Customer Reviews

Visitors

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This, their last studio album was truly the best work ABBA ever did. It was a drastic change from their previous poppy selves, but a natural progression since the divorce of the group's last remaining couple before the making of this album. A formidable example of their progression from their first, relatively carefree Ring Ring album. Unfortunately the record didn't do as good as their previous - it was way ahead of it's time and too drastic a change for buyers (though the album did reach #1 in UK for a little while - the singles from this album didn't chart as well in the UK or internationally). Other records from that time period sound relatively primitive in comparison. If The Visitors were released yesterday it could easily and proudly stand up in the charts. No record from the 80s could compare to the combined progressiveness and poignancy of this one. The lyrics on the songs are hauntingly poignant and yet still keeping in the alluring arrangements ABBA was famous for. Agnetha and Frida's vocals were higlighted as never before by the effects and emotion in the music. The entire album a forgotten masterpiece - from the amazing cover to the distinctive music. Anyone who enjoys ABBA HAS to (and i mean that!) get this album. I first heard this album in 95 and it has never worn on me. (hint hint: the Imported version of this album w/ the bonus tracks makes this record sound twice as good as it already is!) I will even say it is an essential for every cd collection.

Not by any chance the typical Abba album, "The Visitors" shows the world a totally different reality than the one that was experienced through their previous recordings. If "Ring Ring" or "Arrival" featured innocent and candid lyrics, and "Voulez-Vous" or "Super Trouper" were deeply involved with the disco-revolution that the world was living, "The Visitors", stands out as the best Abba album because of its strength. This is a pop record, made by people who know how to make pop sound like pop.

Probably a big part of the strength of the album had to do with the lives of the members of the band during the recording. With guitarist/composer Bjorn Ulvaeus and singer Agnetha Faltskog already divorced since 1979, the band had to suffer the divorce of the second marriage, between keyboardist/composer Benny Andersson and singer Anni-Frid Lyngstad. The result of these hard situations are the most sincere lyrics ever written by this band.

From beginning to end, the album is astonishing. "The Visitors" is the first (and the best in my humble opinion) track, and features an amazing Frida lead vocal, and altered all-band vocals for the bridge and chorus. The theme of the album goes through all these marriage complications, and it's mostly Frida the one who gets to sing the most intense lyrics this time. "When All Is Said And Done" (re-recorded in Spanish as "No Hay A Quien Culpar", this version is available on the "Oro: Grandes Éxitos" compilation) is a strong "goodbye" song, ironically with Benny playing an amazing piano part. We see Frida on her best vocal way also with "I Let The Music Speak", a track that explores the not always well apreciated theatrical vein of the band. The beautiful, haunting closing track (and a good farewell track for the band) is "Like An Angel Passing Through My Room", the one and only Abba track that does not feature a single vocal harmony, not even in the background. The song is sweet and tender, it sounds like Frida is sending her children to sleep.

While Bjorn pays his personal tribute to The Beatles with the Pepper-ish "Two For The Price Of One", Agnetha gets the chance to sing on "Head Over Heels", a great poppy track; the haunting "One Of Us" (the only song from this album that made it to the "Gold" compilation"), in which she shows yet again her talents as a vocalist; "Soldiers", which is an ambient surrealistic track resemblent to the anthem "Eagle", released on 1978; and "Slipping Through My Fingers", the sweetest song of the bunch, talking about how hard is for parents to handle the growing of their children. This song was also re-recorded in Spanish as "Se Me Está Escapando"

The B-side to the "One Of Us" single was "Should I Laugh Or Cry", another breaking-up song, strongly sung by Frida. The next Abba singles were "The Day Before You Came", probably the Abba song with the greatest lyrics ever and "Under Attack", ironically a much lighter love song. Those along with their respective B-sides "Cassandra" and the silly "You Owe Me One" can all be found in different issues of this album, and in different compilations. Those are for giving the costumer a complete view of the moment Abba was experiencing while recording "The Visitors". Their strongest record was surrounded by the sense of having grown up, the sensation of maturity and the need to do more innovative stuff in the fields of music. Benny and Bjorn took their chance and let the music speak for them. They were totally splitting up, but they let the world know about it. Surely they didn't think that was true, but it was anyway. It's sad that after a masterpiece like this a band like Abba broke up. It would have been great to know their achievements in the fields of the complex 80's music scene, but one must think that everything has a planned end, and there's nothing left to do when that happens.

