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| The Visitors | 
 enlarge | Artist: Abba
Label: Polydor / Umgd
Category: Music
List Price: $11.98
Buy New: $5.42
You Save: $6.56 (55%)
New (36) Used (8) Collectible (1) from $4.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  37 reviews
Sales Rank: 7274
Format: Extra Tracks, Limited Edition, Original Recording Remastered
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.4 x 5 x 0.2
MPN: 549965
UPC: 731454996525
EAN: 0766487287623
ASIN: B00005CDNK
Release Date: October 16, 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: BRAND NEW, Factory Sealed items direct from the Studios. 30 Day Satisfaction Guarantee. Quick International Airmail!
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| Tracks:
| • | The Visitors (Crackin' Up) | | • | Head Over Heels | | • | When All Is Said and Done | | • | Soldiers | | • | I Let the Music Speak | | • | One of Us | | • | Two for the Price of One | | • | Slipping Through My Fingers | | • | Like an Angel Passing Through My Room | | • | Should I Laugh or Cry | | • | The Day Before You Came | | • | Cassandra | | • | Under Attack |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
Abba's 1981 swan song is appropriately touched by intimations of loss; The Visitors certainly contains nothing as breezy as "Does Your Mother Know." Far from the listless meanderings of a group on its way out, however, the album is alive with emotion and creativity. The title track fuses a melody reminiscent of the Beatles Indian explorations with a smartly done synthesizer arrangement typical of the disc as a whole. (They could've been the Human League!) Similarly moody cuts like "Soldiers" and "One of Us" help make this that rare thing, an Abba record suited for lonely late nights. This 24-bit remaster boasts four bonus cuts, including the final singles "The Day Before You Came" and "Under Attack," in addition to improved sound quality. --Rickey Wright
Album Description
Exclusive import limited edition digipak is remastered, has extensive line notes and lyrics, and includes four bonus songs, 'Should I Laugh Or Cry', 'The Day Before You Came', 'Cassandra' and 'Under Attack'. 13 tracks in all.
Album Details
24-bit digital remaster with new liner notes, complete lyrics and bonus tracks: 'Should I Laugh or Cry', 'The Day Before You Came', 'Cassandra' and 'Under Attack'.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 32 more reviews...
 A Veritable Masterwork of Melody, Surrealism, Poetry and Depth. October 3, 2006
14 out of 16 found this review helpful
Along with the much loved "Super Trouper" album, "The Visitor's" is one of ABBA's best original albums. It is the sound of a group that had matured and the end result is so alien to some people, that many may not even believe ABBA was capable of creating such dark, hauntingly beautiful poems set to ravishingly beautiful music.
The title track is a fascinating piece of work. The lyrics and chorus are interesting enough but Frida's solid, uncompromising vocals during the versus combined with the embellished synthesized sound transforms "The Visitors" in to one of ABBA's most unique and enduring songs.
Throughout ABBA's years as a group, Agnetha was chosen as the lead vocalist in several of their tear-jerker ballads; "Hasta Manana", "SOS, "My Love My Life", "Chiquitita", "Happy New Year", "The Winner Takes it All", "I've Been Waiting For You" and in "The Visitors" she's given several; "One of Us", "Soldiers", "Slipping Through My Fingers" and as an added bonus "The Day Before You Came". One of my favorites from this album is the hauntingly gorgeous "Soldiers". The lyrics recall a war-torn place and time and a sense of helplessness and dread are conjured up ("What's that sound what's the dreadful rumble?/Won't somebody tell me what I hear?/In the distance but drawing near/Is it only a storm approaching/All that thunder and the blinding light/In the winters night/In the grip of this cold December...") and Agnetha's sorrowful vocals add a touch of pathos to the already solemn atmosphere of the piece. The chorus is also worth mentioning because it's constructed almost like a tongue twister and the meaning of the phrase "Soldiers write the songs that soldiers sing/The songs that you and I don't/won't sing" isn't clear adding a bit of mystery.
