ABBA - The best sounding albums on vinyl ???

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by sathvyre, May 12, 2015.

  1. LivingForever

    LivingForever Forum Arachibutyrophobic

    Oh, nice, thank you! I think I may just do that... :)
     
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  2. JP Christian

    JP Christian Forum Resident

    Alternatively, I see you're UK Surrey based - I have multiple UK copies, I'm sure I can let a few go for just a few quid if you wanted some UK's as a starter...
     
  3. LivingForever

    LivingForever Forum Arachibutyrophobic

    Ooh, that's tempting! I'll PM you. :)
     
  4. Jrr

    Jrr Forum Resident

    If those are the same Polar pressings that were in the more expensive silver box, and I believe they are, then they are really great sounding. I would definitely get that! I think it's missing the bonus track disc and the book, but the music is what is important of course. And it's whole lot cheaper!
     
  5. JP Christian

    JP Christian Forum Resident

    Yes, it's just the studio albums with no bonus disc for the singles, thicker vinyl than the earlier set but as far as I've heard, the same analogue 'polar' cuts...

    It's still good value for £70, at £34.99 it was an absolute steal...
     
  6. Yost

    Yost “It’s only impossible until it’s not”

    I probably could have helped you if I hadn't thrown away all my Dutch vinyl pressings some 20 years ago. Living in The Netherlands I owned all albums as Dutch pressings, from Greatest Hits to The Visitors. And I really don't remember what they sounded like. Sorry.

    Reading all this talk about the original vinyl sounding better than any CD, I recently bought a first German vinyl pressing of Arrival in a thrift store. And compared it to my first German CD pressing. This comparison didn't motivate me to go looking for more ABBA vinyl. The album always sounded thin to me on CD, and the LP version hardly sounds any different.

    So, I'll just be listening to my original CD's until Audio Fidelity will release the albums as remastered SACDs (which I think will never happen, sadly).
     
  7. sathvyre

    sathvyre formerly known as ABBAmaniac Thread Starter

    Location:
    Europe
    I compared some dutch pressings with german pressings and they sound very similar...the dutch "Super Trouper" album doesn't have the dropout in the title track and "Voulez-Vous" has swapped channels, compared to the german LP (IIRC). The dutch "The Visitors" sounds horrible (it doesn't have CUTTING ROOM SWEDEN engraved in the deadwax).
     
  8. Mr. Even B

    Mr. Even B Forum Resident

    Location:
    Norway
    I'm back from my trip to Denmark. My goal was getting many ABBA LP albums and this is what I got:

    In Oslo, at Råkk & Rålls, I got 2 albums + a collection.
    At Læsehesten in Frederikshavn I bought some albums and 2 compilations.
    At Læsehesten in Aalborg I got several more albums.

    A surprise in Frederikshavn was what looked like a swedish compilation "Svensktoppentoppar 2". The sleeve showed small pictures of Benny Andersson & Björn Ulvaeus (as a duo) + Hootenanny Singers + Lena Andersson.
    Inside this sleeve I found a NM copy of a swedish 1973 pressing of the ABBA album "Ring, Ring"! Nice copies of this album are hard to find.

    I bought 5 copies of their 1st album in a danish release which looks like this:
    [​IMG]
    Other finds, in Aalborg, were:
    "Voulez-Vous", French Vogue
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    "Gracias por la musica", on Septima Records. The sleeve is swedish.

    I bought several other danish and swedish albums.
    I got 3 danish copies of "Arrival" + 1 german.

    In total 17 albums & 3 compilations!


    Unfortunately, singles were hard to find. Those in Oslo were too expensive.

    I'll be back with posts on the SQ of some of them.

    Sincerely,
    Even B.
     
    Last edited: Jul 20, 2016
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  9. JP Christian

    JP Christian Forum Resident

    The French Voulez-Vous sounds stellar - you should really enjoy that one!
     
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  10. sathvyre

    sathvyre formerly known as ABBAmaniac Thread Starter

    Location:
    Europe
    Yes, it does !!! A little bit too hot here and there, but great frequency range !!!
     
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  11. ClausH

    ClausH Senior Member

    Location:
    Denmark
    Is it the one on Vogue?
     
