![]() A regenerated song feels par for the course. And what does it really matter if Just a Notion isn’t “new”-new? After all, the band are regenerating themselves as digital avatars for next year’s comeback concerts in London. Not that any of this really matters a jot. Their published back catalogue is so dizzyingly dazzling that they’ve set their own bar almost untouchably high. Even so, the song highlights the problem with ABBA’s comeback music. The song does, I suppose, suggest that the new album will give fans a rounded version of ABBA: if recent comeback singles I Still Have Faith In You and Don’t Shut Me Down were – respectively - the big ballad and the classic “sad banger” disco number, then Just a Notion represents the Waterloo ABBA. Overall, Just a Notion feels a bit like ABBA reheated, and sounds like the beefed-up outtake it is. (Also, on a different note, the lines “Just a notion, that’s all / Just a feeling that you’re watching me / Every move I’m making” sound a little creepy today.) Will the protagonist’s “notion” remain unfulfilled whimsy? It does add an extra layer of intrigue to things. So the song’s hope feels suffused with sadness. Context suggests it’s actually quite a wistful song: during the recording of Voulez-Vous in 1978, Fältskog’s marriage to bandmate Björn Ulvaeus was falling apart (they separated in late 1978 or early 1979). Detailed Chart Progress for 'Just A Notion' (ABBA) German Songs chart performance history for Just A Notion. Just A Notion is, as suggested, about a woman having an inkling (just a notion) that reconciliation with an ex is on the cards. Just A Notion by ABBA - an overview of this songs performance on the German iTunes chart. Being ABBA, the song’s chorus features nice piano glissandos and a typically well-turned, unexpectedly long line in which Agnetha Fältskog and Frida Lyngstad sing of their hope that “everything from there on must be right” after bumping into an old lover. On second listen, the song uppermost in my mind was – worryingly – Remember You’re a Womble by Mike Batt. On my first listen, it took a certain degree of self-restraint not to belt out the opening “My, my!” line of Waterloo as the first verse approached. It opens with a pub honky-tonk piano, before the drums kick in with more piano and horns. Just A Notion is a jaunty boogie-woogie singalong along the lines of Waterloo, ABBA’s Eurovision winner from 1974, or Why Did It Have To Be Me? from 1976’s Arrival album. You can’t help but think it was an outtake for a reason. Is it any good? It will undoubtedly keep anticipation for the Voyage album bubbling for a fortnight. This revamped version, released at midnight, contains the original vocals with a freshly recorded backing track. Well, Just a Notion is certainly undeleted now. ![]() It was originally recorded in 1978 during sessions for the Voulez-Vous album, but was never used.ĭie-hard ABBA fans have been aware of the song for some time: a 90-second clip of Just a Notion appeared in a mammoth 23-minute medley of outtakes on an ABBA box set in 1994. ![]() The song, however, isn’t really “new” at all. There, we will have a live band playing, but all vocals will be from the old recordings.Two weeks before the hotly-anticipated arrival of ABBA’s first new album in 40 years, the Swedish band tease us with another single from it, Just a Notion. In a way, it demonstrates what we plan to do with ABBA Voyage in 2022. He added, “Now Benny has recorded a new backing track to which we’ve added drums and guitars, but all vocals are from the original 1978 tracks. So it’s a mystery and will remain a mystery.” I know that we played it to a publisher in France and a couple of other people we trusted and as far as I can remember they liked it very much. Why did we decide against it? In hindsight, I don’t have a clue. ![]() “That puts it in between ABBA the Album and Voulez-Vous, and it would have been included in the latter had we not decided against it. ![]() “Wikipedia says this track was recorded in September 1978, which sounds about right,” band member Björn Ulvaeus said in a statement. ABBA have released a new track, “Just a Notion.” The hopeful, upbeat song is the third single off the Swedish pop group’s upcoming album, Voyage. ![]()
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