ABBA Album: “Visitors [Import Bonus Tracks]”

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?

NOTE: This review for

The Amazon Original Release Date was May 1st 2012 although it was available on abbasite a week earlier.

includes a previously unreleased ABBA recording!

"The Visitors Deluxe Edition" is a nicely packaged 2 DISC SET with sleeve notes: The original album with bonus tracks plus a DVD of rare and previously unreleased television material.

SEE MY PHOTOS IN CUSTOMER IMAGES

The Deluxe Edition includes the previously unreleased recording `From a Twinkling Star to a Passing Angel (demos)'. This is the first release of unheard ABBA music since 1994!

SLEEVE NOTES DETAILS ON THIS EXTRA BONUS TRACK:

'From A Twinkling Star To A Passing Angel' traces the evolution of 'Like An Angel Passing Through My Room' (the closing track on The Visitors album).

The nine-minute medley takes us from the very first demo, with vocals by Bjorn, to a run-through with Benny on electric piano and Frida on lead vocals, similar to the final version. In-between are a demo recording by Frida and Benny (on grand piano) with alternate lyrics entitled 'Another Morning Without You'; the full band "disco" attempt, with the final lyrics in place; and a ballad interpretation, also with a full band backing, featuring Frida on lead vocals.

DETAILS ON THE DVD:

1 Two For The Price Of One (Dick Cavett Meets ABBA)

2 Slipping Through My Fingers (Dick Cavett Meets ABBA)

3 When All Is Said And Done (Original Promo Clip)

4 ABBA In London, November 1982 (The Late Late Breakfast Show, BBC)

5 ABBA In Stockholm, November 1982 (Nöjesmaskinen, SVT)

6 The Visitors TV commercial I (UK)

7 The Visitors TV commercial II (Australia)

8 The Singles - The First Ten Years TV commercial I (UK)

9 The Singles - The First Ten Years TV commercial II (Australia)

10 International Sleeve Gallery

DVD TECHNICAL DETAILS:

Running Time: 52:34

Regions: All Regions (0)

Picture Format: NTSC 4:3

Menu Screens: English

Audio Format: Dolby Digital Stereo

Subtitles: Swedish, English, Finish, German, Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese

Although the bonus track 'From A Twinkling Star To A Passing Angel' is no new recording, for ABBA fans this is sensational news.

Not since 1994 have fans been able to get any official release of previously unheard music from the group's heyday.

Hope this review and photos for

was helpful ...

Jeffrey A. (Jeff)

As Abba's last studio record, the band sent out a message to the world that they were no longer four, eternally smiling people who wanted to clobber us with bubbling, infectious pop music; rather now, they were telling us they meant business.

The interesting thing with the Abba catalogue is that you can hear their progression from one outting to the next. The Visitors is no exception--- it is infact, the most mature and progressive product they had ever done.

From the gloomy and lonely cover photo (gone are the bombastic outfits) which portrays them as four individual middle aged people looking off into a future without each other (indeed, by this point, the two couples were officially divorced)to the mood of the record's sombre notes, this is not your father's ABBA. The quality of the production, arrangements and performances helps this record, in my opinion, become a model for perfect pop productions. Arguably, a couple of the tracks crossed a line and moved past a traditional pop format (namely I Let the Music Speak and Like an Angel...) but with rich melodies and unparalleled vocal performances, they remain captivating.

This is a record where every member is in top form. Benny's melodies combined with his studio wiserdry, Bjorn's masterful English lyrics (showing a progression beyond anything he had ever written) and Agnetha's cool yet convincing story teller vocals shine beyond many of their earlier performances. But the true star here is Frida who brings a level of emotion and sophistication to her performances that we had never seen before. She manages to find her way through many different production and musical styles and stays believable and true through every note she sings. Listen to her on the bonus track "Should I Laugh or Cry"--- this is a woman who is frustrated and sad--- even if I never hear a lyric, the sound of her rich vibrato tells the whole story.

