Time for another ABBA thread At the time I am in the mood to listen to my ABBA vinyl collection again and it would be great to discuss about the best-sounding vinyl versions !!! As a german fan, I own all original Polydor pressings and like them very much !!! I also own the complete swedish Polar pressings, but I think they sound not as good as the german records. Life would be so easy if there would be no issues with some records or other collectors opinions... Let's start with "Super Trouper". As the german Polydor LP sounds really nice, the little dropout in the title track drives me crazy...so I bought an austrian Polydor LP some years ago (Austro Mechana), but it was cut a bit louder which results in a smaller runout groove and some innergroove distortion, especially on "Me And I". The swedish pressing has some minor dropouts here and there (not sure what pressing i own, it has a stamped POLS 322 A / POLS 322 B matrix), so it's only for the collection. I read some posts here that dutch Polydor pressings of old ABBA records sound great, but I never had a chance to listen to them. Any opinions ? Does "Super Trouper" has the annoying dropout ? If not, I have to buy it. I also have the US Atlantic LP. Sure, it sounds nice, but way too hot I think... Allright - would be great to discuss about vinyl only here !!!
Interesting you think the US is hot, I have nothing to compare it with (vinyl wise), I've enjoyed it enough not to search further
Yes, "Me And I" always tells the truth about the cutting quality. Listen to the voices with headphones, it's way too much for my taste.
At the time I am listening to "The Album". I compared the german Polydor and the swedish Polar (A-3 / B-3) and clearly prefer the swedish pressing. It has slightly more clarity and a smooth treble range.
I prefer the better Swedish Polar pressings. Do remember, the demand for these LP discs were very high, every pressing plant was overworked pressing them. I like German Polydor and UK Epic a lot, and US Atlantics can be good.
Sure, on the german pressings you can definitely hear a generation more from the original tape, but it adds some nice depth and warmth to their sound i think. I am very curious about the swedish first press of "Super Trouper". I have a mint copy here, including the original thick cardboard innersleeve, but on the record itself are some minor dropout issues. At the time I am listening with headphones and the first issue was on the title track after the sung intro when the instruments play the first part. you can hear a dropout on left channel...would be nice to know if there is another pressing without that issue. My copy has stamped POLS 322 A / POLS 322 B matrixes. I will write another report when I finished my listening session. I have a A-2 / B-3 pressing of the 1975 self-titled album "ABBA" and it has one of the most terrible distortion on "Bang-A-Boomerang". I can't listen to that version, it realy hurts.
Sure, they should be the best, but the quality variies very much...and it is very hard to find out the best versions without buying and selling the same albums over and over again...as I said earlier: the self-titled album is a mess on my swedish Polar pressing...the german pressing sounds much better. The Polar has a very small runout groove on side a and "Bang-A-Boomerang" suffers from additional distortion...horrible.
Good point I see where your coming from, I only use phones when doing transfers, it's fine on my big system, but yes, on my file from my pc with headphones it does induce a bit of annoyance
I just bought a Voulez Vous Atlantic pressing last week. It looked near mint in the store, even with my loupe. I cleaned it up and it still sounds like a crackling wood fire. I've had similar problems with Atlantic pressings, even some Zeppelin ones. But as you point out, demand was high at the time and they were probably using "slut" vinyl, to quote Michael Fremer.
Here is the second issue on my Polar "Super Trouper" album: Short after the track "The Way Old Friends Do" starts (with the accordeon), there is a major dropout on the right channel...would be very interesting if it is part of the original first pressing or if there are other variations available without these flaws...
Here are the sound samples of the drop outs on the swedish Polar LP (should be a first pressing): http://www.mediafire.com/download/0ojiwbvqch5b99c/POLS322SAMPLES.zip Please listen to the opening track at 0:22 (left channel issue) and the last track at 0.03 seconds (right channel). Whilst the dropout on track 1 is definitely a tape issue, I am not sure what the fault on the last track exactly is...very strange that the music (the accordeon) is nearly muted for one sedcond on right channel, the crowd noise goes on without any dropout... is there another swedish pressing available without these issues ??? I really want to upgrade my collection...thank you for your suggestions !!!
Sorry, I was asking for swedish Polar pressings only. The dropouts are neither on my US Atlantic, nor on the german and austrian Polydor pressings. As I want to complete my swedish Polar pressings, I am looking for another version without the dropouts. If you have one, please let me know the exact matrix numbers and if they are stamped or hand written. Thank you very much !!!
