Living In A Dream World: ABBA's Missing Songs

You probably consider yourself to be a "fan" of one or more artists, but what kind of fan are you? Fandom can range from a simple liking of a particular singer or group through to dangerous, and quite possibly illegal levels of obsession. Most people would consider themselves a fan of an artist if they bought (how old fashioned) all or most of their albums, perhaps saw them live and generally enjoyed their music. The next level up would see a fan seeking out B-sides and other rarer tracks, maybe following/stalking the act on social media and literally "buying the T-shirt". Then there are the superfans for whom the officially released material is just not enough. They need to hear and possess every piece of music the artist has created; the discarded demos, the alternate takes and the abandoned album tracks.

For these fans the connection with the music created by their favourite artists is so great that every recorded note has value, regardless of the sound quality or relative success of the material. In days of yore, finding such "bootleg" material meant hanging round the dodgier stalls in record fairs and trading cash for illicit vinyl and tape in brown paper bags. But this is the Internet age and superfans have never had it so good. A simple YouTube search will unveil all manner of rarities that should satiate even the most rabid superfan. Some artists understandably are not thrilled that their cast-offs or perceived failures are available in this way, but most choose to turn a blind eye, perhaps understanding themselves what it means to be a superfan. For me, it seems preferable that these goodies are now available for free to enjoy rather than shady profiteering in back alleys, with altruistic superfans able to share their gems and their joy with fellow fanatics.

If all this seems bizarre to you, then let me walk you through a case study. I am an ABBA fan, always have been, always will be, and like most so afflicted still believe that their "hiatus" will end at some point and we will get a new album (they never officially broke up). OK, so it's been thirty years since their last new single, but like keeping fairies alive, such delusion requires a leap of faith. To keep me going in the interim I have quickly latched on to the occasional re-release that offers something new and unheard from the Polar Music vaults, which usually requires buying lots of stuff I already have again, but of course I don't mind that. Then there are the "leaked" recordings of unheard songs that were once much sought after bootlegs, but can now be heard with impunity on the worldwide web. Here then is my guide to some of the best of ABBA's rarities, officially sanctioned or otherwise, to inspire the superfan in you.


The Original Dancing Queen

First stop is a song that has become one of the most familiar in all of pop music, but which you may not have heard quite like this. ABBA's undoubted masterpiece and in my book the greatest pop song ever written, Dancing Queen. A few years ago I was watching an ABBA documentary (no, really) and they played a clip of Agnetha and Frida in the studio singing Dancing Queen, only the words they were singing weren't in the song we all know and love. After choking on my Maltesers, I rushed to find out what this meant; was there a version of Dancing Queen I'd never heard? It turns out the second verse was initially the same length as the first and began with:

Baby, baby you're out of sight/Hey, you're looking alright tonight/When you come to the party/Listen to the guys/They've got the look in their eyes...

The song then continued with the You're a teaser... bit. OK, so the lyrics aren't quite up to Björn's usual standards, so you can understand the edit, but OMG!!! The best song ever could be 17 seconds longer! Sadly this extended version can only be heard officially in Spanish, as La Reina Del Baile on ABBA's Spanish language release Gracias Por La Música (see this blog is educational as well as informative, you'll soon be bilingual!), which for some reason used the original backing track and lyrics. However, superfans are not deterred by the lack of official release, they instead spend hours splicing together the released version with the audio captured from the documentary with differing levels of success. It may not have the polish of a digitally remastered track, but if you squint you can hear the magic of Dancing Queen like you've never heard it before. And for that I am truly thankful.


