The Visitors (1981) – Appreciation Thread

[zevthepaparazzo 2,381]

The Visitors was the eighth studio album by the hit Swedish pop group ABBA, released on the 30th of November 1981, standing as their final album until the release of 2021's Voyage.

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 synthesiser sounds and the distinctive lead vocal by Frida, announced a change in musical style. With Benny and Frida going their separate ways, the pain of splitting up was explored yet again in "When All Is Said and Done". The major hit single on the album, "One of Us", also depicted the end of a love story. Elsewhere there were Cold War themes—highly topical at the time—and further songs of isolation and regret.

The Visitors was one of the first records ever to be digitally recorded and mixed, as well as one of the earliest in history to be pressed on the CD format in 1983. The Visitors has been reissued in digitally remastered form four times—first in 1997, then in 2001, again in 2005 as part of The Complete Studio Recordings box set and most recently in 2012, as part of the "Deluxe Edition" series.

 

 

I love this album to the extreme, I'd say it's ABBA's best from their entire career. The overall darkness and melancholy that emanates from it is just  I love the mystique, weirdness, and political lyrics they put into their later work, like The Visitors but also some songs in Super Trouper too (The Piper, Me and I). It deserves all the attention that Arrival and Voulez-Vous have and MORE

Easily the 6th most underrated album from the 80s

[Anderson123 42,301]

I love this album so much, my favorite ABBA work along with Super Trouper. It’s a really interesting piece of work and love the direction they went with this as their final album at that time until the beautiful Voyage. 

The Visitors, When All Is Said And Done, One of Us, I Let The Music Speak and of course The Day Before You Came and Under Attack are all some of ABBAs best songs ever.  Head Over Heels and Soldiers are also underrated. 
 

[Charmz 4,339]

Honestly one of the (if not THE) biggest influences in pop music ever. 
 

My music professor in college spent a week on this album, the lyrics, the arrangements, the layered vocals, and the impact it has had on pop music since its release. 

I remember her saying that while it was not commercially successful in the US, the influence of the album was immediate. 

iconic.
 

 

[SS77 2,128]

So so so so SO good 

If not, underrated in the ABBA canon.

SO many amazing tracks

 

that title track alone is  

[Werewoof 2,487]

Slipping Through My Fingers transitioning into Like an Angel Passing Through My Room is so haunting. Fantastic album