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  12. sathvyre

    sathvyre formerly known as ABBAmaniac Thread Starter

    Location:
    Europe
    Yes, it is. A great pressing for very low prices.
     
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  13. Mr. Even B

    Mr. Even B Forum Resident

    Location:
    Norway
    I've listened to the first record of The Singles: The First Ten Years (1982) from Epic, England.
    Side A left me dissapointed. (7 tracks)
    "Ring, Ring" was kinda tame, needed a bit more push and drive.
    Good bass beat on "Waterloo".
    "I Do, I Do, I Do..." is another story. I did not like the SQ. And it continues with "S.O.S."

    Side A (with clamp on) (6 tracks) starts promising with "Dancing Queen".
    The following 2 tracks were just as good.
    "The Name of the Game" sounds very good.
    Then some hissing s's on "Take a Chance on Me" which is a bit worse on "Summer Night City".

    6 tracks compared to 7 on s. A might have some impact on the SQ.
     
  14. ClausH

    ClausH Senior Member

    Location:
    Denmark
    The Polydor cd sounds the same. The first 6 tracks are generally disappointing. The rest of the album sounds very good.
     
  15. JP Christian

    JP Christian Forum Resident

    What matrices do you have? Mine is A1/B1/C3/D2 - I did have a second copy with A2/B2 - from memory I don't recall it being too bad, but you may be right that SQ may have been affected by 7 tracks crammed onto side one, coupled with the fact if I recall the early tracks are quite compressed - on UK LPs anyway.
     
  16. sathvyre

    sathvyre formerly known as ABBAmaniac Thread Starter

    Location:
    Europe
  17. JP Christian

    JP Christian Forum Resident

    It's a shame that set only goes up to the 1980 tracks - if they'd waited a year or so it could have included tracks from the Visitors and the final singles.

    It's a great set though!
     
  18. sathvyre

    sathvyre formerly known as ABBAmaniac Thread Starter

    Location:
    Europe
    Simply buy that set and "the Visitors" and "The Singles - The First Ten Years" and you have the best tracks of ABBA in your collection. Some tunes of "Ring Ring" and "Waterloo" are missing on the set, but these tracks are not really important I think.
     
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  19. Mr. Even B

    Mr. Even B Forum Resident

    Location:
    Norway
    The matrises on mine says: A1/B1 & C2/DG.
    I don't know the meaning of DG.
     
  20. chacha

    chacha Forum Resident In Memoriam

    Location:
    mill valley CA USA
    My US copy the tracks are slightly sped up. I don't care for it.
     
  21. Mr. Even B

    Mr. Even B Forum Resident

    Location:
    Norway
    I've, now, listened to The Very Best Of ABBA - ABBA's Greatest Hits, Polydor Germany (1976), Musikladen sleeve.
    I like the sound from this double album. The punch in the bass is very nice!
    Otherwise it has the warm LP sound.
    As always Bang-A-Boomerang is ****e (SQ wise).

    Some of the ballads on record 2 side 2 didn't sound so hot either, but I've heard worse.

    Then I put on an original 1973 Polar single of "Ring, Ring". That it had lots of punch is the best I can say about that one.
     
  22. sathvyre

    sathvyre formerly known as ABBAmaniac Thread Starter

    Location:
    Europe
    The swedish Polar singles sound great, but stay away from most of the danish 7" releases...some of them sound dull and dead. You can also enjoy the german Polydor singles, they are great.
     
