The Visitors is the eighth and final studio album by Swedish pop group ABBA, released on November 30, 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. The opening track, "The Visitors", with its ominous synthesizer sounds and the distinctive lead vocal by Frida, announced a change in musical style.
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. 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.

Recording and release

Following the divorce of Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad, recording began on what was to become ABBA's final studio album on 16 March 1981. Only one month had passed since their divorce when the group entered the studio.

The members of ABBA and their personnel have memories of the recording sessions for this album being rather difficult. To begin with, their sound engineer Michael 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.

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.

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.

Reviews

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" ,
Trouser Press: "Its high points must be the sort of thing you hear in heaven" ,
New Musical Express: "The Visitors" provokes...thoughts after you drift away with those exquisite harmonies"
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"
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'".
Melody Maker: "Music like this is a juke box dream, golden sparkle and inspiration that's instantly singable yet lasts a virtual lifetime"

The lone dissenting voice came from a Rolling Stone reviewer who sorely missed ABBA's upbeat tunes: "The boys and girls of Abba are in a slump. Synth-drenched, mellow-dramatic balladeering seems to have supplanted almost entirely the perky pop". Even more intriguing, however, was that the reviews of The Visitors now freely included references to "Beatles' psychedelic harmonies, moods and textures ", "George Harrison's beguiling eastern charms", "Steven Sondheim's dark melodies".... Apparently, it reflected further shifting of critical attitudes towards the essence of ABBA music.

Album cover

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 Skansen Park, Stockholm. The group are positioned apart and appear to be waiting solemnly in the shadows..

Track listing

All songs by Andersson and Ulvaeus.
Side A:

• "The Visitors" – 5:47

• "Head Over Heels" – 3:48

• "When All is Said and Done" – 3:17

• "Soldiers" – 4:41

Side B:

• "I Let the Music Speak" – 5:23

• "One of Us" – 3:57

• "Two for the Price of One" – 3:38

• "Slipping Through My Fingers" – 3:53

• "Like An Angel Passing Through My Room" – 3:40

CD re-issues, bonus tracks

The Visitors was remastered and reissued in 1997 and 2001 with four bonus tracks:

• "Should I Laugh or Cry" – 4:29

• "The Day Before You Came" – 5:53

• "Cassandra" – 4:56 (on 2001 remaster only)

• "Under Attack" – 3:48

• "You Owe Me One" – 3:26 (on 1997 remaster only)

The Visitors was remastered and reissued again in 2005 as part of The Complete Studio Recordings box set with several bonus tracks:

• "Should I Laugh or Cry" – 4:32

• "No Hay a Quien Culpar" (Andersson, Ulvaeus, Buddy McCluskey, Mary McCluskey) – 3:14

• "Se Me Está Escapando" (Andersson, Ulvaeus, B. McCluskey, M. McCluskey) – 3:54

• "The Day Before You Came" – 5:51

• "Cassandra" – 4:54

• "Under Attack" – 3:49

• "You Owe Me One" – 3:26

Tracks 11–12 are from the Spanish and Latin American version of the album The Visitors.
Tracks 13–16 were recorded and originally published in 1982.
The Visitors was reissued once again in 2008 as part of the The Albums box set but without any bonus tracks.

Singles

• "One of Us"/"Should I Laugh or Cry" (December 1981)

• "Head Over Heels"/"The Visitors" (single edit) (March 1982)

• "The Visitors" (single edit)/"Head Over Heels" (March 1982)

• "When All is Said and Done"/"Soldiers" (1982)

Personnel

ABBA

• Benny Andersson – synthesizer, keyboards, vocals

• Agnetha Fältskog – vocals

• Anni-Frid Lyngstad – vocals

• Björn Ulvaeus – acoustic guitar, guitar, vocals

Additional personnel

• Ola Brunkert – drums

• Rutger Gunnarsson – bass, percussion

• Janne Kling – wind

• Per Lindvall – drums

• Åke Sundqvist – percussion

• Three Boys – bass, mandolin, keyboards

• Lasse Wellander – acoustic guitar, electric guitar

Production

• 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

Other recordings of the period

During the recording of The Visitors, ABBA were also involved in making additional recordings. In March, the group once again dug up a melody that had been tried out in the studios on several occasions during previous years but never used. Eventually, it became the song "Anthem" in the musical Chess, but on this occasion was called "Nationalsång". In April the group spent two days recording tracks for the Dick Cavett TV special. In May, the group tried out (and subsequently abandoned) two more songs for the album - "I Am A Musician" (which later became "I Am The Seeker" from the musical Abbacadabra, and also "Givin' a Little Bit More'" (which eventually saw the light of the day on the box set "Thank You For The Music").

Charts

Album
Singles - Australia Singles Chart

Singles - New Zealand Singles Chart

Singles - Norway Singles Chart

Singles - Sweden Singles Chart

Singles - UK Singles Chart

Singles' - Billboard (North America)