- Audio CD (28 Mar 2000)
- Number of Discs: 1
- Label: Musicrama/Koch
- ASIN: B0000DEN6H
- Other Editions: Audio CD
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,159,416 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
Amazon.co.uk allows you to pay for your items in your local currency. Restrictions apply. Learn More. |
Product details |
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Usually, any one of the following statements is enough to put fear into the hearts of even the stoutest of music buyers: "charity album", "a tribute to" and "as seen on TV". Putting these three statements together, therefore, should be a recipe for disaster. It's a testament to the enduring quality of Abba's music, and the talents of the artists represented here, that Abbamania works. Of course, only a lobotomised chimp could make a hash of an Abba song--although Denise Van Outen comes close--and as such there are very few duds on this collection. Culture Club, who know thing or two about classic pop themselves, perform a storming version of "Voulez Vous". Steps, meanwhile, have contributed two songs: the fantastically aerobic "Lay All Your Love On Me" and the ballad "I Know Him So Well" from the tenuously-relevant musical Chess. The medley "Thank Abba For The Music", which was originally performed at the 1999 BRIT Awards by Steps, Cleopatra, B*Witched, Billie and Tina Cousins is also included, but the album's highlight is B*Witched's cover of "Does Your Mother Know"--a combination of electric guitars, techno beats and sugar-coated harmonies with a slight country twang. -- Robert Burrow
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Listening to this CD made me realise one thing - the sheer quality of the original songs. Many of the artists go for straight 'copies' of ABBA, but none of them can match up to the vocal powers of Agnetha and Anni-Frid. It makes you realise their incredible vocal range and the perfect pitch with which they sang, in the days before 'vocal manipulation'.
Madness do their trademark 'Nutty Boys' take of Money, Money, Money; Culture Club camp it up on Voulez-Vous; Stephen Gateley gives a pedestrian Chiquitita; Denise van Outen tries her best on Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! and this is where the lack of vocal ability is at its most glaring. The original high harmonies are not attempted either by Denise or her backing singers. Martine McCutcheon does a passable version of Mamma Mia and B*Witched take a stab at Does Your Mother Know.
Perhaps not surprisingly, Steps give us the nearest thing to ABBA harmonies and vocals - Lay All Your Love On Me is good, but their version of I Know Him So Well from the musical Chess is a revelation; these girls can really sing! Westlife also acquit themselves well on I have A Dream, perhaps one of ABBA's weakest songs, and reinterpret it in the 90s Boy Band way ... and it works! Less sentiment, more feeling?
Little mention needs be made of the Brits ABBA tribute - you all know it already - but do not expect too much from S Club 7's Dancing Queen or [one of] The Corrs' The Winner Takes It All - the former is a lightweight piece of pap and the latter a dirge which loses all the emotion and pain of the original.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I love Abba, and I purchased the CD a couple of days ago, having watched the television program. I thought Steps were astoundingly good at "I Know Him So Well", while The Corrs sounded absolutely awful at "The Winner Takes It All".
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
This is a great attempt at copying the masters, but nobody can do these songs quite as well as the originals. That being said, a lot of these are really good though. Steps version of "I Know Him So Well" is fantastic (Steptacular as they would say - that's another good album). B*Witched and Stephen Gately are also great on this album with their versions of "Does Your Mother Know" and "Chiquitita" respectively. I think the original foursome are probably flattered, but not threatened, by this attempt to reproduce their greatness.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
a great album
This album is packed full of Abba hits recorded by some of the most popular artists at the time it was made. Read more
Published on 7 Mar 2005
Quite good....but nothing beats the real thing!
ABBAmania is a good CD, but ABBA can never be replaced, not even by Steps. The lowlight of this collection was S Club 7 attempting to blurt out Dancing Queen (they ought to stick... Read more
Published on 22 Feb 2000
Rubbish, except for the brilliant Chiquitia!
This does not live up to the real thing at all, westlife have boy banded I Have A Dream, and in doing so have ruined it, as have Denise Van Outen who really shouldnt even have... Read more
Published on 20 Feb 2000
it's good but what happened to the songs waterloo and sos
This albam is a great tribute to a great band,ABBA. It catches all the great hits of ABBA but there are some songs missing. Read more
Published on 23 Nov 1999
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Listmania!
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