  23. Lencorob

    Lencorob New Member

    Location:
    Netherlands
    Hi guys I just joined this forum, I did a search for Abba Vinyl Cutting Room Sweden. But I guess that The Visitors was the only album done by them right? Sorry I should not barge into a room, without introducing myself. Where are my manners? My Name is Rob I am a 57 year old vinyl lover (again), can still hear up to 16.000 Hz tested, gave all my vinyl away at 50, yep stupid I know.:(
    Got most of my original collection back in 2014 and I have been searching the internet ever since, to buy back what was no longer part of the collection. Since 2014 I have not listened to a single CD.
    Although my heavy plinth Lenco L78 is still under construction I spin my records on a Micro Seiki BL 21 with Grado Platinum cart, sometimes I use my old Luxman L430 for listening back or one of the tube amplifiers I own. And although I knew differences existed between vinyl, I never knew the difference was so big. I got into listening to multiple versions of the same album, because a colleague sent me a link to "Better Records" where 50 or so copies of each record are cleaned, listened back, notes made about the sound quality and then categorized into Hot/Super Hot/White Hot Stampers and priced accordingly. Due to the fact I gave away my original collection and came to my senses in 2014 and started buying vinyl without having the original collection back, I now have double or triple copies. And yezzz I Have Abba and a Clearaudio Smart Matrix record cleaning machine, so I cleaned two The Visitors albums, Polydor, from the Netherlands, identical numbers on the sleeve. As luck would have it one of the two had Cutting Room Sweden embossed in the dead wax, I have never heard such a big difference in sound, night and day barely covers it. But to all you music/vinyl lovers there is good and bad news. o_O Not only Abba vinyl is affected, all vinyl is. The differences range from subtle to earth shaking, meaning there might be copy of your favorite record out there, that sounds vastly superior to the one you own, the only way to find out is buy em, clean em, listen to them an then select the best. If you are into cleaning I have a hot tip for you, I tried several solutions, most of which cleaned but did not get rid of all the clicks and pops. But I then stumbled upon TTVJ Vinylzyme Gold an enzyme based vinyl cleaner by Todd The Vinyl Junkie.
    I have no affiliation with this gentleman whatsoever, I let my vinyl soak about 6 minutes per side (Todd says 2 suffice) the soaking does not harm your vinyl and mostly if is dead quiet besides the music that is:D
     
  24. Mr. Even B

    Mr. Even B Forum Resident

    Location:
    Norway
    Hi, Rob!
    Welcome to this forum. Your post is very interesting. It's great that you'll soon have most of your collection back & your stereo setup sounds killer!

    This thread is the best ABBA thread on the whole wide web! It beats even the fan forums.

    It's a pity there's not more ABBA albums with Cutting Room Sweden on it. But that Visitors pressing sure is great (actually it's several pressings bearing this imprint).

    Back to my record playing.

    I played this one tonight:
    Ring, Ring (Polar, Denmark), 1973.
    I couldn't find anything indicating this is a danish pressing. Except for "ABBA's første LP" on the front.

    The copy I played could, probably, have been in better condition. I'll try another copy later on.
    This copy is hissy. It doesn't sound as good as the swedish pressings.

    Then I played this one:
    Arrival (Polar, Denmark), 1976.
    Nothing indicating a danish pressing on the record itself, but it's clear by looking at the outer & inner sleeve).

    Wow! I guess sathvyre is right. The bass is really nice and punchy, the soundscape is great!
    On "Money, Money, Money" I could hear Agnetha more clearly (I wasn't formerly aware of her "oo-oo" in the background. Yes, Agnetha is much easier taken note of. You can hear her more clearly.
    The sound has a "being there in the studio" feel. It's the best I've ever heard of this album.
    A great album became even greater!
     
  25. Lencorob

    Lencorob New Member

    Location:
    Netherlands
    Hi Mr. Even B,

    Thanks for the warm welcome, I have been listening to records on a more than average setup since I was living with my parents, I left home at 28 this allowed me to spend money on my stereo system and cars :D Although I was aware of differences in pressings, I never realized that these would be this big.
    I envy you, Ring Ring was in the collection I gave away and it stayed away. And having tried to find a VG+ or NM- version I found out it is something of a collectible.
    I have it on CD, but once returned to vinyl I leave CD's in their case.

    I do have two versions of Arrival, one bought still in its shrinkwrap (Atlantic) last year and the other is my original Polydor copy, I never bothered to compare, since I was not aware of the possible sonic benefits of comparing. Finding a real good copy is like playing Russian Roulette you are never sure.
    Even when you find an LP with the most desirable dead wax matrix number, it could be a copy pressed with near end of life stampers, or it could have been stamped when the pressing plant was running but not all parts at their optimum temperatures. This is what makes oour hobby so exciting, unearthing the holy grail of vinyl

    I will now give Arrival a try and see what I hear when I compare both versions.:goodie:
     
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