Customer Reviews

More ABBA Gold

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I loved this follow up to "ABBA Gold," yet this album delivers a very different set of ABBA hits. If you are a casual ABBA fan and want to listen to the songs that were most prominent on the radio like "SOS" and "Dancing Queen," you may want to opt for the original ABBA Gold.

What makes "More Gold" stand apart from the original is revealed best in the lyrics. The first "Gold" has songs of love, sensual desire, and inspiration, all that express the core passions in a nutshell. The songs in "More Gold" tend to tell more detailed stories behind these emotions, be it a slice-of-life narrative like "The Day Before You Came" (a woman recounting the last time her weekday routine felt comfortable but mundane, which was the day before she meets her lover for the first time)or a classic myth in "Cassandra."

The story telling nature of the tunes on "More Gold" sound more like something we would hear in a stage musical rather than on the radio or a rock concert. Perhaps Benny & Bjorn were getting the "theater bug" while penning these songs, as both went on to collaberate on musicals like "Chess" and "Kristina Fran Duvemala."

The most recognizable hit on this CD is "I Do, I Do, I do," but virtually every song is a pleasure. The only tracks that left me flat were "I Wonder" (I love whimsical songs, but this was a little too over-the-top melodramatic for me) and "When I Kissed the Teacher." Neither of these tunes take anything away from "More Gold" being a great buy.

It was so very long ago that I heard Abba for the first time. Before disco, before New Wave, Abba was fresh, usually fun, pop music. The fact that the two female lead singers were beautiful and the two male singers were attractive likely helped the group's popularity.

For about 8 years, 1974 to 1982, if Abba sang and released a song, it was almost instantly a hit. It would be difficult to explain to someone today the popularity of the group, given that the music is very light and relatively simple by today's standards. However, the fact remains that their music was catchy, and you could easily find yourself singing along.

This CD was a follow on to "Abba Gold", and I believe it is the better CD of the two. "Abba Gold" was primarily filled with music that made it into the top 40, and most of that into the top 10, in either Great Britain, The United States, or Australia. Often the music made it into the top in all three countries. "More Abba Gold" includes the rest of Abba's released hit singles, and a number of other gems that were considered good examples of Abba's music.

Read the other reviewers for their picks. Among my favorites are "Eagle", "The Visitors", "Our Last Summer", "I Wonder (Departure)", "Lovelight", "I Am the City", "Cassandra", "Under Attack", and "When All Is Said and Done". After having listened to these songs you'll realize that most of these songs were not monster released hits, but are artistically and musically more satisfying than songs like "Dancing Queen" and "Waterloo".

The other songs on this CD are generally okay as well. Certainly I have no objections to the selections on this CD. I play it much more than "Abba Gold" because of the aforementioned selections, which tend to be more serious and more representative of what Abba was capable of performing.

If you like the pure pop sound of Abba, stick with "Abba Gold". If you want a sampler of Abba that expands beyond the pop hits, then start with "More Abba Gold". You may find that the music Abba was capable of producing entices you to buy their albums.

I am not prepared to comment on the sound quality of the reproduction. The original vinyl albums had technical recording flaws, and I was sometimes disappointed with their quality. Based on my now-vague recollection of the quality of the vinyl, this CD is better. However, my memory could be flawed as well. If you see a reviewer comparing the original vinyl recordings and the CD version, and seems to be objective, listen to that reviewer. In the meantime, as long as you are not an audiophile and will pick apart every little detail, the quality of this CD was good enough for me.

You should have enough information to decide whether you want to buy this CD at this point. I think if you like the sound of Abba, you'll like this CD.

It would appear that this album, when released, was something of an afterthought. Abba gold sold millions of copies, so this compilation was assembled for those who wanted a second Abba collection. Inevitably, it is not as strong as Abba gold, as the most obvious songs were all there, but it still easily justifies five stars.

Abba had more hits than can be accommodated on a single CD, so there are a few hits here, although they didn't chart in all the major record-buying countries. These include Summer night city and Angel eyes (both British top five), Eagle (a big hit in several European countries, but not released as a UK single), I do I do I do I do I do (an early Abba hit in Britain, America and many other countries), Honey honey, When all is said and done (both American hits), Ring ring (their 1973 song which wasn't selected for Eurovision), Head over heels and Under attack, one of their last hits.

The day before you came was the last newly recorded Abba single. It was a minor British hit but it is one of my favorite Abba songs, which would have been a much bigger hit had it been recorded and released a few years earlier.

