There actually is more to the ending of the song when I uploaded it so many years ago (8 years ago to be exact) I had no clue what I was doing.. but again thanks I’m blushing ☺️
The Visitors is about a woman who was part of a dissident group opposing the violation of human rights in the Soviet Union. She and her friends used to meet secretly but it’s most likely their activities were discovered and now ‘the visitors’ have come to take her away and break her by putting her in a mental hospital or labor camp.
It kind of outdoes anything recorded in the following 10 years after its release. Sounds fresher and more advanced than most of the 80s music that came after it. It's just a masterpiece.
Frida says she practiced for weeks and weeks to get her voice to sound like an indigenous sitar guitar. Maybe there's a slight effect of making it sound sharper. But the voice and intonation are hers alone.
The Frida-sung title track, ’The Visitors’, dealt with the fate of dissidents in the Soviet Union of the time. It opens the album in an eerie oral mood defined by synthesiser; Frida the narrator unfolds in a voice of hollow resignation a story of torment and paranoia about real or imagined visitors. The concerted throb and pulse of bass and drums build the tension slowly until it is released into the relief of a characteristically well-crafted Abba chorus.
Not sure where I heard or read that Frida didn't have her voice altered. Apparently Frida practiced and trained her voice to get the electronic sound. Somewhat backs up Benny describing her voice as an 'instrument'.
ABBA’s best ever story-telling song is probably Fernando… but The Visitors is one of their best ever tracks. This is set in Cold War Europe, about Eastern Europe’s notorious secret police. Welcome to ABBA in the 80s and their magnificent (but last) Europop ‘electronica’ studio album! Every song on this album is a classic in its own genre: I Let the Music Speak (theatrical - one of Frida’s favourites) Soldiers (probably ABBA’s best ‘sleeper’ anthem) Head over Heals (bright catchy pop) Slipping Through My Fingers (adorable song - Agnetha singing about her daughter growing up) One of Us (classic ABBA melancholy ballad) Two for the Price of One (weird, sarcastic, humour) When All is Said and Done (classic ABBA breakup song - after Frida & Benny’s divorce) Like an Angel Passing Through My Room (Frida back in the theatre) … after this album, ABBA recorded the truly haunting single: The Day Before You Came.
This one very popular in dance clubs in the 80's. Pay close attention to the arrangements, it is subtle, with each word in the stanza, the cadence ever so gradually increases until they get to the refrain where the song takes off, then the high energy of the bridge, dropping down to the next stanza where the cadence slows again and then gradually builds word by word. It is so nice to see young people enjoying some talented artists!
This is such a great song. And very underrated as well. And it has great memories for me because we got this on friggin CD! Back when NO-ONE had a CD player yet! This song was POUNDING from our living room speakers! Good times! Happy days!
"KISSES OF FIRE"(FromBBC Abba in Switcherland)"MOVE ON"(an ocean of harmonies),"THAT'S ME"(Fab springtime video)"FERNADO"((huge hit),"IF IT WASN'T FOR THE NIGHTS"(serotonin booster).Don't miss them.
The Visitors is the opening song of the new ABBA Voyage concerts that opened on Thursday 26th May in London, the show is unbelievable and amazing! All four members of the band attended the opening!
'The Visitors' was an unusually dark pop record, and was Abba's last album in 1981 before the group parted company by 1983. The 2 couples in Abba divorced and were unable to work together anymore (Until their recent reunion record 'Voyage' after 40 years) and the songs Bjorn & Benny wrote at the time were somewhat bleak lyrically - 'One of us' ... 'The day before you came' ... 'Soldiers'... 'Slipping through my fingers'... There were some lighthearted songs like 'Head over heels', but they sensed sadness I'm guessing that their time as a group was ending. The song 'The Visitors' was about cold war dissenters who were opposed to their authoritarian or communist governments... they were usually discovered and abducted by 'secret police', who were tasked w/ rounding up so-called 'conspirators' and imprisoning, torturing and ultimately killing these people (They were 'disappeared') Unfortunately, this practice is still being carried out by authoritarian governments in the world today, when they want dissenters against their power & policies out of the way...
Not sure if anyo9ne said this, but that intro? I heard a radio bigwig say the single of The Visitors wasn't going to get much airplay because of the "turn-off factor" of the slow intro. Way ahead of its time.
My older brother told me that back in the early 80's, this song was huge in the gay clubs he went to. I went to one in Ft Lauderdale about 10 years ago and they played it then! Great song to dance to.
Matt Pop did the most amazing mix of The Visitors, where he made it sound like the soundtrack from Blade Runner....EPIC! It was available for a while but I think it got removed...shame.
:)) Lay your love on me is one to try next I reckon! Or Fernando. About to watch. But it's about the secret police in the USSR coming to take dissidents away to the gulags. Oh and you guys have to get onto mamma mia at some point soon!
