Location:
    Hawaii
    That was great information about prices of singles throughout ABBA's and the girls post ABBA solo careers!!
    So Waterloo in 1974 would of cost 99 cents at the record shop and Let It Shine by Agnetha would of been $1.99 on vinyl, and on cassette it would of been $2.49 when released. I'm assuming no ABBA singles were ever released on that format?
    (I don't collect tapes.)
     
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  10. tim_neely

    tim_neely Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    Central VA
    In the early years, only the highest-end stores charged full retail. For example, when 45s had a list price of 99 cents, my local Grants (department store) charged 69 cents and Listening Booth (record store chain) charged 83 cents. As the list price went up, so did the retail price; there was always a difference between department stores and specialty record stores in favor of department stores, especially when the record store was either Sam Goody or Musicland, both of which were notoriously expensive. By the end of the 1980s, even those few department stores that still had 45s were close to the same price as the specialist stores.
     
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  11. Haristar

    Haristar Apollo C. Vermouth Thread Starter

    Location:
    Hampshire, UK
    Never Again (1982)

    [​IMG]
    B-side: Just for the Fun
    Released: October 1982
    Charts: #2 (Sweden)
     
  12. Paul Rymer

    Paul Rymer Forum Resident

    I had a saturday job in a UK record shop back in 1984 - 1986 which was one of the earlier places to specialise in CDs. One of the most consistent sellers was Frida's album Something's Going On, which was apparently an album that really showed off a good hi-fi system with CD. Other albums selling a lot to early CD adopters (mostly middle-aged men who are probably in their 60s or 70s by now) were Avalon by Roxy Music and anything by Dire Straits. Could not shift 80s pop on CD - the kids were still buying vinyl or cassettes at that time. I didn't start buying CDs myself until 1988.
     
  13. bob60

    bob60 Forum Resident

    Location:
    London UK
    Well @Bobby Morrow recently used a Gary Glitter CD to show off his lah di dah fancy pants hi-fi system on the 'no 1 singles of 1973 thread' the other day.
    Beat that if you can...:D
     
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  14. cut to the chase

    cut to the chase Forum Resident

    Location:
    Germany
    I like the chorus to 'Never Again', the verses not so much, especially not the parts where Ledin sings 'mmm, baby...'.
     
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  15. Bobby Morrow

    Bobby Morrow Senior Member

    I have the remaster of the Frida album. Unfortunately it sounds like crap.
     
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  16. 9la

    9la Forum Resident

    That's what I said back in post #1736 (200 replies ago, but only 12 days on this thread!).
     
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  17. sunspot42

    sunspot42 Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Francisco
    :shake:
     
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  18. John Adam

    John Adam An Introvert In Paradise

    Location:
    Hawaii
    I like this duet. I think it was Agnetha's first solo piece outside the ABBA realm. They sound great together, and they sort of have a history, being he was one of the back-up singers on the 1979 tour. I like the chorus too, but in realty it was his song from his album and she was a guest. They voices blend together quite nicely and it makes me hungry for what's coming up from Agnetha.
     
  19. tim_neely

    tim_neely Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    Central VA
    "Never Again" was never released in the U.S. Listening to it, it would not have sounded out of place on U.S. Adult Contemporary radio in the 1980s.

    As far as I can tell, only one Tomas Ledin single was released in the States. Way back in 1972, his Swedish hit "Lay Me Your Body Down" was licensed from RCA Sweden by Mega Records, which was best known for Sammi Smith's early-1971 hit version of "Help Me Make It Through the Night" and the 1972 hit "Joy" by Apollo 100. Released as Mega 615-0096, the song was not a U.S. hit.
     
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  20. tin ears

    tin ears Forum Resident

    Location:
    Scotland UK
    Has anyone heard the recent vinyl reissue of Somethings Going On? Was thinking of picking it up as my old cassette copy snapped last time I tried to play it. If it sounds like the recent CD master I'll probably want to give it a miss though.
     
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  21. cut to the chase

    cut to the chase Forum Resident

    Location:
    Germany
    Frida had a much cooler and more innovative first post-ABBA solo single than Agnetha. That's why her song was a worldwide hit, whereas Agnetha's duet with Ledin only succeeded in Sweden.

    (Well technically it wasn't really a post-ABBA single because ABBA were still together in 1982 but you know what I mean).
     
    Last edited: Jul 19, 2018
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  22. Jarleboy

    Jarleboy Music was my first love

    Location:
    Norway
    Thomas Ledin is still a major star in Scandinavia, even though he never made it big outside these shores. He has had penty of hits, and he´s known here for much better songs than this duet. I don´t dislike the song at all, but he was a much better songwriter than he gets to show here. I wouldn´t say that he was Scandinavia´s Bruce Springsteen - he was much "poppier" than The Boss, but he was and remains a fairly serious artist. And seemingly very nice as a person. That´s his reputation.

    Another duet was released in 1986, featuring the lead singer from the band Secret Service, Ola Håkonsson. This band had quite a few hits from 1979 onwards, such as "OH, SUSIE", "FLASH IN THE NIGHT", "CRY SOFTLY (TIME IS MOURNING)", "DANCING IN MADNESS", "YE-SI-CA" and others. This band was a cross between Bristish synth bands, Swedish dance bands and the Norwegian band a-ha. I like them a lot, though I wouldn´t call them a very "serious" band. They managaed to write some good pop songs with lots of hooks, very catchy. Unfortunately, when it was time for Agnetha to record her two duets with Ola Håkonsson, they didn´t bring their best game.

    The A-side was the ballad "THE WAY YOU ARE". Secret Service were always fun, but they forgot about this when letting their front man record with Agnetha. Too bad.

     
  23. Jarleboy

    Jarleboy Music was my first love

    Location:
    Norway
    The B-side was another duet between the two, this time called "FLY LIKE THE EAGLE". Just for the record, this single went all the way to No. 1 in Sweden in the summer of 1986.

     
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  24. John Adam

    John Adam An Introvert In Paradise

    Location:
    Hawaii
    I will have to check out his work, as I had never heard of him outside of the ABBA association.

    Coming up later in the thread......... :)
     
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  25. cut to the chase

    cut to the chase Forum Resident

    Location:
    Germany
    I had no idea that Ola was the lead singer of Secret Service. They had 3 consecutive top 10 single in Germany from 1979 to 1981 ('Oh Susie', 'Ten O'Clock Postman' and 'Ye-Si-Ca'), all quite catchy.

     
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