The Visitors (ABBA album)

The Visitors is the eighth and final studio album by Swedish pop group ABBA, released on 30 November 1981.

With The Visitors, ABBA took several steps away from the "lighter" pop music they had recorded previously and the album is often regarded as a more complex and mature effort.[3]  The opening track, "The Visitors", with its ominous synthesizer sounds and the distinctive lead vocal by Frida, announced a change in musical style. With Benny and Frida going their separate ways, the pain of splitting up was explored yet again in "When All Is Said and Done". The major hit single on the album, "One of Us" also depicted the end of a love story. Elsewhere there were current Cold War themes—highly topical at the time—and further songs of isolation and regret.

The Visitors album was one of the first records to be recorded and mixed digitally, and was the first in history to be manufactured on the new CD format in 1982 on Atlantic.[4]  The Visitors has been reissued in digitally remastered form three times—first in 1997, then in 2001 and again in 2005 as part of The Complete Studio Recordings box set.

The Visitors Deluxe Edition was released on 23 April 2012. As with previous releases in the Deluxe Edition series, this version of ABBA’s final album offers a DVD of archive material along with CD bonus tracks – including the demo medley "From a Twinkling Star to a Passing Angel", the first previously-unreleased ABBA recordings since 1994.[5]



Contents
[hide]  *1 Recording and release  ==Recording and release[ edit] == Following the upcoming divorce of Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad, recording began on what was to become ABBA's final studio album on 16 March 1981.[6]  Only one month had passed since the announcement of their separation when the group entered the studio.
 * 2 Contemporary reviews of the original 1981 release
 * 3 Album cover
 * 4 Track listing[12]
 * 4.1 CD version
 * 5 CD re-issues, bonus tracks
 * 6 Singles
 * 7 Personnel
 * 8 Production
 * 9 Non album tracks
 * 10 Charts
 * 10.1 Peak positions
 * 10.2 Peak positions (2012 reissue)
 * 10.3 Year-end charts
 * 10.4 Sales and certifications
 * 11 References
 * 12 External links

The members of ABBA and their personnel have memories of the recording sessions for this album being rather difficult. To begin with, their sound engineerMichael Tretow had to become accustomed to using the new 32-track digital recorder that had been purchased for Polar Music Studios. He said, "Digital recording...cut out all the hiss, but it also meant that sounds were sharply cut off below a certain level. The sound simply became too clean, so I had to find ways of compensating for that." The first three tracks for the album had already been recorded using analogue tape and therefore Tretow had to transfer all subsequent tracks from digital to analogue and back again to avoid a difference in quality.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-7" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:10.909090995788574px;">[7]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:inherit;">Ulvaeus also mentioned in retrospect that the recording sessions were troubled. "It could be frosty sometimes," he acknowledged in an interview. Lyngstad also commented that they were beginning to tire of working together.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-8" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:10.909090995788574px;">[8]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:inherit;">On its release, The Visitors reached the top of the charts in a number of territories but was not as successful as their previous albums.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-9" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:10.909090995788574px;">[9] ==Contemporary reviews of the original 1981 release<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:inherit;">Billboard: "The inevitable culmination of introspection, experience and fantasy into a marriage of music and words that is Abba's first true masterpiece – song after song... Abba and pop music at its endearing best."

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:inherit;">Trouser Press: "Its high points must be the sort of thing you hear in heaven..."

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:inherit;">New Musical Express: "The Visitors" provokes...thoughts after you drift away with those exquisite harmonies..."

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:inherit;">Los Angeles Times: "Biggest departure to date from the bubbly, sprightly pop sound which first brought [them] fame in the mid-70s...While rich, sophisticated music isn't as instantly accessible as Abba's past hits, in the end it's just as rewarding....Abba's thoughtful treatment of mature themes here shows impressive growth..."

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:inherit;">Creem: "Abba feel. Abba are socially concerned. In fact, Abba take things so seriously and react to life and love with such overwhelming intensity that Ingmar Bergman would do well to sign them on for a soundtrack."

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:inherit;">Melody Maker: "Music like this is a juke box dream, golden sparkle and inspiration that's instantly singable yet lasts a virtual lifetime..."

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:inherit;">A negative review came from Rolling Stone magazine's reviewer who sorely missed ABBA's upbeat tunes: "The boys and girls of Abba are in a slump. Synth-drenched, melodramatic balladeering seems to have supplanted almost entirely the perky pop."

