The Cardigans Album

These days it's getting harder to tell the real pop twerps from the hip parodists--both of whom make music sweeter and more dizzying than cherry wine. Take Sweden's Cardigans, for example: On one hand, they work the same delicious Bacharach lounge jazz and gooey '60s girl swoons as Pizzicato Five, a group whose retrokitsch is delivered with a big, fake-eyelashed wink. On the other hand, the Cardigans come from a land that gave us Abba and Ace of Base, sincere pop legends if ever there were. The Cardigans, it seems, could go either way, and their subtle blend of pop-for-pop's-sake with pop-for-joke's-sake makes their first American release, Life, all the more a modernist gem.

There's no use digging below the surface of Life's amazingly catchy opening quartet of tunes. All the joy to be extracted lies right on the surface: "Carnival"'s loopy organ and punchy beat is all cotton candy and merry-go-rounds; "Daddy's Car" is a fun-fun-fun ride to the up-up-and-away; "Fine" soars heavenward while "Rise & Shine" is mile-a-minute perk-me-up. From there, though, "Our Space" ventures deeper, into darker and moodier atmospherics and a trip-hoppy electronic shuffle. Singer Nina Persson's crystalline lullaby voice keeps it all sounding innocent as hell, but when she sinks her candy-coated teeth into a Black Sabbath cover ("Sabbath Bloody Sabbath") she exposes a few sinister cavities. By the time she closes the album, exulting "No one can be happier than me!" the effect is eerie enough for David Lynch. With Life, the Cardigans give us pop till it hurts. --Roni Sarig

Customer review - 2000-01-20

- A Pop Gem That's Sure to Please

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.

Customer review - 2005-10-20

- other lives

i can't understand the different song line ups. the first "life" i bought a very long time ago was a cassette that had 11 songs. the flow of the album is so perfect i loved it so much i overplayed it and had my cassette player eat it. so i bought the cd and there's another different song line up (gasp!) and later would i find out that it's the UK Version of "life" which had additional songs from the earlier album "emmerdale" including a different take on Rise & Shine (which is nice) and ommitted Pikebubbles, Sunday Circus Song and Closing Time. and now this - the minty fresh release of "life". it ommitted Traveling with Charley, replaced the new version of Rise & Shine with the old version and added more songs from "emmerdale" (i really don't think that Our Space fits right in "life" kinda wrecks the happy-go-lucky mood) the first version of "life" IMHO is still superior and i'm aware, as well as the band do, that the minty fresh version acts as some kind of a compilation between the cardigans' first two albums, if you really want to experience the real "life" please do check out the one that starts with carnival and ends with closing time, me thinks it's some kind of a concept album, a very happy one. the songs from "emmerdale" wrecked the happy mood, as we all know "emmerdale's" not that happy at all.

Customer review - 2002-03-24

- Pure pop perfection

Pop divas seem to be suffocating in their own image these days . Britney Spears has repeatedly asked us not to look at her like she's " a little girl " while on the other side of the Atlantic Victoria Beckham has recently declared too that she's not " such an innocent " female either . Back in 1995 , Nina Persson wouldn't care what you think about her . Innocence was not a bad thing for her and her band , The Cardigans . Their debut album " Life " is full of a 60's kind of style interpid sweetness .

The Swedes chose to divert the bad side of life and prefer to sing mostly about the small little details that make life as great as it is : a ride with friends , a lover's kiss , a walk at a beach nearby . Even a heartbrake ( " After All " ) is delivered here with such a tender sadness which is impossible to characterise as let's say ,depressing . From the genuin melancholy of " Sick and Tired " to the daydreaming of " Carnival " , everything here flows naturally and stands out for it's well-crafted pop complexion .

Having covered the distance between carefree pop to electronica in less than four years , The Cardigans are now exploring different paths of today's music reality . For someone who's not familiar with their early work , " Life " might come as a pleasant shock . Discover the early Cardigans and embrace this album's virtues .

Customer review - 2001-09-20

- What an album!!

As I get older, I'm faced with a dilema I'm sure many aging music fans face-- getting into and finding new music. It's really hard. You just have this urge to stick by your favorites. And as time passes and record labels keep pumping out new acts, I fall more and more in love with The Cardigans. Sure, many people just simply write them off as bubbly Swedish pop, but if you listen carefully past Nina Persson's girlish cute voice, the music is extremely well written, crafted and executed rock-n-roll. This whole album just simply rocks.

In a nutshell, the songs on this album range from bouncy (Carnival, Fine, Rise and Shine, Hey! Get Out of My Way, and Happy Meal) to loungy (Gordon's Garden Party, Daddy's Car, Our Space, Celia Inside, Over the Water) and mix of both (Tomorrow, Sick and Tired, Beautiful One, Sabbeth Bloody Sabbeth). My lack of music terminology really can't do this album justice. So in plain English, this album is really great and... it deserves way more than 5 stars. The Cardigans are just the right combination of everything that works toward making a great band and an album. If you don't own a copy yet, buy it now.

Customer review - 2004-09-01

- New Cardigans fans start here!

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.

List of The Cardigans albums

The Cardigans Album - Life