Shnootz - Reaction Video (ABBA - Elaine)

What's shaking, folks! I'm back with another ABBA reaction, and this time we listen to one of the bonus tracks associated with their 1980 album Super Trouper, "Elaine" (though as I discuss in the video, I currently do not see "Put on Your White Sombrero" in any of the folders, though I will reach out to Adam and investigate further). In the meantime, let's enjoy this electric and dynamic track from the one and only ABBA. Cheers!
Also I recently set up a Patreon, so anyone interested in supporting what we do on this channel through donation can go here. Cheers! / shnootz
#ShnootzReactions #ABBA #SuperTrouper #VocalPop #SynthPop #ABBAReactions #SynthPopReactions #Shnootz

[@Urfinchannel]

Abba was the first one to use this stutter effect

[@marcodebrabander5751]

Such a creative synth pop song and so much going on in the mix. Great melody lines. And for ABBA it is just a B side..

[@discogareth]

So looking forward to The Visitors and your reaction to the title track especially!

[@achristoffersen6850]

Yes, me too. I can’t wait to see and hear Matts reaction to the title track. The Visitors is an outstanding album 🥰🎶

[@christianoazzuro6711]

4:18 the interlude and then the way the girls sing 'it's a dead end street"...is punchy-magical.

[@patrickhicks9880]

This song has a similar feeling to the B-52's song give me back my man which is also very catchy but something sinister at it's heart about drowning both of them have very strong female vocals

[@addersdewinter7495]

When I first brought TWTIA I was pleasantly surprised that a song of this quality did not make the Super Trouper album. A Wonderful electronica feisty number.

[@txxredtache]

And now you know why I used the start of Elaine for a ringtone :)

[@mattsnider2667]

Haha, that's awesome. I wonder if anyone ever recognized it when your phone rang?

[@txxredtache]

@@mattsnider2667 I'm gay so… yeah! 😂

[@supastah68]

Yeah, you gotta do Should I Laugh or Cry as someone else mentioned.

[@nickchristoforou7850]

I always thought 'Elaine' should have been included on the album as it provides some punch. Love the lyrics "you've done it all before, by now they know the pattern"..."you're like a goldfish in a bowl"....."nowhere to go". Talk about being trapped and under surveillance.

[@adamlewis3729]

I will go a step further and say it could have been a good single!

[@MarkJohnson-dr4ws]

Agreed, but not sure what song it should have replaced. There's a real harmony to Super Trouper .

[@frankly-he1kf]

Always loved this song..imagine having a song of this quality and not including it on an album....amazing ABBA.....

[@walterw9829]

Its vintage ABBA Irony!

[@eduardooscar309]

regardless of when you have the song "Put on your white hat" (1980) and other bonus tracks from previous albums your next station will be the eighth album "The Visitors" (1981) That year, 1981, began with the separation of Frida and Benny as a couple. and ABBA will make virtually no television appearances but instead they will do a TV special where they will be interviewed in public by Dick Cavett, and then they will sing 9 songs live two of them will be premieres and will be part of the new album and while "The winner takes it all" hits #8 on US Billboard and #1 on US Adult Contemporary, in the UK "Lay all your love on me" is released as a single in 12" format, reaching #7 in the global singles chart towards the end of the year the lead single "One of us" is released (#3, last single of 18 consecutive Top 10 hits in 7 years, since "S.O.S.") and the album will be ABBA's seventh consecutive #1 album in the UK (including the two album Greatest Hits 1 and 2) the album cover reflects reality: ABBA are no longer the two initial couples but four individuals, the four separated In fact, both Björn and Benny had made new partners, and both would be parents again the following year. The album's music has another vibe, darker and more sophisticated, far removed from ABBA's happiest and most commercial stage. probably the album you have includes many bonus tracks originally there are only nine songs plus a tenth that, like "Lovelight" and "Elaine", was B-side of the single but not included on the album and the others would be later, from 1982, from the ninth album that ABBA planned to make then (and finally replaced by a compilation: The Singles, the first 10 years) In 1982 the first CDs came out in Germany, and one of those chosen for this new format was the album "The Visitors"

[@imntojj]

This song is much better than a B side, should have been a hit. Yes POYWhite Sombrero is a fine song if you can get access to. Dreamworld and Should I Laugh or Cry are a couple more I would like to get your take on. Thanks Matt so much for this deep dive. 👍

[@mattsnider2667]

Cheers, appreciate that. And I now have "Put on Your White Sombrero" in my possession, so we're good to go there. :)

[@secr202484]

I always thought Elaine was an American public school teacher.