Triumphant music.. while being invaded by evil people.. so apt now ..in 2023 .. Ukraine...people being terrified.. there homes. There lives..being compromised.. torn apart.. love love love ABBA's story telling... genius...🌈💚😇🎈
yeah. The verses are very much written (musicaly) in the style of "psychelelic" music, which became popular in the 60s along with the using of drugs indian music and the "journey into onesself" I would say. And it is a remarcable choice to do so in the early 80s.But they did their job well for what reason ever.
This song really shows the feelings and emotions of someone who is trying to hide from 'unwanted visitors' (those who are hunting them), desperately hoping that they won't come in to take them away (most likely to be captured in a war or maybe for speaking out against the ruling government), but yet expecting...and even accepting that it will happen. The upcoming doom and gloom is easily heard.
Next time: The Day Before You Came; Abba's closing masterpiece and one of the great singles of the 80s. The other song from The Visitors LP that is still relevant today, and does not sound of its time, is Slipping Through My Fingers!
Yes, Frida's vocals was enhanced by a vocoder, Abba were banned in the Soviet Union after this was released. It's interesting to hear you saying about you wondered what happened next, listen to The Day Before You Came, and you'll be asking yourself that for the rest of your days.
Interestingly, there is no vocal distortion on Frida's voice on this track. She practiced for weeks to get the right sound. You must react to The Day Before You Came, probably Abba's masterpiece
"The visitors" gives me complex and different sensations ABBA was in a delicate personal stage, since they began recording the album right after Benny and Frida's separation. Björn and Benny were with their new partners, and as composers they entered the stage of experimenting, and with the project of writing a musical That is why I think that the title of the song and the album is not accidental, since in addition to being about the dissidents in the former USSR, I think that they speak of themselves as "visitors" of what "was" ABBA originally (in as for them as couples) Even the cover is very graphic: the Four separated and isolated (image that will be deepened in the official video of the single "The day before you came") the song itself is very good in its genre, it has a futuristic air (it could go as a soundtrack in a "Star Wars" movie) Frida does a great job as a lead voice, the chorus is good but different from ABBA's more traditional ones, there is brilliant use of synthesizers by Benny and Björn's lyrics are strong I really like the song itself, but on the album "The Visitors" I prefer other tracks, the one I like most is the moving "Slipping through my fingers", which was performed live on the TV special 'Dick Cavett meets ABBA' (in case you want to see it) An additional comment on "Slipping through my fingers" It is one of the songs that ABBA recorded in Spanish (I think there were 15 in total, the first released was "Chiquitita" in 1979, their biggest hit in Latin America) ABBA also recorded a full album in Spanish: "Gracias por la Música" (1980) Another milestone to be highlighted by this fantastic Swedish group I leave you a cordial greeting from my land Buenos Aires, Argentina South America
Look up the Hot Tracks remix of this song. It was HUGE club hit in '82 and will blow your minds. I wonder what you guys would think of it. Keep up the posts- you 2 are fun.
I see plenty of requests for other great songs off this Album. However it was their last album before VOYAGE. It was a culmination of 10 years of work up until that point 40 years ago. If you want to hear them all you might want to start earlier to follow the growth of the group as they passed through different genres. BORJN said he feels that VOYAGE is the follow up to THE VISITORS.
This is definitely by far ABBA's "darkest" album...well this is just the extension of the dive into more "conscience" songwriting from B&B...where it actually started on the "Voulez Vous" album with songs like "I Have A Dream" and "Chiquitita" then on to other songs like "Lay All Your Love On Me" and "The Piper" (yes I said The Piper...I mean come on! it's a song about a "piper" that enchants the people to "follow" him....ummm cult status?? ty very much haha)
As others have said, this song is about a political dissident about to be arrested by the secret police in the old Soviet Union. The song was written during a time of military tension between Sweden and the Soviet government. Russian submarines were secretly probing Sweden's coastal waters. The tensions culminated with the infamous "Whiskey On The Rocks" incident when a Russian submarine, armed with nuclear weapons, ran aground in Swedish waters near a Swedish naval base. Considering the oppression still going on today, this song is as relevant as it was 40 years ago.
Despite it was not one of my favorite abba tracks, its surely one of their most intelligent song, but in this périod i m so in love with one of us, i let the music speak and the Incrédible The Day before you came 💖 💖 💖 💖 💖 💖 💖 💖 💖
Guys, this song was released in 1982 which proves that ABBA was well ahead of its time. It's been written somewhere that Visitors is about how the previous Soviet Regime used to break into civilians houses to abduct innocent children to train them into assasins (Remember Black Widow theme?)
you should do the day before you came next!! that one is such an insane song. it's song where agnetha just sings about a day in the life of a bored, unfulfilled woman and how everything is a daze and she just assumes she does the same routine every day. there's no chorus, just several verses. it's so so good
The very few instances when ABBA went political. The Visitors album as a whole is about the ongoing Cold War at the time. The synths and drums in this title track are lit 🔥 🔥 🔥. And can we talk about Frida's performance here? She sounded like she's from the outer space, very futuristic. This was a huge US club hit back in the day, people went nuts whenever the jocks play the visitors.