Don't expect this to be the regular Abba CD. It is much more innovative and "experimental", if you want... But it is an Abba record anyway. You recognize them not only because of the vocalists, but also because they're "letting the music speak" by them. And that's what they always did.

Ever since the release of their first album, all of ABBA's subsequent albums kept getting better and better. "Arrival", their brilliant fourth album, is a classic, as are the albums that followed it. With "Super Trouper", ABBA showed that they were willing to experiment with different styles within the realm of pop. It seemed hard to top it. "The Visitors", however, is even better. The lyrics are more serious and personal, the themes of the songs are not always cheerful, and the musical arrangements are simply brilliant. The styles are too diverse to call it simply "pop". There are only 9 songs on this album, and every time I listen to it I wish the music would not end. All the songs are excellent, but "The Visitors", "When All Is Said and Done", "One of Us", "I Let the Music Speak" (do they ever!!)"Like An Angel Passing Through My Room" and "Two For The Price of One" especially stand out. The latter track satirically chronicles the modern day search for a mate through personal ads and adds a sexy, daring twist, tounge firmly in cheek. The title track is about the terror and paranoia of Soviet refugees. This album suggests what ABBA could have done if they stayed together; but they quit while they were on top. They knew it was their last time, and so they saved the very best for last. If you are a genuine ABBA fan, you cannot be without this album. If you are a casual ABBA listener, Take A Chance on "The Visitors". You won't be disappointed!!!

I believe this is the greatest of Abba's original albums. I like every single song on this album. Some of these songs don't appear on the "Gold" or "More Gold" albums, but every one is a classic. From the intense (and paranoid?)"The Visitors," to the bitersweet "Slipping Through my Fingers," to the humorous "Two for the Price of One" (with a male lead vocal), this album is worth listening to.

I love ABBA, anything they have done. I am looking, though, for a song that I remember being entitled as "Andante, Andante". It was a slow love song. I have looked everywhere and cannot find it. I have "Thank You For The Music" boxed set, "ABBA Gold", and others, but I cannot find that song.

HELP!

As most other reviewers have noted, this album is surely something very different for ABBA; it was obvious to me on the first listen (in those days of LP records, on "the first spin"). The Visitors, is indeed, a more mature album than anything that came before---although ABBA's lyrics were often far more accomplished than they were given credit for (Knowing Me, Knowing You; Fernando; One Man, One Woman, I'm A Marionette... none of them obscure, shocking or literary, but undeniably solid, adult pop lyrics). Still, with a new consistency, the songs on The Visitors clearly aim for, and usually strike, adult nerves. Ruminations on the power of music, the Cold War, raising kids, personal break-ups.. all very well done, the glaring exceptions being "Two For The Price Of One" which is at best, a trifle, both lyrically and melodically. "When All Is Said & Done" has a truly fine, insightful lyric, notwithstanding the rather gratuitous inclusion of the word "sex", which seems in retrospect a quaint but obvious move, part of the "adult" mood they were aiming for. Each song has something to say, and says it well.

The sounds, too, are somewhat different---though not unreservedly for the better. Like the lyrics, the melodies are often more subtle and complex than what ABBA were usually known for (too often described as "hook-filled" and "sing-song"). So here we get more melodic & rhythmic subtlety, but sometimes at the expense of that uncanny, positively joyful musical energy that seemed to inform every typical ABBA smash hit, from Waterloo to Dancing Queen to Super Trouper. One wants to love this album, like a last conversation with an old friend, but there's no denying that "Head Over Heels" or "Soldiers" simply do not make one want to jump up and shout the way their predecessors did. These melodies are by no means UNmelodic, or even less than VERY catchy. It's more fair to say that if their earlier songscapes were painted in bright, primary colors, Bjorn & Benny were now utilizing other, more subtle shadings.

