Just bought this - tracks all compressed but looking forward to a listen Anyone know where I can find the bonus disc artwork in high-resolution? The one that is called "ABBA Tracks" and has the blue cover ?
Sooooooooooooo, despite me cancelling my pre-order and saying "no, I am not buying this boxset, I don't need this boxset, I have multiple copies of those albums, I do not need anymore....”, I did infact buy the boxset. Oopsie. I was in Sister Ray Records in Soho and they had 1 copy of the CD box and 1 copy of the vinyl boxset. I went for the CD box as it's considerably cheaper and for LP's, I stick with my original UK Epic pressings. It's a really nice set overall, probably the best sounding one so far if you want everything in one boxset. Some pro's over previous sets: - as with the deluxe editions, the first 3 albums sound brilliant - the "fix" at the 2:07 mark on Dancing Queen that has plagued every digital release since 1997 has now actually been fixed. - the digital skip from the 2001 onwards releases of Knowing Me, Knowing You isn't there either - this is probably the best remaster we've had of Arrival & The Album - The Name of The Game is present and correct in full form with it's original EQ, good dynamics and no distortion. AT LAST. - Head Over Heels is the correct mix - As I've mentioned above, this is the first international release of the original Swedish Polar tracklisting for the first 2 albums, which is nice to have. - of course, Voyage is included, making it a complete albums set Some con's: - The Visitors is not much of an improvement over the Deluxe Edition. Notable tapehiss in places, the volume drop between side A and B is clear still too. - Take A Chance On Me seems to be mastered louder than the rest of The Album - the bonus disc is ridiculously short. You can clearly tell that the CD set was an afterthought, and this was designed with the LP box in mind. Even the artwork for Voyage is the LP artwork, with sides A and B listed Overall, glad I took the punt on the set. It's worth it for Arrival and especially The Album. On a personal note, I'm really glad I bought this in London whilst I was there for the opening weekend of the Voyage live show. When I was here in February 2000 to see Mamma Mia!, I bought the signature edition Gold, remastered More Gold and the "From ABBA to Mamma Mia" book, all of which I still have and have such wonderful memories of buying them, so this will be kept now alongside those.
Thanks for pointing out the good and the not so good. Sounds like fans who don’t own multiple copies of ABBA’s albums could do a lot worse than get this boxset.
As you know I only got this set for posterity, but it’s nice to know that it’s well mastered. Only 2 copies (of the CD box) supplied to HMV Leeds on Friday, and 3 of the vinyl box set. Doesn’t seem a lot? By the way, when I last looked, Amazon had this listed at £133, which was the SHM versions (and some bonus DVDs I think.) I wonder what difference that will make to the sound?
OK… I give up. Because of your review, I ordered the box set too In general I’m not happy, BUT the fact that “The Album” finally made it on CD without the well-known issues (and without Astley’s EQ-Disaster from 1997/2001), is at least something positive! Unbelievable that we had to wait soooo many years for an acceptable CD of The Album. I will not be surprised if they use again the faulty master tapes in the future… I bought recently the SHM Deluxe Edition of Super Trouper. Honestly? Absolutely no difference to the normal CD! The sound is “exactly” the same. Don’t waste your money…
definitely! For young fans wanting physical releases or maybe fans who have seen Voyage and want to explore their catalogue more, this is a great set. It’s just missing a few bonus tracks. The inclusion of the absolute turd that is “Happy Hawaii” over a great song like “Cassandra” is an odd choice. Fopp in Shaftesbury Avenue had NONE AT ALL of either set when we went for a nosey in there. Lots of copies of Gold and Voyage and some of the back to black (ew) LP’s but no boxsets. Reckless Records didn’t have it either. I wasn’t actually intending to buy it, but was tempted when I saw it in Sister Ray, I caved. And it can go nicely with my other London items.
Thanks a lot for this thread. I hesitated to buy this box, but when I know DR of the albums in this box, it's clear - I don't buy waste, I don't buy damaged music.
Very interesting reads on this thread! Some great positives, worth a double/tripe/quadruple+ dip! Just received my copy today, shall enjoy listening this Bank Holiday with headphones I hope it's almost like a new experience! I don't see why Universal/Polar aren't advertising the new'ish' mastering and the original Swedish releases of 'Ring Ring' and 'Waterloo' released digitally first time, making their CD debut. These are particular selling points, and make it a unique and possibly essential release. Although ultimately, if you have the previous CD releases it's unnecessary as it's the music that really matters, right? Perhaps one day they will issue actual definitive Compact Disc releases, free of any of the issues we've come across over the years. We enjoy the music regardless, I love my mp3 rip of 'Just Like That' as that's all we have; With audio sourced from a Cassette Tape allegedly taken from Bjorn's car one time. But we have the complete song, I'm happy for that at least. Besides the bonus CD afterthought 'Tracks' disc, is rather lacking. I do think it's great for new fans or people wanting to purchase all their albums in one shot, the album tracks featured in the Voyage Show should garner some serious interest.
The "Dancing Queen" tape issue wasn't fixed here. It is the unbutchered original 1976 version with the dropout !!! Which digital skip in "Knowing Me, Knowing You" ???
I’ll find the point in the song, I’ll have to go back and listen to some of the older remasters. It’s definitely on the 2001 remasters as the video on The Definitive Collection DVD had to have frames removed to accommodate for the skip.
Quite basic, but robust. The booklet has some nice photos but only includes credits for each album. There are no liner notes. Each album has its original LP artwork, same as the CSR/The Albums box. The actual discs have the Polar branding on them, same as the Deluxe Editions.
Mine just arrived. Listening to “The Album” and it is sounding amazing. Need to dig out my old Blue Polar and Jap Discomate CDs to compare - as this new one could really be the best sounding one. Looking forward to playing them all now!
Yes, it sounds very good indeed, but they used a lossy (mp3) file for "The Eagle" and the loudness levels of the first four tracks don't match very well...
yeh I found the volume a bit all over the place for the side A tracks. But even with that, it’s a small price to pay for having a decent sounding CD copy
Please can someone help? I've got all the super deluxe CDs and the CD box set with the black cover that came out a few years back. Do you recommend I purchase the newxcd box set? Thanks.
