ABBA – “Opus 10” (The album that never was).

 

On May 3, 1982, Abba returned to the Polar studios with the intention of recording new songs for his next Lp, after the publication in November 1981 "The Visitors". The first one was: "You owe me one", followed a week later by "I am the city", and twenty days later by: "Just like that", continuing in August with: "Cassandra"; "Under attack" and "The day before you came".

At the beginning of September, seeing that the personal problems of the members of the group hinder normal development of the recordings sessions; because both couples were in the process of breaking up. Benny Andersson & Björn Ulvaeus, like producers of the album, tried to save the project, of what was clear was going to be the farewell album of ABBA, anticipated the end of the sessions, they searched on the archives unpublished material with which to complete the new album. 

So to the six songs already mentioned, they took from "Super Trouper sessions": "Put on your white sombrero" & "Burning My Bridges" and from "The Visitors sessions": "Giving a Little bit more".  But after making a couple of compilations with remixes of some of these songs, decided to definitively abort the album, considering that the minimum expected quality of an ABBA record was not achieved.

The best way to say goodbye was with a double "greatest hits" album where all the singles plus two extra tracks from the summer sessions of '82 were compiled. This work was published in November and December as: ABBA The Singles - The 1st Ten Years ", preceded in October of the single: "The day before you came / Cassandra ", and another posthumous one in February of the 83:"Under Attack / You owe me one ". Up to here, what the real story left us. But what was "Opus 10" then?.

Halfway through the recording sessions of "The Visitors", in June 1981, the group gave an interview to a journalist from the Swedish newspaper: "Expressen". Published shortly after with the title "Abba, is recording his tenth album". The journalist called this work still without date or definitive name, because it would not have until October, as "Opus 10", which was later misinterpreted. The rumor spread that the following work of ABBA was going to be called "Opus 10" and when "The Visitors" saw the light in November, it was said that "Opus 10" had been the provisional title of the Lp.

But in reality it was that, “Opus 10” (work #10) comes from the calculation of studio albums published to date, June 1981, plus Vol.1 & Vol.2  “Greatest Hits”, excluding: "Gracias por la musica" from 1980.

Years later, when in the alternative market appeared the instrumental song Nationalsång "-" National anthem ", recorded in Polar Music studios between March 16 and 18, 1981, during the same sessions of:" Fanfare For Icehockey World Championships '81 ", Although it was really an early adaptation of the Swedish national anthem, it was renamed " Opus 10 "; this immediately unleashed the fever among the fans of Abba, extending the uncertain story that it was actually the central theme of the new album that Abba was going to record in the summer / autumn of 1982, with the songs mentioned above and others still unpublished today.

1- The day before you came.(5:53).

2- Cassandra.(4:50).

3- Under attack.(3:50).

4- You owe me one.(3:30).

5- I am the city.(4:02).

6- Just like that.(Rmx).(4:21).

7- Giving a little bit more.(Rmx).(2:41).

8- Put on your white sombrero.(4:31).

9- Slipping through my fingers / Me and I (live).(8:37).                                                                               (The Dick Cavett Meets ABBA TV Special).(April 29.1981).

-Bonus tracks -

10- Fanfare For Ice hockey World Championships '81.(0:32).

11- Nationalsång.(A.k.a “Opus 10“).(3:10)

All songs recorded between May and August 1982 except: 8. Outtake from “Super Trouper sessions”. August 9.1980. 10. & 11. March 16-19.1981. All tracks recorded at Polar Music - Stockholm, Sweden. Written by Benny Andersson & Björn Ulvaeus

But it was never like that in reality. There was never an Lp project with the name of "Opus 10", although it has been disseminated in some books about Abba, including the authoritative biography of Agnetha "As I Am". bit.ly/Ab81ba2 What is brought here is a reconstruction, for the taste of some people, of one of the compilations made during September 1981 in search of that possible studio album with no name, but with the certainty that it never existed one Lp or proyect "Opus 10". I´m sorry to say this.

The Shining (1st part) (Unreleased “Deluxe” Edition).

In 2010,  coinciding with the 30th anniversary of the premiere of Stanley Kubrick's film "The Shining", an attempt was made to release a commemorative edition of the soundtrack that had not been reissued since the early eighties, let alone in a "deluxe" edition, where all the cuts that in one way or another were used by the director in the film, some excluded by space and others by rights, were included,  publishing a double disc in 1980 was discouraged given the nature of the content of the work, many of them adapted classic pieces and other old, old songs.