Dream World

It's not unusual for an artist to write more songs for an album than they require and then pick the best. Sometimes the leftovers become B-Sides, are shelved, or used for scrap, with elements being reworked for use in other songs. Such is the case with this cast-off from the recording sessions for the Voulez-Vous album. If it had not been rejected it would have sat quite comfortably on ABBA's "disco" album, having all the trademarks of a classic ABBA track. Agnetha and Frida's beautiful harmonies: check. Catchy sing-a-long chorus: check. Top quality arrangements and production: check. It has a fun circus fanfare intro and a perfectly serviceable "boy meets girl" lyric, maybe not a hit single, but a strong album track. Nonetheless, Björn and Benny were writers of such quality they could easily afford to abandon such a polished track if they felt it didn't quite pass muster.

They did like the bridge though and so surgically removed it and implanted it in Does Your Mother Know, proving that art created is never truly wasted. Dream World itself finally got allowed out on ABBA's 1994 box set of hits and rarities Thank You For The Music. It is a great little number and it is always a joy to hear those voices again, especially when they were at the height of their greatness.


Just Like That

I've previously covered the slow disintegration of ABBA as a working unit during the recording of their final album (to date) [When All Is Said And Done: ABBA, The Visitors]. It is well-known in fandom that ABBA began work on another album, erroneously referred to as Opus 10, with a number of songs written and recorded in 1982. Some of these became singles and B-Sides for what turned out to be the career retrospective best of The Singles: The First Ten Years, such as the awesome The Day Before You Came and the extremely catchy You Owe Me One. Fans were obviously thirsty to know what else might have been recorded in this period and one track in particular reached almost mythical status; Just Like That. Fans first became aware of the track from articles written by journalists visiting ABBA in the studio during 1982, when they mentioned this track along with another, I Am The City. The latter would get a posthumous release on the compilation More ABBA Gold, but Just Like That remained tightly locked in the vault.

Finally in 1994 a snippet of the chorus appeared on a 24-minute medley of unreleased material, ABBA Undeleted, on the Thank You For The Music box set. When fans heard it they became obsessed. It was an undeniably classic ABBA chorus, immediately catchy and had "hit" written all over it. Clamour for a full release fell on deaf ears though, with the boys still unhappy with the song, which they couldn't make work despite numerous attempts at recording it in slightly different ways, including the inclusion of a ubiquitous 80's sax break on one version. As with Dream World, the song was cannibalised to create a single for the Swedish group Gemini, also called Just Like That, using that great chorus, but in my view less effectively at a slower tempo. The verse melodies found themselves reused for an added song in the Swedish version of Benny and Björn's musical Chess.

Eventually bootleg versions of the ABBA recordings emerged and the full song quickly became a favourite amongst superfans, myself included. It shows the level of perfection ABBA strove for if a song of this quality was considered fit for the cutting room floor. The song's final hope was inclusion in the ABBA-inspired musical Mamma Mia and it made it through to the rehearsal stages before being dropped. We live in hope that one day a fully produced version of the original ABBA recording will emerge, I have no doubt it will cause a sensation if it ever happens.


Every Good Man

As it became clear that ABBA's ninth studio album was not going to be completed, the band members started to focus on their own projects. Frida was extremely keen to get a new solo album made and she is noticeably absent as a lead vocalist on ABBA's final tracks. Agnetha too began to think about making a solo record, while Benny and Björn wanted to write a musical. They began demoing songs that might work in such a stage production and one of these was Every Good Man. Agnetha sang the lead vocal, so although not officially an ABBA record, most fans think of this as the final recording of the band. It is a classic ABBA mid-tempo ballad, though clearly unfinished. It would finally evolve into Heaven Help My Heart in Chess, originated by Elaine Paige on stage and for the cast recording. Again superfans have to make do with a bootleg version, but as a glimpse of the death of ABBA and the birth of Chess it is a treasure to cherish.

These are just a sample of the wonders that can be found with remarkably little effort thanks to the godsend that is the Internet. While some may mourn the days of dodgy bootlegs and the thrill of owning rare recordings that few others could hear, I welcome the democracy of fans being able to share such gems without seeking profit. As a rule of thumb I never steal music that an artist has put out for sale, but when it's a recording that can only be heard in this way I admit the temptation is too hard to resist. If they released it, I would buy it, as would any true fan. So whoever your obsession may be, I hope this encourages you to do a little digging to see what unheard marvels may be waiting for you out there in cyberspace.