The Visitors should have been a single. It’s about a woman living in the Soviet bloc and part of a dissident group. It used to meet in secret but they’ve been tracked down by the secret police ( The Visitors). Ahead of its time it’s a brilliant track from in my view their best album.
Hi guys....💖Hope your New Year went of with a big bang 💥 The "Visitors" was the last album from ABBA before the release of "Voyage" a 40 yr hiatus...... The Visitors will always be my favourite Abba album though the critics at the time slated it just like they have slated "Voyage" but what do the critics know about music 😂 they are after all just FAILED musicians (failed being the operative word) who wouldn't know what a good song was if it came up and slapped them in the face with a wet kipper. Keep up the good work guys👍💖 Take care, Stay safe. 🇬🇧😷💖
The first song on The Visitors album. It sounds upbeat but the lyrics are deep and dark. It reminds me (perhaps it's the drum line) of Major Tom (Coming home) by Peter Schilling. The Visitors were coming because dissidents were not allowed to think for themselves, and subversive thoughts were not tolerated. And the knock at the door from The Visitors always came. When TCC did his 'Oooh' sound, it sounded like Shaggy from Scooby Doo. But in a nice way.
"The Visitors" album was banned in the Soviet Union (U.S.S.R.). During the time of the Cold War/Iron Curtain. It marks a departure from ABBA's "lighter and happy" pop era. This song is very heavy in theme.....paranoia and KGB (visitor).
@German Morawski The "Pravda" newspaper was very unkind to ABBA in their vicious reviews, especially when "ABBA: The Movie" was released. Nonetheless....they could not stop the Swedish phenomenon, as ABBA sold millions and millions of records on virtually every continent on the planet.
@German Morawski Their visit to Poland was amazing in 1976. The whole budget of the Polish government for printing vinyl records for that year, was all used for their album "Arrival"❗🚁 They were so huge at that time. But when they visited Australia in March 1977.......that is when things got crazy, and "ABBA Mania" fever exploded.💥♫♫♫♪♪♪♪♪♪♪
Amazing song. It's been on my ipod forever. The people breaking in are Russian police rounding up dissidents. The Russians hated this song. Abba peaked at this moment
BJØRN IS THE BEST STORYTELLER. JUST LISTEN TO ALL OF ABBA'S SONGS. THE VISITORS SUCH AN UNDERRATED TRACK. TRY OUT: EAGLE, CHIQUITITA, HE IS YOUR BROTHER, WHAT ABOUT LIVINGSTONE, SO LONG, FERNANDO, MY LOVE MY LIFE, ME AND I, THE DAY BEFORE YOU CAME, CRAZY WORLD, SLIPPING THROUGH MY FINGERS, BUMBLEBEE, I CAN BE THAT WOMAN, THANK YOU FOR THE MUSIC, JUST TO NAME A FEW. HAPPY NEW YEAR 🥳
This song IMO is about the man Blake in sci-fi series, Blakes Seven and Blake is scared the dreaded and corrupt federation are coming to take him away from his home planet futuristic earth and send Blake to a prison planet called Cygnus Alpha.
Ahaha the King Kong song is from their first (edit - second) album and the vistors from their now second to last, for those who didn't realise he was joking :p
There really aren’t that many Cold War paranoia songs that were big hits Russians by Sting, 99 Red Balloons by Nena (German version is better) Elton Johns Nikita is Cold War but a love song (George Michael on BV) Swedes really knew what the paranoia was like, more independent and less split than Germany. Fascinating period, remarkable song.
From back in the 1970s, "Roads to Moscow" by Al Stewart, and "Mother Russia" by Renaissance were both about Russian oppression. Also, "Kiev" by Renaissance was about the bleakness of life in the Soviet Union.
The Abba tracks of the early 80s were propably less succesful and famous but they sound more interesting to me. But I also prefered Eagle, My Mama said, The Name of the Game to Dancing Queen etc.
When Björn wrote the lyrics, he was inspired by the threat Sweden felt coming from the Soviet Union. A remix of this song was a hit in the clubs in the US at the time.
personal reference for me: I was traveling thru Fennoscandia in late 1988, and a train took me way up to the SWE/FIN border at Haparanda. I was a bout 2 weeks late for the usual train back down other side of GUlf of Bothnia, and noticed signs on the walls of the train station informing foreigners that they werent to stay in the area; part of the Swedish border defense zone (as they realizd the Soviets would roll right over FInland this time, as opposed to WW2 era). Chilling reminder of how they remained neutral, but still felt constant threat. SOviets caught more than once with their subs in Swdish naval harbors snooping,.