Unfortunately, with the director already deceased in March 1999, the project to carry out a special edition of soundtrack and the film, could not materialize, having no heirs of Kubrick an absolute control. As for the collector's edition on DVD, where for the first time all the different versions were going to appear together, including the so-called "Director's cut", with the alternative end of Wendy and Danny recovering in the hospital, of which only keeps a copy in Stanley Kubrick's archives, because he destroyed all.

And you will ask, why?.., the reason was another movie:"Friday the 13th", premiered a few days before in the United States, on May 9, 1980, whose end was very similar to the one proposed by Kubrick, which made that the director removed the few copies that were in its pre-release phase and was eliminated this ending "for life" and to make sure that it was never seen or added to a future copy, it ended up with all the copies, except one .

Be that as it may, the DVD edition was going to be something similar to what had already happened with other cult films like: "Close encounters of the third kind" by Steven Spielberg or the legendary "Blade Runner" by Ridley Scott.

The version that I bring, is the first part of a trilogy that will continue with another album with the unreleased remixes made for the film and finally a third with the original soundtrack discarded at the last moment by the director. Well, this one that I show you first, is a reconstruction, based on original documentation and research of how that special edition would be in a double CD or LP.

In the first one, the original soundtrack of 1980 is compiled, remastered; and in the second cd all those cuts that were left out, some for space, since publishing a double Lp, as I said, would have been in its day too reckless.

CD 1. (Original 1980 version).(46:25)

1. The Shining.(Main Title). (Wendy Carlos & Rachel Elkind).(2:55)

2. Rocky Mountains. (Wendy Carlos & Rachel Elkind).(1:47)

3. Lontano. (György Ligeti).(10:10)

4. Music for strings, percussion & celesta. (Bela Bartok).(8:09)

5. Utrenja - Ewangelina.(Excerpt). (Krysztof Penderecki).(3:36)

6. The awakening of Jacob. (Krysztof Penderecki).(7:31)

7. De natura sonoris nº2. (Krysztof Penderecki).(9:05)

8. Home. (P.Van Steeden/H.Clarkson & J.Clarkson).(3:10)

In the 2nd disc, dedicated to the additional material, it includes two songs by composers Wendy Carlos and Raquel Elkind: "clockworks" bloody elevators "- until recently unpublished on CD, whose music, Stanley Kubrick excluded from the film to use it as part of the "famous trailer", where a spring of blood springs from inside lifts; also in this edition in English, since it differs from the Spanish, it appears: "Nocturnal Valse Triste", not included in the film but  if in the documentary about "The Shining".

CD 2. (Additional material):(33:55)

1. Clockworks (bloody elevators). (Wendy Carlos & Rachel Elkind).(2:21)

2. De natura sonoris nº1. (Krysztof Penderecki).(7:22)

3. Masquerade. (Jack Hylton).(3:12)

4. It´s all forgotten now. (Ray Noble).(3:19)

5. Utrenja - Kanon/Paschy. (Krysztof Penderecki).(0:58)

6. Polymorphia. (Krysztof Penderecki).(11:48)

7. Midnight the stars and You. (Ray Noble).(3:27)

8. Nocturnal Valse Triste. (Wendy Carlos & Rachel Elkind).(1:25) 

The soundtrack itself, despite being very successful, is somewhat sordid, dark and at times it becomes stressful and it is not advisable to listen to it alone and less at night because it causes its effects on the unconscious, bit.ly/80SKSh and you can see things in the dark where there are none or if you relax a lot until you give a trip of those astral, because it contains many low, almost unnoticeable records that go deep inside. Don´t forget that part of the soundtrack used in the "Shining" is based on another one of equal tendency: "The exorcist" ..., you are warned.

Finally say that the artwork includes the original photo to back cover that was later censored for being declared of "extreme violence", changed by the other,but we know, as the plan to re-edit this classic: it was unreleased and forgotten until now.  

Enjoy if you can, although I doubt it, this stormy and tormenting music of one of the horror classics .., I will tell you that compared to the remixes that I will bring you later it falls short.

 

The Rolling Stones - "Emotional Rescue" (2nd acetate & alternate version).

 

Although it is cited as the beginning of the recording sessions of the album "Emotional Rescue", between January 5 to March 2, 1978, at the Pathé Marconi studios, Paris France; It is not quite correct, since these dates correspond in fact to the last sessions destined to "Some Girls", Lp published on June 9, 1978. The error, so to speak, is the outtake "Summer Romance", taken from that sessions.

