07) Voulez-Vous

Albumtracks:

01) As Good As New
02) Voulez-Vous
03) I Have A Dream
04) Angeleyes
05) The King Has Lost His Crown
06) Does Your Mother Know
07) If It Wasn't For The Nights
08) Chiquitita
09) Lovers (Live A Little Longer)
10) Kisses Of Fire

Bonustracks:

11) Summer Night City (single a-side, full-length version)
12) Lovelight (single b-side)

13) Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight) (single a-side)
14) Dream World (unreleased studio outtake)
15) Voulez-Vous (extended version)
16) If it Wasn't For The Nights (different mix for Japan TV special)
17) Lovelight (different mix)
18) Medley: Pick A Bale Of Cotton - On Top Of Old Smokey - Midnight Special (single b-side, 1978 mix)
19) Sang Till Görel (birthday single, commercially unreleased)


For my restoration work back in 2008 I compiled all tracks, included on my version, from the following sources:

- Voulez-Vous (Astley / Tretow Remasters, 1997)
- Thank You For The Music (Tretow Remasters, 1994)
- The Singles 1972-1982 (Astley / Tretow Remasters, 1999)
- The Love Songs (Pickwick 1989)
- The Complete Studio Recordings (Johnsson Remasters, 2005)
- More Archives (Bootleg)

In 2011 I deleted "Chiquitita" and "Lovers (Live A Little Longer) to use both versions from:

- Voulez-Vous (Deluxe Edition, 2010)

The reason was a too strong noise reduction, used by Astley and Tretow in 1997.

A very interesting fact is that the 1997 version and the Deluxe Edition sound are very similar in frequency spectrum and level. I discovered it when I analyzed "Chiquitia" and "Lovers (Live A Little Longer)" for my reworked version in 2011. The only big difference is that no noise reduction was used on the 2010 version.

Let's start with "As Good As New". Around the 0:02 seconds mark you can recognize a very little damage in the mastertape, same as on the opening tracks of  "Arrival" or "Super Trouper". As you know, everything was recorded on analogue tapes back in the seventies (and early eighties). You have to listen to these parts very loud and with headphones to figure out the small drop-outs, but they are still there. I did a great copy-and-paste job to restore it.

All other tracks of the album were okay, I had to filter out some clicks and pops here and there, but no big job.

Now I want to speak about some tracks of the bonus section, included on my "special edition".
It starts with the full-length-version of "Summer Night City", first released on the "Thank You For The Music" box set in 1994. I checked it meticulously and i discovered the exact cutting point between the intro and the regular song, cause there was a little gap. I restored it by cutting out the very small part and now it sounds much better to my ears.

The complete "Dream World" version was taken from the Deluxe Edition, cause it was never released before in its entire form. All other releases before have a fade-in. "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!" has the same listenable damage around the 0:02 seconds mark, but it was very easy to restore it. The rest of the bonustracks were taken from "The Complete Studio Recordings".

Back in 2008 I decided to add the very rare "Sang Till Görel" birthday song, but I couldn't find any good version of it. It was first released on the 1988 bootleg LP "Take A Chance On Us", definitely taken from a 5th - 10th generation tape copy, so it was impossible to restore it to nearly perfection.
I was looking for another version, sourced directly from the original vinyl and when I received the bootleg CDs "The Archives" and "More Archives", I found a perfect vinyl rip of it. I filtered out some clicks and pops, reduced the hum and did a slightly remaster. Believe me or not, but the final mastered version sounds nearly perfect and it is a great conclusion of the album !!!

The latest fine-tuning on the album was the inclusion of the different mix of "If It Wasn't For The Night", used for the "ABBA In Japan" TV special. I did a remaster of it and now the final version is finished !!!