Voyage - First play reactions (Contains spoilers)

It only jars with me because I still think it's the weakest track. The Christmas aspect doesn't bother me.
 
I have given it a few more spins and I think the initial bemusement / disappointment that it's not wall-to-wall ABBA Gold iconography has subsided as I now come to love St Patrick's Day banger When You Danced With Me and the U ok hun anthem I Can Be That Woman.
 
I'm 7 tracks in and so far I'm not loving it. The two singles I guess were a sign of that for me I suppose but where's the fucking DISCO? Keep An Eye On Dan (a song title I can WHOLEHEARTEDLY agree with) is kinda The Visitors-esque but underproduced and I'm hoping that will grow, but the song about the dog? WHAT THE FUCK? And Just a Notion really is dreadful...

I came into this with lower hopes than most after not loving the singles and believe me I don't want to a) piss on anyone's chips or b) be the contrary voice, but it's just ACTUALLY BORING.
 
Replace track 3 with Just Like That. The campaign starts here
Oh DON'T

This last couple of weeks Abba fandom online seems to have been nothing but people starting petitions to get it released (!), and others criticising them for doing it.

It's like the geriatric gay cyclists v car drivers or firework lovers v pet owners.
 
I'm 7 tracks in and so far I'm not loving it. The two singles I guess were a sign of that for me I suppose but where's the fucking DISCO? Keep An Eye On Dan (a song title I can WHOLEHEARTEDLY agree with) is kinda The Visitors-esque but underproduced and I'm hoping that will grow, but the song about the dog? WHAT THE FUCK? And Just a Notion really is dreadful...

I came into this with lower hopes than most after not loving the singles and believe me I don't want to a) piss on anyone's chips or b) be the contrary voice, but it's just ACTUALLY BORING.
At least get to the end of the album!
 
Although "Don't Let Me Down" sounds much better in context of being next to that DROSS, so at least there's that...
 
Little Things is such a typical closer as well with that ch*ldrens choir! Do we think they maybe bumped it to help with its streams in the lead up to Christmas/get it stuck on some Spotify Christmas playlists?
 
I'm glad Ode To Freedom is the closer rather than Little Things.

That isn't troubling the Christmas charts in anything but the most minor way.
 
At least get to the end of the album!
I'm 10 tracks in and so far I'm not loving it. The two singles I guess were a sign of that for me I suppose but where's the fucking DISCO? Keep An Eye On Dan (a song title I can WHOLEHEARTEDLY agree with) is kinda The Visitors-esque but underproduced and I'm hoping that will grow, but the song about the dog? WHAT THE FUCK? And Just a Notion really is dreadful...

I came into this with lower hopes than most after not loving the singles and believe me I don't want to a) piss on anyone's chips or b) be the contrary voice, but it's just ACTUALLY BORING.
 
I'm 10 tracks in and so far I'm not loving it. The two singles I guess were a sign of that for me I suppose but where's the fucking DISCO? Keep An Eye On Dan (a song title I can WHOLEHEARTEDLY agree with) is kinda The Visitors-esque but underproduced and I'm hoping that will grow, but the song about the dog? WHAT THE FUCK? And Just a Notion really is dreadful...

I came into this with lower hopes than most after not loving the singles and believe me I don't want to a) piss on anyone's chips or b) be the contrary voice, but it's just ACTUALLY BORING.
BETTER!
 
Are they BLATANTLY going to release a deluxe edition further down the line?

I'm so tempted to cancel my vinyl right now...
 
I do think there's a certain clarity (for want of a better word) lacking from the production, on the whole.
I wonder if it’s due to Benny producing without Bjorn or Michael Tretow to temper his desire to cram as much as possible onto the track?

I do find myself straining to hear what the lyrics are in a few of the songs whereas the vocal always popped out on the old stuff.
 
I wonder if it’s due to Benny producing without Bjorn or Michael Tretow to temper his desire to cram as much as possible onto the track?

I do find myself straining to hear what the lyrics are in a few of the songs whereas the vocal always popped out on the old stuff.
Something isn't quite the same. I don't really know enough of what a sound engineer/producer does to hazard more than a guess.
 
Something isn't quite the same. I don't really know enough of what a sound engineer/producer does to hazard more than a guess.
I think the sound engineer usually just sits at the desk and follows the producer’s instructions, but what Michael Tretow brought to the party was so much more than that and it was a more collaborative process.

Without that, and with the 21st century ability to keep on adding and adding to a track without limitations, I think Benny might have gone a bit overboard in some of the tracks and ended up engulfing the vocals a bit.
 
I honestly don't know quite what to make of it as an album. I need to listen to it again.
 
Re-listening sober this morning, Just A Notion feels more christmassy than Little Things.
 
One thing I will say is that to my ears 'Just A Notion' works better in the context of the album than as a single. I upped my score of it to 7.5.
 
I just think there are 5 fantastic songs that I’m making an EP from, and also some others. Which (aside from The Visitors) is fairly similar to my relationship with most ABBA albums.
 
I Can Be That Woman starts off fine (and I totally hear the little bits of Roxette in there) but it is seriously meandering, and the lyrics...

My expectations for Little Things were rock bottom, I was steeling myself for the choir and it wasn't any worse than anticipated at least. Still after the initial plays it will be skipped.

Nothing else touches Don't Shut Me Down but all is fine to very good. Keep An Eye On Dan is probably the standout. I do think Just A Notion is unfairly maligned too, that 'somehow I know I'm not wrong' line gets me every time.
 
Just a Notion has been done dirty by the fans. the mean and evil fans. in the context of the album it's actually fabulous. its inclusion makes 100% sense, not least because those prime era vocals really demand to be heard.

and then comes that song about THE DOG.

And the dog, bless her heart,
Licks my fingers

*insert choral harmonies*

classic ABBA troll move.
 
Listening to Keep an Eye on Dan... are ALL the songs on this album written about Benny's LHASA APSO?!

Keep an eye on Dan
Promise me you can
He gets out of hand if you let him
So keep an eye on Dan
And don’t forget
I’ll be back at on Sunday to get him

Dan:
LhasaApsoPurebredRescueDogAndy1.jpg
 
I honestly don't know quite what to make of it as an album. I need to listen to it again.
It was very good of @Iguana to premiere the "bright, breezy and relistenable" rating system on that mostly rubbish Natalie Imbruglia album in preparation for Voyage, which is very bright, fairly breezy and highly relistenable, with bonus points for canine thematics.
 
I quite liked 'I Can Be That Woman' on my first listen in the early hours of this morning and initially marked it as 7.5. I now realise that I was really marking Agnetha's vocal delivery at the time rather than the actual song itself, which deserves a much lower marking of 5.5 and not just because of the dog ('bless her heart') bit, but because Björn has turned his ex-wife into an alcoholic who has hit rock bottom. I appreciate that my own take on the lyrics has made the song sound far more interesting than it actually is to listen to.
 
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:D at the reactions in this thread.

I've quite enjoyed it as a 10 song whip around the ABBA universe.
It feels very PICK AND MIX from various songs and genres they've clearly half-written and finished over the past 40 years, but really fun all the same. Obviously I'd have preferred The Visitors part 2, or another Voulez Vous full-on disco extravaganza. I'm just happy they've bothered to release it.
 
My Amazon vinyl is now delayed with an estimated arrival of "November 18 2021-December 14 2021"

STOCKING PROBLEMS!
 

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