I let the music speak and like an angel passing through my room from the same album are both beautifully told and entrancing stories. Both with Frida as lead too. Agnetha was the lead on The Visitors. Fernando is a great story earlier on.
Hahahaa no problem mate..😄👍 No harm done. It's true that there are times when they sound quite alike. However, if you've trained your ears on the difference between Frida's mezzo soprano and Agnetha's soprano voices and pitches, you'll learn to differentiate their differences. I personally think the world of both voices, Frida's and Agnetha's vocals are stunningly, beautifully, hauntingly beautiful ❤️😍👌
I’m not sure why this version ended so abruptly-it actually fades out nicely. One interesting thing about this song is that the lyrics don’t rhyme at all, and there’s no harmonies, it’s all sung in unison. Okay, that’s two things! 🤣
There actually is more to the ending of the song when I uploaded it so many years ago (8 years ago to be exact) I had no clue what I was doing.. but again thanks I’m blushing ☺️
Oh wow! Great post, thanks for uploading the original video.
I still remember the first time I heard “The Visitors.” I became obsessed with it. BRILLIANT song.
This is a masterpiece. So far ahead of its time. Dystopian, futuristic and gloomy. And Frida's vocals!
Actually, I think it's Agneta. (I could google it, but... ) ;)
No,its Frida @@80Jay71
@@larsnilsson6821 Ok whatever. Du vet vad jag menar. ;)
Based song against the communist russian regime
The Visitors is about a woman who was part of a dissident group opposing the violation of human rights in the Soviet Union. She and her friends used to meet secretly but it’s most likely their activities were discovered and now ‘the visitors’ have come to take her away and break her by putting her in a mental hospital or labor camp.
Thank You
Gotta love secret police.
Now I understand why I feel/felt uncomfortable and a little bit scared listening to this song. 😱 Nevertheless I love ABBA’s music big time!
I was trying to remember the Big Brother backstory Thank you Sadly Russia tries it again 🇺🇦
Many people would be having similar feelings right now.
Blessings to Ukraine, from Australia. 🇺🇦 🇦🇺
For me, ABBAs greatest song! And it was so fantastic, that it was the opening song of the ABBA VOYAGE concert :)
The song shows the urge of freedom!
Not only is this my favorite ABBA tune ever, it’s one of my favorite songs of all time. I never get tired of it.
Totally agree with you. My favorite also. And I NEVER get tired of it.
It kind of outdoes anything recorded in the following 10 years after its release. Sounds fresher and more advanced than most of the 80s music that came after it. It's just a masterpiece.
Soldiers is even better
Based song against the communist russian regime
Frida says she practiced for weeks and weeks to get her voice to sound like an indigenous sitar guitar. Maybe there's a slight effect of making it sound sharper. But the voice and intonation are hers alone.
Yes, she sounds amazing. And yes, there`s a little effect to her voice. Fantastic.
The Frida-sung title track, ’The Visitors’, dealt with the fate of dissidents in the Soviet Union of the time. It opens the album in an eerie oral mood defined by synthesiser; Frida the narrator unfolds in a voice of hollow resignation a story of torment and paranoia about real or imagined visitors. The concerted throb and pulse of bass and drums build the tension slowly until it is released into the relief of a characteristically well-crafted Abba chorus.
This song was incredible in the ABBA arena. Was amazed.
This was the opening song to the ABBA Voyage concert in London. The music was so loud and the performance so incredible. Will remember it forever.
Not sure where I heard or read that Frida didn't have her voice altered. Apparently Frida practiced and trained her voice to get the electronic sound. Somewhat backs up Benny describing her voice as an 'instrument'.
Great to see the younger generation enjoying the greatest pop band ever. The Visitors and The Day Before You Came are my two favourite ABBA songs.
I was a DJ in Hollywood in the 80's. This song was HUGE on my dance floor
ABBA’s best ever story-telling song is probably Fernando… but The Visitors is one of their best ever tracks. This is set in Cold War Europe, about Eastern Europe’s notorious secret police. Welcome to ABBA in the 80s and their magnificent (but last) Europop ‘electronica’ studio album! Every song on this album is a classic in its own genre:
I Let the Music Speak (theatrical - one of Frida’s favourites)
Soldiers (probably ABBA’s best ‘sleeper’ anthem)
Head over Heals (bright catchy pop)
Slipping Through My Fingers (adorable song - Agnetha singing about her daughter growing up)
One of Us (classic ABBA melancholy ballad)
Two for the Price of One (weird, sarcastic, humour)
When All is Said and Done (classic ABBA breakup song - after Frida & Benny’s divorce)
Like an Angel Passing Through My Room (Frida back in the theatre)
… after this album, ABBA recorded the truly haunting single: The Day Before You Came.
