Congratulations BB (20K) to your channel, to your achievements and hard work. Your appreciation for ABBA is joyous to see and THANKS for all you share on this channel. 🎂🎂🎂
Whew! This is an incredibly generous donation and appreciation. Thank you so much! With so much support, we'll be able to have some more nice Location Tours, for example. Thank you!!
"Summer night city" and "Eagle" were always my two favourite ABBA songs. I didn't understand why they weren't satisfied with the song, I think it is perfection!
SMC has always been one of my favourites. Especially the extended version. I read that they were very happy with the song, but not the recording. Hence all the time they took trying to get it right.
One of their most vibrant songs, that sounds like they combined a layered rock inspired backing with the pulsating, restless drumming and shimmering strings of the disco era. The video captures the exciting fleetingness and highest & waning energy of day into night - and night turning back into early dawning. Excellent research & commentary - thanks Bobby's B!! 🌃
This was such an exciting period to be an ABBA fan. The song sounded so fresh and new and the video just added to the magic of that excitement. The two ladies so beautiful and how about those vocals?! It also worked so very well in ABBA 's live performances. Very energetic and uplifting. In my opinion a masterpiece and a personal favourite because it was so different. And oh yeah Frida and Benny in the early morning light having a little quarrel... adorable.❤
Hi - I see a couple of people have already picked up on this point but the buildings in the background look bigger in the video because it was shot with long lenses. Shooting from a distance with a lens that magnifies a small field of vision gives things a “glamorous” look, which is obviously what they were going for in the video.
WONDERFUL and i haven't even finished watching it yet!Such a Magical city is Stockholm.I love Frida's sexy curly hair of that '70s period.The editing of this video is also fantastic! and You're also such a pleasant story teller.
Love this film of the making of Summer Night City , it's lovely seeing parts of beautiful Stockholm and I will always love the song too , always will be one of my many favourites of Abba's songs.
I’ve always loved this song and my favorite abba recordings were from the 1978 sessions. I also think Frida in particular was at her most beautiful during this time period. Thank you for showing this footage from what the locations look like in present day!
Fantastic song full of energy and life .Stockholm in all its glory but the part I love the most visually are the girls singing in unison and Agnetha driving pilot in a frenzy and Annifrid co pilot navigating the big American vehicle through the streets of Stockholm and the boys chilling in the back,beautiful filming and editing throughout this fantastic song a real experience to appreciate
@@Lisa-M watch the extended version of Summer Night City and you will see the added material I was referring to in it ,and makes it a more complete video
One of their best songs and videos in my opinion. It's electrifying. Even now when I hear it,it sends shivers down my spine ❤...I love the full length version.....I could never understand why b and b were not happy with this recording....I also love the controversial "walking in the moonlight " lyric😮....naughty abba😅.....Ireland 🇮🇪....in 3 days time it will be 44 years since I saw them in Dublin....it feels like yesterday.
Absolutely amazing. Thanku . My favorite song. Favorite video. Perfect time to be 13 in 1978. So exciting. I finally got to Stockholm in 1996 midsummer . Thanku for doing this ❤
You will get the houses in the background bigger with tele lenses. Use a 200 mm or 400 mm lense and it will condense the distance. So the places are right.
