As most would agree, ABBA's final released album of original material in 1981 was greeted with mixed response, let alone this 8 year old at the time! Many years later, and with more adult insight I fully appreciate the sombre and autobiographical brilliance of this oeuvre. Increasingly autobiographical and documenting a widening rift between the band through rhyme (the album cover alone indicates their division and the bleakness of the recording), yet this CD stands victorious trial against music critics and fans alike, containing soaring and brilliant melodies (listen to the grumbling choris of the title track and the snappy Soldiers chorus), awesome harmonies (Agnetha's falsettoes in I Let The Music Speak and the 2-part chorus harmony to Two For The Price of One). Lyrically this is an introspective album covering healing from separation (One of Us, When All Is Said ''here's to us, one more toast''), the torments of mental anguish (The Visitors), war (Soldiers), growing children (the gorgeous Slipping Through My Fingers), and so on and so forth. Frida and Agnetha are also given individual vocal reigns on each song (no songs have them singing verses in harmony) and most importantly, Frida is able to shine as perhaps the most accomplished of the two vocalists. I find it hard to summarise the cd...there's so much complexity to the lyrics, the musical structures (listen for example to Two for the Price moving from simple male lead verse to twin part backing harmonies and army-band type ending). Despite criticism for being overtly commerical this Opus indicates ABBA as accomplished and mature artistes who are capable of writing deeper lyrics and musical structure while maintaining a commercial appeal. Haunting, tragic and brilliant.

The Visitors is Abba's final album, enhanced in this edition with some of their last recordings from 1982. It did not follow Abba The Album as previously written by someone (The Album was released in late 77; Abba released their disco-LP Voulez-Vous in 1979 and their masterpiece Super Trouper in 1980 before The Visitors saw the light of day in Decembre 1981). So The Visitors is the last complete album before the band fell apart. You can tell that from the sleeve picture (which doesn't especially show a sense of unity) and also from the fact that for the very first time in Abba's history, every song had solo parts clearly given to a specific band member. Those who expect to find the joyous sound of Dancing Queen will be disappointed : the overall atmosphere is quite dark, the style of the album hesitates between electronic new wave (a style even more obvious on the 1982 recordings) and a classical style which shows the direction for Benny & Björn's carreer as musical composers (Chess was released in 1984). It contains some of the lesser known singles of the group : The Visitors, When All Is Said And Done (with lyrics hinting at Frida & Benny's recent divorce), The Day Before You Came (their very last recording) : all are masterpieces in my opinion. About the bonus tracks : Should I Laugh Or Cry is from 1981, an excellent song then only released as a 7" B-side. The others are taken from the two late-1982 singles. To be complete, the CD should have included You Owe Me One (the B-side to Under Attack, Björn & Benny reportedly hate the song), I Am The City (recorded in 82, unreleased until it was included on More Abba Gold in 93) and also Just Like That - which Björn & Benny unfairly consider as an unfinished song (it was eventually changed and given to the B&B produced project Gemini in 1985).

It's said this album was something of a departure for the group. That this was not the ABBA people had come to know and love. No "Waterloo". Not a trace of a "Dancing Queen". It should be pointed out however that this album is not exactly "ABBA does Death Metal".

The opener and title track is perhaps the closest they came to emulating the New Wave/Synth Pop explosion of the time. Parts of it are reminiscent of "Summer Night City" (minus the disco) and "Eagle" (without the majesty) while managing to create an interesting and unsettling sonic landscape all of its own which suggests an encounter of the third kind may very well be waiting behind the locked door, and they must surely score points for creating a pop song about Russian dissidents.

Next up is "Head Over Heals" which treats us to its fairground synths, jaunty chorus and tale of 'girl-about-town gets herself in trouble'. This one is a bit like Agnetha's very own "Money Money Money" and lyric-wise it's tempting to imagine Björn, a la Fleetwood Mac, cheekily having his ex sing a song about herself that isn't altogether flattering. Or not.

"When All is Said and Done" is a standout in the style of "The Winner Takes it All", although it is surprisingly upbeat for a break-up song (and sort of Christmassy) with a positively defiant lead vocal from Frida. A song of shaking hands and walking away, head held high. Bittersweet rather than just plain bitter. It would have made a good, upbeat album closer, and had serendipity played its part properly, the perfect send off for the group: "Thanks for all your generous love and thanks for all the fun ..."

"Soldiers" is perhaps the forgotten gem on this album. Starting sparsely with a vaguely military drum and some admirably restrained guitar, it then segues effortlessly from a moody, understated first verse and Agnetha's plaintive lead vocal into the most sublime, unashamedly anthemic chorus, where Frida and Björn join her in some quite beautiful harmonies. As for the enigmatic lyrics: "Soldiers write the songs that soldiers sing, the songs that you and I don't sing ..." What's that all about then? The need to have the courage of your convictions be it in love or war? To judge not lest you too be judged? Answers on a postcard please.

