ABBA - The Visitors

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Date of Release: 30 November 1981 Polar POS 342

Side A:

1. The Visitors (5:49)

2. Head Over Heels (3:45)

3. When All Is Said And Done (3:20) ('No Hay A Quien Culpar' was released on The Visitors in Spanish language territories)

4. Soldiers (4:38)

Side B:

1. I Let The Music Speak (5:20)

2. One Of Us (3:55)

3. Two For The Price Of One (3:36)

4. Slipping Through My Fingers (3:51) ('Se Me Esta Escapando' was released on The Visitors in Spanish language territories)

5. Like An Angel Passing Through My Room (3:25)

Songs added to the 2001 remastered album:

Under Attack

Should I Laugh Or Cry

Cassandra

The Day Before You Came

Recording sessions for The Visitors from 16 March 1981 - 14 November 1981:

Slipping Through My Fingers;

Backing track between 16 - 19 March 1981.

Mixing on 10 April 1981.

Final mix on 13 November 1981.

A ballad, which perhaps offered the most obvious glimpse of ABBA's private lives. With lyrics by Björn and a lead vocal by Agnetha, the song dealt with their mixed feelings at seeing their daughter Linda going away to school, turning around and waving, and I thought 'now she has taken that step, she's going away - what have I missed out on through all these years?( from the book 'Bright Lights, Dark Shadows' by Carl Magnus Palm)

When All Is Said And Done:

Backing track between 16 -19 March 1981.

Violin overdub on 3 April 1981.

Mixing on 9 April 1981.

More mixing on 12 April 1981.

Tape copying from 24 track tape to 32 track tape on 29 October 1981.

Mixing on 2 November 1981.

Final mix for The Visitors on 13 November 1981.

The relentless drive of 'When All Is Said And Done' made it one of the stand-out tracks on this album, and was directly related to recent occurrences in the group. "I was a bit cautious because of the lyrics, " Björn recalled. "Frida and Benny" had just got divorced, and that's what the song dealt with, more or less". Frida had no objections. On the contrary, for her it was a cathartic experience to express all the regret and sadness she felt. From the sound of her vocals, Frida was truly vibrating with pent-up emotion as her performance was committed to tape. The song was a fairy accurate description of what had happened: much as Benny and Frida would have wished for a different turn of events, their love had died and their relationship along with it. Faced with such a situation there is nothing else to do but to dealt with it and move on. ( from the book 'Bright Lights, Dark Shadows' by Carl Magnus Palm)

Two For The Price Of One:

Backing track between 16 - 19 March 1981.

Percussion and horn overdubs on 8 April 1981.

Mixing on 11 April 1981.

Final mix for The Visitors on 13 November 1981.

Lyrics that told the bizarre story of a man answering an ad in the personal columns, placed by a girl - and her mother. ( from the book Bright Lights, Dark Shadows by Carl Magnus Palm)

Like An Angel Passing Through My Room (working titles: Another Morning Without You, An Angel Walked Through My Room, An Angel's Passing Through My Room and Like An Angel Passing Through My Room Version 1):

Backing track on 26 May 1981 (version 1).

Drum overdub for version 1 on 3 June 1981.

3 mixes of version 1 on 5 June 1981.

2nd backing track on 23 October 1981 (version 2) (working title: Twinkle, Twinkle).

Recording of version 3 on 8 November 1981 (working title: Like An Angel Passing Through My Room No.3).

Mixing on 10 November 1981.

More mixing on 11 November 1981.

Final mix for The Visitors on 13 November.

Head Over Heels (working title: Tango):

Backing track on 2 September 1981.

Overdubs on 8 September 1981.

More overdubs on 9 September 1981.

Mixing on 2 October 1981.

Final mix for The Visitors on 12 November 1981.

