ABBA

The Visitors

The GREATEST pop album in ALL OF HISTORY!!!!!

Review Score:

(10/10)
No pop act today can compare to the catchiness and melody of Abba. And their artistic sincerity really shined through on THE VISITORS, the final album in late 1981.

What makes this such a superb cut? Begin with the overall sound. Abba were charging forward from the oldies sound of 70s pop into the characteristic sounds of the 1980s--synthpop, new wave, dance-club music. Had they remained for another album, who knows what? They would probably still be heard today on AC radio, a genre that still plays 80s music liberally. This is one of the earliest albums to make complete use of CLEAN SOUNDING electronic drum tracks and synthetically manipulated voices (listen to songs like WHEN ALL IS SAID AND DONE and TWO FOR THE PRICE OF ONE to hear this mastery). The sound on this album approaches the likes of Duran Duran or early Madonna (especially on the title track). It's actually cool and fun to dance to.

Second, the emotions are wonderfully set here which range from haunting Halloween-esque fear ('The Visitors') to Swedish folk music ('Head Over Heels') to divorce sorrow ('When All Is Said and Done' and 'One Of Us') to parenthood ('Slipping Through My Fingers') to memories of the past ('Like An Angel Passing Through My Room'). This last song sounds especially like a good-bye song with its quietude and midnight-hour atmosphere. It's Abba's denouement after nearly ten years of fame and glory.

Finally, these singers have perfect voices on this album and the recording is wonderful. No more tinny studios that sound like the Sixties. Everything here is pretty much just as crisp in audio as today's pop music records. Many songs recorded for a few years after in America didn't have this same clarity.

While The Beatles can be accepted by most as the most overall innovative artists in the history of the music industry, when it comes to pure melody and family-friendly pop, Abba can't be beat. No group before or since has made me so likely to shed tears in joy or sorrow.

I would definitely recommend THE VISITORS, the final dying gasp by one of the greatest pop groups of all time-ABBA!

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