|
Notes on the contents
TRACKS OF PARTICULAR INTEREST
One of the main attractions of The Complete Studio Recordings should be to get all the studio recordings collected in one place - no more chasing compilations only released in limited markets to get one elusive track. Apart from that, however, the box set does include a number of bona fide rarities. They are:
Waterloo (Alternate Mix). This mix was the very first version of the English-language version of Waterloo to be released. Apparently, it was mistakenly released as a single A-side in Sweden, before being withdrawn and replaced by the regular version. The mix has several noticeable differences, the most blatant being additional "oh yeah!" outbursts in the verses. This mix is so rare and so unknown that it could almost count as a previously unreleased recording. Note: It appears the master tape for this mix was destroyed when the mistake was discovered, so the version on the CD box set has been mastered from a vinyl single.
Summer Night City (Full Length Version). This original full length version was originally released on the 1994 Thank You For The Music box set. However, by the sound of it, it appears sound engineer Michael B. Tretow took the beginning of the track and spliced it onto the regular single version of the track. For The Complete Studio Recordings, I managed to track down the original full length mix, created back in 1978. In my opinion, it sounds better than the "glued-together" version released in 1994, having a slightly less "drastic" volume increase after the strings-piano-and-vocals introduction.
On And On And On (Full Length Version) This full-length mono mix, containing an extra verse, is available as the video soundtrack for the song on the DVD The Definitive Collection. However, it has never been released on CD before.
Should I Laugh Or Cry (Intro Version). Nothing earth-shattering here, but when this B-side of the 'One Of Us' single was released in the UK and South Africa back in 1981, a count-in had been accidentally left on the recording. Just for fun, we decided to include this version in this box set. It has never been available on CD before, and apparently, a large number of UK ABBA fans have been wanting such a release for years.
THE MEDLEY MYSTERY RESOLVED?
If you're an ABBA fan who's been around for a while, you are probably aware that there are two different mixes of the so-called Folk Medley. It was first released in 1975 on a German charity album under the title 'Pick A Bale Of Cotton - On Top Of Old Smokey - Midnight Special'. Then, in 1978, the recording was used for the B-side of the 'Summer Night City' single, at which time it was subject to a new mix, and the word "medley" was added to the title: 'Medley: Pick A Bale Of Cotton - On Top Of Old Smokey - Midnight Special'. However, the two mixes sound almost the same and, accordingly, are very hard to tell apart.
The medley was first released on CD in 1994, on the box set Thank You For The Music. At the time I was told that it was the 1978 remix that was used on the box set. Howevever, for many years now I've suspected that there was something wrong here. Was that really the 1978 mix? And what about the other CDs on which the Medley has since been used - did they use the 1975 mix or the 1978 mix? The story so far had been that the 1975 mix had never been released on CD. With the release of The Complete Studio Recordings, where the ambition was to include both mixes, I was determined to try to solve this problem once and for all.
The only way to do that was to locate a tape that definitely contained the 1978 mix. And the only such tape I knew where we could be absolutely certain that we got the right mix would be the single master for 'Summer Night City'/'Medley: Pick A Bale Of Cotton - On Top Of Old Smokey - Midnight Special'. Unfortunately, the original Polar Music master tape appears to be missing from the archives. Luckily, however, we acquired the entire collection of ABBA tapes from Epic Records in the UK a few years ago, so we had access to the single master for the British release.
I asked mastering engineer Henrik Jonsson, who remastered the tracks for the box set, to have a listen to the track on the single master and some of the other, previously released versions. I wanted someone who was working professionally in the audio field to determine which mix was which. Personally, I had listened to so many different vinyl pressings, cassette copies and CD issues of this track, that I no longer knew what I was hearing. Henrik's conclusion was the following:
The version of the medley included on the Thank You For The Music box set is the 1975 mix, originally released on the German charity album.
The version of the medley included on the remastered edition of ABBA's eponymous album, issued in 2001, is the 1978 remix.
According to Henrik, the easiest way to tell them apart is the fact that the drums are a little louder on the 1975 version.
Update, November 12, 2005:
ABBA fan and sound engineer Frank Maier offers further details on how to tell the mixes apart: The piano intro in the 1975 mix is much quieter compared to the rest of the mix; the 1978 version does not feature this drastic difference between the intro and the rest of the recording. In the 1975 mix, the piano intro is centred in the sound spectrum, whereas in the 1978 version the piano intro is balanced a little to the left. The drums following the intro are centred in the 1975 mix, but travel from left to right and then back again in the 1978 version. The 1978 mix generally features lots more compression.
Mystery, hopefully, resolved...
WHICH MEDLEY MIX ON WHICH CD?
ABBA fan Jari Berg listened to all the CDs containing the medley in order to determine which CDs featured which mix. These are his findings:
The 1975 mix:
Thank You For The Music box set (1994)
The 1978 remix:
ABBA - 1997 issue of remastered 1975 album
Singles Collection 72*82 box set (1999)
ABBA - 2001 issue of remastered 1975 album
Jari also says that the 2001 remaster version sounds a little different to the 1997 and 1999 versions, because of additional noise reduction.
|
|
|
