Neilspeed,
Did you live in North America in the 70's or early 80's? I'm guessing you did not, because ABBA was everywhere, and I do belive that they actually sold quite a few albums.
The reason they did not do as well in North America as the rest of the world is in general we thought they sucked, as I think most of us still do.
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Neilspeed, Fleetwood Mac was not afraid to spend time in the recording studio to get perfection. Recording studios charge by the hour and it was understood Fleetwood Mac's last few albums were extremely expensive to record. It is no wonder the sound quality is good. Besides, they were recording in analogue with some great recording engineers. Engineering analogue is truly an art as is evidenced in your comparison with SACD. |
You gotta go stand outside The Plant and transport your mind back to 1976. Feel the vibe although the place wasn't in the best shape (shabby chic perhaps) last time I was there. There were some old couches and chairs outside in the rain. No, I didn't look under the cushions for illicit things. http://www.plantstudios.com/ |
Again (and at the risk of beating that horse one more time),
The studio work was pure Buckingham. He was well known (maybe notorious is a better word) for his obssessive (hour burning) behavior. Both "Out of the Cradle" and "Under The Skin" are REALLY remarkable in this respect. Both, and particularly the latter, are a million miles from audiophile style, but a masterpiece of studio work.
Marty |
Best band ever ? That's funny. |
Mac- I think 375 million albums plus 2m to 3m per year is more than a few,lol.
When they were giging and were doing a few gigs at the Royal Albert Hall they could have filled the Royal Albert Hall out for a whole year+ with their ticket sales. |
Gawdbless, where does that number for ABBA come from?Searching the net I only come up with a Wikipedia article that looks relavant, and among the biggest selling acts, they by far have the smallest verified sales (49 mil), with a "reputed" sales number of 300 - 370.
But my point was that they were every where in the US in th 70's and 80's and did sell a lot of records in North America (12 mil), but they were not as popular here as they were overseas.
My contention is because we thought, and still do, that they sucked.
As far as the RAH in London, let's not get too excited about the musical taste of residents of the UK. Although they have produced the greatest Rock acts of all time, they don't seem to respect them. I read a few years ago that an Arctic Monkeys album was voted best of all time, with many Beatles, Stones, Zeppelin and Pink Floyd albums way down the list.
Very disturbing.
Abba still sucks. |
Arctic Monkeys,now there's some future hall of famers!!!!! |
Thanks for the link to The Plant. I remember Elvin Bishop from the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. When he went on his own he was a regular in San Francisco. One place where he played alot was just off Union St. called The Cock's Inn. He always drew a big crowd and there was no cover charge.
There was a lot of good entertainment back in those days. |
Mac,
Like 'em or not, the LOWEST sales number commonly cited for global ABBA sales is 150 million units worldwide. That figure is generally used to debunk the 300 plus million plus that's often thrown around, so the real figure is almost certainly higher than 150,000,000. It seems that there is confusion because the record keeping for album sales isn't exactly a precise science, but ABBA appears to be, by all of the counts that I've seen, one of the top dozen selling bands (excluding solo artists) ever. Given that the band released all of 8 albums, it's hard to argue with their commercial success.
If pure pop ear candy ain't your thing, I can see why you'd dismiss them outright. OTOH, some people love that kind of thing and others (including me) find it fun in (very) limited doses. ABBA may or may not suck (depending on your tastes), but they certainly sold a sh*tload of records.
Marty |
Kudos also must be given to Abba for refusing to rejoin even with the stratospheric amount of wonga they were reported to have been offered.
Shame some of the geriatric old fart bands did not retire when their time was up, then again if stuck in a time capsule old farts continue to buy old shit, why not bring out a greatest hits volume 38?
The UK also moves with the times when it comes to music, and generally people (especially the one young's) do not give a rats ass anymore about old farty bands such as Zep, Floyd, Beatles etc etc.
I was given a boxed set of complete Beatles 45's
I have never forgiven that person for it! |