Thank you for taking us on that journey through the “Summer Night City” of Stockholm by day! This song, to me, has a unique place in ABBA’s entire legacy. It was one of those rare instances where they were fully conscious of what was happening around them at that very moment in time, musically speaking. Disco was all the rage. The Bee Gees’ songs dominated the cultural conversation. It was only natural for a band as powerful as ABBA was at this period to have a go at Disco but not as a strict means to jump on the bandwagon and cash in, but as vehicle to challenge themselves as musicians, overtly incorporating foreign elements into a sound that was still ABBA, pure and distinctive as it could be. It’s no wonder, knowing what we know about the single’s recording, that Benny and Björn spent hours with every little detail, perhaps more than ever before, making sure it was right. For years, their perfectionist stance got in the way of their appreciation for this song, and its current inclusion on the “Voyage” show is proof that it deserves attention, and that their work was never in vain. The images in this video are some of the most dynamic, breathtaking visuals I had ever seen on an ABBA video up to the point where I first saw it online, many moons ago. It was them being careless and free. The wind flowing in Frida and Agnetha’s face, sailing steadily after having danced the night away with their significant others (which, by the way, I had always thought those “dancing” scenes were shot at the Alexandra Disco where they later had the photos for the “Voulez-Vous” cover)…and then, the morning after. The walk back home, either while looking out into the bay or, in Benny and Frida’s case, watching the early traffic go by, still buzzed from the hours boogieing on down. It’s flashy and fast but it also gave us that peaceful comedown, represented in that long panning of Stockholm at the break of dawn. It’s just…iconic! I could go on but I won’t 😅…
Fascinating BB, love the concept of this song as their Tribute to Stockholm, never thought of it that way before. Even when it wasn't considered a favourite by fans or ABBA themselves, I loved it and danced to it at home. Thanks for bringing it closer and making it more relevant BB. Great investigation of yours!! 🎉🎉🎉🕺🕺🎶🎵
Another absolutely useless fact: the final shot in the video captures a taxi waiting by the red light on Strömbron: it's a 1973 Volvo 144, which you can see on the taillight/bumpers combination which was only present for that model year. Great video, love your quest of decoding Stockholm ABBA environments.
Lovely scenery I love looking at the water and standing by it when I visit Stockholm. Thank you for this interesting video and strorytelling . Stockholm is one of my favourite cities and I think summer night city this song doesn’t get the praise it deserves
If the original intro was not removed from the single mix it would have been number one in several countries. I bought the single in the UK as soon as it was released. I was 10 years old and it was my first ever 7 inch single. Happy Days !!!
Wow!!! I did nit know all this. But Summer Night city intrigued me as a pre- teen and later in my teens and onwards it has been my favourite song. Thank you for taking the effort to show us all this. You are on a pilgrimage like trip and showing all that to many of us who cannot travel to all these places. God bless you. God bless ABBA🙇♂️🙇♀️🙇♀️
Summer Night City is by far the coolest official video of the group at the height of their pomp and fame. Although I’ve been to Stockholm a few times and quite familiar with the major sights ,the SNC clip always looked spine tingly mysterious and still does today. Even after watching your excellent broadcast on it ! And that’s a compliment.
Your knowledge of many things ABBA, coupled with your absolute respect for them, makes me feel very glad for having found your channel. I want to say Summer Night City is my favourite, so much in there, i just ADORE ❤ Eagle as well hugely, I just cannot 🥰 Always & forever my musical heart belongs to them. But Summer Night City beats within me each time I play it (usually 5 or 6 times in a glorious row!) . But Thanks for your dedication and research xx
I love the video, it expresses so much joy and fun, and I love how it shows the light summer nights in Stockholm and other Scandinavian cities, one of the pleasure of living up North
As always very interesting. Thanks. When you were talking about the 1979 Wembley concert and shortened versions of songs i believe that was when Frida was very sick with tonsillitis (not sure if she had to have them out) she was in terrible pain with swallowing and talking much less singing. She didn't want to dissapoint her fans though. Probably why some songs shorter
I wasn't keen when it first came out, as it didn't sound like the usual Abba, one of my least favourite singles back then. But I have grown to love it in recent years, especially the long version which is even better! I love it they look so happy and are having so much fun in the video, dancing and messing around the city streets and my fave bit - Agnetha and Frida dancing on the boat with wind blowing in their hair! I love them sooooo much!!!!
Love these location videos, BB. Tack så mycket! They give me more information about the ABBA videos and the songs, but also show off contemporary Stockholm, which looks so beautiful.