You don't have to be an ABBA fan to get the meaning of this record--- if you like perfect pop, listen to this... you won't be disappointed.

This album is like their 'Dark Side Of The Moon'. There is nothing to prepare you for what you are about to hear. Sure, there were hints of this on Super Trouper ('Winner Takes It All', 'Happy New Year'), but the melodrama of these compositions has been dropped for something far more darkly mature. These songs are autobiograghical and you suddenly realise that with the exception of TWTIA, they had not expressed themselves in this way before ('Knowing Me, Knowing You' was completely fictional). The opening song, 'The Visitors' is so powerful, from the menacing intro, the suppressed vocals from Frida to the slabs of dominating synths at the end of the chorus. It is a truly scary song conjuring pictures of fear of the Soviet Union in '81. It took a while for me to realise that this is the only ABBA song ever written which does not rhyme. At all. And those lyrics are simply amazing ("These walls have witnessed all the anguish of humiliation and seen the hope of freedom glow in shining faces.."). Astounding. 'When All Is Said And Done', as has been described, is a song about Frida and Benny's divorce but it also demonstrates a still vulnerable Frida lifting her head and moving on.......yet despite the forcefulness of the delivery, you can sense it masquerades real doubt. One of the most fascinating songs is also one of the most overlooked: 'Head Over Heels'. This did not fare too well as a single. What is apparent is that this is supposed to be a bouncy, happy Abba song, but it fails in its remit. Instead what you hear is meloncholy all the way through it. Like somebody who is still grieving trying to laugh. 'Like An Angel Passing Through My Room' is sublime. A ticking clock and Frida lamenting her lost loves. This is inspired. The original recording ended with that ticking clock.......would they be back? Of the additional tracks, 'The Day Before You Came' and 'Should I Laugh Or Cry' are the best. TDBYC is probably their finest recording and what makes it even more beautiful is the fact that it has been largely overlooked and therefore does not suffer from overkill. Agnetha is actually role-playing in this song: she is the bored, lonely woman.....and deliberately sings like one (hence the reason why her voice quivers so much in it). Frida's aria inbetween the verses is both haunting and heart-breaking. 'Should I Laugh Or Cry' has an amazing vocal performance by Frida with an interesting lyric where she is exasperated by everything that her partner does or says (a far cry from 'Honey, Honey'!). This is not to overlook 'Cassandra', yet another beautiful song. There is a subtle warning, i guess, of what is contained inside by the beautifully contemplative album cover. Each of them pre-occupied with their own thoughts. The first time the four of them are not together and not looking at you. A perfect swansong.

King Crimson, Queen, Genesis... ABBA? I never would have guessed it, but they all fit. I'm a prog rock fan at heart (you know... weird songs with lots of different movements, classical overtones and challenging chord structures), and I'm not sure how this CD came into my possession, but I love it! It's very intelligently done. Song arrangements are majestic, full and orchestral unlike the standard 80s pop. And of course they effortlessly slide back into simpler arrangements when necessary.

The title track is sung in a harmonic minor "Eastern" scale that at once reminds me of Led Zeppelin & the Beatles. Don't deprive yourself of this great track. The song "Soldiers" has a rather unconventional, brooding drumbeat in 3/4 which may be recognized as a precursor to the 90s alternative genre. But to me, the standout tune is "I Let the Music Speak", a powerful operatic piece not unlike Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" but with a darker, haunting melody. The last 2 songs "Slipping Through My Fingers" and "Like an Angel Passing" wrap up the album beautifully like the end of an exhausting adventure.

It becomes tragically apparent to me that ABBA was on the verge of a great musical evolution had they continued in this vein. Unfortunately this would be their last, and you'll be hard pressed to find another 80s album as progressive as this. "The Visitors" is to the 80s what "Sgt. Pepper" was to the 60s--a fleeting glimpse of something deeper than the norm.