ABBA - The Visitors (Crackin Up) | Video Montage | Reaction

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[kevingunning]

This album was the last studio recording of new material before the band split in 1982. If you have ever listened to the soundtrack 'Chess' (written by Bjorn and Benny of course) you can already hear the musical inspiration for that musical in songs like this. 'Let the Music Speak' sung by Frida, could almost have already been earmarked for inclusion in Chess, such is the structure of the song. For me, this is a maturer sound and is far more interesting to listen to. Thank you for reacting to this.

[helenpeterson]

ABBA meets the Cold War. An amazing song and album that shows their strength of taking things to a whole new level.

[eduardooscar]

Well, I'm so glad to see you again together with more reactions to ABBA songs in our ABBA Sunday

"The visitors" (1981)
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 future single "The day before you came" in 1982)

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 in lead voice, the chorus is good but different from ABBA's more traditional, the use of synthesizers by Benny is majestic, and Björn's lyrics are strong

I really like the song itself (8pts), 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'

I think that "The Visitors" was a single in a few countries like U S. and is the opening track ot the homonymous album
It hasn't a video or TV perfomance, but now in the Voyage Concerts that begin last May 2022 in London is the fantastic opening concert

I leave you a cordial greeting from my land
Buenos Aires, Argentina, South America

[ursgeiser]

The cold was an anthem at the time of the Reagan-Brezhnev rearmament, somehow totally topical; there are 2 more suitable songs on the album; Soldiers and Like An Angel Passing Through My Room.
In my opinion, this would have been the ABBA sound for the 80s if they hadn't had other projects in mind and, above all, finally allowed themselves a break to catch their breath and gain some distance.
For now it's the appropriate opener on the London Voyage show; hopefully it stays that way (I've heard of a "terrible" alternative).
PS maybe the song also expresses the private atmosphere in the band at that time (see cover): more than 10 years of hard work in the music industry, two pregnancies, but also 2 divorces, reorientations.

[siv-annsjostrom]

It is about Sovjetunionen, when you could not disagre with the communist rule.
If you were a dissenters they came and got you. Like today under The big idiot Putin.
Björn wrote this lyrics during the cold war. He is a very political person. The song The piper is also political

[alejandrosantanaborquez]

You r wright!:
Misterious and fun!
Hola, amigo David...
insiders say this song is about "spy games", during the cold war period. That's cool😁.
I really like the instrumentation, the progression towards the choirs and especially Frida's low tones❤, which add a lot to the suspenseful atmosphere.
Take care, amigo... See u soon.
Greetings for all fathers, like me, in your day🤗❤.
Love ❤ from Chile 🇨🇱👍