Calling it quits in 1983 and staying true to their words for so long is pretty much a clean break and this feels like a crowning achievement. They deserve it.
Whatever they came up with, I am very excited. I have been buying all of Benny's releases (and also Agnetha's and Frida's) since they split up, and he is a very gifted composer and producer. Here's to hoping that they don't use auto tune.
"It resulted in two new songs and one of them, ‘I Still Have Faith In You,’ will be performed by our digital selves in a TV special produced by NBC and the BBC aimed for broadcasting in December.” Being within the safe confines of a TV studio (rather than on the stormy seas of live performance), couldn't they have recorded a take with their actual selves?
My feeling,with the limited information we have at the moment, is that these new songs are akin to the songs The Beatles recorded in the mid 90's in that they are intended to be a part of, and generate publicity for a bigger project, rather than a genuine reforming of the band. I hope to be proven wrong and would love the two songs to turn into a full album!
The synergistic strategy is assuredly the same. But the difference here is that all the members are still alive. They are not confined to shoehorning a sound on top of a dodgy demo.
Not releasing any music for 35 years and only appearing together a handful of times in that period is essentially splitting up.
This should be far more credible than the almost forgotten Beatles reunion tracks from the 90s. Hopefully these will sound like ABBA whereas The Beatles sounded like an uninspired ELO backing a bad quality cassette of someone singing. I'm a big fan of The Beatles, I like ELO and aren't particularly an ABBA fan, I only like a few ABBA songs.
It’s going to be quite an Abba year, with the broadcast, the new songs and the release of the sequel to the embarrassingly bad but massively successful Mamma Mia! film (second highest grossing live action musical of all time). Their popularity in the US in particular is astonishing. Remember they only charted four top ten hits in the US, fewer than acts like Tony Orlando and Dawn, Gladys Knight and the Pips and the Captain & Tenille. They never had a to 10 album in the US. Somehow, at some point since then, the US came around.
The main similarity is the promotional part. "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love" along with the TV special were meant to sell the anthologies, whereas ABBA's new songs are meant to sell their virtual tour. ABBA's gambit could be more profitable, but it is also risker, since it will stand or fall on the quality of the technology. Actually, when I think about it, what the two cases have in common is also the attempt to add to the band's legacy by means of technology. In the case of the Beatles, the technology of bringing Lennon back was "good enough" at the time (though it has naturally dated since). With ABBA, however, we don't know yet if the technology will be convincing enough to create the illusion of the band performing in their prime. My main concern is that while it might be entertaining as a live experience, it could be underwhelming when watching it on TV (as it will first be presented through the special).
i think depends on how you define both those terms. Apparently they never split up being friends altho certainly the period around 1982 and a few years after that, were probably somewhat frosty between them (except for Benny and Bjorn who have been practically brothers since the 60s). That's speculation, but theres also evidence that Agnetha and Frida barely saw each other for YEARS afterward. I also read that when Frida had her big hit solo album, she moved away to England, and after 1982, didnt see the others much for a long time. However, time heals all, and Bjorn states that they've been getting together quite often ever since their music was re-discovered, I'm guessing roughly the 90s. But didnt make any new music, just discussed business things or attended parties and functions together here and there. In my opinion, yes the band did indeed split up for over 30 years. But again, thats semantics.
Theres a couple of threads here with people denying this, stating that abba was actually HUGE in the USA the entire time; and somehow, its either a conspiracy or some kind of oddball close-minded bigotry to state that abba wasnt HUGE. Funny threads.
well, again, minimal is a subjective term. I've heard all kinds of descriptions of it, but from what I can tell, they did ONE actual tour of North America, played less than twenty cities, in smallish arenas, and some shows didnt sell out; some did.
Yep, I don't think they deserved much more insight. To be honest I gave a more articulate reason why I don't rate them earlier in this thread and I don't know why I typed that.
You mean a conspiracy by Billboard and Cashbox to keep them off the US charts? I’ve never heard that. Four top 10 singles and one number 1 isn’t bad. Not quite as good as the Partridge Family, but the Partridges were pretty big.
Considering the media furore whenever even just 3 of them were in the same room together, if they have been on cordial terms I can entirely understand why they might have taken such pains to avoid all 4 of them being together in public. The press attention around the new tracks is at least as intense as that around Gilmour (Live 8) and Plant (O2) and their respective 'reunions'. At least ABBA have a ready-to-serve answer with regards the touring question.