ABBA to release their first album in 40 years
They've returned with two new songs, "I Still Have Faith In You” and “Don’t Shut Me Down”
Music News ABBA
Agnetha, Björn, Benny, and Anni-Frid—in that order—are back to deliver us bops we truly don’t deserve. Swedish pop legends ABBA will release their first album since 1981's The Visitors. Their ninth studio album, Voyage, will set sail on November 5. The first two singles, “Have Faith in You” and “Don’t Shut Me Down,” are out today.
The super-trouper beams are gonna blind them once more as they perform with a 10-piece band at the ABBA Arena, a 3,000 capacity arena located at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London. But there’s a catch—they’ll be performing as de-aged holograms. The digital versions of ABBA were created after months of motion-capture and performance techniques with the four band members and an 850-person team from George Lucas’ Industrial Light & Magic. The first look at their digitization can be seen in the visual for “I Still Have Faith In You.”
“We simply call it Voyage and we’re truly sailing in uncharted waters. With the help of our younger selves, we travel into the future. It’s not easy to explain but then it hasn’t been done before,” Benny Anderson says. “It’s hard to say what’s been the most joyful thing for me with this project. If it’s the involvement in creating the concert together with everyone or being back in the studio together again after 40 years. I think hearing Frida and Agnetha singing again is hard to beat. When you come to the arena you will have the four of us together with an absolutely glorious 10-piece band. And even if not in the flesh, we will be right there, thanks to the work of the creative team and ILM.”
Following The Visitors release in 1981, ABBA effectively disbanded in 1982. The quartet first teased their reformation and virtual tour in 2018, when it was just the two singles. All we’ve got to say is: Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!
“When we got back together in the studio I had no idea what to expect… But Benny’s recording studio is such a friendly and safe environment, and before I knew it I was really enjoying myself!” Agnetha Fältskog says. “I can hardly believe that finally, the moment has come to share this with the world!”
Here’s the full tracklist for Voyage:
01 I Still Have Faith in You
02 When You Danced With Me
03 Little Things
04 Don’t Shut Me Down
05 Just a Notion
06 I Can Be That Woman
07 Keep an Eye on Dan
08 Bumblebee
09 No Doubt About It
10 Ode to Freedom
63 Comments
Pre-ordering a new ABBA album was pretty damn far down the list of things I expected to do today….and an 850-person team from George Lucas’ Industrial Light & Magic.Did Lucas keep possession of ILM when he sold Lucasfilm to Disney?
ILM was part of the acquisition.
It’s a shame they broke up because The Visitors was a pretty good album.
The Visitors isn’t a pretty good album, The Visitors is one of the Top Ten best albums of the 80’s and would get considerably more respect, I suspect, if it didn’t have the name Abba on the record sleeve. I recommend everyone go listen to it – it’s genuinely stunning (and, like everyone, I wish “The Day Before You Came” was on it, but oh well – it’s still basically nigh-on perfect.
That Bee Gees doc on HBO covers that weird disco backlash that came to a head in that era. I think Abba was unfairly pigeonholed just like the Bee Gees as disco when they had produced a pretty great catalogue outside of the dancefloor hits. What I think is hilarious about revisiting that era of pop is that nearly every recent band that starts out as indie-guitar rock ends up as disco. Caribou, Tame Impala, Arcade Fire all their most recent output is mainly 4-on-the-floor dance music. So even in terms of influence they are pretty under-rated.
The irony being, of course, that Abba only really produced one disco album (Voulez-Vous). Most of the earlier stuff – “Mama Mia”, “Waterloo” etc – is squarely glam and predates disco.
Yes…I mean I’m not sure if ILM is owned by Lucas outright but it’s definitely not owned by Disney.
Disney owns Lucasfilm which in turn owns ILM.
Really? I didn’t think it was part of the deal. Huh.
That’s what I thought, but the article giving ownership to Lucas threw me for a moment.
It’s a weird way to phrase it, that’s for sure.
According to Wikipedia, Disney owns it.
Holy shit! I haven’t thought about The Meatmen in more than 30 years! One of the most gleefully offensive groups ever. I remember their ode to The Beatles “One Down, Three To Go”. They were big on the KU Radio station KJHK, which at the time had a range that just barely reached the dormitories.
College radio, you say?
I mean… yes! That’s awesome. I think it’s a beautiful thing that they’ve made another record after all these years. The videos are corny as hell and I like that, because it shows the band’s age, and I think that’s adorable (and I mean that in the most respectful way).As for the music itself, it is divine, which should come as no surprise, coming from this group of people. Still, it’s exhilarating, hearing it with my own ears. Looking forward to the album.
Who is this “Dan” and why do we need to keep an eye on him? In the interests of public safety, ABBA, we need to know!
Both new songs sound great. It’s so weird to hear new ABBA. It’s like a ghost from my childhood just showed up and started singing.
Considering I was all of 1 when ABBA last released music, this is shockingly good. It certainly sounds like ABBA and it’s hard to detect that they are in their mid seventies. Certainly can’t detect any obvious auto tuning either.
