(Nearly) Friday Flashback: Abba ~ The Visitors (30th Anniversary Edition)

Ooo well calling occupants of interplanetary craft! Abba's final album, The Visitors, is 30 years old this year (the same age as Madonna & Bananarama's charting careers; Abba themselves are 40 this year). I love a good birthday celebration I do (hint, only 4 weeks til my very own birthday) and it seems so do the fine folks at Abba's record label as they are releasing a nice deluxe edition CD/DVD combo with bonus tracks and - *GASP!* - unheard before now demos. Read on with feverish excitement my purdies...

THE VISITORS - ORIGINAL ALBUM:

Technically released at the very tail end of 1981, The Visitors (Abba's final album) is always seen as the one that saw them move away from 'pop' to a more mature, complex sound. Piffle is what I say to this. Abba songs have always been incredibly layered and complex from perky upbeat instrumentals masking devastating, gut wrenching lyrics to the creative, innovative structures their songs presented. In modern day terms, every Abba album had a least one Bad Romance moment (if not more) - and that ain't half bad. Regardless, The Visitors is actually a culmination of introspection, experience and inter-band relationships that meant they went out with a musically accomplished pop classic. Each song is instantly singable, yet provides many a thought provoking moment. It all kicks off with the sonic soundscape of the title track - all paranoia and power mixed into one amazing tune that sounds as fresh today as it did over 30 years ago. It builds up slowly and that works incredibly well in having this growing nu-wave meets synth fusion pulsate as the lyrics delve into the themes of fear and panic. The vocal performance is of course flawless, aided by the fact that you can almost literally hear the terror in Anni-Frid's voice. Could've been an incredible first single, instead is a stellar start to the album...

The rest of the original "side one" includes effervescently poppy Head Over Heels, which is basically about a gal about town who has the morals of an alley cat. It has a deliciously jaunty chorus and some beautiful synths that make this one that was way more deserving of chart success than it's UK #25 peak showed. Somehow the song works better when you imagine it as someone who is experiencing internal pain, trying to mask it through frivolity. Abba are relentlessly brilliant at depth in their tunes - whether implied or implicit. Take next track When All Is Said & Done... it's bittersweet rather than bitter with an almost defiant and majestic lead vocal from Frida. A song of divorce, it's musically upbeat and would've made not only a brilliant album closer, but a gorgeous final single, if only for the lyrics "Thanks for all your generous love and thanks for all the fun..."

Side one concludes with Soldiers - a somewhat overlooked gem with it's militant beat and oddly euphoric, anthemic chorus about soldiers writing and singing the songs that you and I can't sing. What on earth it means I still have no idea, but it does sound 98.7% magnificent when I'm bellowing it out in the shower. And that's all that matters. This segues into the original "side two" with I Let The Music Speak. For me, it shows how Benny & Bjorn were itching to get writing musicals as it's the most theatrical, stage worthy number on the album. It's all otherworldly with nighttime hauntings and ghostly projections (heck, if it wasn't for the nights Abba would be fine. Give them some amitryptalline!), an ethereal vocal and macabre verses. Quite the contrast to the album's first single and next track, One of Us. It's a Greek Tragedy set to the musical stylings of a happy go lucky drum beat. Up there with break up classics like Winner Takes It All, this should have given them a UK number one (only the album came out first so late was the decision to have this as the lead off single)...

The final trio of original album songs kick off with the sheer lunacy and bonkers of Two For The Price of One. It's Abba attempts humour and some of the lyrics are laugh out loud funny for all the wrong reasons. The chorus is naturally a bit of a corker but then some school windband joins in, marching the song to it's finish! Phew :) Slipping Through My Fingers could have been embarrasingly "tonight on a very special episode of Blossom..." but is so earnest and heartfelt (with an emotive, powerful vocal from Agnetha) that it's hard not to get swept up in the emotion. And of course Like An Angel Passing Through My Room closes the album in stark, devastating fashion. A clock ticks. A music box plays. Frida sings. Death becomes her. STUNNING.

THE BONUS TRACKS:

What re-release worth it's salt doesn't have a plethora of bonus tracks? The Visitors Deluxe kicks off it's bonuspalooza with the b-side to One Of Us, Should I Laugh Or Cry. It starts off with a haunting, echoing vocal set over a repetitive riff with lyrics about a somewhat menacing, possibly rapey fella hovvering over the bed. Luckily a big beat kicks in and we all make the most of the situation! Greatest hits tracks are also present in the form of Under Attack which I just adore. It's a bouncy little number with a great vocal trade off in the chorus between Frida and Agnetha, lovely layered harmonies and incorporating a bit of melody of Just Like That (which should still be released in full in all it's saxophone version glory). (Under Attack b-side is also present in form of the funkytown-esque You Owe Me One)... and of course other Greatest Hits track my beloved Day Before You Came. Detailing the mundaneness of the day before the arrival of someone (thing?) important, it lacks a chorus but oozes creativity and charm (particularly in lyrics like "there's not I think a single episode of Dallas that I didn't see") in it's slow burn nature representating how long days last when you are waiting for something. What she's waiting for is never made clear - could be her lover, global destruction, the arrival of her cheese of the month shipment. It's down to your imagination! (B-side Cassandra is also present, the best girl name song of theirs including Elaine)...

There are also sort of new songs, though neither are really. I Am The City is a full unreleased track that surfaced on More Abba Gold in the 90s. It’s classic Abba, a catchy uptempo ditty that uses gorgeous harmonies and allows the instruments to become part of the song. Would suit a slightly edgier production value for todays market but otherwise an utterly sparkling jewel of a song… And then there's the much ballyhooed unreleased demo recordings known now as From A Twinkling Star to a Passing Angel - it's an utterly lovely exploration of how Like An Angel Passing Through My Room went from it's initial concept, through differing styles to the version that is so stunningly represented on the album. Worth the price of admission alone...

Out April 23rd everywhere...