Abba - Voulez-Vous. Is it an underrated album?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Bobby Morrow, Mar 8, 2018.

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  1. Wombat Reynolds

    Wombat Reynolds Jimmy Page stole all my best riffs.

    Location:
    Atlanta, GA, USA
    yeah the connection to rock your baby is somewhat well-established. Still, that alone, does not make "arrival" a disco album,.... not to me. Not in the sense that I consider VV a disco album... because VV has a wide thread of 1979 disco styles running thru it.

    and yeah, Eagle has often been labeled more prog than california. but that doesnt make The Album seem like a prog OR a california album to me.

    Not arguing with you here. Just wondering how anyone would classify those two albums. Does anyone else classify VV as a "disco" album, or is that just me?
     
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  2. John Adam

    John Adam An Introvert In Paradise

    Location:
    Hawaii
    Not having grown up with ABBA, In the later 80's I bought the CD of "The Singles: The First Ten Years." I liked the second disc much better, which is where the Voulez-Vous material started. Which got me interested in the solo careers of the girls first, then on to Abba as a group. Voulez-Vous being the first original CD I bought as an adult. :)

    "If It Wasn't For The Nights" seemed liked an obvious first single. Don't know how it would of fared in the USA, though. I also like the early version of "Does Your Mother Know," which might of made a fine single in that form. The title track is too long and repetitive for a radio single, it might of fared better in an edited version. But the 12" mix as a dance track, awesome! At a 2010's Record Store Day I picked up a colored 12" single of Voulez-Vous/If It Wasn't For The Nights, which I love. "Summer Night City" in it's long form would of made a grand opener to the set! The album cover, the songs are all very strong. It is one of the albums I can listen all the way through!
     
  3. Vangro

    Vangro Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    I don't classify any ABBA albums as belonging to any genres, they're all pretty eclectic. On VV, I'd say 6 out of the 10 tracks are disco influenced, some more strongly than others.
     
  4. John Adam

    John Adam An Introvert In Paradise

    Location:
    Hawaii
    I think it's a pop album influenced by the current trends in disco, for sure!
     
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  5. Bobby Morrow

    Bobby Morrow Senior Member Thread Starter

    Voulez-Vous is a landmark album for me as it was the first one I purchased when I started work. I actually bought it with my first weeks’ wages in May 1979. I’m not going to lie and say I desperately wanted it...I obviously had money in my pocket for the first time ever and I’d have even more next week so it didn’t matter if I squandered it.:) Sadly in May 1979 I was going through one of my ‘cassettes aren’t that bad’ phases so I bought it on tape. If you thought the LP packaging was minimalist, you should see the cassette.:D

    I liked the album, but not as much as Arrival, The Album, or the LP that’s resided in seemingly every UK home at this point, Greatest Hits. I do actually blame the cassette for this a little as it didn’t sound great and I was pissed off that it didn’t contain the lyrics unlike the LP. I resolved this a few weeks later by swapping my tape for a guy I worked with’s LP. He was trying to start a cassette collection. The fool.:)

    After this, I liked it more. I’ve since bought it on CD at least 4 times. I still prefer Arrival, The Album and Super Trouper, but Voulez-Vous is pretty damn good.
     
  6. Wombat Reynolds

    Wombat Reynolds Jimmy Page stole all my best riffs.

    Location:
    Atlanta, GA, USA
    my order

    1) arrival
    2) Abba
    3) super trouper
    4) VV
    5) waterloo
    6) the album
    7) visitors
    8) ring ring

    altho I realize that was not the intent of the thread, sorry.

    and no, I dont like the mature, introspective visitors era abba. I dislike the day before you came as well. I like the happy Abba. You know the Honey Honey Abba, and the holy cow look at Frida waving that mini skirt around on So Long, abba.

    not everybody likes the same stuff you know.
     
  7. Bobby Morrow

    Bobby Morrow Senior Member Thread Starter

    I think they’re hedging their bets a bit. They’re dipping their toe in the waters of disco, but are only too aware it could all go belly up at any moment.:)
     
  8. Bobby Morrow

    Bobby Morrow Senior Member Thread Starter

    You don’t like The Day Before You Came?

