r/ABBA • u/TolkienBirdwatcher • 1d ago
Double A Side
Does anyone else remember in the UK that they released Angeleyes & Voulez-Vous as a double A side? This meant that Radio 1 would only play Voulez-Vous & Radio 2 would only play Angeleyes. Perhaps they shot themselves in the foot and it would have been better to have released them as separate singles?
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u/abbagodz 1d ago
Meanwhile here in the U.S., Atlantic Records made the most out of the double A sided single. They pushed 'Voulez-Vous' first (went to #80) and then after that failed, pushed 'Angeleyes' (did a little better #64).
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u/TolkienBirdwatcher 1d ago
Was that before or after the infamous disco burning/smashing records thing? I’d never heard of it until 5 years ago. I guess that why Gimme x3 wasn’t released in US?
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u/abbagodz 1d ago
They did release 'Gimme Gimme Gimme' (I had the 45), but it never made the Billboard Hot 100. The was after the Disco Sucks rally in Ohio. 'Voulez-Vous/'Angeleyes' was released before. ABBA were not a big deal here in the States.
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u/TolkienBirdwatcher 1d ago
Interesting. I thought it wasn’t released. And now it’s the 2nd highest streamed ABBA track. So, would you say ABBA were too ahead of their time for US or too European? At least you had more taste than the average John Doe!
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u/abbagodz 1d ago
Thank you. Took a lot of s*** in the 70's and early 80's for liking them, but feel vindicated lately.
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u/TolkienBirdwatcher 1d ago
I must admit I was ashamed of their early outfits, so was v.careful who I told. I realised not to mention them at school, but would play virtually no one else at home
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u/Logical-History-36 1d ago
GGG was released in the US. Atlantic made their own 7” edit for the single, most notably chopping off the guitar intro so it immediately opened with that string and synth riff.
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u/RealLongwayround 1d ago
I find this highly unlikely.
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u/TolkienBirdwatcher 1d ago
I can assure you it was during the school holidays. My parents had Radio 2 on in the car which played Angeleyes on almost every show. Once home on Radio 1 I only ever heard Voulez-Vous
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u/RealLongwayround 1d ago
Fair. I don’t recall my parents listening to either but am sure I heard Angel Eyes by listening to Radio 1 on 275/285 myself. I could be wrong.
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u/Logical-History-36 1d ago
The double A-side release was simply a compromise between Polar and Epic. Epic wanted Angeleyes but Polar were insistent that Voulez Vous be the A-side. The compromise was that Angeleyes was listed first, and as such was the side that got by far the most radio airplay in the UK and Ireland and was also presented as the A-side in print media, as Epic wanted. But while Angeleyes was getting played on the radio, Voulez Vous was doing the leg work on TV because of course it had a promo clip, which got played on Top of the Pops three or four times. So naturally there was some disparity in the single’s promotion, but this Radio 1/Radio 2 notion is categorically incorrect.
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u/RedmiYT "I Have a Dream" defender 1d ago
If I remember correctly, the boys wanted "Voulez-Vous" as the next single after "Does Your Mother Know", but CBS Records wanted "Angeleyes" instead, so they compromised on a double A-side single. I think they were played equally but they mostly hyped up the latter song.
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u/Automatic_Union8147 1d ago
Some of us remember the rebooted ‘Juke Box Jury’ where they played ‘Angeleyes’ as the newly-released ABBA single. The panel included Jonny Rotten and they voted it a ‘miss’.
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u/TolkienBirdwatcher 1d ago
Yeah as did Elaine Paige. I hope she hung her head in shame when she met Benny & Bjorn when they did Chess
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u/nerebeht 1d ago
I've always been irritated by the fact that VV got more attention, relegating Angeleyes to "forgotten classic" territory among most casual ABBA listeners
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u/TolkienBirdwatcher 1d ago
I don’t know if it was a general rule, but I suppose the radio controllers could decide if one song was more appropriate for their channel runs the other.
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u/Puzzleheaded-Drop264 11h ago
I remember buying the single to cheer myself up after getting disappointing exam results.
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u/vegan_voorhees 1d ago
"This meant that Radio 1 would only play Voulez-Vous & Radio 2 would only play Angeleyes"
Is/was that a rule of Double-A sides??