Frida takes centre-stage once more for "I Let the Music Speak" aka "The One that Sounds like it Belongs on the Soundtrack of Les Miserables" (around the point where some peasant woman stands up in her rags and sings heartrendingly about not having enough parsnips to make soup for her son who's just returned from the war). The lyrics though tell a different story. One of nighttime hauntings and astral projection (ABBA staples then). Dark, fanciful and slightly macabre on the verses, the choruses return us to more familiar ABBA territory with Frida displaying her quite formidable vocal prowess throughout.

After that we get "One of Us" and what can I say? It's just gorgeous. Greek tragedy laced with Swedish cool. A happy little drumbeat bouncing playfully along behind Agnetha's wrist-slashing and soaring vocals. A kitchen sink tearjerker in the great tradition of "Knowing Me, Knowing You" (a-ha!) and "The Winner Takes it All" and quite rightly an all-time classic.

With "Two For the Price of One" the question is always going to be Is it as bad as everyone says? The short answer is yes. The long answer, however, is also yes. By and large it bears the rare distinction of being an unintentionally funny intentionally funny song. Wait until you hear the "quite exciting" husky voice that answers the mock-telephone (unless there's another layer to this fable which I'm completely missing). The one semi-redeeming feature is the chorus, where everyone joins in with some low-key harmonies and thankfully you can no longer tell what they're singing about, but just when all the verses are out of the way and you're sure it's safe to tap your foot till the finish, in blunders the Salvation Army and marches the song off to a merciful end.

Luckily, Agnetha is on hand to lead us back to sanity and wave her first born off to school in the shape of "Slipping Through my Fingers". Saved from mawkishness and total schmaltz by one of those sublime, harmony-heavy choruses and Agnetha's crystal clear voice and heartfelt delivery.

"Like an Angel Passing Through My Room" closes the album proper. It has to be said that, on this album at least, most of the vocal kudos must go to Frida, and she plays a blinder in this last one. Stripped as it is of all sonic clutter as well as harmonies, when the song begins you'll think - quite astonishingly - that she's singing from the corner of your room. A clock ticks away on the mantelpiece. A music box plays quietly in the background and Frida sings of lying down one last time and welcoming the Angel of Death. Amen.

Of the bonus tracks (all top-notch, especially Under Attack which features a good old-fashioned harmonic tussle between A & F in the chorus) The Day Before You Came is the standout - swirling, rain-drenched synths, a sense of impending doom while tantalisingly we never find out who or what 'you' is. It could be love. It could be Nuclear annihilation. Could be the gas bill. Pop Noir par excellence.

All of the trademarks which made the group so popular are still in place throughout - strong vocals, clever song-structures, barmy lyrics and a healthy smattering of Scandinavian navel-gazing and marital strife. All of it delivered with an icily immaculate production sheen - elements of which dovetail neatly with the current synth revival, while the rest, due to the solid songwriting, sounds simply timeless. In short, anyone with even the most limited musical palate will find something to enjoy in this album.

Along with the much loved "Super Trouper" album, "The Visitor's" is one of ABBA's best original albums. It is the sound of a group that had matured and the end result is so alien to some people, that many may not even believe ABBA was capable of creating such dark, hauntingly beautiful poems set to ravishingly beautiful music.

The title track is a fascinating piece of work. The lyrics and chorus are interesting enough but Frida's solid, uncompromising vocals during the versus combined with the embellished synthesized sound transforms "The Visitors" in to one of ABBA's most unique and enduring songs.

Throughout ABBA's years as a group, Agnetha was chosen as the lead vocalist in several of their tear-jerker ballads; "Hasta Manana", "SOS, "My Love My Life", "Chiquitita", "Happy New Year", "The Winner Takes it All", "I've Been Waiting For You" and in "The Visitors" she's given several; "One of Us", "Soldiers", "Slipping Through My Fingers" and as an added bonus "The Day Before You Came". One of my favorites from this album is the hauntingly gorgeous "Soldiers". The lyrics recall a war-torn place and time and a sense of helplessness and dread are conjured up ("What's that sound what's the dreadful rumble?/Won't somebody tell me what I hear?/In the distance but drawing near/Is it only a storm approaching/All that thunder and the blinding light/In the winters night/In the grip of this cold December...") and Agnetha's sorrowful vocals add a touch of pathos to the already solemn atmosphere of the piece. The chorus is also worth mentioning because it's constructed almost like a tongue twister and the meaning of the phrase "Soldiers write the songs that soldiers sing/The songs that you and I don't/won't sing" isn't clear adding a bit of mystery.