"Soldiers" is followed by the even more enigmatic "I Let the Music Speak" with Frida on lead vocals. This song has always intrigued me because I don't fully understand what the song is about. It's a whole array of incredibly poetic images ("Where Beauty will defeat the darkest day"), phrases ("I'm hearing images/I'm seeing songs no poet has ever painted") and places ("I find myself a blind man in some Ancient valley"). It's also one of the most theatrical songs Bjorn and Benny ever wrote for ABBA. "I Let the Music Speak" is also one of Frida's best vocal performances to date along side "Like an Angel Passing Through My Room". The latter song is simple in form but strikingly beautiful in sound and mind.
There are a couple of upbeat songs in "The Visitors". "Head Over Heels" is a charming ditty which features Agnetha as lead vocalist and showcases her beautiful voice and her ability to adapt to various styles of music. Bjorn takes the lead in "Two For the Price of One". Listening to "The Visitors" from beginning to end is a moving and sometimes depressing experience, these 2 songs are a welcome change from the darkness and sorrow.
"The Visitors" was released in 1981 becoming a commercial hit entering the UK album charts at number one. The album also reached the Top 40 in the US peaking outside of the Top 20 but it was a disappointment considering their previous records; "Arrival", "The Album", "Voulez-Vous" and "Super Trouper" all peaked within the Top 20 of the Billboard Album Charts. The biggest single to emerge from this was the magnificent ballad "One of Us" which peaked at number 3 in the UK. The other Agnetha lead vocal track "Head Over Heels" was also released as a single there and became a meduim sized hit reaching number 25. This was the first time since 1975 that ABBA had a single peak outside of the Top 10 in the UK.
In the US, "When All Is Said and Done" and "The Visitors" were the two chosen single releases. "The Visitors" peaked at number 63 and "When All Is Said and Done" fared better reaching the Top 40. It should be noted that these two songs became ABBA's 19th and 20th singles to reach the Billboard Hot 100 within an 8 year time span. For a Swedish group to accomplish this was simply amazing.
There are 2 re-mastered versions of "The Visitors" both having bonus tracks. The original re-mastered edition released in 1997 has "Should I Laugh or Cry", "The Day Before You Came", "Under Attack" and "You Owe Me One" while the newer edition omits "You Owe Me One" and replaces it with the more poignant "Cassandra".
Out of all the bonus tracks, my favorite is the melancholic "The Day Before You Came" sung by Agnetha. In my opinion, it is one of ABBA's masterpieces and one of their most beautiful ballads. Like "The Winner Takes It All", it's simplistic but due to Bjorn and Benny's creative genius and Agnetha's gorgeous voice, it tugs at the heartstrings. There is nothing remotely depressing in the lyrics. It reads like a journal entry of a desperate, bored woman who cites off her daily activities before a person; a good friend, a lover, came in to her life. This song should be joyous and hopeful but it is not. Agentha's voice wreaks loneliness and sadness making one wonder that tragedy became this individual she is remembering. Benny stated in an interview that they had instructed Agnetha not to use her "vocal abilities" in this song in order for her to sound like an ordinary woman. Although he later regretted it by stating that you don't have to under use your abilities as a singer to play a part in a song, their idea worked wonderfully here. Unlike Agentha's previous solos where she adorns the songs with power and vibrato, her desperate, vibrato-less vocals in "The Day Before You Came" makes it more intimate. Like a one-way conversation that the listener is having with the singer. It is a shame this song wasn't appreciated when it was released as a single in 1982. It peaked at number 32 in the UK (although it was a hit in other European territories) but many music critics have since called it a masterpiece.
"The Visitors" shines like a glittering jewel within the ABBA catalogue. It was an album that was ahead of it's time. No other album in 1981 was this intense and polished. It is also the sound of a more mature ABBA who musically evolved and who were interested in creating more than just perfect pop songs. Several of these songs are meaningful works of art and that's probably the best way to describe this album; a work of art.