Where can I get one of them Agnetha holograms? Something I been wanting to try since 1976.
o yuck, i’m getting flashbacks to the abba movie where she’s being questioned about her bum.
LMAO I haven’t seen it. What questions did they have? “Do you sit on that?”, “Is that where the poop comes out?”Entertainment journalists are the actual devil.
In Sweden, does “fanny” mean what it means in America or in the UK?
I wouldn’t know, I don’t speak a lick of Swedish. I’d imagine they have a wide variety of hilarious ways to describe body parts though.
Did you in fact get diarrhea all over the Swedish Slip ‘N Slide?
To be fair to the journalists, she had a great ass back in the day, and she knew it, and showed it off all the time. Her wiggling her spandexed ass at the audience was a standard part of the show.
“Something I been wanting to try since 1976.”Does your mother know?
Just the loveliest news. Lovely news was really nice to hear this week.
Yeah, I’m glad I got something to do now that the KISS tour is postponed!
The hologram idea was odd when the Tupac version premiered because he’s dead. I find it a little strange that they’re using holograms while they’re still alive.
So, it’s odd because he’s dead… and it’s strange because they’re alive?
Yeah… I didn’t really word that well. Perks of banging out a comment and not proofreading it, I guess.I just find it to be a strange choice instead of performing in person.
Hahaha that’s okay, I didn’t mean to put you on the spot, I just thought it was kinda funny. I mean, I think it’s weird too. I don’t need them to perform at this point.And I don’t go to a music performance to see cutting edge technology, I just wanna see mf’ers play some music (and maybe wear some cool outfits and light theatrics and shit, but that’s optional).
Lol, no problem… please do. Most of my comments are quickly written while I’m at the office without much thought or editing.But overall, I think we’re on the same page.
they obviously don’t want to do live performances, and i don’t blame them. at least we know it’s being done with their approval.and it’s still better than mamma mia!
I’m personally not a fan. I’d rather see the artist I paid to see, not a digital recreation.
But would you rather see almost 80 year old members of The Rolling Stones perform or 3D holograms of the Stones circa 1972?
Truthfully, yes, just to say I saw them in person. I’d be less hesitant to see a 3D hologram if I’d already seen the artist perform live.
I mean, I wouldn’t want to see a 3D hologram of ‘72 era Stones either but part of me would be down with ot. Considering how many of the old classic rockers are about to die off and the continuing popularity of their music, seeing a 3D hologram of the Beatles playing “live” is something that could very well happen
and….i mean…. a lot of them just don’t sound good live anyways.
If somebody did a 3D hologram concert of, like, Hendrix at Monterey I’d think about it
I’d be down for that, but only because there’s no other way to see him live.
me neither. i’d sooner go see a tribute band.
I get that, I’d usually feel the same way. But they are in their 70’s and this isn’t a one-off thing.
They built a specially designed arena that seats 3000 for the show that will be done 6x a week. I’m looking at it as more of a hybrid concert movie/theme park experience.
They saw that Barry Gibb concert a few months back and were like WOOF, I would be enjoying this way more if I wasn’t seeing scary Barry, and off they went to the hologram machine!
They are old and want to be able to press a button to dance instead of dancing.
Frida and Agnetha haven’t been super active musically, especially touring. I wouldn’t blame them.
If I can accept Mick Jagger staggering around a stage in his 70s I can accept ABBA as they are.
The digital versions of ABBA were created after months of
motion-capture and performance techniques with the four band members and
an 850-person team from George Lucas’ Industrial Light & Magic.
Never thought we’d live in a world in which we get a new ABBA album but not the next ASOIF book
A new installment of the Epic of Gilgamesh dropped before the latest ASOIF book.https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/10/06/a-new-chapter-in-the-worlds-oldest-story/
Man alive, those songs are peak ABBA. Perfection.
I respect (and love) how they’re simply doing what they do best. Just perfect pop music.
I was thrilled to be the (one of the) first DJs to play this out to a receptive dancefloor. Worked like a charm!
Classic harmonies. Bittersweet lyrics set to danceable beats.Count me in.
The competent drumming of Sven-Olaf Petterrssonn?
And the Angel opened the seventh seal.
They’re Force-ghosts.
And they’re your father.
Both new tracks are great. I’m a little more partial to this one though.It’s nice to know that ABBA is still ABBA. They haven’t missed a single beat in 40 years. There’s no mistaking that it’s ABBA and that’s a rare and wonderful thing to do for a band that was apart for thing long.
ILM still can’t crack the “cursed wax dummy” vibe. They couldn’t do it for Peter Cushing, they couldn’t do it for Mark Hamill and they can’t do it for Abba. Songs are nice enough though.
They should let WETA deal with this one. Or, any videogames companies known for stellar performance captures, like Naughty Dogs or Ninja Theory.
I wonder how long until the Hologram Stones are charging us waythefucktoomuch for nosebleed seats at the Financial Colossus Center?