Don't forget the bonus tracks of this album: "Should I Laugh Or Cry", "Cassandra" and "Under Attack".
@@Lisa-M That’s right. Tyler said every song!
This one very popular in dance clubs in the 80's. Pay close attention to the arrangements, it is subtle, with each word in the stanza, the cadence ever so gradually increases until they get to the refrain where the song takes off, then the high energy of the bridge, dropping down to the next stanza where the cadence slows again and then gradually builds word by word. It is so nice to see young people enjoying some talented artists!
YESSS THE VISITORS MY FAVE
This is such a great song. And very underrated as well.
And it has great memories for me because we got this on friggin CD! Back when NO-ONE had a CD player yet!
This song was POUNDING from our living room speakers! Good times! Happy days!
"KISSES OF FIRE"(FromBBC Abba in Switcherland)"MOVE ON"(an ocean of harmonies),"THAT'S ME"(Fab springtime video)"FERNADO"((huge hit),"IF IT WASN'T FOR THE NIGHTS"(serotonin booster).Don't miss them.
Atmospheric ! X 🌈💚🥳🎈
"I Am The City" and "Should I Laugh Or Cry". Those are also comprising 80s synth elements. If you like "The Visitors" you might like those.
The Visitors is the opening song of the new ABBA Voyage concerts that opened on Thursday 26th May in London, the show is unbelievable and amazing! All four members of the band attended the opening!
Agreed. Perfect opening for such a phenomenon show
@@anthonysmith8800 I knew from day one they announced the Voyage show that "The Visitors" was going to be the opening number...it just made sense.
Saw this recently - amazing!
'The Visitors' was an unusually dark pop record, and was Abba's last album in 1981 before the group parted company by 1983. The 2 couples in Abba divorced and were unable to work together anymore (Until their recent reunion record 'Voyage' after 40 years) and the songs Bjorn & Benny wrote at the time were somewhat bleak lyrically - 'One of us' ... 'The day before you came' ... 'Soldiers'... 'Slipping through my fingers'...
There were some lighthearted songs like 'Head over heels', but they sensed sadness I'm guessing that their time as a group was ending.
The song 'The Visitors' was about cold war dissenters who were opposed to their authoritarian or communist governments... they were usually discovered and abducted by 'secret police', who were tasked w/ rounding up so-called 'conspirators' and imprisoning, torturing and ultimately killing these people (They were 'disappeared')
Unfortunately, this practice is still being carried out by authoritarian governments in the world today, when they want dissenters against their power & policies out of the way...
One of my favorite Abba songs.
This is one of the best songs EVER written and performed! Just so good!
Not sure if anyo9ne said this, but that intro? I heard a radio bigwig say the single of The Visitors wasn't going to get much airplay because of the "turn-off factor" of the slow intro. Way ahead of its time.
My older brother told me that back in the early 80's, this song was huge in the gay clubs he went to. I went to one in Ft Lauderdale about 10 years ago and they played it then! Great song to dance to.
Probably my favourite ABBA song
This is a great album. The very last song on the B side is very haunting, sung only by Frida " Like an angel passing through my room"
Matt Pop did the most amazing mix of The Visitors, where he made it sound like the soundtrack from Blade Runner....EPIC! It was available for a while but I think it got removed...shame.
such an underrated song. Love this album also.
Wonderful ABBA. Great job. 👏👏👏
This is one of the best albums to come out of the 80's ♥
:)) Lay your love on me is one to try next I reckon! Or Fernando. About to watch. But it's about the secret police in the USSR coming to take dissidents away to the gulags.
Oh and you guys have to get onto mamma mia at some point soon!
You guys can't believe what it was to dance to this song when it first came out. It was SOOOOO mind-blowing. Amazing!!!
masterpiece the whole Visitors Album is so underated it is phenomenal
Yes, absolutely underated!
ABBA does that in almost every song.SURPRIES YOU THEY ARE BEYOND PERFECT 🐈⬛🐈🫂♥️♥️♥️♥️
Triumphant music.. while being invaded by evil people.. so apt now ..in 2023 .. Ukraine...people being terrified.. there homes. There lives..being compromised.. torn apart.. love love love ABBA's story telling... genius...🌈💚😇🎈
I Am The City!!!
yeah. The verses are very much written (musicaly) in the style of "psychelelic" music, which became popular in the 60s along with the using of drugs indian music and the "journey into onesself" I would say. And it is a remarcable choice to do so in the early 80s.But they did their job well for what reason ever.
after the visitors perhaps the piper, and me and i, followed by on and on and on.
This song really shows the feelings and emotions of someone who is trying to hide from 'unwanted visitors' (those who are hunting them), desperately hoping that they won't come in to take them away (most likely to be captured in a war or maybe for speaking out against the ruling government), but yet expecting...and even accepting that it will happen. The upcoming doom and gloom is easily heard.