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Divas You May Have Missed...

One of the joys of summer is having the time to catch-up on things you missed during the rest of the year, whether it's repeats on TV, that pile of magazines or those CDs you haven't listened to yet. So while I enjoy a couple of weeks' holiday/vacation, here's your chance to catch up on those Divas I have blogged you may not yet have had to chance to explore. I'm really grateful that people have taken the time to read this blog and to respond so positively. I've loved writing it and can't believe it's been six months already. I've just welcomed my 10,000th reader, which seems both unbelievable and exciting. Do come back for a brand new blog on Friday 7 September, but in the meantime why not try...

My Most Popular Divas!

Who really knows why some things are bigger hits than others? For whatever reason these are my top five blogs so far:

Sharing my best Chaka Khan performances [That Chaka Moment]

Hailing the new Queen of Country [The New Queen of Country: Carrie Underwood]

Celebrating Kylie's Silver Jubilee [Impossible Princess: Kylie's Silver Jubilee]

Proving Ms Streisand did it all first [Barbra Did It First]

Marvelling at Pet Shop Boys' greatest diva guest stars [Pet Shop Divas]


Dearly Departed Divas!

It all started with the tragic loss of Whitney, they may be gone, but never forgotten:

Whitney's finest moments [Remembering Whitney]

Discovering the impact Donna Summer had on me [Remembering Donna Summer]

Remembering Kirsty MacColl at her very best [Still Life: Remembering Kirsty MacColl]


Unsung Divas!

There are some truly gifted divas out there that don't get the attention they deserve. I will do all I can to put that right:

The truly glorious Julia Fordham deserves your full attention [UnSung Heroine: The Julia Fordham Story]

She may have retired from singing, but Helen Terry's classic solo album needs to be heard [Love Lies Lost: Revisiting Helen Terry]


My Ultimate Diva!

It's probably obvious by the fact she's had four blogs to herself, but for me there's nobody quite like Kate Bush:

Here's my review of her reworked classics on Director's Cut [Unfinished Business: Kate Bush, Director's Cut]

And my epic three-parter on the evolution of her songwriting:

Early years (Pre The Kick Inside to Never For Ever) [The Craft Of Love: Part One]

The Golden Age (The Dreaming to The Red Shoes) [This Woman's Work: Part Two]

The Second Coming (Aerial to 50 Words For Snow) [Deeper Understanding: Part Three]


The Best of the Rest!

I have a pretty eclectic taste in music and a true passion for voices, which hopefully explains how I come to have so many favourite artists! Trust me, I've only scratched the surface. Here are some of my other besties:

My first love was ABBA and my first heartbreak when they split [When All Is Said And Done: ABBA, The Visitors]

Burt Bacharach is a genius and his greatest muse is the incomparable Dionne [Golden Legacy: Dionne, Burt & Hal]

My most recent obsession and Burt's latest muse is the wonderful Rumer [Rumer Has It]

An earlier obsession was this iconic album from Sade [Diamond Life: the arrival of Sade Adu]

If Kate didn't exist (shudder), then Carly would be my number one [Nobody Does It Better: Carly Simon's Movie Songs]

One of the best voices on the planet fully emerged with this classic album [Ingénue: the arrival of k.d. lang]


I love musical theatre (surprise!) and Wicked is my all time favourite [The Elphabas: Wicked's Leading Ladies]

So you won't be shocked that I also love Glee [Class of 2012: Graduating Gleevas!]


So that should keep you going for now. See you in two weeks!

