Abba - The Essential Collection - Due 6/12/2012

Any Abba fans know anything about this?

Abba - The Essential Collection

Same ol', same ol' - or possibly something using the more recent remasterings???

Dexter

 

All the hits and more featured on 2 CDs and 1 DVD.

May 21, 2012 is the release date for The Essential Collection, a brand new collection of ABBA
hits and other classic tracks. The release will come in three different configurations: a double-CD,
a DVD, and a Limited Edition package featuring the two CDs, the DVD and an illustrated 28-page
booklet. The DVD features all official ABBA promo clips in remastered form, including two previously
unreleased videos: ‘Conociéndome, Conociéndote’ and ‘Gracias por la música’ (Spanish versions
of ‘Knowing Me, Knowing You’ and ‘Thank You For The Music’, respectively).

Track listings:

CD 01:

1. People Need Love
2. He Is Your Brother
3. Ring Ring
4. Love Isn’t Easy (But It Sure Is Hard Enough)
5. Waterloo
6. Honey, Honey
7. So Long
8. I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do
9. SOS
10. Mamma Mia
11.Bang-A-Boomerang
12. Fernando
13. Dancing Queen
14. Money, Money, Money
15. Knowing Me, Knowing You
16. That’s Me
17. The Name Of The Game
18. Take A Chance On Me
19. Eagle
20. One Man, One Woman
21. Thank You For The Music
22. Summer Night City

CD 02:

1. Chiquitita
2. Does Your Mother Know
3. Voulez-Vous
4. Angeleyes
5. Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)
6. I Have A Dream
7. The Winner Takes It All
8. Super Trouper
9. On And On And On
10. Lay All Your Love On Me
11. Happy New Year
12. One Of Us
13. When All Is Said And Done
14. Head Over Heels
15. The Visitors
16. The Day Before You Came
17. Under Attack

The mastering is apparently a mix of:
ABBA Gold tracks (2010 masters)
More ABBA Gold (2008 masters)
Deluxe masters from Voulez-Vous onwards
CSR masters for anything not covered by above (eg. Bang-a-Boomerang, One Man One Woman)

DVD:

1. Waterloo
2. Ring Ring
3. Mamma Mia
4. SOS
5. Bang-A-Boomerang
6. I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do
7. Fernando
8. Dancing Queen
9. Money, Money, Money
10. Knowing Me, Knowing You
11. That’s Me
12. The Name Of The Game
13. Take A Chance On Me
14. Eagle
15. One Man, One Woman
16. Thank You For The Music
17. Summer Night City
18. Chiquitita
19. Does Your Mother Know
20. Voulez-Vous
21. Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)
22. On And On And On
23. The Winner Takes It All
24. Super Trouper
25. Happy New Year
26. When All Is Said And Done
27. One Of Us
28. Head Over Heels
29. The Day Before You Came
30. Under Attack
31. Estoy Soñando
32. Conociéndome, conociéndote
33. Gracias por la música
34. Felicidad

The two previously unreleased videos are in fact tv performances from the Applauso 1980 show.

The press release states:
"The clips are newly remastered in the 16:9 format, as opposed to the normal 4:3 format. However, this does not mean that the aspect ratio of the picture has been compromised – on the contrary you get more picture for your money, since the 4:3 frame shaves off some of the original 16mm picture. On the DVD, the picture takes up more space on the screen, with “black bars” on either side of the picture.”"
Abba done this with the special edition of 'Gold' CD/DVD and while the promos did indeed look lovely and cleaned up there still is slight cropping despite what they say in the press release. I wish they'd jut release stuff in their original aspect.

 

This is very similar to the 2CD set The Definitive Collection released in 2008. Only a handful of tracks changed, and the ones common to both even have the same running order excepting that Thank You For The Music is in its rightful chronological place as opposed to when it was a UK hit.

 

Interesting. Thanks for posting it.

 

Bang A Boomerang = guilty pleasure

Now, if it just had Nina Pretty Ballerina it would be perfect.

I suspect no one likes that song buy me...

 

Thanks for the info. It's refreshing that you can get all the music without having to buy the deluxe version.

I'm curious about the mastering because it seems the mastering of many ABBA compilations over the years has been lacking. I still like the old Atlantic CDs.

