Schlager is not necessarily bad, though much of it is terrible, albeit with magnificently cheesy covers. Terrible or not, it is usually full-throated and heartfelt, and highly composed, as FM zorg puts it.

Coincidentally, I was at a wedding last month that had this fellow serenading us into the night:



Pretty cheesy, but joyful. Perhaps not a coincidence was the fact that I drunkenly sprained my ankle on the way back to our guesthouse.

I like ABBA just fine but the new track I heard was super fucking terrible. I'm not understanding the love. It sounds like off off Broadway Grease 2.

I re-read the lyrics to Waterloo and I STILL don't understand which choice = crap, so I guess I can't vote.

tommy wrote: Wed Sep 08, 2021 12:56 pm I'm not understanding the love. It sounds like off off Broadway Grease 2.

I haven't heard any new ABBA tracks at this point, but if it sounds like the Grease 2 soundtrack I'm sure I'll love it.

tommy wrote: Wed Sep 08, 2021 12:56 pm I re-read the lyrics to Waterloo and I STILL don't understand which choice = crap, so I guess I can't vote.

I think “Waterloo” in this context means a disastrous event or a reversal of fortune, possibly brought about by folly, which is the popular British view of Napolean’s experience at the Battle of Waterloo.
“He met his Waterloo.”
“WATERLOO!”

My 16 YO is pleased. SAys they sound older, but that it's ABBA. Echoing other comments. I can respect that .

rsmurphy wrote: Wed Sep 08, 2021 1:28 pm

tommy wrote: Wed Sep 08, 2021 12:56 pm I'm not understanding the love. It sounds like off off Broadway Grease 2.

I haven't heard any new ABBA tracks at this point, but if it sounds like the Grease 2 soundtrack I'm sure I'll love it.

Where does the pollen go?

sparky wrote: Wed Sep 08, 2021 2:22 pm

tommy wrote: Wed Sep 08, 2021 12:56 pm I re-read the lyrics to Waterloo and I STILL don't understand which choice = crap, so I guess I can't vote.

I think “Waterloo” in this context means a disastrous event or a reversal of fortune, possibly brought about by folly, which is the popular British view of Napolean’s experience at the Battle of Waterloo.
“He met his Waterloo.”
“WATERLOO!”

Yeah, Abba did not invent the phrase...."Meeting your Waterloo" in common parlance means a final humiliating defeat probably brought about by your excessive hubris....so in other words "crap".

penningtron wrote: Wed Sep 08, 2021 8:06 am I'm no ABBA fan but that seems harsh! Isn't Schlager like the German equivalent of Lee Greenwood?

Ok, maybe post-schlager or prog-schlager...but maybe that would be Camel.

Dave N. wrote: Thu Sep 09, 2021 6:35 am

rsmurphy wrote: Wed Sep 08, 2021 1:28 pm

tommy wrote: Wed Sep 08, 2021 12:56 pm I'm not understanding the love. It sounds like off off Broadway Grease 2.

I haven't heard any new ABBA tracks at this point, but if it sounds like the Grease 2 soundtrack I'm sure I'll love it.

Where does the pollen go?

Mr. Stewart, is it true that guys like you, you know, mature and all, carry some protection with them - FOR SEXUAL OCCASIOOOOON

Sometimes the stereotype is true: boys that kiss other boys like showtunes. I even had a choreographed sequence to "Girl For All Seasons/(Love Will) Turn Back The Hands of Time"

Anyway, so far not impressed with the two ABBA songs I heard. More into the new Diana Ross!

I don't get why they are so hung up about not looking old. They always said they would never get back together again because they didn't want to disappoint fans with their visible oldness. They preferred for ABBA to live on in their videos like a troupe of bowl-cut Dorian Greys. But now I guess that they have the technology to be ABBA Gollums they can go ahead?

You don't see other 70s bands feeling the need to computer their crumpled faces off. It makes me wonder what the story is.