Epic song! I’ve always loved it!
I love that you finally reacted to this song! Amazing!
Next time: The Day Before You Came; Abba's closing masterpiece and one of the great singles of the 80s. The other song from The Visitors LP that is still relevant today, and does not sound of its time, is Slipping Through My Fingers!
and to learn 40 years later that it was about a murdered person telling the story?? MINDBLOWING
Tan linda la música de Abba, I love this
Yes, Frida's vocals was enhanced by a vocoder, Abba were banned in the Soviet Union after this was released. It's interesting to hear you saying about you wondered what happened next, listen to The Day Before You Came, and you'll be asking yourself that for the rest of your days.
You are both wrong. 🙄🙄
If you like ABBA’s storytelling, just wait until you hear ‘The Day Before You Came’!
It's good but I like this one better musically.
Anni Frid did a similar vocal effect on Me and I.
Thanks for share You and Marissa are part of these greatest moments and hits of the good things of the life.
Interestingly, there is no vocal distortion on Frida's voice on this track. She practiced for weeks to get the right sound. You must react to The Day Before You Came, probably Abba's masterpiece
Frida got the versitale voice
It is... just listen to how the word "come" sounds around 5:15 to 5:20.
"The visitors" gives me complex and different sensations
ABBA was in a delicate personal stage, since they began recording the album right after Benny and Frida's separation. Björn and Benny were with their new partners, and as composers they entered the stage of experimenting, and with the project of writing a musical
That is why I think that the title of the song and the album is not accidental, since in addition to being about the dissidents in the former USSR, I think that they speak of themselves as "visitors" of what "was" ABBA originally (in as for them as couples) Even the cover is very graphic: the Four separated and isolated (image that will be deepened in the official video of the single "The day before you came")
the song itself is very good in its genre, it has a futuristic air (it could go as a soundtrack in a "Star Wars" movie) Frida does a great job as a lead voice, the chorus is good but different from ABBA's more traditional ones, there is brilliant use of synthesizers by Benny and Björn's lyrics are strong
I really like the song itself, but on the album "The Visitors" I prefer other tracks, the one I like most is the moving "Slipping through my fingers", which was performed live on the TV special 'Dick Cavett meets ABBA'
(in case you want to see it)
An additional comment on "Slipping through my fingers" It is one of the songs that ABBA recorded in Spanish
(I think there were 15 in total, the first released was "Chiquitita" in 1979, their biggest hit in Latin America)
ABBA also recorded a full album in Spanish: "Gracias por la Música" (1980)
Another milestone to be highlighted by this fantastic Swedish group
I leave you a cordial greeting from my land Buenos Aires, Argentina
South America
"Gracias por la Música" is a great collection of their Spanish recordings. Recommend for any ABBA fan.
@@GetBackJoe1969 "ABBA Oro" has more songs than "Gracias por la Música" (15 instead of 10), so I would recommend ABBA Oro. 😀
@@Lisa-M The digital version has the 15 like “ORO” (GOLD).
@@GetBackJoe1969 Ah, okay, I didn't know that. ☺
And I Let the music speak 👌
Look up the Hot Tracks remix of this song. It was HUGE club hit in '82 and will blow your minds. I wonder what you guys would think of it. Keep up the posts- you 2 are fun.
Their best album.
I see plenty of requests for other great songs off this Album. However it was their last album before VOYAGE. It was a culmination of 10 years of work up until that point 40 years ago. If you want to hear them all you might want to start earlier to follow the growth of the group as they passed through different genres.
BORJN said he feels that VOYAGE is the follow up to THE VISITORS.
Finally. You made it to The Visitors. My fav track
and now you have to listen to the song - The Day Before You Came
Great album seriously good .nice presenters too x
checkout some live Wembley concert performance from ABBA.
Does your mother know followed by hole in your soul grouping of two songs is great! They lead into one another at Wembley.
This is definitely by far ABBA's "darkest" album...well this is just the extension of the dive into more "conscience" songwriting from B&B...where it actually started on the "Voulez Vous" album with songs like "I Have A Dream" and "Chiquitita" then on to other songs like "Lay All Your Love On Me" and "The Piper" (yes I said The Piper...I mean come on! it's a song about a "piper" that enchants the people to "follow" him....ummm cult status?? ty very much haha)
As others have said, this song is about a political dissident about to be arrested by the secret police in the old Soviet Union. The song was written during a time of military tension between Sweden and the Soviet government. Russian submarines were secretly probing Sweden's coastal waters. The tensions culminated with the infamous "Whiskey On The Rocks" incident when a Russian submarine, armed with nuclear weapons, ran aground in Swedish waters near a Swedish naval base. Considering the oppression still going on today, this song is as relevant as it was 40 years ago.