The song was like a refrigerated version of the spirit of 'Bang-A-Boomerang' or 'Take A Chance On Me'. Simply blaming unfamiliarity with digital recording techniques is too easy, however: there was something inherenty wrong with the conception and arrangements of the song. Björn and Benny's search for musical perfection and complete control seemed to lead them up the wrong path for much of this album. Also, the rather trite theme of the lyrics - about a shopping-crazy and party-mad high-society woman rushing through life to the consternation of her exasperated husband - probably had a distancing effect on the listener. This "droll" description of life for the privileged classes - an extention of a theme introduced in the previous album's 'On And On And On' - jarred with ABBA's penchant for tapping into the joys, hopes and fears of "everyday people". "I do write about things I have experienced myself," Björn admitted. "It's inevitable that we retreat from an 'ordinary life." ( from the book 'Bright Lights, Dark Shadows' by Carl Magnus Palm)

I Let The Music Speak:

Backing track on 3 September 1981.

Overdubs on 8 September 1981.

More overdubs on 9 September 1981.

Mixing on 1 October 1981.

Final mix for The Visitors on 2 November 1981.

A theatrical mood and shifting sections. It was a song that pointed towards an ambition that Björn and Benny had harboured for several years: to write a musical. ( liner notes by Carl Magnus Palm for the 2001 issue of 'The Visitors)

Soldiers (working titles: 15:e Oktober-laten and Peasants):

Backing track on 15 October 1981.

Mixing on 7 November 1981.

Final mix for The Visitors on 14 November 1981.

One Of Us (working titles: Nummer 1 and Mi Amore):

Backing track on 21 October 1981.

Mixing on 3 November 1981.

More mixing on 12 November 1981.

Final mix for The Visitors on 13 November 1981.

This Agnetha-led track detailed the effects of splitting up from a partner. In the eyes and ears of the record-buying public it was hard not to conclude that the group members were singing about themselves. It turned out to be ABBA's last major worldwide hit.( liner notes by Carl Magnus Palm for the 2001 issue of 'The Visitors')

The Visitors (working title: Den Första):

Backing track on 22 October 1981.

Final mix for the LP on 4 November 1981.

The more literal cold war connotations were to be found the heavy walz 'Soldiers', as well as the title track. 'The Visitors' featured a raga-flavoured melody in the verses against a backdrop of synth-rock, with lyrics dealing with the dangerous situation for dissidents in the Sovjet Union of that time. "I was trying to imagine what it must feel like to sit and wait for that ominous knock on the door," recalled Björn, "never knowing when it would come, and never being able to be sure of anything.." Quite possibly the lyrics were also a reaction to the slightly uniform way of life in Sweden at this time, as perceived by people of Björn liberal right-wing persuasion. "I had a constant feeling that others, the invisible powers that be, made the decisions over my head," he remembered. ( from the book 'Bright Lights, Dark Shadows' by Carl Magnus Palm)

Bonus tracks added to CD releases:
Under Attack:

Backing track on 2, 3 and 4 August 1982

Mixing on 26 August

Mixing on 13 November (single version, never released but used for the song to playback on TV)

One take was sufficient for 'Under Attack, with song fragments that had travelled through 'Rubber Ball Man' / 'Under My Sun' (in 1979) and last finding their natural home in the verse of this new composition.( from the book 'The Complete Recording Sessions ' by Carl Magnus Palm)

Cassandra (working title El Paso):

Backing track on 2, 3 and 4 August 1982

Mixing on 25 August

The Day Before You Came (working title: Den Lidande Fågeln):

Backing track, vocals and mixing on 20 August 1982

"'The Day Before You Came' was written in the studio, says Benny. "I Had a fragment of a song, and since we had no other song to work with at this point, we made it into a complete composition. The only instruments on the recording are sythesizers and a drum machine, except for a snare drum played by Åke Sundqvist (recorded on this day). Then we made overdubs onto that, but deliberately tried to keep it simple, so that it wouldn't be over arranged."An exameple of this approach is the almost inaudible, slightly 'operatic' obbligato vocal ine, invested and sung by Frida. ( from the book 'The Complete Recording Sessions ' by Carl Magnus Palm)