[@deanjoynt3016]

If Adam has FLACs of the CD Box set "Thank you For The Music", a lot of the tracks I mentioned are on CDs 3 and 4, including "Put On Your White Sombrero".

[@mattsnider2667]

Cheers, he has sent me the track now. So that one is ready to go. :)

[@imntojj]

Hey thanks for replying. Frida is pretty impressive on Sombrero. Powerful. Those other 2 I mentioned Dreamworld and Should I Laugh or Cry I’ve seen and heard on KZbin Videos. I’m not too computer savvy so not sure how you could react to those. Both those could have been hits. You know, ABBA could easily have another album of strong songs with their unreleased stuff and B sides. Thanks Matt 👍

[@eduardooscar309]

Matt, so nice to see you again in our ABBA Journey and specialy thanks for the mention at the end of the video "Elaine" (1980) is a B-side to the wonderful single "The winner takes it all" but finally not included in "Super trouper" album in my opinion is acceptable or good, 6pts a great melody, so powerful, fantastic synths but not much more for me, not in my favourites ABBA have much better songs and much better B-side singles too, like I've been waiting for you (of So long 1974) Intermezzo No 1 (of Mamma Mía 1975) That's me (of Dancing Queen 1976) Also, is incredíble the contrast in the single the A-side is a ballad the B-side is almost a rock that is the versatility if ABBA I hope that, for next ABBA album I wish you a great new week My best regards from Buenos Aires Argentina 🇦🇷 South America P.S.: specialy I've been waiting for "Mr Natural" reaction in Bee Gees playlist

[@abbagus1]

Put On your white sombrero , was to be included in this Super trouper album but replaced by Super Trouper . We didn’t know about this song until 1994 when a box set was released and included some other rarities among hits . Later on , on the Super trouper deluxe edition which included bonus tracks and tv appearances , it took its rightful place . My opinion of why they never released it until after they had broken up, is that I can hear they used tiny parts / arrangements in a song called Cassandra and they didn’t like to use songs that had parts of other of their compositions and the same happens with some other songs discharged cos something of that song was already in another song

[@discogareth]

There is another bonus track from super trouper that I can’t remember if I mentioned before, but there’s another version of On and On and On that features an extra verse. Originally featured only on the video for song until the tapes were discovered in the mid 2000s and subsequently released.

[@klausolekristiansen2960]

Put on Your White Sombrero was forgotten until Björn and Benny rediscovered it when compiling ABBA Gold in 1994. It had been recorded, but not mixed, for Super Trouper. They recorded a little bit more of instrumental music, and mixed it for ABBA Gold. It is really good.

[@achristoffersen6850]

Yes totally agree that it’s a gem 💎 I wonder what else was recorded that never reached the “surface”, Björn once mentioned that Benny and him ended up throwing away 95 percent of their compositions 😮

[@Pulsar77]

It wasn't put on ABBA Gold but on the 'Thank You For The Music' box set, which includes other rarities like Crazy World, Santa Rosa, Merry-Go-Round, Dream World, and the 'Pick a Bale of Cotton' medley.

[@darrenbertram7289]

@@Pulsar77 I wonder why the Medley wasn't included? I'd like to see Matt react to Frida singing "On Top of Old Smokey"! 🤩

[@Urfinchannel]

Abba Gold 1992 topped the charts worldwide for months,1993 Abba more Gold ,ABBA Thank you for the music 4 CD limited Box 1994

[@danbike9]

Carl Magnus Palm. He is the one that was given access to ABBA',s recording archives (the only one) and came across of lots of unreleased ABBA songs and other bit's and pieces. He has produced many ABBA box sets and also commentary included on the making and recordings of songs, r A few years back, ABBA offered him access to listen to the "Michael B Tretow Tapes" as Carl Magnus Palm called them. An opportunity for yet another book about ABBA. Over a seven year period Michael used a tape recorder to record studio conversations when the group was in recording studio. Not every sessions conversations was recorded, bilut the one he did record was over a seven year period. Too understand ABBA, you MUST read EVERYTHING Carl Magnus Palm as written about ABBA, which is enourmous. Carl is the person that knows more about ABBA than anybody on earth. That is my main source, along with others to learn about ABBA. Start with Carl's most popular book: ABBA: Bright Lights Dark Shadows The Real Story of ABBA And then move on to his other books to include the recordings and Michael B Tretow Tapes. Carl first started to write about The Beatles. But so was everyone else. He then realized nobody was writing about ABBA. He has become ABBA's unofficial biographer. One of his books has a forward by Bjorn Ulvares.

