Product Description

From he muted sleeve of Abba's eighth and last album, with its pained front photo of the four bandmembers studiously avoiding one another's gaze in a darkened room, it's clear that 1981's THE VISITORS is a sombre record. The disturbingly confessional minor-key masterpieces within, such as "When AllIs Said and Done" and "Like An Angel Passing Through My Room", as well as the bizarre, paranoid title track, contributeto the feeling of darkness and alienation. Recorded as the band was imploding amidst romantic break-ups, THE VISITORS has the beauty and melancholy of earlier ABBA albums, but only on the transcendently mournful single "One of Us" does theband reach the ecstatic heights of previous singles. Regardless, THE VISITORS stands as one of the band's strongest andmost consistent albums.

Track Listing

1. The Visitors
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

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #176 in Music
• Released on: 2002-01-04
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 57 minutes

Customer Reviews

The Visitors
Abba's final studio album tends to divide opinion, but for me it was a fine way for them to finish thier active recording career together.
'One Of Us' was Abba's last major international hit and is probably the best known track here. The follow up song in the UK was 'Head Over Heels' which shocked everyone by peaking outside the UK top 20.
Was it all over for Abba?. Well, in terms of major hit singles it certainly was (in the US 'When All Is Said And Done' flopped also), but this album gave us a few treats and an indication of where Benny and Bjorns musical interests were going (ie musical theatre).
The title track is a mighty song that I always thought could have been a massive hit in it's own right. 'Soldiers' is a lovely Agnetha song, and 'I Let The Music Speak' sung by Frida screams 'Musical!'.
'Two For The Price Of One' is a slightly naff song but 'Slipping Through My Fingers' inspired by the rapidly growing up daughter of Bjorn and Agnetha, and 'Like An Angel Passing Through My Room' more than make up for this.
A couple more single relases aside (and a rather successful Greatest Hits album, a stage musical and an iternationally successful hit movie) is was the end of the road for Abba and I for one am glad that they finished where they did .At the top.

Good if You Listen Carefully
And finally we come to the break-up album - the final studio offering from Abba as we knew them and another musical shift in direction. It's only when you listen to the various albums carefully that you notice a definite change to cope with the times and there is a feeling that a break-up after this album was inevitable with Bjorn and Benny looking towards new projects.

The opening track "The Visitors" is an almost frightening climatic offering. The group have said that at this point things were beginning to fall apart with little or no enjoyment from recording and playing together. This is possibly reflected in the lyrics for "When All Is Said and Done." Certainly from an artistic point there is considerable merit in this album. "I Let the Music Speak" hints at the direction Bjorn and Benny would be following in the future. It's a slightly bombastic song that you could imagine turning up on the West End stage.

This takes more listening to than probably any other Abba album and because of that it is strangely rewarding in its lack of immediacy.

Great album. Mamma Mia soundtrack isn't a patch on it!
The original and the best ABBA. Nobody can rerelease/rerecord these songs to make them better. Includes classics featured in Mamma Mia! the movie but the original is definitely the best in this case.