Definitely...but it's way too expensive for my pocket. I own the original book and the "ABBA for the record" book. I will wait some time and hope they will release another version for less money in the near future.
Well, sounds worthy of buying again, and at $41 for ebook not too horrible. At least it is less than hardback. Starting to see ebooks costing the same as physical books. Makes no sense. Thanks for the info!
The price is quite high, I agree, especially for an ebook, but you have to take into account that the writer does practically everything on his own. He does all the financing and publishing himself, so it's completely self-supporting. Neither the group nor the record company have a part in getting this off the ground. His first Kickstarter campaign didn't even succeed to get the total amount necessary for this project. After that failure, he tried again in a more slimmed down version of his original campaign, on Indiegogo, with a longer period available for pledgers to come onboard. That succeeded and even exceeded the amount of money needed, and ever since then he's been researching and writing, reporting every other week or so on the progress of his project, by mail through Indiegogo, with the necessary plug-in to his book and his website. And I have to say, he's very, very passionate about it and you cannot help but like him a lot.
Well, I do try and put a value on the work done that goes into anything I buy. His last book was huge so I'm sure it will be worth it.
I'm a male norwegian. I've just bought this cartridge: Denon DL-103R Low Output MC, and is using it on a Luxman PD 282 record player. I played through 3 of my ABBA LP albums tonight comparing them to the observations on here. 1. Super Trouper (1980), Atlantic Canada, TLC-T pressing: The sound is incredible on this record! Just like sathvyre says. But, mine also has that background noise. Why? Anyway, it's nearly inaudible during the music, it's more noticable between tracks. To my surprise the dead wax was not dead at all on side B! The sound of the crowd (The Way Old Friends Do) goes on through the "dead" wax right into the brim of the label. The incredible sound is the same throughout the whole record! 2. Waterloo (1974), Atlantic US, regular pressing: Not as nice sounding as S T, but still quite good. Good bass. Sitting in the Palm Tree sounds nice. Hasta Mañana sounds nice too. The last track on side A Dance While the Music Still Goes On sounded quite bad. The last track on each side of an LP is often troublesome. On to Side B: Honey, Honey sounds OK, but the vocals are sharp and ear piercing! What About Livingstone was better regarding this. The alternate Ring, Ring (which is the last track on side B) sounds very bad with ear piercing vocals (BLAH!) The bass was good throughout. 3. ABBA (1975), Polar (I'm not sure of country of pressing, either swedish or norwegian? I can't find any indication of it): This one is quite quiet sounding. Very nice sound. Yes, excellent! That is, except for Bang-A-Boomerang (ear piercing). What went wrong? It's the last track on side A, but the last track on side B So Long, sounds much better. That's my say on the matter. I'm looking forward to exploring the rest of my ABBA records. Sincerely, Even
In my opinion, Bang a Boomerang is the worst mix they ever did. Who knows what happened. Mud, mud, mud, and then some more ugly upper-mids mud. Its like they were trying to do the Phil Spector wall of sound in stereo and it just didnt work.
Hi! I've listened to two ABBA LPs tonight: 1. Björn Benny & Agnetha Frida: Ring Ring (1973) Swedish Polar: From looking at the inner sleeve I believe it is a pressing from around 1976. Compared to the lates Deluxe CD release (2013) the LP won. I could hear details from the record which was much harder to hear on the CD. The sound is very good. Some crackling as it's a record in EX condition. 2. Arrival (1976), US Atlantic (it says CAGP or CGP or is it CRP? in the dead wax): Unfortunately, the record is a little wavy (does not lie straight on the platter, a weakness of several thin 70's pressings.) Lovely sound which beats the CDs hands down, I believe (even if I haven't listened to the latest Deluxe CD in a while). My only complaint is that it's mastered a bit too hot. The vocals tend to be loud and shrill (a bit ear piercing). I wonder how a Canadian TLC-T pressing would sound (if it exists)? Sincerely, Even
The swedish Polar LPs of "Ring Ring" (both 1973 and 1976 pressings) sound great !!! For "Arrival" I clearly prefer the danish EMI / Polar pressing from 1976. It has a fantastic sound !!!
