The Cardigans - Life

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

Amazon.com

Cardigans Life-the best Cardigans disc

This is my favorite Cardigans disc, of all of them, including the supergravity and first band on the moon. It is qwirky, melodic and poetic. "Fine" is my favorite track.

March 16, 2007

Wish there were more CDs like this one.

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. March 13, 2007

This is a great album

This album is is a treasure chest overstuffed with the rarest of all entities - finely crafted pop songs. I have owned this album since 1997 and I can say it has aged quite well. Timeless in fact. March 15, 2006

LIFE and other joys....

This album is so amazingly unique and charming..its a shame they had to go on making albums so completely different from this one. But any credible band or artist doesnt want to make the same album twice, so I take this album for what it is...pure fun. The voice of Nina is what sugar would sound like in musical form...coupled with the brilliant arrangment of catchy, upbeat and smooth music of Peter along with the back-up of the talented band, this is music for a sunny day...or to shed some light on a rainy day. This music came out in the mid-90's when it seemed people had a sense of humor about music, and the only thing being played on the radio and MTV wasnt just cry-baby whiney booty call gangsta un-imaginative "rock"...oh I long for the days of innocent music, but for now..I pop in LIFE and am transported to the days when music had more variety and wasnt so serious, or even to a mid-60's lounge if I play the right track....great album, great band. February 10, 2006

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. October 20, 2005

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