Oh right, didn't realise you were only looking for the Swedish Polar discs. Unfortunately I can't help you there, I only own UK Epics.
But thank you very much for your effort !!! I never heard any UK pressing except "The Album" with the nice gatefold cover.
Here is a list of my best-sounding albums on vinyl: Ring Ring (swedish Polar) Waterloo (danish Polar from swedish stampers) ABBA (german Polydor, cause the swedish Polar sounds way too harsh and has distortion on the last tracks on both sides)...any better sounding version available ??? Arrival (swedish Polar) The Album (swedish Polar)me Voulez-Vous (swedish Polar) Super Trouper (austrian Polydor, but some groove distortion on "Me And I". Swedish Polar has two dropouts, german Polydor one dropout, Atlantic LP is too hot) The Visitors (swedish Polar / german Polydor) Any opinions / suggestions about "ABBA" and "Super Trouper" ??? I ordered a dutch "Super Trouper" LP and I am curious how it sounds...but I have to way some days...
The Original UK Epics are really good if you can find mint copies, they are cheap and plentiful over here - Arrival sold by the truckload, so I have several different UK cuts of that LP going as high as A11/B7 and they all sound great. I also managed to get an almost complete set of Japanese 'discomate' LPs - I have Arrival through to The Visitors, along with a couple of double LP compilations 'The Best Of Abba' and another one which I think is 'greatest hits'. They also sound really good. I have various additional pressings, French, US, Canadian, German, Swedish, South African - one of my either Canadian or US Atlantic pressings is an oddity, because it looks like it was pressed by Decca UK, as it has the 'smaller' label and it is on that typical 'thicker' Decca vinyl.
Very interesting thing about the UK Epic pressings. My question: There are different label designs (yellow and orange). Do they sound the same ? Most difficult thing is to find a nice-sounding 1975 album...both the german Polydor and the swedish Polar sound horrible on the last tracks of both sides...especially "Boomerang" is really unlistenable on the swedish Polar LP. Maybe I have to go for a Discomate pressing for that album...
I have only have three UK copies of the '1975' album - and B-A-B is terrible on all of them, what a track to put on the end of a side! I have two yellow label A1/B1 copies and a later orange label A3/B2, the latter is not cut as hot but the EQ is terrible - all mid-range and little else, at least the A1/B1 sounds more uniform and more lively (cut hotter) but none of them are great - I was going to see what a Japanese copy sounds like but I rarely see it and when I do it's really pricey. As I only have the three copies of this album, this is one of the time where the original polydor CD is much preferable.
Any opinions on the Nautilus half speed of Arrival? It's the only Abba record I own but now I kinda want these original Swedish pressings yall are so in to.
Well, the Polydor CD sounds too harsh (same for "Ring Ring" and "Waterloo"). For the third album on CD I recommend the swedish Polar CD from 1988. It sounds fantastic. A more cheaper alternative is the Deluxe Edition which sound very similar (but mastered louder). Yes, I always wondered why they put "Boomerang" and "So Long" on the end of the sides...what a strange choice...
Yes, the german Polydor is a little harsh, especially on the more in your face tracks like 'boomerang' - I'm guessing original swedish polar CDs are not going to come cheap though, I also have the 1997 and a copy in the studio albums box from 2008 (which I believe has the same remastering as the earlier 2005 box) - the latter two are slightly better EQ-wise, but suffer from excessive compression, especially the one in the box set - for a track like boomerang which doesn't have much dynamic range going on in the first place, on the later remasters it sounds really squashed!
Anybody out there who owns a swedish first pressing of "Super Trouper" and could check the two issues please: http://www.mediafire.com/download/0ojiwbvqch5b99c/POLS322SAMPLES.zip Would be very interesting if there is any swedish pressing available without the two flaws. Thank you very much.
I discovered that I own one more danish Polar EMI pressing. It's the "Arrival" album and it sounds great !!! Are there any big differences in sound if you compare the swedish Polar pressings with the danish versions or do they sound the same ??? I am wondering cause my danish "Waterloo" first pressing (with the small labels) lacks some treble, if you compare it with the 1988 Polar CD, made in Sweden. Unfortunately, I don't have any swedish pressing on vinyl to check if it also sounds that way...any help would be appreciated, cause I want to upgrade my private ABBA collection. Thank you very much.
