ABBA - The Visitors [Import Bonus Tracks]

Title: The Visitors [Import Bonus Tracks] Artist: ABBA Release Date: 1981 Re-Released On: 10/16/2001 Label: Polar Records, Polydor UPCs: 731453397828, 731454995726, 731454996525, 0731454995726 Genre: Rock Styles: Synth Pop, Euro-Pop, Contemporary Pop/Rock, Punk/New Wave, Swedish Pop/Rock Moods: Cheerful, Delicate, Exuberant, Fun, Happy, Joyous, Light, Rousing, Sentimental, Sparkling, Sugary, Sweet, Energetic, Gentle, Giddy, Gleeful, Naive, Plaintive, Playful, Romantic, Stylish, Innocent, Party/Celebratory, Sexy, Elegant, Laid-Back/Mellow, Sensual, Sophisticated Total Copies: 0 Members Wishing: 3 Number of Discs/SwapaCD Credits: 1

1. The Visitors (Crackin' Up)
2. Head Over Heels
3. When All Is Said and Done
4. Soldiers
5. I Let the Music Speak
6. One of Us
7. Two for the Price of One
8. Slipping Through My Fingers
9. Like an Angel Passing Through My Room
10. Should I Laugh or Cry
11. The Day Before You Came
12. Cassandra
13. Under Attack

Year Type Label Catalog # 2001 CD Polydor 549965 1981 CD Polar Records 9957

No other editions were found for this album.

Because it turned out to be the group's final full-length recording and was a relative commercial disappointment, ABBA's eighth album, The Visitors, tends to be viewed as an artistic failure as well. It would be more accurate to see it as a record that demonstrates the reasons for the group's breakup, in the sense that it reflects both the bandmembers' emotional disaffection and the increased musical ambitions of songwriters Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus, ambitions that would see them moving on to writing stage musicals. The elegiac, regretful, and occasionally paranoiac tones of the music are inescapable. The title song, though it has since been revealed to concern (vaguely) Soviet dissidents, is a study in Kafkaesque mental breakdown, even as its music recalls later-period Beatles. "When All Is Said and Done" (a pointed title) and "One of Us" are both plaintive songs of romantic discord. Other songs employ subject matter new to ABBA, from a parent's wistful reflection on a child's growing up, "Slipping Through My Fingers," to the comic novelty "Two for the Price of One." The 2001 reissue, which tacks on four singles tracks that drew the curtain on the band's career in 1982, measurably improves the album. Of particular note is "The Day Before You Came," a striking story-song in which a woman reviews the mundane state of her life prior to the onset of (one presumes) a life-changing romance. It shows that Andersson had been listening closely to the British synth pop movement, particularly Yaz, and that Ulvaeus had an affection for The Beatles' "She's Leaving Home." It may have been more cinematic than theatrical, but it pointed a direction for the songwriters that took them well beyond ABBA. In some ways, the group's final recordings were their most interesting, even if they were not the most popular. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide

Name Credits Agnetha Faltskog Vocals Ake Sundqvist Percussion Anders Hanser Photography Benny Andersson Keyboards, Synthesizer, Product Development, Producer, Vocals Björn Ulvaeus Vocals, Producer, Guitar (Acoustic) Carl Magnus Palm Liner Notes Frida Vocals Janne Kling Flute, Clarinet Janne Schaffer Guitar (Electric), Guitar (Acoustic) Jeanette Andersson Production Coordination Jon Astley Remastering Lars-Erik Larsson Photography, Cover Photo Lasse Wellander Guitar (Electric), Guitar (Acoustic) Margareta Lundstrom Reissue Coordination Marko Söderström Reissue Supervisor Michael B. Tretow Remastering, Engineer Ola Brunkert Drums Per Lindvall Drums Rune Soderqvist Art Direction Rutger Gunnarsson Bass Three Boys Mandolin