Ace of Base - The Sign

 I'll sum it up.
Let me put it this way, I am a 21 year-old percussion/jazz performance student at a university, and I teach a couple drumlines on the side. I listen to just about everything, but mostly funk and progressive rock...

I love this album. It's one of those albums that you can't get past the first five tracks with out starting it over again because it is so awesome, only to find out that the best is still to come.

I only have a few albums in my collection that I can honestly say are over 75% solid, and this one is like 95%....and Linn and Jenny are GORGEOUS. April 25, 2008

 Dancer in a Daydream
That song alone is worth the price of the album. When I first heard it, I couldn't stop listening to it. It's the standout track of the album for me.

This is the reworked U.S. version of their European album "Happy Nation". If you really enjoy this one, you need to track down a copy of "Happy Nation", the one with the DISCO BALL on the cover. Then you need to get the import "Happy Nation U.S. Version" which has the same cover as "The Sign" but a slightly different, better, tracklisting. Yes, the full title is "Happy Nation U.S. Version".

November 15, 2007

 Same Tempo as their previous cds.
I really like
Ace of Base but after awhile their music starts to sound the same kinda like ABBA. July 16, 2007

 Pop Perfection
When their first U.S. single, "All that She Wants" was released and all over the airwaves, I didn't think much about Ace of Base at all, I just wan't into that reggae-pop sound. My best friend purchased their cd (we were both still in high school at the time) he gave me a copy that he had recorded onto cassette(remember those?) After hearing tracks such as "Young and Proud", Voulez Vous Dancer" and "My Mind" I fell instantly in love with the album. I am a lover of dance/club music and more than half of the tunes on this album are upbeat europop tracks - usually around the 120 bpm range. A few weeks later I was in the record shop and found the import version of The Sign cd but in Europe it is labled as "Happy Nation - U.S. Version". I picked it up, and noticing that it had extra tracks that were left off the the U.S. version (typical) I snatched it up and haven't regretted it yet. It included an extra track called "Fashion Party" that is very similar to "My Mind" and one entitled "Hear Me Calling" which is another upbeat-dance oriented track. The import version also includes the Moody Gold Club edit version of "Happy Nation," another great track - one of the few reggae -tinged tracks that I like from the cd aside from Wheel of Fortune. I listed to the cd so much that it finally just gave out, not bad for being 12 years old and being played constantly. Luckily iTunes has the import version available (Happy Nation) for download rather than the less expansive U.S. Version(The Sign). There is also a German version entitled "Happy Nation" that has another two tracks available that aren't on either one of the two previously mentioned (The German version has ablack cover with a large disco ball on it). All of this info is for Die Hard Ace of Base fans such as myself. This cd takes me back to those summer afternoons when I was in high school, either layin on the bed chillin to this disc, or cruisin around in the car with the sunroof open, windows down and music up! This cd is definately in my top ten all time fav cds, right up there with Madonna's Confessions on a Dance Floor and Confessions Tour cds. May 11, 2007

 First CD I ever bought., even before I owned a CD player!
Okay, maybe in 2007 it's cheesy to gush over the first CD you ever bought. Well, I'm going to do it anyway. I had a pretty good collection, on cassette, of new wave / synth-pop music, like The Cure, Depeche Mode, Erasure, New Order, Pet Shop Boys, Yaz, etc. But then, The Sign came out, and I thought buying it on cassette wouldn't do this awesome album justice. So, not even owning a CD player, I bought it on CD.

Yes, like other reviewers stated, The Sign is an album that brings back good memories. I remember going to parties where someone would invariably give it a spin, and discussing with friends which tracks I liked the best. I enjoyed even the songs that they never played on the radio, like Young and Proud, and Waiting For Magic. It is interesting how people with different tastes in music (rap, new wave, Top 40) all had this one album in common.

Alas, this is a souvenir of a time long passed, the early 90's. Unfortunately, Ace of Base did not become the next ABBA, as some in the music industry speculated. Their second album, The Bridge, flopped, and soon CDs of their first and second albums started turning up in bargain bins. An attempt to regain popularity with a cover of Bananarama's Cruel Summer proved unsuccessful. It didn't help that the original song was still on many radio stations' playlists.

For a brief instant, though, Ace of Base reigned supreme. March 3, 2007

More reviews at Amazon.com ...