The arrangements, are as always, rich, interesting and distinctive. Frida's and Agnetha's performances, consistent with everything else on the album, are more adult, personal and individual ---a far cry from the early days when it was often said that they sing in such perfect harmony, "you can hardly tell them apart".

The final verdict? Taken on its own terms, The Visitors is quite impressive. It's a more complex listen than their other stuff, both lyrically and melodically, and it highlights the impressive extent of ABBA's evolution over the scarcely ten years that we knew them (and this is not to diminish the wonder of their earlier work). Equally important, for all the talk of more serious moods, Bjorn & Benny STILL had a way with a song, to drastically understate it. It's not like they did an album of minimalist jazz, or a suite of atonal gregorian chants. This is still ABBA music, and practically nobody in the pop world can do it like them: melodies you remember forever, flawless singing, intricate arrangements, accessible, yet meaningful lyrics. A fine, final album from a group whose music was always far more adult and technically accomplished than they're ever likely to be given credit for--even (or especially) with their newly hip "rehabilitated" status. Perhaps the final word on ABBA should be, Just because they wrote songs that were wonderfully catchy doesn't mean they didn't write great music. The Visitors underscores that.

At first glance, one would think that this album is really inferior to the past work of ABBA. However, if you keep mulling the songs over in your CD player (and mind!!!) you will find that though they have truly a different feeling, the songs are beautiful compositions. For me (a long-time ABBA fan), this work can be considered a fine achievement. However, if you are a small-time fan that likes only the "wonderbread" disco sound of "Dancing Queen" and enjoy the light-hearted pop of their previous albums, you may be disappointed with this album. I would reccomend either "VOULEZ-VOUS" or maybe "ARRIVAL". I never thought that ABBA had produced such deep (possibly depressing) material. To finish off my collection, I decided to give this album a try. Luckily I appreciate their sense of meloncholy, but others may not share my enjoyment. It comes down to this: a personal decision. If you're willing to go without the happy-go-lucky pop of their past, I would reccomend trying this album (at this price it's worth a shot), however, understand that this album is very different from previous ones. HIGHLIGHTS: When All Is Said And Done, Soldiers, Slipping Through My Fingers, and each of the bonus tracks!! :-)

this album is a good end to a superb career but there are some songs on this album that to me lack that abba-esque feeling the way other songs did on previous albums. the song i didn't like on this album was TWO FOR THE PRICE OF ONE i think it may have sounded like a good idea at the time but when its produced a totally different feeling is produced. On the other hand the must have songs on this album is ONE OF US , I LET THE MUSIC SPEAK , SOLDIERS and my personal favourite WHEN ALL IS SAID AND DONE. These songs show abba's maturity as a group. This is a good finish to a great career.

production-wise identical to the preceding 'super trouper', this is abba's darkest and most mature album; too depressing both in lyrics and in the melancholy melodies to engage one unless one is appropriately moody, its lyrics are surprisingly adult, touching, in what must have been a shock for both fans and critics, among else, upon war in 'soldiers', politics in the title track, which can however also be interpreted as approaching breakdown, two definitely un-abba topics; there's familiar grounf of course, with break-ups in the candid and realistic 'when all is said and done', and in 'one of us', abba's last top ten hit in the UK; the beautiful 'slipping through my fingers' sees a mother apprehensive in seeing her daughter grow up; the overall atmosphere is heavy, oppressive, suitably evoked in the cover on which the members of the group all stand far from each other; the only lightweight moment is 'head over heels', poppy, but still far from the carefree days of the 70s

Abba deserves to be ranked up there with The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Elvis, Madonna, as one of the greatest music acts ever known. "The Visitors", their last studio album is, in my opinion, their best - even surpassing their mega-smash "Super Trouper". Abba has always remained chiefly a pop band, never going full force into disco but merely scratching its surface. With "The Visitors", they scratch the surface of New Wave, the predominant musical force in the early 1980s. There isn't a dislikable track on this jewel of a recording. The production standards were ahead of the time - very rich. The song writing skills of the Swedish band will never be matched - not by Roxette, Ace of Base, or any of the other talents emerging from that land. Best Tracks: "The Visitors", "When All Is Said and Done", "I Let the Music Speak", and "Slipping Through My Fingers".