[@otisblack3921]

Back in 1980, this being a B-side, there were printed lyrics. For a good 27 years I always thought they were singing “it’s a man’s dream, they tie your hands…..”. To this day I still hear it that way even though I know they are singing “it’s a dead end street”. Part of me doesn’t want to give up the thought that there was a bit of a BDSM fetish that inspired the song.

[@mattsnider2667]

Ha, you're not the only one to have written that exact thing in the last 5 minutes! Clearly you weren't alone.

[@andrewjenkinson7052]

Reminds me of when I played Buddy Holly's "Fools Paradise" in the '60s. My mum asked "Why is he singing about a blue sparrows eyes?"😊

[@staalmannen2522]

I love ABBA but it's totally understandable that they dropped Put On Your White S!

[@VideosSmokin]

"Put On Your White Sombrero"is a bonus track on the digital release from the "Super Trouper" album after "Elaine".

[@mattsnider2667]

Indeed, I appreciate that. But for now at least, I don't see it in the same folder with "Elaine." Will investigate. Cheers.

[@mattsnider2667]

@Marvin MQZ Ah, I see. Well I didn't see it in the handful of folders I checked, but hopefully it's in there somewhere.

[@mickeefreeman2898]

A street walking / working girl, trapped in her own life ?

[@francismedina4547]

Elaine could be Elaine Paige? Anyway, I think this song sounds like it did not belong in the Super Trouper album. It sounds like it belongs in The Visitors.

[@Bjorn9284]

I moved back home when I was 20, to this osng. haha👍💅

[@alejandrosantanaborquez917]

I feel Elaine is in a toxic relationship... A friend telling her: 'weak up'... 'get out of there' 😬. ( I see it that way... maybe I'm wrong). I love the sinthz on this, anyway😅 Take care... See ya, Matt & Lucca Love ❤️ from Chile 🇨🇱👍

[@Lisa-M]

Maybe Elaine is the girl with the golden hair? 🤔

[@stevehulse4005]

Interesting start to this song and then it explodes. Some interesting vocals from the girls which almost seem nursery rhyme in pitch in parts. I like the ending where the boys join in with the vocals.

[@rdwulf6289]

Assuming you move on to The Visitors album next, well what an album it is. It has some of my all-time favourite Abba vocals. The mood is significantly darker than any other of their albums. The musicianship is all there but there is a real sense of melancholy pervading throughout. I think they were fatigued and a bit bored with it all. The album cover is dark and they're not standing near eachother or looking at eachother. No more fun songs or shared lead vocals. For at least one of the songs not all of them were even present. Many consider this to be their greatest work, and I can see why. The opener is just magnificent. It is also the opener for the Voyage avatar show in London. I read that Frida spent a long time rehearsing the vocals as it is different from her (or their) usual style.

[@achristoffersen6850]

Frida is outstanding in this song 🙌🥰 and it’s an excellent choice to open the Voyage concert with this amazing song 🎶❤️

[@flemmingkristoffersen1896]

Yes! The Visitors is an amazing song - and a perfect choice to open the Voyage concert! (I can´t wait until november, where I am going to London to see Voyage for the first time!) And Frida just nails it - as she does on her other 3 lead vocals on The Visitors album. The Visitors is darker, more complex and deeper, and in many ways this was perhaps the reason why it didn´t achieved the same massive succes as the previous albums did. I think The Visitors contains some of ABBA´s best songs - songs that I can hear again and again even today, and still find new things and details. Maybe it was ahead of its time? Sadly it was the beginning of the end - until about 40 years later, when the Voyage continued! @Matt - you are in for some great songs and I guess some big surprices! ❤

[@rdwulf6289]

​@@flemmingkristoffersen1896 You'll absolutely love the Voyage show. It's incredible. Living in the UK I've been able to go 5 times ... so far.

