David Mckee's Stiffs & Georges - ABBA

ABBA plays Vegas

Sun, 14 Jun 2009 16:40:00 -0700

On Sept. 24, 1979, the Swedish superstars played the Aladdin Performing Arts Theatre (now part of Planet Hollywood, of course). Last weekend, eight songs from that one and only Vegas show belatedly surfaced.

It's an extraordinary document, both historically and musically. There are one or two "in house" recordings of ABBA in concert that are of decent listening quality. Most, however, are sonic abominations that make one of the world's two most popular pop groups resemble a garage bad -- and not a good one.

The Aladdin recording, however, sounds as though it was either made with very high-end equipment or run off of the sound board. It's got a wide stereo spread that allows the listener to hear the "live" arrangements in manifold detail.

Several numbers on the '79-80 tour were played in versions quite different from those enshrined on record, and both "Hole in Your Soul" and "Summer Night Night City" are much to be preferred as expansively heard here. The abbreviated "official" versions that are commercially available aren't a patch on these take-no-prisoners renditions. (A Vegas-area kiddie choir gets into the act on "I Have a Dream.") It's further ammo for those of us in the heretical minority that believes ABBA live ≥ ABBA in studio.

Most important of all, herein lies confirmation of a contention made by ABBA chronicler Carl Magnus Palm in his Bright Lights, Dark Shadows. Palm, whose scholarship is the furthest thing from hagiography, writes that "contrary to most of their attempts in the studio, on stage ABBA really knew how to rock. Their live sound was vividly energetic and rumbling, with many extra, half-improvised piano riffs from Benny[*] and on-the-spot vocal ad-libs courtesy of Frida."

* -- at a Vienna performance, he slipped the theme from The Third Man into the "Money, Money, Money" intro.

Not from the 1979 tour ... but who cares?

You can hear, with remarkable immediacy, the qualities Palm describes. They're captured in these too-few Vegas tracks, culminating with the show's double-barreled finale of "Does Your Mother Know?" and "Hole in Your Soul." One can only hope that the other 15-odd songs on the set list were taken down with similar fidelity and will soon see the light of day.

Serendipitous timing marked the unveiling of the 1979 bootleg, since the Las Vegas Hilton spent this weekend hosting tribute band abbacadabra, comprised mostly of California- and Reno-based musicians. Most of the look of the show, in fact, was derived from the '79 tour that played the Aladdin (though the decision to eschew a lead guitarist in favor of a second trap set was a serious mistake.)

Yes, I was there Saturday night. Bought front-row seats, in fact. And special thanks to the conscientious ticket salesperson who talked me out of springing for (more expensive) stage seats. We saved $10 and enjoyed the show not one whit less. Plus, as my girlfriend pointed out, I can now say that I shook hands with "Frida." Not a bad way to end an evening at the LVH.

Under Attack II

Fri, 22 May 2009 13:50:00 -0700

Aside from being the title of ABBA's final single (and lamest music video), it's also the status of our Web site. Which means precious little blogorrhea, I fear. In the interim, experience an absolutely mind-boggling interview with Harrah's Entertainment CEO Gary Loveman, then take a sanity break with this:

Since the music video (one of the few not directed by Lasse Hallstrom) is such a non-event, I opted instead for ABBA's last-ever appearance in Germany, an emotional occasion where the audience swarmed the stage during the final credit roll.

"Mamma Mia!": the confusion thickens

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 16:54:00 -0700

For those keeping score at home, the marketers of the new Mamma Mia! movie are doing their damnest to blot our copy books. Songs cut from the film turn up on the soundtrack CD but ones that are in the movie are missing in action. (Supposedly we'll get sucker-punched with a really comprehensive movie soundtrack, on two CDs, somewhere down the road.)

As best can be determined -- for those of you who care about such things (Shouldn't everyone?) -- "Chiquitita" is still in, as is "Waterloo," but "The Name of the Game" (cut after test screenings) "Under Attack," "One of Us" and "Knowing Me, Knowing You" are out, the latter supplanted by 1981's "When All is Said and Done." No definitive word on "I Do, I Do ... " (though I've read that it's sort of half-in, half-out.) A few other songs have been moved around and -- in some cases -- heavily reworked. And Amanda Seyfried is a colossal improvement on the adenoidal Sophie on the original cast album.

All of which means that, at a net loss of three songs, the stage version at Mandalay Bay remains the "value added" proposition, especially with the $30/ticket discount that ran in Las Vegas City Life last week. I've discovered that my appetite for Spamalot maxed out at two performances (and John O'Hurley, sadly, is no Randal Keith, the best King Arthur since Graham Chapman) and after four go-rounds with Phantom: The Vegas Spectacular, I've had enough to last me awhile. But, just as Wayne Brady's reinvention of the classic Vegas lounge show dwarfs his competition, Mamma Mia! is lightning in a Mandalay Bay bottle and should be enjoyed every chance you get.

Early reviews for the movie in the U.K. and Australia are raves almost across the board. This is my favorite, not least for its description of Pierce Brosnan's singing voice. (Beware: Thar be spoilers.)

Now if only Universal would stop marketing it as though scared stiff that people might guess that A) it's a musical and B) it features the music of ABBA. Thirty million people having seen the stage version, the word's probably gotten around already, y'know? If the movie version succeeds in the U.S. it will be a triumph of product over (pretty craptacular) marketing.

From A(BBA) to Z

Tue, 06 May 2008 22:14:00 -0700

Too much blogohrrea and too little hydration have left me spent, drained, kaput-ski. (Mind you, some would say I've been running on empty for a long time.) And when our cranky blogging software devoured another hour's worth of work -- this one about Las Vegas Sands' emergency "stop-loss" mission to Macao, it was time to stick a fork in me.

So I may take it easy for a couple of days -- relatively speaking. (Which is okay, because Ian Sutton has all the news that's fit to link over at GamingFloor.com.) 'Cause when I'm not blogging or writing squibs for "What's News," I'm whaling away on our big "Question of the Day" archive, categorizing and cross-categorizing. And out of all that mulching, we intend to produce a super-FAQ, a gambling/Vegas lexicon and guide that will hopefully merge some of the best features of QoD and Wikipedia.

In the meantime, let's end with even more good news: Mamma Mia! just marked its 2,000th Las Vegas performance last Sunday night. I've had the great good fortune to see it three times in three years, belatedly getting in touch with my inner ABBA fan.

That's meant seeing three Sophies, nine prospective fathers, two or three Skys (Skies?), but always the indomitable Carole Linnea Johnson and her two kick-ass sidekicks, Vicki Van Tassel and Robin Baxter. I have no idea what impact the forthcoming movie version, starring Meryl Streep, will have on the Las Vegas box office or whether MGM Mirage will give Mamma Mia! another reprieve. (It's already had one stay of execution.) But long may these Dancing Queens reign.