Maps of Music

The Visitors (1981)

Where the lyrics of The Visitors take you, and where it was really made.

The Visitors was ABBA's last studio album for four decades, and its cover is the first to show the members apart rather than as a close group.

Key places

Recording at Polar Studios (1981)

Recording site Polar Studios — The album was recorded with a new 32-track digital recorder bought for Polar Music Studios. Engineer Michael Tretow had to adapt to it during the sessions. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Cover shoot at Kronberg's atelier (1981)

Album cover Master Plan — The cover photo was taken at Julius Kronberg's atelier, which is located in Skansen Park, Stockholm. The map point is set at city-centre level, so it does not show the exact building. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• The Visitors: eighth studio album by the Swedish pop group ABBA
• Released 30 November 1981
• Often regarded as more complex and mature than the band's earlier, lighter pop
• Opening track 'The Visitors', with ominous synthesizers and Frida's lead vocal, announced a change in musical style
• 'When All Is Said and Done' revisits the pain of Benny and Frida going their separate ways
• Major hit single 'One of Us' depicts the end of a love story
• Cold War themes, highly topical at the time, and further songs of isolation and regret
• One of the first albums to be digitally recorded and mixed
• For four decades it stood as ABBA's last studio album, until the 2021 album Voyage

Background

• Björn Ulvaeus and Agnetha Fältskog divorced in July 1980
• Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad announced their divorce in February 1981
• The divorces added strain to the musical partnership
• Ulvaeus later recalled the sessions were troubled and sometimes frosty
• Lyngstad said the members were beginning to tire of working together

Recording

• Recording began on 16 March 1981
• Sound engineer Michael Tretow had to adapt to a new 32-track digital recorder bought for Polar Music Studios
• The first three tracks were recorded on analogue tape, so later tracks were moved between digital and analogue to avoid a difference in quality
• Members and personnel remembered the sessions as rather difficult

Cover

• Rune Söderqvist, who had worked with the band on earlier designs, led the artwork
• The angel concept was based on the album title and the closing track 'Like an Angel Passing Through My Room'
• The photo shoot took place at Julius Kronberg's atelier in Skansen Park, Stockholm, with a giant angel painting as backdrop
• The group members are positioned apart and wait solemnly in the shadows
• It was the first time the members were depicted as separate individuals rather than a close-knit group, conveying the band's fatigue

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• ABBA was a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad.
• Their name is an acronym of the members' first names; it was officially adopted in 1973.
• Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson first collaborated as songwriters in 1966 and became hit writers in 1969.
• Stig Anderson, founder of Polar Music, pushed the pair toward international success.

Members

• Agnetha Fältskog and Björn Ulvaeus were married from 1971 to 1980.
• Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad were married from 1978 to 1981.
• Fältskog sang lead and backing vocals; Lyngstad sang lead and backing vocals.
• Ulvaeus played guitar and sang; Andersson played keyboards and sang.

Career

• The group won the Eurovision Song Contest 1974 for Sweden with "Waterloo".
• Hits include "Dancing Queen", "Fernando", "Mamma Mia" and "The Winner Takes It All".
• They disbanded in December 1982 after their final public performance.
• ABBA Gold, released in 1992, became a worldwide best-seller.
• Mamma Mia! the stage musical premiered in 1999 and was adapted into a 2008 film.
• The group reunited in 2016 and released the album Voyage in 2021.
• ABBA Voyage, a concert residency with digital avatars, opened in London in May 2022.
• In 2024 all four members were appointed Commanders, First Class, of the Royal Order of Vasa.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Reached the top of the charts in a number of territories
• Was not as successful as the band's previous albums

Reappraisal

• Often regarded as a more complex and mature effort than ABBA's earlier, lighter pop albums
• Its songs of isolation, regret and Cold War themes were highly topical at the time

Records

• Among the earliest albums to be manufactured commercially on compact disc
• Released after 52nd Street by Billy Joel, the first album available in this format
• Reissued in digitally remastered form in 1997, 2001, 2005 (as part of The Complete Studio Recordings box set) and 2012 (Deluxe Edition series)
• Reissued in a multi-format release on 1 December 2023 for its delayed 40th anniversary, including a double-LP half-speed mastered version and 7-inch singles box set
• Stood as ABBA's last studio album for four decades, until Voyage in 2021

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The 32-track digital recorder bought for Polar Music Studios was new to the team, and engineer Michael Tretow had to compensate because the digital sound became too clean.
• The first three tracks had been recorded on analogue tape, so later tracks were transferred between digital and analogue to avoid a difference in quality.
• Rune Söderqvist knew that the painter Julius Kronberg had painted many angels, and he tracked down Kronberg's studio at Skansen park for the cover shoot.
• The Visitors was released after 52nd Street, the first album available on compact disc in this format.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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