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When All Is Said And Done: ABBA, The Visitors

I have been a music obsessive for as long as I can remember and my earliest obsession (if we politely ignore The Wombles) was ABBA. Despite being little more than a toddler, I apparently plagued my mum to buy me Waterloo and Mamma Mia and at the tender age of five I had the Arrival album on endless repeat on my little yellow record player. I remained a loyal Super Trouper throughout and it should be remembered that to be an ABBA fan in the 70's was not the fast track to coolness it is now. I didn't care about the taunts, I knew that what I was hearing was pure gold. The bliss of the voices of Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid (Frida) Lyngstad, singly or combined, when matched with the songwriting brilliance of Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, is etched on my childhood memories and many of my adult ones too.

Both Agnetha and Frida had solo careers before ABBA and came to the group as successful artists in their own right. ABBA devotees usually divide into Agnetha acolytes or Frida fans and I was most definitely an Agnetha boy. Over the years thougth I have grown to appreciate both of these unique voices. Agnetha's is definitely the most accessible, it is lighter in tone and she has the ability to make you feel every last emotion of a lyric when she sings. I still find it almost unbearable to listen to The Winner Takes It All, so heartbreaking is her vocal. Frida's instrument is equally great, but her tone is more edgy and her style more emotionally detached; think of the resigned acceptance of Knowing Me, Knowing You or the hard bitterness of Money, Money, Money. However, it is when they sing together that alchemy occurs. The combination of their voices is one of the crown jewels of music. ABBA's success is undoubtedly a product of the incredible songs that the boys wrote, but their magic is down to the phenomenal singing talents of Agnetha and Frida.

Nothing golden lasts forever and in 1982 I began to hear rumblings that ABBA may be calling it a day. I didn't want to believe it and clung to the fact that their greatest hits album that year was called The Singles: The First Ten Years. See, there had to be a second ten years surely? It was a rude awakening that nothing in pop lasts forever and even Bucks Fizz (the UK's attempt at an ABBA clone) couldn't completely help me move on (give me a break, I was twelve). Only the year before, ABBA had released what was to be their last studio album, The Visitors, and even I realised it had not performed as well as their albums usually did. However, it was many years later before I knew, or could properly understand, what lay behind the end of ABBA. The Visitors is re-released today in a deluxe edition, it remains one of their least heard albums, yet it is in my view their most interesting and diverse work.

The striking cover art of the album has been deconstructed by critics and fans, with the distance between the band members and the lack of eye contact believed to connote the growing separation of the group. It certainly lacks the warmth of previous covers, but given where the band's personal relationships were at this time, that is not surprising. Agnetha and Björn had divorced in 1979 and he had remarried in early 1981. Frida and Benny filed for divorce in February 1981, just weeks before recording began. It is a testament to the professionalism of ABBA that these four people could set aside their personal issues and spend hours together in a recording studio; perhaps it was understandable if they didn't feel like hugging each other on the album cover. For me, the artwork fits the mood of the album perfectly, as the music it contained was, like the band's relationships, more complex and melancholic than what had come before.

At first nothing seemed to have changed. The lead-off single for the album in Europe was the poppy One Of Us, the tale of a woman who had left her man and now deeply regretted it. It kicks off with a gorgeous mandolin intro, with Agnetha, who has the lead vocal, gently vocalising over it. The rest of the song is solid, if a little safe by ABBA standards. One can only imagine how Agnetha felt about singing lines like "just like a child, stubborn and misconceiving". It is almost the reverse take of The Winner Takes It All, where the woman is scorned and defeated; here she brought it all on herself. The single was a sizeable hit, reaching number 3 in the UK.

A better first single in my opinion would have been the album's title track. The intro to The Visitors is foreboding, with synth waves building over a nagging beat. Frida's beautifully dark vocal portrays the paranoia of someone waiting for the secret police to crash through their front door. Her delivery is mechanical and detached, almost robotic, expertly mirroring the dehumanisation of the oppressed victim. The chorus is fast and intense, you share the unease. It is brave and unusual and remarkably political for ABBA. It is also quite brilliant.