Despite it was not one of my favorite abba tracks, its surely one of their most intelligent song, but in this périod i m so in love with one of us, i let the music speak and the Incrédible The Day before you came 💖 💖 💖 💖 💖 💖 💖 💖 💖
Wow, doing every ABBA song will keep you busy!
Guys, this song was released in 1982 which proves that ABBA was well ahead of its time.
It's been written somewhere that Visitors is about how the previous Soviet Regime used to break into civilians houses to abduct innocent children to train them into assasins (Remember Black Widow theme?)
The Visitors álbum was released in 1981
The Visitors single was released in 1982 in a few countries
Yup. In my country, it was in 1982😄👍
you should do the day before you came next!! that one is such an insane song. it's song where agnetha just sings about a day in the life of a bored, unfulfilled woman and how everything is a daze and she just assumes she does the same routine every day. there's no chorus, just several verses. it's so so good
A song that deserves much more credit than it gets. Easily in my top3 (probably 2) abba songs.
@@thehoogard same! it reminds me of pre-storm weather and uneasiness but it's also comforting. idk how to explain it. it's a masterpiece
@@heartabba Something with it just resonates with my soul as a swede. That melancholy. Haunting music that just builds but never seems to arrive.
@@thehoogard im not swedish but i have many friends who are and i speak it. it's a very very special song
The very few instances when ABBA went political. The Visitors album as a whole is about the ongoing Cold War at the time. The synths and drums in this title track are lit 🔥 🔥 🔥. And can we talk about Frida's performance here? She sounded like she's from the outer space, very futuristic. This was a huge US club hit back in the day, people went nuts whenever the jocks play the visitors.
The Visitors should have been a single. It’s about a woman living in the Soviet bloc and part of a dissident group. It used to meet in secret but they’ve been tracked down by the secret police ( The Visitors). Ahead of its time it’s a brilliant track from in my view their best album.
Alas, it was a single, at least in the US. It peaked at #63 in the US, but it was top 10 in the club music scene.
Hi guys....💖Hope your New Year went of with a big bang 💥 The "Visitors" was the last album from ABBA before the release of "Voyage" a 40 yr hiatus...... The Visitors will always be my favourite Abba album though the critics at the time slated it just like they have slated "Voyage" but what do the critics know about music 😂 they are after all just FAILED musicians (failed being the operative word) who wouldn't know what a good song was if it came up and slapped them in the face with a wet kipper. Keep up the good work guys👍💖
Take care, Stay safe.
🇬🇧😷💖
The first song on The Visitors album. It sounds upbeat but the lyrics are deep and dark. It reminds me (perhaps it's the drum line) of Major Tom (Coming home) by Peter Schilling. The Visitors were coming because dissidents were not allowed to think for themselves, and subversive thoughts were not tolerated. And the knock at the door from The Visitors always came.
When TCC did his 'Oooh' sound, it sounded like Shaggy from Scooby Doo. But in a nice way.
Love this song. Have you reacted to ‘Under Attack’?
Thanks, Marissa! Thanks, Tyler! 🚪 #TylerCreatesContent #TheVisitors #ABBA
Please do The Day Before You Came. Unforgettable song!
ABBA being political and deep...superb ! . X.
If you enjoyed that creepin' feeling, you might check out "Brain Damage" by Pink Floyd next, from their "Dark Side of the Moon" album.
"The Visitors" album was banned in the Soviet Union (U.S.S.R.). During the time of the Cold War/Iron Curtain. It marks a departure from ABBA's "lighter and happy" pop era. This song is very heavy in theme.....paranoia and KGB (visitor).
@German Morawski The "Pravda" newspaper was very unkind to ABBA in their vicious reviews, especially when "ABBA: The Movie" was released. Nonetheless....they could not stop the Swedish phenomenon, as ABBA sold millions and millions of records on virtually every continent on the planet.
@German Morawski ABBA even went to "East Germany" to do a television special, which was very unusual at that time.
@German Morawski Their visit to Poland was amazing in 1976. The whole budget of the Polish government for printing vinyl records for that year, was all used for their album "Arrival"❗🚁 They were so huge at that time. But when they visited Australia in March 1977.......that is when things got crazy, and "ABBA Mania" fever exploded.💥♫♫♫♪♪♪♪♪♪♪
@German Morawski 😎Yes, I thought that was incredible ❗♫♫♫♫♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪
Try "The Day Before You Came" next, the second last single (September 1982) before their long break :-)
Amazing song. It's been on my ipod forever. The people breaking in are Russian police rounding up dissidents. The Russians hated this song. Abba peaked at this moment
BJØRN IS THE BEST STORYTELLER. JUST LISTEN TO ALL OF ABBA'S SONGS. THE VISITORS SUCH AN UNDERRATED TRACK. TRY OUT: EAGLE, CHIQUITITA, HE IS YOUR BROTHER, WHAT ABOUT LIVINGSTONE, SO LONG, FERNANDO, MY LOVE MY LIFE, ME AND I, THE DAY BEFORE YOU CAME, CRAZY WORLD, SLIPPING THROUGH MY FINGERS, BUMBLEBEE, I CAN BE THAT WOMAN, THANK YOU FOR THE MUSIC, JUST TO NAME A FEW. HAPPY NEW YEAR 🥳
Omg I made this so long ago and messed up the end and a bit of the timing.. but thanks for the shout out!
