Olivia! (&ABBA&Gibb!)
December 2, 2016 11:10 AM   Subscribe

"Olivia!" 1978 ABC TV special with Andy Gibb & ABBA This is the concert segment IN TRUE STEREO from the 1978 special "Olivia!"
posted by OmieWise (32 comments total) 17 users marked this as a favorite
 
Gloriously cheesy!
posted by Bee'sWing at 11:17 AM on December 2, 2016


*purrrpprrruuurrpurrrrrrr*
posted by Melismata at 11:17 AM on December 2, 2016


I haven't watched this yet but I just want to thank you in advance since this is obviously an early birthday present for me.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 11:20 AM on December 2, 2016 [3 favorites]


It is! Happy Birthday!
posted by OmieWise at 11:38 AM on December 2, 2016 [2 favorites]


The orchestra is wearing tan 3 piece leisure suits.

The 70s were the golden age of entertainment. (I've been saying that lately, we are doing a Muppet Show rewatch at my house. )
posted by Catblack at 12:05 PM on December 2, 2016 [1 favorite]


What's up with Bjorn at 3:38? He's so happy, then has some horrible realization about man's inherent nature.
posted by The corpse in the library at 12:37 PM on December 2, 2016 [10 favorites]


The 70s were the golden age of entertainment.

If you mean lamé, I agree.
posted by fairmettle at 12:39 PM on December 2, 2016 [1 favorite]


What's up with Bjorn at 3:38? He's so happy, then has some horrible realization about man's inherent nature

That is basically showing you the key to ABBA's genius in one glorious accidental second.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 12:57 PM on December 2, 2016 [5 favorites]


Okay, they say don't read the comments but I read the comments and this is UNACCEPTABLE.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 1:03 PM on December 2, 2016 [4 favorites]


Bookmarking to watch after work.
posted by SisterHavana at 2:13 PM on December 2, 2016


What's great is that they're actually doing the vocals live, over an instrumental track, giving you a rare opportunity to hear the ABBA singers' real voices, as opposed to the massively layered overdubs of their recordings. Live, they are mere mortals. On record, they are a soaring choir of androgynous angels.
posted by Modest House at 2:21 PM on December 2, 2016


doing the vocals live, over an instrumental track

Actually, there's a live orchestra and back up singers visible. Plus the description states that the sound guy's stereo feed was direct from orch.
posted by acroyear at 2:36 PM on December 2, 2016 [3 favorites]


The sound is simply incredible.

But why is "Dancing Queen" in such a horrible key? Is this why Bjorn was making the ugly face?
posted by JoeZydeco at 2:50 PM on December 2, 2016


This is before the advent of MTV made it a requirement that all music be accompanied by visual spectacle. It's weird, they're all just kind of milling around, it's like nobody even said 'stand here'. The opening almost looks like a public park, like there ought to be somebody feeding pigeons off to one side.
posted by Sing Or Swim at 3:47 PM on December 2, 2016


I'm glad that there's so much visual evidence of the '70s because I'm not sure that anyone younger would ever believe me when I tried to describe what it looked like.
posted by octothorpe at 4:06 PM on December 2, 2016 [6 favorites]


Thank you for this fabulous time capsule. Led me down an ABBA live rabbit hole.
posted by the sobsister at 4:38 PM on December 2, 2016


Simulcasting was so much fun, it really was "special" because your hi-fi sound systems had much more perceptual presence than the visual components of the day. The possibilities going forward seemed limitless.
posted by StickyCarpet at 4:45 PM on December 2, 2016 [3 favorites]


This is so gloriously cheesy! Why do all these people have horse teeth? What's with the hair? So much layering going on! BTW, Fernando is my Deathbed Song. As in; The Song That Would Get Me Up Out of My Deathbed to Hurl The Radio Across the Room.
posted by pjsky at 6:01 PM on December 2, 2016


This is phenomenal. THANK YOU
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 6:28 PM on December 2, 2016


In the early 80s I attempted to get glorious feathered hair like Olivia. What I ended up with was more like Agnetha's.
posted by vespabelle at 6:35 PM on December 2, 2016 [1 favorite]


Merely by watching that I swear I could feel the polyester and smell the Aramis cologne and Charly perfume. It's like peak 70s--the boots, the hot-roller hair, the oddly awkward dancing.

I once loaned a young friend some old head-shop catalogs from the late 70s, and they were full of coke spoons and roach clips--as well as rainbow posters, rainbow satin hot pants, rainbow headbands, rainbow muscle shirts... The friend returned them later and asked, a little nervously, "all those rainbows--was everyone gay in the 1970s?"
posted by kinnakeet at 8:47 PM on December 2, 2016


Abba was so terrific.
posted by persona au gratin at 3:02 AM on December 3, 2016


That was really fun!
posted by james33 at 5:06 AM on December 3, 2016


This is a gem. This ain't your dad's Pro Tools. This is grandpa's SMPTE...
posted by mikelieman at 5:13 AM on December 3, 2016


Excepting Andy, whose a lttile sloppy, there's some masterclass level microphone and cable handling there, too.
posted by mikelieman at 5:23 AM on December 3, 2016


The days before remote mics.
posted by OmieWise at 6:14 AM on December 3, 2016


The days before remote mics.

Geez, I wish my youtube-fu was better, but IIRC there was a standup comic who did a routine about cable handling.

And not just 'remote mics'. They're pulling the mic back from before going all forte to fake out the compressor. Real Pros.

See Also: John Denver and Cass Elliot , Leaving on a Jet Plane.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKdknYaSHgE
posted by mikelieman at 6:57 AM on December 3, 2016


How long and how many hands went into Olivia's makeup and hair? Was it like three assistants for two hours?

I can imagine the witch from Snow White getting clued in by her magic mirror that Olivia is the fairest of them all then taking a look at that video and just offing herself right off 'cause there isn't even any point in fighting it.
posted by bukvich at 7:02 AM on December 3, 2016


Uh . . .

Obviously I meant Sleeping Beauty not Snow White.

(This might be the easiest possible mistake a person can make.)
posted by bukvich at 7:39 AM on December 3, 2016


I must say, this music sounds much better than I remember back at the time.
posted by ovvl at 10:47 AM on December 3, 2016


Why do all these people have horse teeth?

In the 70's, it was less prevalent to use shaming to sell expensive orthondontic procedures.
posted by fairmettle at 6:37 AM on December 4, 2016 [3 favorites]


Thank you for that trip down memory lane. Had to skip through the video, though, because, well, I can. Couldn't do that on the ol' FM radio, of course. Like certain food and drink, ONJ, AG, and ABBA are okay in small doses.
posted by Man with Lantern at 3:57 PM on December 5, 2016


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