"Soldiers" is followed by the even more enigmatic "I Let the Music Speak" with Frida on lead vocals. This song has always intrigued me because I don't fully understand what the song is about. It's a whole array of incredibly poetic images ("Where Beauty will defeat the darkest day"), phrases ("I'm hearing images/I'm seeing songs no poet has ever painted") and places ("I find myself a blind man in some Ancient valley"). It's also one of the most theatrical songs Bjorn and Benny ever wrote for ABBA. "I Let the Music Speak" is also one of Frida's best vocal performances to date along side "Like an Angel Passing Through My Room". The latter song is simple in form but strikingly beautiful in sound and mind.

There are a couple of upbeat songs in "The Visitors". "Head Over Heels" is a charming ditty which features Agnetha as lead vocalist and showcases her beautiful voice and her ability to adapt to various styles of music. Bjorn takes the lead in "Two For the Price of One". Listening to "The Visitors" from beginning to end is a moving and sometimes depressing experience, these 2 songs are a welcome change from the darkness and sorrow.

"The Visitors" was released in 1981 becoming a commercial hit entering the UK album charts at number one. The album also reached the Top 40 in the US peaking outside of the Top 20 but it was a disappointment considering their previous records; "Arrival", "The Album", "Voulez-Vous" and "Super Trouper" all peaked within the Top 20 of the Billboard Album Charts. The biggest single to emerge from this was the magnificent ballad "One of Us" which peaked at number 3 in the UK. The other Agnetha lead vocal track "Head Over Heels" was also released as a single there and became a meduim sized hit reaching number 25. This was the first time since 1975 that ABBA had a single peak outside of the Top 10 in the UK.

In the US, "When All Is Said and Done" and "The Visitors" were the two chosen single releases. "The Visitors" peaked at number 63 and "When All Is Said and Done" fared better reaching the Top 40. It should be noted that these two songs became ABBA's 19th and 20th singles to reach the Billboard Hot 100 within an 8 year time span. For a Swedish group to accomplish this was simply amazing.

There are 2 re-mastered versions of "The Visitors" both having bonus tracks. The original re-mastered edition released in 1997 has "Should I Laugh or Cry", "The Day Before You Came", "Under Attack" and "You Owe Me One" while the newer edition omits "You Owe Me One" and replaces it with the more poignant "Cassandra".

Out of all the bonus tracks, my favorite is the melancholic "The Day Before You Came" sung by Agnetha. In my opinion, it is one of ABBA's masterpieces and one of their most beautiful ballads. Like "The Winner Takes It All", it's simplistic but due to Bjorn and Benny's creative genius and Agnetha's gorgeous voice, it tugs at the heartstrings. There is nothing remotely depressing in the lyrics. It reads like a journal entry of a desperate, bored woman who cites off her daily activities before a person; a good friend, a lover, came in to her life. This song should be joyous and hopeful but it is not. Agentha's voice wreaks loneliness and sadness making one wonder that tragedy became this individual she is remembering. Benny stated in an interview that they had instructed Agnetha not to use her "vocal abilities" in this song in order for her to sound like an ordinary woman. Although he later regretted it by stating that you don't have to under use your abilities as a singer to play a part in a song, their idea worked wonderfully here. Unlike Agentha's previous solos where she adorns the songs with power and vibrato, her desperate, vibrato-less vocals in "The Day Before You Came" makes it more intimate. Like a one-way conversation that the listener is having with the singer. It is a shame this song wasn't appreciated when it was released as a single in 1982. It peaked at number 32 in the UK (although it was a hit in other European territories) but many music critics have since called it a masterpiece.

"The Visitors" shines like a glittering jewel within the ABBA catalogue. It was an album that was ahead of it's time. No other album in 1981 was this intense and polished. It is also the sound of a more mature ABBA who musically evolved and who were interested in creating more than just perfect pop songs. Several of these songs are meaningful works of art and that's probably the best way to describe this album; a work of art.

Highly Recommended

Radio wasn't ready for this back in the early 80's: infectious pop music with adult subject matter. I can remember reading so many negative reviews when "The Visitors" was first released. Many critics cited the lack of obvious hit singles that made the "Voulez Vous" and "Super Trouper" albums such fun. What we have here is not only the perfectly structured songs that we had come to expect from Anderson and Ulvaeus but a testament to the end of a great band.

If you're an avid Abba fan, consider the group's beginnings with the optimistic singles "Mamma Mia" and "Ring Ring" and mentally fast forward to this album's (original) last track "Like An Angel Passing Through My Room". Heartbreaking.