Clarified this, "Emotional rescue" was conceived and developed in a very convulsive period within the band, almost in decomposition phase, full of interruptions due to personal problems related to justice, especially in the case of Keith Richards avoided going to prison, after paying bail, for possession of heroin while he was in a hotel in Canada. In addition, taking advantage of the group that Ron Wood had formed, 

The New Barbarians, to promote his solo album: " Gimme Some Neck", how Keith was forced to provide community services by giving a series of concerts in benefit of IAB (Institute of Assent for the Blind), in Oshawa, Ontario, Keith entered the Ron Wood formation.

The tour of The New Barbarians between April and May, 20 concerts in total, two in Canada and the rest in the United States, put a new parenthesis in the study work.

Mick Jagger was involved in the divorce of Bianca, Bill in the process of separation from Astrid, Ronnie also been arrested along with his partner Jo for possession of drugs in St-Maarten in the Caribbean.., and Keith, once again, with problems with Anita Pallenberg, now with an accidental death in the house they shared, which was under renovation, one of the masons, a 17-year-old boy, had been playing with her on Russian roulette and has blown his head off. The only one who seemed to be saved was Charlie, more concerned with hair loss. Under this climate the album "Some Girls" was developed and the following one, "Emotional Rescue".

So after the promotional tour of "Some Girls", on July 26, 1978 at the Alameda Coliseum, Oakland Ca.; tour did not have European part, the Rolling Stones locked themselves in the RCA studios of Los Angeles from August 26 to September 6 to rehearse new songs like: "My old Lady”; “Not the way to go”, “What gives you the right” o  “I´ll let you know”; along with other classical themes of Chuck Berry, Willie Dixon o Jimmy Reed.

The following appointment took place already in The Bahamas, at the end of the month of January of 1979 until the middle of February in the studies Compass Point of Nassau. Where now if, the real recording sessions started with the first attempt on “Emotional Rescue”, “I´m think I´m gonna mad” o “Little T & A” and others outtakes: “Lonely at tghe top”; Gangter´s moll” ;”Let´s go steady again” o “What´s the matter”.

After the tour with The New Barbarian has finished, The Rolling Stones tired with everything that was happening around they, left the American continent in the direction of France, where once again in the Pathé Marconi studies, they resumed the sessions for "Emotional Rescue" on June 19, prolonging them throughout the summer with more songs: ”Dance”; “Down in the hole”; “Hang fire”; “Heaven”; “Indian girl”; “It´s a lie”; “Let me go”; “We had it all”; “send it to me” o “No use in crying”. Many of which ended in the next album "Tattoo you".

In November, Mick and Ketih began to make the first mixes, but a fight between them, for the musical direction of the group, interrupted again the evolution of "Emotional Rescue" and both remained almost a month without seeing each other until the end of January.  Now in New York at the Electric Lady studios, the "glimmer twins" made peace and resumed the mixes. Mixes that according to Bill took longer than recording any other album.

Little by little, the project was taking form, thus at the end of March, the first acetate of the disc was made: “Down in the hole”; “She´s so cold”; “Claudine”; “We had it all”l; “·You Left me”; ·”Indian Girl”; “I think I´m gonna mad”; “Let me go”; “Emotional Rescue”; “Send it to me”; “Summer Romance”; “Where the boys go”;” Ain´t no use in crying”; “Dance”.

Before the end of that month , in New York was taken the famous thermographic photos that were later included in the album and its poster besides the promotional videos: “Emotional Rescue”, “She´s so cold”, “Where the boys go” y “Down in the hole”. Between April and May more mixes and a new acetate, the one shown here.

Side A: (23:31)

1. Indian Girl.(6:38).

    (Full length version).

2. Emorional Rescue.(5:43).

     (Full length version).

3. Ain´t No Use In Crying.(3;26).

4. Claudine.(3:42)

5. I´m Think I´m Going Mad.(3:53).

Side B: (21:10)

1. Let Me Go.(3:46).

2. Where The Boys Go.(3:44).

3. Neighbours.(3:30).

4. Summer Romance.(3:14).

5. Down In The Hole.(3:52).

6. We Had It All.(2:50).

An alternative version of the album, in early June and a single "Emotional Rescue" ready for publication on June 20. Three days later the album was distributed in the United States and a couple of days later, on the 27th in the United Kingdom and the rest of the world. It remained at No. 1 in the United Kingdom for 18 weeks, two more in the United States. 