I am the city was recorded for a new album that never materialised. It is a typically upbeat Abba song, but is one of their rarest tracks. All the other tracks either appeared on original albums, or have been added as bonus tracks to re-mastered versions of original albums - for example, Summer night city is a bonus track on Voulez-vous. Furthermore, I am the city has not appeared on any other compilation (at the time of this writing) except Forever gold, a re-issue of this album and Abba gold as a double-CD. So Abba fans need this CD just for I am the city.

For the more casual music fan, this is a great companion to Abba gold. If you don't have either and you want two CD's of their best music, you might consider some of the more recent double-CD's such as Definitive collection - most of the tracks will be the same, but a double-CD might be better value for money.

Bee Gees and ABBA totaly dominated the airwaves during the 70's and when one listens to their music it is easy to understand why. Both bands were so dominant compared to what all the other bands released at the time. This their second hits album is just as amazing with tracks such as angel eyes, the day before you came, under attcack, summer night cirty and many more. The day before you came is probably one of their strongest tracks they ever wrote and one can definetely sense the 80's synthpop sound that would have been part of their repoitoire if they had not broken up.

This one so far is my favorite ABBA CD. In my opinion, I Am The City is wonderful, in fact, it's my favorite ABBA song. I just love the beat to it and the lyrics are great. On and On and On is great, and so is When All Is Said And Done. The rest of the songs are good too, and I really like having so many songs on one CD. I recommend this CD to anyone.

A much-welcome addition to the first disc "Abba Gold." this CD includes many of the group's lesser hits commercially, but also some of the best songs they ever recorded, artistically.

"The Visitors" is a classic - although I would highly recommend buying the Album of the same name, as the version included on this disc is shortened considerably, and inexplicably. A dance-floor triumph. I wish the original 12" extended dance mix was available on CD.

Also, "I do,I do,I do, I do, I do," is quite possibly the most perfect pop single ever recorded by ANY artist - and I'm not joking here. The vocal harmonies, key changes for dramatic effect, and instrumentation make for a joyful, transcendant effect that is impossible to describe with words. Listen to it - it's stupendous. As I've commented to a good friend, this single alone would establish Abba as the Mozart of pop music. Incredible. A pity the group didn't make a few more recordings - but what we've got here is nothing short of heavenly, nonetheless.

Even more hits of this incomparable Swedish pop group. Necessary supplement to the previous hits compilation. Again every song is a masterpiece. Some songs may be less known, but that doesn't mean less good. My favorite songs are „Summer Night City", „The Day Before You Came", „Eagle", „Our Last Summer" and „On & On & On".

Here are the hits that didn't fit on ABBA Gold,
a few interesting ABBA album tracks, some B-sides,and one never before released track -I Am the City (recorded in 1982). This is the closest thing there is to a stand alone ABBA rarities/B-sides album.

This CD has often been out of print in various territories . The original version of this CD had liner notes by UK ABBA press officer John Tobler, but the recent remastered editions has liner notes by Carl Magnus Palm.

This album was originally going to be more of a rarities/fan request project,that would feature even more B-sides and unreleased tracks such as "Just Like That'. But instead it was decided to go with a track lineup with more familiar tracks. So sadly, only one unreleased track was included.

The previously unreleased 1982 track here, "I am the City", is not surprisingly,a perfectly good song featuring Agnetha and Frida on vocals, some worthwhile lyrics and great synthesizer work. This CD has four of ABBA's six hard to find 1982 recordings on it. The three other 1982 tracks available here are "Cassandra","Under Attack" and "The Day Before You Came".

This CD was released again in 2008 with updated liner notes.

Of course it can not possibly live up to the Abba Gold collection as that contained all their big hits, but that is not to say that you should avoid this cd. If you only know the top 10 hits of Abba then this album offers you a chance to hear some beautifully crafted songs that you may not be familiar with, but still feature the girls' lovely vocals. If you're only after the hits don't bother but if you want to discover more of the real Abba give this one a try as well.

Though not as hit-packed as 'GOLD', this album clearly shows ABBA's diversity and multi-faceted talent. I think their greatest ability was creating songs of different styles, never getting locked into a particular genre. From Rock..to Disco..to Reggae..to Ballads..to almost Inspirational...this band was very underrated. 'Eagle' is a masterpiece in its own right, its a shame this CD contains the edited, shortened version. The full-length, almost 6 minute original album version is definitely headphone heaven. If you loved 'GOLD' and have been smitten by the ABBA bug, this is a good follow-up to learn more about the ABBA phenemenon.