The Cardigans Album: “Life”

Description :

The Cardigans: Nina Persson (vocals); Peter, Bengt, Magnus, Lars-Olof. <p>Additional personnel: Asa Hakansson (violin); Ivan Bakran (cello); Anders Nordgren (flute); Sven Andersson (saxophone); Petter Lindgard, Tore Johansson (trumpet); Jens Lindgard (trombone). <p>Recorded at Tambourine Studios, Malmo, Sweden. <p>As Nina Persson's velour-smooth vocals prove, LIFE is much sweeter and more profound than simply a box of chocolates. Her gorgeous voice is the perfect complement to the rest of the Cardigans' jazz-tinged, retro sound. Straight outta Sweden, the quintet plays a unique hybrid of confectionated pop and space-age bachelor-lounge music. The lush arrangements are festooned with vibes, horns, bassoons, bells, strings and futuristic synthesizers, leaving one with the incorrect but plausible impression that these intensely creative Scandinavians have kidnapped Burt Bacharach and looted his back catalog. Amazingly, there's not a sample to be found on the entire disc. <p>The bureaucratic FDA has yet to develop (let alone, approve) an inoculation strong enough to resist the highly infectous pop of "Daddy's Car" or "Rise & Shine" from attacking your pop immune system. The flute refrains on "Over The Water" and "Sick & Tired" (the first single) are pure Ennio Marricone spaghetti-Western kitsch, while the trip-hoppy "Our Space" could be a track on a Portishead album. With nary a lame-o song to be found on the entire 14 tracks, LIFE is worth living over and over again.

If I could give an album more than five stars, Life would be the first candidate to receive it.

This CD is just brimming with an innocent joy that is as infectious as it is melodically brilliant. Just try to resist tapping your toes to "Carnival" or "Tomorrow", and it's hard to quell the urge to sing along with the delightful chorus of "Daddy's Car".

This is one of very few great pop albums. The atmosphere of the album is great, but don't take this to mean that the musicians aren't talented: one only needs to hear "Sick & Tired" for some great guitar work. A listen to "Tomorrow" will garner you with some of the best drum work of a band today. And on "Carnival", lead singer Nina's Persson's voice is taken to a whole new level of feeling, apart from her normal whisper.

This album is sheer genius. Credit also goes to the Cardigans for "Our Space" a trippy, and thoughtful song that revels in Nina's minimalist voice. The kitsch of "Gordon's Gardenparty" is wonderfully shameless.

DEFINITELY worth your time and money.

If you're a new fan of The Cardigans this is the album to start with. This is The Cardigans with their signature sound in full force.

Sure "Emmerdale" came out first; but "Life" contains 6 re-recordings of songs from "Emmerdale". "Life" was also the first Cardigans release that made it to the US ("Emmerdale" didn't get a US pressing until 1999).

"Life" is The Cardigans at their most poppy. Every song on this album is a lavish pop recording; with Nina Perrson's super-sweet vocals and Peter Svensson's intricate arrangements flowing perfectly together.

If you're thinking of collecting the Cardigans albums start with this one. If you like it then get the rest of their recordings to see how this band has really evolved since 1994. Each album is different from the last; but all are great pop records.

There isn't one false note in this brilliant CD. It can be classified as happiness in compact disc form. Listening to it makes me smile and relax (and believe you me, I'm not exactly perky). This is pure comfort music for you worries. Her voice is like soap bubbles. I recommend it far and wide to music lovers of all types.

Really, I like every song on this CD...but special standouts are: Rise and Shine, Hey! Get out of my way, Gorden's Gardenparty, Celia inside and a refreshing and brilliant rendition of Sabbath Bloody Sabbath.

This CD is a classic already. If you compare The Cardigans' sound of today with the music of this album, the resemblances are hard to find. While being true to their craft, their evolution has been incredible. I own all The Cardigans records issued so far and while I like them all, this is definitely my favourite one. It is a great album. Melodies are simple and lyrics provide a very unpretentious tone to the songs. Some people say it is kitsch, some others label it naïve, or even childish. To me very few songs match the quality of the verses in "Carnival". The collection of songs around "Carnival" is just great. If you are into simple, unpretentious music, get this album.