Very cool. I have been to Stockholm and noticed quite a few of the spots. I like your name too. I need a driving friend who likes Abba and the solo music
Wow this was great! I first heard the song from THEM in concert at Radio City Music Hall during their 1979 tour. It was thrilling as they did the original opening instrumental intro. I love it so much that I needed to buy it, but the greatest Hits II album has only the cut version.
Thanks for your work on the video and on finding the correct locations! But let me correct you for one: The Party Scenes in the Music Video were actually filmed at a Stockholm Nightclub called ‘Atlantic'
I've always wondered about this! Detective BB on the loose on Stockholm again!! Benny and Frida seem a bit "tipsy" in this video.....or maybe they are seasick! ha ha This song was not heard in the USA until Greatest Hits Vol. II in late 1979, about the time "Gimme Gimme Gimme" came out as a single!
I didn't like Summer Night City when it first came out. I remember hearing it on the radio for the first time when it came out. I was in my parents' kitchen and this song came on. I thought, I really don't like that. It can't be Abba. And then I wondered if it was and to my disappointment realised it was so. Over many years the song grew on me (including seeing it live in 1979 at Wembley). By now I really like it. In fact, at the Voyage concert the section of Lay All Your Love, Summer Night City, Gimme Gimme Gimme (another I didn't like when it first came out) and Voules Vous was my favourite part of the concert. Fantastic energy.
Listen to the song and as it starts to fade turn the volume right up. Near the end you will clearly hear Bjorn using a word you would never expect to be used in any Abba song!
Oh it's not what you think dear ladies and gentleman,it's just our naughty ears and non-innocent minds that got confused and misheard the 'walking' with the F word....LOL!... Ok,ok!We gotta ask Bjorn to confirm.He 'owes' an honest brave answer.
@ArethaWhitneyAbba i believe they were joking in the recording proccess and Bjorn kept it in the end of the song thinking that people may not actually notice or at least get tricked and confused but still not being so certain.Sometimes i do still wonder.
Just stand further back and use zoom to get the right field of view! You can also use the paralax between objects at different distances to get the exact camera location
The "house in the background" as Benny and Frida descend down Stallgatan is indeed the Royal Castle. I guess the film photographer (Lasse Hallström?) stood all the way down the street to get the perspective compression, with a telephoto lens on the camera.
I understand given the number of attempts to obtain a good mix that at the time they ended up having doubts but time has passed and demonstrated that they had made the right choice. You just have to listen to the new attempt by Claire Richards of Steps to understand how difficult it always is to rise to the level of Abba's productions and arrangements. I like both versions (Single & Live with splendid intro).I understood that they had started by filming the discotheque parts and then at dawn the exteriors, which explains the lack of activity in the streets...
The street shot and museum would be taken with a zoom lens which has that effect. It could also explain why Frida and Benny are having an argument perhaps messing about far away from the camera before they came into shot but they already were LOL An out take that was kept in. This was not a favourite song but the live version is great really rocks.
Outro 9:39(-9:47)! what a shot.A hot brunette beauty and then a blonde flashy,shinny Agnetha with a cat-smile. 2 exceptional unique irreplaceable females.
The photgraphic angles are easy to explain. Its all done with a tele-photo lens (200-500mm) It has the effect to compress the background into the foreground , thus creating a visual fata morgana, but its all about compressing long and short distances together. Sadly we dont get to see this technique to much anymore in our times in movies and photos . Its impactful and solves lots of problems with composition at times when you want to paint cinematic colorful storytelling. Its time we all invest in tele-lenses and revive this technique, if you ask me. You can only do so much with a go-pro ... or iPhone that are great on near field over.sharpened objects but cant do much more then this. In the example with the boat and the museum : The photographer stood maybe almost 100 meter away from Björn and Frida walking. By focusing on the museum in the background with the telephoto lens he had sufficient depth of field to also put Benny and Frida in the frame and the two objects merged into a warped composition. Its doable with a modern camera if you use the right amount of aperture. A Go-pro or iPhone cant do that
