Abba – Voyage – 2021
Of course, as a swede, I cannot ignore that ABBA releases a new album after 40(!) years. Voyage has been out a few weeks now and it felt like I needed to review this album. I don’t think it takes a swede for it of course, but somehow ABBA is in our heritage, our Swedish legacy to the music business. With that said, I must confess that I was not old or interested enough in them when they were at their peak. I don’t have all of their albums on vinyl and I don’t love everything they ever made back in the day. However, I feel that you need to have at least one greatest hits album with them in your home. There’s really no way around it. ABBA is a part of music history and you need to know the basics of their songs, the hits.
So, what did I expect? Actually, I didn’t expect a miracle. I’ve talked and fantasized many times if there were only one group that would reunite and give one show somewhere in the world it would be ABBA. Maybe if you included deceased artists in the equation as well the result might be different but I’d rather see a reunion of ABBA than Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, or any of those other legendary rock bands. But should you be careful what you wish for?
Voyage definitely sounds like ABBA. There’s no question about that. It does not necessarily mean that it sounds fresh and new. In my mind, it’s rather dated music and it could very well have been leftovers from their earlier career. There’s no real freshness to it. You get about what you could expect. Very nice composed music and the ABBA sound. I Believe that Björn and Benny wrote all of the songs as usual and they’ve done a fine job, don’t misunderstand me. It sounds good. But some things might be better when they’re still desired for and not when the dream is realized. I was a bit disappointed and would consider Voyage to be more or less elevator-music. It won’t be noted in the history books.
On a side note I’ve heard that some of the vinyl versions, there’s a lot of different editions, apparently sound really bad. I don’t know. I’ve since long abandoned vinyl as a listening medium, I’ve entered the digital age. I don’t have a problem with the sound or the mix, I just wanted…more.Something worth telling you grandkids about. But I guess you can’t have it your way all the time. At least these legends put out another album and I think that’s a great gift to their long-term fans. And I don’t think anyone really cares if it’s not the best musical production ever. ABBA made something new and that’s part of the hype. It’s an ok album for sure, just a bit boring