This would so suit Stranger Things
This song IMO is about the man Blake in sci-fi series, Blakes Seven and Blake is scared the dreaded and corrupt federation are coming to take him away from his home planet futuristic earth and send Blake to a prison planet called Cygnus Alpha.
React to ABBA live in wembly arena 1979.. Specifically Hole in your Soul..
The follow up song to the story in the Visitors was the King Kong Song.
She opened the door and a gorilla got her. Tragic turn of events.
Ahaha the King Kong song is from their first (edit - second) album and the vistors from their now second to last, for those who didn't realise he was joking :p
Ok that made me laugh out loud
@@Tom_McMurtry King Kong Song is on the Waterloo album, so it's from the second album, not the first. 😉
@@Lisa-M my bad there also then!
A cold war tune from the early 80's .
ABBA themselves won't be out touring. They're using digital versions of themselves BUT the ten musicians on stage are real and will be playing
Yes, the ABBAtars. So cool.
There really aren’t that many Cold War paranoia songs that were big hits
Russians by Sting, 99 Red Balloons by Nena (German version is better)
Elton Johns Nikita is Cold War but a love song (George Michael on BV)
Swedes really knew what the paranoia was like, more independent and less split than Germany. Fascinating period, remarkable song.
From back in the 1970s, "Roads to Moscow" by Al Stewart, and "Mother Russia" by Renaissance were both about Russian oppression. Also, "Kiev" by Renaissance was about the bleakness of life in the Soviet Union.
Of course Visitors are good ♥ ️ Keep listening to the song When All Is Said And Done on the same record! Hugs to you both 💝🐦🙈🙉🙊
They have already reacted to When All Is Said And Done.
I miss you both so much.. watching this made me happy on this awful Election Day!
The Day Before u Came should b your next one 😉😉
The Abba tracks of the early 80s were propably less succesful and famous but they sound more interesting to me. But I also prefered Eagle, My Mama said, The Name of the Game to Dancing Queen etc.
Did you notice at the end, she changes the "Cracking up" to "Breaking up"?
Tyler deciphering the meaning is quite funny . It reminds me of the boys in Stand By Me discussing what Goofy is.
When Björn wrote the lyrics, he was inspired by the threat Sweden felt coming from the Soviet Union. A remix of this song was a hit in the clubs in the US at the time.
personal reference for me: I was traveling thru Fennoscandia in late 1988, and a train took me way up to the SWE/FIN border at Haparanda. I was a bout 2 weeks late for the usual train back down other side of GUlf of Bothnia, and noticed signs on the walls of the train station informing foreigners that they werent to stay in the area; part of the Swedish border defense zone (as they realizd the Soviets would roll right over FInland this time, as opposed to WW2 era). Chilling reminder of how they remained neutral, but still felt constant threat. SOviets caught more than once with their subs in Swdish naval harbors snooping,.
I let the music speak and like an angel passing through my room from the same album are both beautifully told and entrancing stories. Both with Frida as lead too. Agnetha was the lead on The Visitors. Fernando is a great story earlier on.
Excuse me, Frida was on lead vocals in the Visitors
@@sharifuddinsalleh7119 ahaha my bad then! Sounds more like Agnetha.
Hahahaa no problem mate..😄👍 No harm done. It's true that there are times when they sound quite alike. However, if you've trained your ears on the difference between Frida's mezzo soprano and Agnetha's soprano voices and pitches, you'll learn to differentiate their differences. I personally think the world of both voices, Frida's and Agnetha's vocals are stunningly, beautifully, hauntingly beautiful ❤️😍👌
the songs in The Visitors álbum with Agnetha as a lead voice are:
Head over heels
Soldiers
One of us
Slipping through my fingers
The best story telling ABBA songs are The day before you came …… and The winner takes it all…..
How is this boy so happy all the time ?
Anyways, what a freaky song. Very mysterious and threatening tone
Its meant to be that way
This song is about the USSR or China and the secret police coming for a citizen.
At the bigginig its sounds like Graham Bonnet Eyes of the world
Magical
I think they did something completely different as a band, musically speaking. somehow the abba sound stayed.
I’m not sure why this version ended so abruptly-it actually fades out nicely. One interesting thing about this song is that the lyrics don’t rhyme at all, and there’s no harmonies, it’s all sung in unison. Okay, that’s two things! 🤣