The second track on the album was the second single in Europe, Head Over Heels. It is the thoroughly modern tale (for 1981) of the power woman, taking over the world and dragging her emasculated man in her wake. It has a great pizzicato-esque hook and a strong story. It almost has the feel of a musical song, one that introduces and describes a lead character. This was a developing theme for Benny and Björn who were keen to explore writing a musical, a dream that would come to fruition soon after the break-up of ABBA with Chess. The single struggled, I'm sure because it would be hard for a lot of people to identify with the subject matter and, while catchy, it is not the strongest song ABBA have ever written. It was another misstep in my view, as once again a better single was waiting in the wings.

When All Is Said And Done is a lost ABBA classic. It is a celebration of life, love and friendship and manages to be poignant without being sentimental. It is a very adult tale, dealing with the end of a relationship, but looking at the glass half-full, remembering the good times and the fun. ABBA's US label showed their good taste and released it as the first single from the album and it became their final top 40 hit stateside. Frida gives one of her best lead vocal performances, no doubt feeling every word given her personal circumstances. It went over my head as a child, of course, but as the years have passed this song has become one of my treasured friends. With hindsight it clearly suggests this is a group approaching the end of its journey and it stands as a perfect epitaph.

There are three other songs on the album that stand amongst the best of ABBA tracks. The Visitors is unique amongst ABBA albums as each track has a solo lead vocal, with Agnetha and Frida only combining on some choruses or in background vocals. In that way it serves as a reintroduction to their solo careers, to which they would both return in earnest in the years following ABBA's collapse. Agnetha took the lead on Slipping Through My Fingers, the tale of a mother realising that her child is growing up and that this time will soon pass. It has a lovely lyric and truly captures that feeling we have all had when we ask "where does the time go?" It clearly had meaning for Agnetha who again delivers a raw and emotional vocal that has a visceral impact on the listener. Again it feels like it would make a great show tune and, thanks to the ABBA "jukebox" musical Mamma Mia, it eventually became one.

Frida had the lead on I Let The Music Speak, a love letter to the way music can transport you to another place, another emotional state. A lush waltz leads us in before we are hypnotised and led on a mystical journey through the song. The richness of Frida's voice is fully on display, she balances control and drama, like she is in a waking dream. It is ABBA's most melodically inventive song, making demands of the listener, but repaying those efforts fully. It shows that even with the pressures on the group, they were still keen to explore new ideas and take risks at this point in their career.

The final track on the album is another gem. Like An Angel Passing Through My Room is a lullaby for grown-ups. A ticking clock leads us in to the song before a music box begins to tinkle the melody. Frida delivers a crystal clear vocal, at once hopeful but with a subtle touch of melancholy that matches the bittersweet lyrics. The album was one of the first to be recorded and mixed digitally and the resulting clarity benefited many of the tracks, especially The Visitors and this one. You can hear every vibration in Frida's voice, it is a masterclass in singing. The song is gorgeous and wistful and wonderful. The major draw of the album re-release today is the inclusion of a new track, From A Twinkling Star To A Passing Angel, that pulls together early demo versions of this song and shows how radically it changed during the recording. It is a valuable snapshot of just how hard ABBA worked to create the perfect sound and the best version of their songs. They fully succeeded here and as the clock ticks away at the end of the track, little did we know that it was foretelling ABBA's time running out.

ABBA did start work on another album, but it was never completed. A few of the tracks emerged later and two new songs were added to The Singles compilation, but The Visitors stands as the final hurrah of ABBA's extraordinary career. Far from being the sound of a band in a free fall to destruction, The Visitors instead shows us four supreme musical talents at the height of their artistry and creativity. It is completely understandable that the breakdown of their marriages would make working together strained, but it remains a heartfelt regret for me and millions of other ABBA fans that there never was a second ten years of ABBA songs for us to enjoy. But we had those first ten years and for that I am eternally grateful.


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