ABBA – The Visitors

Wow, I've never heard The Visitors like this before.. absolutely quiet and incredibly balanced sound. I've heard sounds from instruments on this master that I've never heard or noticed until now. This is a totally new experience listening to it mastered this way.

This is one of my favorite albums from ABBA, but this mastering is dreadful, the last two songs on side two have sibilance during playback. Exactly like another reviewer has said here I experienced too. Its the only two songs across all their albums I get this effect on, that being said, all my other pressings are Monarchs except Ring Ring. Looks like I'll be getting the half speed masters for this album.

My copy came with a promotional flyer (CD booklet size) for this series of Abba remasters on Polar. Alongside the usual suspects (i.e. all their mainstream albums from 1973 through to 1981) there was a smaller version of the photo of the master tapes, with the caption. "The Visitors - master tapes: Not for sale!". Quite a nice bit of Swedish humour, I thought :-)

"Exactly 25 years ago (17 Aug. 1982) the world's first compact disc was produced at a Philips factory in Germany. The first CD produced was The Visitors by Abba."
"The first CDs went on sale in November 1982 and were mainly classical recordings."

Reference: Compact disc hits 25th birthday (Article from 17 Aug. 2007): http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6950845.stm

"In August 1982 the real pressing was ready to begin in the new factory, not far from the place where Emil BerlinerOffsite Link had produced his first gramophone record 93 years earlier. The first CD to be manufactured at the new factory was The Visitors by ABBA. The first album to be released on CD was Billy Joel's 52nd Street, that reached the market alongside Sony's CD player CDP-101 on October 1, 1982 in Japan."

Reference: The Compact Disc (CD) is Developed
1976 to 1983:
https://historyofinformation.com/detail.php?id=949

Sounds better defined then og german pressing, however lacks flow.. the soul of the music is missing
Silly halfspeed master certificate supplied free of charge.

Abysmally mastered pressing, with major level changes on side two in particular. Avoid this one!

This pressing sounds utterly sublime. ABBA have never sounded so good.

This is definitely the best sounding edition of this amazing album! Don’t look elsewhere…

You only need this new remaster and the og Japanese pressing (same masters were used internationally, so you get the benefit of quiet superior japanese vinyl) - the best copies of the album out there.

Another great remaster by Miles Showell & the Abbey Rd team. The original vinyl pressings of this album are all DMM cuts, as referenced by the Cutting Room Sweden in the deadwax. This meant all copies were a little shrill, with limited bass. This release is very warm, and the bottom-end has plenty of kick, without being bloated. ABBA took their production and songwriting to a whole other level on this album. While Super Trouoer was their commercial high-point, this album remains their creative peak. Hopefully the entire Abbey Rd series make it to the digital realm - everyone deserves to hear how fantastic ABBA can sound, when remastered right.