Highly Recommended
Classik ABBA November 28, 2003
13 out of 13 found this review helpful
As most would agree, ABBA's final released album of original material in 1981 was greeted with mixed response, let alone this 8 year old at the time! Many years later, and with more adult insight I fully appreciate the sombre and autobiographical brilliance of this oeuvre. Increasingly autobiographical and documenting a widening rift between the band through rhyme (the album cover alone indicates their division and the bleakness of the recording), yet this CD stands victorious trial against music critics and fans alike, containing soaring and brilliant melodies (listen to the grumbling choris of the title track and the snappy Soldiers chorus), awesome harmonies (Agnetha's falsettoes in I Let The Music Speak and the 2-part chorus harmony to Two For The Price of One). Lyrically this is an introspective album covering healing from separation (One of Us, When All Is Said ''here's to us, one more toast''), the torments of mental anguish (The Visitors), war (Soldiers), growing children (the gorgeous Slipping Through My Fingers), and so on and so forth. Frida and Agnetha are also given individual vocal reigns on each song (no songs have them singing verses in harmony) and most importantly, Frida is able to shine as perhaps the most accomplished of the two vocalists. I find it hard to summarise the cd...there's so much complexity to the lyrics, the musical structures (listen for example to Two for the Price moving from simple male lead verse to twin part backing harmonies and army-band type ending). Despite criticism for being overtly commerical this Opus indicates ABBA as accomplished and mature artistes who are capable of writing deeper lyrics and musical structure while maintaining a commercial appeal. Haunting, tragic and brilliant.
farewell December 1, 2001
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
The Visitors is Abba's final album, enhanced in this edition with some of their last recordings from 1982. It did not follow Abba The Album as previously written by someone (The Album was released in late 77; Abba released their disco-LP Voulez-Vous in 1979 and their masterpiece Super Trouper in 1980 before The Visitors saw the light of day in Decembre 1981). So The Visitors is the last complete album before the band fell apart. You can tell that from the sleeve picture (which doesn't especially show a sense of unity) and also from the fact that for the very first time in Abba's history, every song had solo parts clearly given to a specific band member. Those who expect to find the joyous sound of Dancing Queen will be disappointed : the overall atmosphere is quite dark, the style of the album hesitates between electronic new wave (a style even more obvious on the 1982 recordings) and a classical style which shows the direction for Benny & Björn's carreer as musical composers (Chess was released in 1984). It contains some of the lesser known singles of the group : The Visitors, When All Is Said And Done (with lyrics hinting at Frida & Benny's recent divorce), The Day Before You Came (their very last recording) : all are masterpieces in my opinion. About the bonus tracks : Should I Laugh Or Cry is from 1981, an excellent song then only released as a 7" B-side. The others are taken from the two late-1982 singles. To be complete, the CD should have included You Owe Me One (the B-side to Under Attack, Björn & Benny reportedly hate the song), I Am The City (recorded in 82, unreleased until it was included on More Abba Gold in 93) and also Just Like That - which Björn & Benny unfairly consider as an unfinished song (it was eventually changed and given to the B&B produced project Gemini in 1985).
ABBA gets creepy, grown up, and very good. January 16, 2007
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
ABBA's final studio album is truly in a class by itself. The title track is about someone alone in their apartment -- which has been surrounded by the secret police -- awaiting their fate for being a political dissident in a communist country. Creepy and brilliant.
This album isn't about disco dancing and teenage crushes, it's about tyranny, watching your children grow up, ending relationships, and war.
If you are an ABBA fan, and you are hesitant to buy this disc because you don't see any charting hits on it, just go ahead and buy it. It's sad that this is the their last album, because I think they could have succeeded with this sould through the decade of the 1980's. They proved that they could change and reinvent themselves.
How many bands have "last albums" that are as great as this one?
An Intelligent and Mature Pop Masterpiece July 27, 2002
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
Radio wasn't ready for this back in the early 80's: infectious pop music with adult subject matter. I can remember reading so many negative reviews when "The Visitors" was first released. Many critics cited the lack of obvious hit singles that made the "Voulez Vous" and "Super Trouper" albums such fun. What we have here is not only the perfectly structured songs that we had come to expect from Anderson and Ulvaeus but a testament to the end of a great band.If you're an avid Abba fan, consider the group's beginnings with the optimistic singles "Mamma Mia" and "Ring Ring" and mentally fast forward to this album's (original) last track "Like An Angel Passing Through My Room". Heartbreaking.
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