    I sentence you to listen to Me And Bobby And Bobby’s Brother 500 times as penance.:D
     
  9. Bobby Morrow

    Bobby Morrow Senior Member Thread Starter

    I’m very surprised @Jarleboy hasn’t put in an appearance yet.
     
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  10. Wombat Reynolds

    Wombat Reynolds Jimmy Page stole all my best riffs.

    Location:
    Atlanta, GA, USA

    nope.

    way too long, musically, dull. Her voice is nice and some of Benny's keyboard stuff is pretty.

    Just goes on too long with nothing really happening.

    to me, its boring.
     
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  11. John Adam

    John Adam An Introvert In Paradise

    Location:
    Hawaii
    I'm on the opposite side of the spectrum. The early image/music was more cartoon-ish. I don't dislike happy Abba, but not discovering them until I was an adult, their later material had more appeal to me. The girls were still very stunning in the late 70's and 80's. More mature music, more mature look. And this is just my humble opinion.........
     
  12. Frosst

    Frosst Vinyl-obsessive kiddo

    Location:
    Sweden
    Just like The Beatles? ;)
     
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  13. deredordica

    deredordica Music Freak

    Location:
    Sonoma County, CA
    It gets three and a half stars on Allmusic, a half-star dip from The Album and Super Trouper. I like them all so much, I never felt that it was any better or any worse than the others.

    ABBA | Album Discography | AllMusic
     
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  14. John Adam

    John Adam An Introvert In Paradise

    Location:
    Hawaii
    Great comparison!
    It's all good, just a different time in their careers and lives.
     
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  15. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    "Voulez-Vous" is one of the three studio ABBA albums I own, I think it's quite good. Some people may not like it because of it's disco leanings.
     
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  16. Yost

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

    Well, that’s not completely true… I found Waterloo, ABBA, Greatest Hits Vol II and a Super Trouper red face all for 3 Euro or less in the last 5 years. :righton: The early CDs aren’t as abundant as the ABBA Gold CDs, but they’re still out there.
     
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  17. Dhreview16

    Dhreview16 Forum Resident

    Location:
    London UK
    Voulez Vous, Arrival, Super Trooper, The Album - people forget how good the albums were. They sound great too - French original vinyl pressing of Voulez Vous for example.
     
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  18. Yost

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

    I love Voulez-Vous, except for chiquitita. It’s in my ABBA top-3. I probably love because of its disco-inspired sound. Great tracks and lovely production, IMHO.
     
  19. Bobby Morrow

    Bobby Morrow Senior Member Thread Starter

    And it was released around the same time as Donna Summer’s Bad Girls. Another great disco album. I should do a thread about that.:)
     
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  20. Mike_with_G1042

    Mike_with_G1042 Forum Resident

    Not another Jon Astley mastered vinyl? 'The Album" coloured singles sound very Astley to me...
     
  21. kiefer2

    kiefer2 Eastern European knockoff Mr. Potato Head

    Location:
    Brookhaven, Pa.
    Ask and you shall receive. Apparently it fared no better.


    ABBA - Voulez-Vous
     
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  22. alexpop

    alexpop Power pop + other bad habits....

    Just to think Abba-Chess ...could have been.
     
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  23. John Adam

    John Adam An Introvert In Paradise

    Location:
    Hawaii
    3:45 promo edit. Should of known. Thanks Kiefer!
     
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  24. Chris_Sydney

    Chris_Sydney Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sydney, Australia
    It doesn't feel quite as accomplished as some of their other albums, but with ABBA the standard is so high those sort of comparisons are almost moot. 'Angeleyes' and 'If It Wasn't For The Nights' are the songs that have aged the best for me. 'Lovelight' is another favourite of mine, so I am pleased that has been added to most versions of the album that is readily available today (along with 'Summer Night City' and 'Gimme Gimme Gimme', which are probably their best takes on the disco sound).


    x
     
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  25. Yost

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

    This is my favourite version of Voulez-Vous nowadays. Nils Landgren Funk Unit Made a beautiful cover:

     
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