Thanks for the reply, sathvyre! And thanks for all the suggestions. I'm off to Denmark tomorrow. I'll try to find some danish pressings while I'm there. I got 4 more Canadian releases in the mail today. Assuming the anti-skate is correct now. It sounds great on my set-up. Heres the two I've listened to tonight: 1. Arrival, Atlantic Canada (1976). In the dead wax it's written (on side one): ST-A-763767-1C-2 GH (on side two): ST-A-763768-1A-2 HG A faint DM is written in the wax on both sides. On Dum Dum Diddle the bass was kicking. Nice and tight. This continued on Knowing Me, Knowing You. S. B: Good punch & detailed soundstage on Money, Money, Money. When there was no music, between songs, I could hear a sound from the left speaker. Maybe the pressing makes the sound. It can't be inner groove distortion, can it? 2. Voulez-Vous, Atlantic Canada (1979). In the dead wax was written only the catalog number (which I already knew) except for JAMF which was pressed into the wax. This one has a black Canadian leaf printed under the ABBA logo on the back of the sleeve. This record, to me, sounds incredible. It's just wonderful! What a soundstage, what a presence! (A pity the music is not up to the standard of Arrival, but a fun album nonetheless). The pressing is very quiet. On both: The bass could have been more powerful. But bass, as we all should know, is very much dependent on the room and the stereo equipment set up. I could always turn up the bass a bit on the amp. On the other hand: the bass sounds very natural on these LPs. The bass of the CDs are often overwhelming and is increased by the mastering engineer to get more oomph in the sound. It's very noticeable on a High End stereo set up. In conclusion: Arrival could've been better, but I'll be surprised if anything beats Voulez-Vous. I say: throw the CDs in the garbage. Nothing beats the sound of the good old LP records! It sounds more natural. Those Canadians, more often than not, got it right. I'm off to the record player. I'll spin another Canadian pressing.
I've listened to an album I don't have on CD: The Visitors, Atlantic Canada (1981), XSD 19332 Q. In the dead wax: CUTTING ROOM SWEDEN. Both the Q following the cat. no. on the label & cutting room sweden are signs of a quality pressing. And the sound is just lovely! Except for a slight hiss on some S's, this record sounds exceptional! The sound quality even beats Voulez-Vous, not by much, but nonetheless it does. When it comes to ABBA we have to keep in mind that recording technology was getting better and better up to the last album. This also increases the quality of the sound, I think. Not everyone agree on this. Some may say that analog beats digital every time. But hearing digital on an analog medium, in this case, is just great. Have a great summer and keep on playing those ABBA records!
They are not hard to find. The second-hand stores in my area don't want any more Abba records because they have so much of it already.
Try this one in Aalborg. Læsehesten Aalborg - Køb, salg og bytte af musik. CD | LP | MusikDVD - Læsehesten » I'm sure there are more, It's a fairly big town.
Thanks! I was in Læsehesten Aalborg a couple of years ago. But, I was there with a family of four. I only had time to buy what we were there for: Daimi - Jeg er sgu min egen original Soundtrack LP album.
There is a second-hand store in Horsens. I bet they have the entire Abba catalog on vinyl at 10 kroner a piece. I think they had 5 copies of The Visitors the last time I was there.
I've been paying attention to this thread for awhile, and have been surprised with the compliments regarding the Canadian pressings. I have purchased M- copies of all Abba releases except for Arrival for $1 each at a local used record store in the past week. I must say that they sound uniformly excellent, with Voulez Vous being the best. Even Greatest Hits is just super! I'm very pleased.
We were talking about the bad sound on Bang a Boomerang up wind. It was clearly recorded differently and mean't to sound the way it does. Whether we like it or not is another issue (I don't paricularily) but it's not your system or the pressing or because it's the last track. I think Tretow was doing some expermenting still, dialing in their sound. It got more consistent after that album, thank goodness.
I have an amazing domestic copy of Greatest Hits. I have no idea why it sounds so good; technically it shouldn't as compilations usually don't come from a low gen master. Voulez Vous, as you said, is quite excellent sounding!
I think the vinyl versions of all their albums are far better than the CD's. That's assuming you have a good vinyl rig, of course. It's a lot harder to get there, but if you have a good set up I've heard very little digital music that beats vinyl, especially music from groups like ABBA, with all those great vocals stacked together. Other genres of music are fine on CD.
Danish ABBA pressings are a mixed bag...I heard tweo albums and some 7" singles and they had azimuth issues and a very dull and dead sound...
Arrival sounds pretty good. s/t, not so much. I recently bought a US Atlantic pressing of Waterloo. Very bright and thin sound. I'll stick with the old Polydor and Polar cds.
Not any more, you can't! I'm seeing £118 from 3rd party sellers on Amazon at the moment. Anyone got any up to date links for the box in the UK? Or should I just buy the individual copies at this point?
Here is my recommendation to collect all albums (old pressings): - Ring Ring (swedish Polar or german Polydor or latest vinyl release) - Waterloo (swedish Polar or canadian Atlantic or german Polydor or latest vinyl release) - ABBA (german Polydor or canadian Atlantic) - Arrival (danish Polar / EMI) - The Album (swedish Polar or english EPIC) - Voulez-Vous (swedish Polar or german Polydor or dutch Polydor) - Super Trouper (canadian Atlantic or dutch Polydor) - The Visitors (any pressing with CUTTING ROOM SWEDEN engraved)
I posted that back in January, offers like that don't stick around for long! If you can get the Back To Blacks cheaply, they are the same analogue cuts apparently - just avoid the Visitors, an clean original will sound much better and they are usually very inexpensive and not hard to find... If you really want the box, this is currently the cheapest on ebay for £70 new and free postage... ABBA "THE STUDIO ALBUMS" BRAND NEW 180G 8x LP LTD ED BOX SET + DOWNLOADS » That's still less than £9 per record...
