The Visitors [Import Bonus Tracks] [Remaster]

Performer: ABBA
Engineer: Michael B. Tretow
Producer: Benny Andersson; Björn Ulvaeus
Distributor: Universal Distribution

Notes: ABBA: Bjorn Ulvaeus (vocals, acoustic guitar); Benny Andersson (vocals, keyboards, synthesizer); Anni Frid Lyngstad, Agnetha Faltskog (vocals). Additional personnel: Lasse Wellander (acoustic & electric guitars); The Three Boys (mandolin); Jan Kling (flute, clarinet); Rutger Gunnarsson (bass); Ola Brunkert, Per Lindvall (drums); Ake Sundqvist (percussion). Recorded at Polar Music Studios, Stockholm, Sweden in 1981. Includes reissue liner notes by Carl Magnus Palm. Digitally remastered using 24-bit technology by Jon Astley. 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 somber record. The disturbingly confessional minor-key masterpieces within, such as "When All Is Said and Done" and "Like An Angel Passing Through My Room," as well as the bizarre, paranoid title track, contribute to the feeling of darkness and alienation. Recorded as the band was imploding amidst romantic breakups, THE VISITORS has the beauty and melancholy of earlier ABBA albums, but only on the transcendently mournful single "One of Us" does the band reach the ecstatic heights of previous singles. Regardless, THE VISITORS stands as one of the band's strongest and most consistent albums.

Not many pop groups end up on postage stamps, as Abba has in its native Sweden; but then again, few groups become their homeland's most identifiable export. The group's stratospheric success was built on a foundation of buoyant, exquisitely arranged and produced pop music. Although they called it a day in the early 1980s, Abba lives on in the form of popular tribute bands and albums, a Broadway musical, and consistent record sales of their voluminous catalog.

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