Side A: (20:04) 

1. Emotional Rescue.(3:39)

    (Single edit).

2. She´s So Cold.(3:59).

     (Clean version).

3. Send It To Me.(3;43).

4. In dian Girl.(4:23)

5. All About  You.(4:18). 

Side B: (20:26)

1. If I Was A Dancer.(5:51).

    (A.k.a: Dance Pt.2).

2. Summer Romance.(3:16).     

3. Where The Boys Go.(3:29).

4. Down In The Hole.(3:58).

5. Let Me Go.(3:51). 

After this introduction, I bring you in the alternative version, two different mixes: one made for the single "Emotional Rescue" and other of "She's so cold", called "Clean Version", with a censored verse: "she's so goddamned cold" ; sent this way to the radio stations. 

Finally, the acetate has been cleaned and remastered, song by song. Bit.ly/80RSemr And in it we can listen to unreleased songs as well as mixes totally different from the known ones.

Elvis - "CBS TV SPECIAL" (Re-visited).

 

41 years  ago that Elvis feft us. But  he´s still alive?. What do you think about it?. Ok.., for this sad anniversary I bring you two different mixes, made with the tapes recorded on 1977 tour for CBS TV Special. Elvis has not left the building, is back!,  to sing for you again, in a two greatest shows  restored and remastered.Don´t miss them. The King is Back!. Here now.

On June 1, 1977, it was announced that Elvis Presley had signed a deal with CBS for a new television special: “Elvis in concert” was recorded in Omaha.NE at Civic Center on June 19 and Rapid City.SD at Rushmore Plaza Civic Center on the 21st. although much of the footage from Omaha was considered unusable due to sound and performance problems. After this dates, Elvis made five more concert, the last was in fact on Sunday, June 26, 1977 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis, Indiana; but these two shows (Omaha & Rapid City) are the last official live professional ones ever recorded of Presley alive.

After reviewing the filming, CBS & RCA decided to suspend the project, for the Presley's deteriorating physical condition (he was overweight and addicted to prescription drugs). Only the singer's death on August 16 of that year changed things. They were decided to go ahead with the special as a tribute. Elvis' father, recorded a message that was broadcast at the end of the CBS special and included on the soundtrack album too,

Several versions of the album were made, until a definitive one was obtained; some songs were discarded because that were not included in the TV special. or due to lack of lp space. But When the original soundtrack was issued as a 2-LP package, including a second disc with these performances outtakes. Bit.ly/77ElPR Here are two new mixes from the album made for a unreleased 1992 CD version. 

CD 1: Version #1

1.Elvis Fans Comments.

2.Opening Riff "Also Sprach Zarathustra".

3.See See Rider.

4.Medley: I Got A Woman/Amen.

5.That's All Right.

6.Are You Lonesome Tonight?.

7.Love Me.

8.If You Love Me (Let Me Know).

9.You Gave Me a Mountain.

10.Jailhouse Rock.

11.Medley: O Sole Mio/It's Now or Never.

12.Trying to Get to You.

13.Hawaiian Wedding Song.

14. Medley:Teddy Bear"/"Don't Be Cruel.

15.My Way.

16.What'd I Say.

17.Johnny B. Goode.

18.Hurt.

19.Can't Help Falling in Love.

20.Closing Riff.

21.Special Message from Elvis's Father. 

CD 2: Version #2

1.Elvis Fans Comments.

2.Opening Riff "Also Sprach Zarathustra".

3.See See Rider.

4.Medley: I Got A Woman/Amen.

5.That's All Right.

6.Are You Lonesome Tonight?.

7.Love Me.

8.Fairytale.

9.Little Sister.

10.And I Love You So.

11.Jailhouse Rock.

12.How Great Thou Art.

13.Early Morning Rain.

14.I Really Don´t Want To Know.

15.Hurt.

16.Hound Dog.

17.Unchained Melody.

18.Little Darlin.

19.Can't Help Falling in Love.

20.Closing Riff.

21.Special Message from Elvis's Father.

“Elvis in concert” was broadcast on CBS on October 3, 1977 and released by RCA Records at the same date with the single: "My Way"/"America the Beautiful"; almost two months after Presley's death. The album peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard. It was transmitted by the BBC in the United Kingdom on June 9, 1978.

Enjoy it.