 

Not quite, I've loved that song as well ever since getting the original Abba Greatest Hits vinyl in 1976!!

 

I agree, the earlier Abba tracks have never sounded better on CD than that US Atlantic CD.

 

If it doesn't have Mew's "magic" then I'll get it. The Definitive Collection is great for content but horrible for sound.

 

That's one I've avoided since I've read nothing but disdain for it. I have old Gold CD (single-disc compilation), and it's decent but not as good as the Atlantic CDs.

 

Amazon.co.uk now has all configurations of this release put back to early September.

 

Oops, I forgot that. It does seem to have been put back to a September release. Oh well, we can make the most of 'The Visitors' for the next few months still.

 

Amazon.com shows a two-disc import and a two-disc U.S. issue and still shows the wrong release dates (May 29th for the import, June 12th for the U.S. issue). They have posted track lists, so I'm wondering if there are any differences. Here are links:

http://www.amazon.com/Essential-Col..._0_main?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1336947153&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/Essential-Col...=sr_1_2?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1336947153&sr=1-2

 

It was Astley - not Peter Mew.

 

I'm not a huge Abba fan - basically I'm only interested in their hits singles & key tracks. I have yet to hear a compilation that really sounds "good" - but you all have heard more than me.

I have both Atlantic GH CDs & they are probably the best - but I'm not sure I would call them "great".

I also have the original version of Gold (1992?) & More Gold (1993?) and they aren't bad - mastered by Tretow. Yes, he was their engineer, but was he the best person to make mastering decisions?

I also have the aforementioned Definitive Collection - fantastic track listing - terrible sound quality - loud, bright & on many tracks, the left & right channels are reversed (unless the Atlantics were!)

I'm tempted to look for a CD of The First 10 Years - I like the sound of my vinyl - I wonder if the CD was any good?

I'd be tempted to get the Thank You For The Music box - IF the sound quality was considered the best - and I don't think anyone has said that.

I've lost track of who did the 2010 Abba Gold mastering & if it's any good - same for the 2008 More Gold.

Seems a shame that the sound quality for this group is so lacking & inconsistent.

 

I'd have to see it, but traditionally, any 16mm shot in the 1970s and early 1980s was 1.33 or 1.37, not widescreen. If it's in 16x9, then you might see a little more left and right, but potentially cut off top and bottom (usually more cut off on the bottom).

 

^^^ I bet this is a continuation of 2010-2011 ABBA video remastering trend (which I can't describe other than stupid) when 4:3 OAR materials were mastered for DVD in anamorphic 4:3 format with pillar black bars (effectively reducing the horizontal picture resolution by 25%)

 

It is, really annoying too.
It's strange though the Abba press releases state nothing has been chopped and we actually see more of the picture than ever before. But when I compared 'Knowing Me Knowing You' that statement seemed to be true to my amazement. But when I checked the 'Mamma Mia' video it certainly was slightly trimmed.

The one refreshing thing was how they reveresed back to 4.3 full frame for the videos on 'The Visitors' deluxe edition. Shame they have gone back to this way...

 

I like both the songs you mention and like the previous poster remember NPB from the 70's best of...hard to forget this cover



Anyway I already have ABBA Gold and will eventually pick up More ABBA Gold for the rest - like one of my favourites "Honey Honey"

ABBA are a very underrated band.

 

Your suspicion would be baseless! It's no "When I Kissed The Teacher" but it's certainly a nice song.

 

Is this a slightly revised version of this 2001 set? There's only a handful of changes to the tracklisting.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Definitive-Collection-Abba/dp/B00005QJFL

 

Sorry, I meant to say that amazon.com has NOT posted track lists.

 

so your sweet on those 2 guys, eh?

 

I bought that record just for the cover as well. Actually, it sounds decent too.

 

I could understand if 4:3 OAR source was presented with black pillar bars on the sides in non-anamorphic 16:9 format (like high-def Blu-ray video, f.e.). However, for DVD users with 4:3 TVs the newly encoded anamorphic 4:3 mastering of 4:3 OAR source will be utilizing only the center portion of the screen as a result (with black bars on all 4 sides). How dumb is that???