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:inherit;">Even more intriguing, however, was that the reviews of The Visitors now freely included references to "[The] Beatles' psychedelic harmonies, moods and textures", "George Harrison's beguiling eastern charms", and "Steven Sondheim's dark melodies". It reflected further shifting of critical attitudes towards the essence of ABBA's music. ==Album cover<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == The studio of Julius Kronberg at Skansen in Stockholm.<p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:inherit;">Rune Söderqvist designed the cover and photographed the group in a room containing Julius Kronberg's painting of Eros. The room is the Atelje Studio in SkansenPark, Stockholm. The group are positioned apart and appear to be waiting solemnly in the shadows.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-10" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:10.909090995788574px;">[10] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-11" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:10.909090995788574px;">[11] ==Track listing<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-12" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:16.363636016845703px;">[12] <span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:inherit;">All songs written and composed by Benny Andersson & Björn Ulvaeus. <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:inherit;">"Should I Laugh or Cry" was recorded on 4 September 1981 for The Visitors, but was ultimately not included on the album. It was, however, released as the B-side for the singles "One of Us" and "When All Is Said and Done". ===CD version<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] === ==CD re-issues, bonus tracks<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:inherit;">The Visitors album was remastered in 1997 and released with four bonus tracks:

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:inherit;">In 2001, a new remastered edition with four different bonus tracks:
 * 1) "Should I Laugh or Cry"
 * 2) "The Day Before You Came"
 * 3) "Under Attack"
 * 4) "You Owe Me One"
 * 5) *B-side to "Under Attack" single

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:inherit;">In 2005, a third remastered version of The Complete Studio Recordings box set, with bonus tracks
 * 1) "Should I Laugh or Cry"
 * 2) "The Day Before You Came"
 * 3) "Cassandra"
 * 4) *B-side to "The Day Before You Came" single
 * 5) "Under Attack"

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:inherit;">The Visitors was reissued once again in 2008 as part of the The Albums box set but without any bonus tracks.
 * 1) "Should I Laugh or Cry"
 * 2) *Version with a brief count-in
 * 3) "No hay a quien culpar"
 * 4) *Spanish version of "When All Is Said And Done"
 * 5) "Se me está escapando"
 * 6) *Spanish version of "Slipping Through My Fingers"
 * 7) "The Day Before You Came",
 * 8) "Cassandra"
 * 9) "Under Attack"
 * 10) "You Owe Me One"

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:inherit;">The Visitors Deluxe Edition was released on 23 April 2012. As with previous releases in the Deluxe Edition series, this version of ABBA’s final album offered a DVD of archive material along with CD bonus tracks – including the demo medley ‘From A Twinkling Star To A Passing Angel’, the first previously unreleased ABBA recordings since 1994.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-ABBA_.E2.80.93_The_Official_Site_5-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:10.909090995788574px;">[5]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:inherit;">The Visitors - Deluxe Edition (CD + DVD) [2012] All songs written and composed by Benny Andersson & Björn Ulvaeus. <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:inherit;">Songs 1–10, 16 digitally recorded and mixed 16 March – 14 November 1981 at Polar Music Studios, Stockholm, Sweden. Songs 11–15 digitally recorded and mixed 3 May – 26 August 1982 at Polar Music Studios, Stockholm, Sweden; scheduled for ninth studio album, which was ultimately not completed.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:inherit;">Reviews of 2012 deluxe edition

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:inherit;">Pitchfork Media gave it an 8.6 grade, saying "even as the band's commercial star faded and its professional relationships quietly unravelled, they were perfectionists. ABBA's music on The Visitors is more pristine and ambitious than it had ever been, its themes darker, its personal politics more tangled."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-13" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:10.909090995788574px;">[13]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:inherit;">The Arts Desk: "The Visitors is not their best, but it is their most interesting [album], pointing to where Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson would go next."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-14" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:10.909090995788574px;">[14] ==Singles<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == ==Personnel<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:inherit;">ABBA
 * 1) "One of Us"/"Should I Laugh or Cry" (December 1981)
 * 2) "When All is Said and Done"/"Soldiers" (December 1981)
 * 3) "Head over Heels"/"The Visitors" (February 1982)
 * 4) "The Visitors" (single edit)/"Head Over Heels" (March 1982)