[@deanjoynt3016]

Hey Matt, Don't forget to look for "Dream World", an early demo version of "Does Your Mother Know?" and "Just Like That", which has elements of "Under Attack" in it There are two versions. The very chill one and the "Na Na Na saxophone" version. You also still have "The Day Before You Came" which is one of their masterpieces, the B-Side, "Cassandra", "Under Attack" and the B-Side "You Owe Me One" to look forward to.

[@mattsnider2667]

Gotcha, and I appreciate that. We can't miss any of their catalog on this journey!

[@deanjoynt3016]

I forgot "Should I Laugh Or Cry?" Non-album B-Side of "One Of Us".

[@The_Jupiter2_Mission]

The lyric is kind of vague as to what it's all about. There's a line which says 'it's a dead end street, they tie your hands and tie your feet', but when I first heard it, it sounds like 'it's a man's dream to tie your hands and tie your feet'. It still does. It raised a bit of an eyebrow for me. As to the song, it's OK for me, but some of the synth annoys me a bit- especially the high bit at the intro which sounds like circus muzak. It appears Sombrero appears as a bonus track on the CD edition from 1997 onward with each re-release.

[@MarkJohnson-dr4ws]

Please don't bother with POYWS. There's good reason why this track wasn't included on Super Trouper, let alone a B side of a single. It truly is a sparkling mess.

[@geordieboy8945]

It's always interesting to hear your expectations of what a track title might mean before to react to it. It is also understandable that you miss some of the meaning/lyrics on that first listen. I think it might be worthwhile, just this once, that you know what 'The Visitors' track is alluding to before you hear it. I won't say anything here in case you prefer not to, and I'm sure all the other ABBA fans will stay quiet if that is what you choose.🤔😀

[@mattsnider2667]

Hey there! Yeah, I do avoid looking too closely at lyrics or themes before listening, but I fully appreciate sometimes songs need a bit of context to hit in the right way. So if you don't mind, what's the essential gist I need to know going into it?

[@geordieboy8945]

@@mattsnider2667 Just think of the KGB and the old Soviet Union. That's enough gist Matt!😔 Enjoy! [Stephen].

[@mattsnider2667]

@@geordieboy8945 Cheers, both for the info and the name! Appreciate you, Stephen. That said, Adam did indeed procure "Put on Your White Sombrero" for me, so that will likely be the next ABBA reaction. :)

[@geordieboy8945]

@@mattsnider2667 No problem! Looking forward to both reactions. 'Put on...'' has probably the longest intro before the lyrics start of any ABBA track.

[@adamlewis3729]

Hey man I simply don't have "Put On Your White Sombrero" because I don't like it lol. I keep full albums but for bonus tracks I only keep them if I like them. I will get it for you though. 😊

[@mattsnider2667]

Ha, I see! But no worries if it's not convenient. You've done so much for my channel already, we couldn't possibly sweat you over one song, lol.

[@adamlewis3729]

@@mattsnider2667 no no, actually I was thinking of just becoming a completest anyway, bc you never know, maybe in the future I might like a song I don't like today.... however not THIS song as I will always hate it :)

[@andrewjenkinson7052]

​@@adamlewis3729 can you give a rational explanation as to why you hate it? Do you hate the tune, the lyrics, the singing, the backing or all those?😊

[@adamlewis3729]

@@andrewjenkinson7052 yes, yes, yes, and yes :)

[@rdwulf6289]

​@@adamlewis3729 Fair enough. You can't like them all, but tossing away that great vocal is unfair, I think. Each to their own.

[@MarkSatchwillArt]

I think it might be a commentary on celebrity and fame - how you are no longer free to move about as you want, the fans or the camera are always there, or they will find you "you're like a goldfish in a bowl, Elaine". Quite dark lyrics for such an upbeat and poppy tune - "they have your mind, they'll have your soul"...not far from the plot of Hellraiser..."they'll tear your soul apart!!. As much as I really enjoy the synths and the singing, I think leaving it as a b-side was the right decision. I can't hear where it would fit on the album.

[@mattsnider2667]

Haha, Cenobites and ABBA in a mash-up! (someone tell Leviathan and the Cenobite label guys!)

[@jankarlsson5358]

Sorry! I'm swedish and I understand why I never have heard this...😮🙉So bad...really really bad

[@jasonbutt7199]

My Foster mothers name is Elaine.