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:inherit;">Additional personnel
 * Benny Andersson – synthesizer, keyboards, vocals, backing vocals and Drum machine on ("Givin' A Little Bit More" and "The Day Before You Came")
 * Agnetha Fältskog – vocals, backing vocals
 * Anni-Frid Lyngstad – vocals, backing vocals
 * Björn Ulvaeus – acoustic guitar, guitar, vocals, mandolin, backing vocals

==Production<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == ==Non album tracks<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:inherit;">A song sung in Swedish, recorded as a tribute to Stig Anderson's 50th birthday in 1981, and released on a limited number of singles for the guests attending the party only. The title is a play on words; Hova is the small village in Västergötland in which Anderson was born, and Vittne is a reference to Jehovah's Witnesses. The song includes a four bar passage that was later used in the Chess musical ouverture "Merano". "Tivedshambo" is an instrumental recording of Stig Anderson's first published song, recorded in 1981. It is the B-side of "Hovas vittne".
 * Ola Brunkert – drums
 * Rutger Gunnarsson – bass, mandolin
 * Janne Kling – flute and clarinet
 * Per Lindvall – drums (on "Soldiers" and "The Visitors")
 * Åke Sundqvist – percussion
 * Lasse Wellander – acoustic guitar, electric guitar, mandolin
 * Producers: Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus
 * Arrangers: Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus
 * Engineer: Michael B. Tretow
 * Design: Rune Söderqvist
 * Remastered for the 1997 Remasters by Jon Astley and Tim Young with Michael B. Tretow
 * Remastered for the 2001 Remasters by Jon Astley with Michael B. Tretow
 * Remastered for the 2005 Complete Studio Recordings Box Set by Henrik Jonsson
 * "Hovas vittne"

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:inherit;">An instrumental track recorded in 1981 with a different bridge. A version with vocals featured a more emotional repetition of the first verse after the third, making the track 4:20 instead of 3:15. When the video was released in 1981 it featured another alternate version with a different ending.
 * "When All Is Said and Done" (Demo version and various mixes)

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:inherit;">An instrumental track that later was used in "Anthem" from the musical Chess. The song is well known as "Opus 10" among ABBA fans due a misunderstanding made by a journalist.
 * "Nationalsång"

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:inherit;">An instrumental demo track recorded in 1981. Later the song was included in the musical ABBAcadabra and recorded by B. A. Robertson with the slightly altered title '(I Am) The Seeker'. The melody to the chorus was later used by Benny Andersson in the song 'Upp Till Dig' from his 2007 album, BAO 3.
 * "I Am a Musician"

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:inherit;">A short instrumental track written for the Ice Hockey World Championship hosted by Sweden in 1981. Used as the jingle/opening theme for the television special Dick Cavett Meets ABBA aired later in 1981.
 * "Fanfare for Icehockey World Championships '81"

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:inherit;">This early version has slightly different lyrics, and is sung from a first person perspective (I have what you might call a simple occupation/I clean the toilets of the local railway station/With no romance in my life/Sometimes I wish I had a knife).[40][42]
 * "Two for the Price of One" (Early demo version)

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:inherit;">Another early demo version of "Like an Angel Passing Through My Room". The song had an operatic feel to it, with shared lead vocals by Agnetha & Frida. Also, the song had a full backing band instead of the synth only backing that eventually became "Like an Angel Passing Through My Room". An excerpt from the track was released as a part of the demo-medley "From a Twinkling Star to a Passing Angel" (from the Deluxe Edition released in 2012). ==Charts<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] ==
 * "Givin’ a Little Bit More" is a demo recorded in 1981 with lead vocals by Ulvaeus. On this song they didn't make a drummer play, but used a Linn LM-1 drum machine. An excerpt of this track was released in the box set Thank You for the Music.
 * "An Angel's Passing Through My Room" is an early demo version of "Like an Angel Passing Through My Room" with both Frida and Agnetha on lead vocals. The track was at some point arranged and mixed in the disco-style of "Lay All Your Love On Me" and later heavily reworked. An excerpt from the track was released as a part of the demo-medley "From a Twinkling Star to a Passing Angel" (from the Deluxe Edition released in 2012).
 * "Another Morning Without You"