Ace of Base - Cruel Summer

"All That She Wants," the song that catapulted the photogenic Swedish quartet to the Top 10 in the early '90s, was impossible to escape--it kept popping up on radio and prime-time TV shows, and even in novels. Despite the inevitable Abba comparisons--and the fact that the music was crafted in that sugary pop fashion that seldom lasts past the first single--Jenny, Linn, Jonas, and Ulf refused to disappear. They followed up their debut album, The Sign, with The Bridge, the songs on which--"Beautiful Life," "Lucky Love"--headed more and more toward lollipop dance, and it is there that they pick up with their third release, Cruel Summer. It is hard to label this collection of syncopation and radio-friendly melodies as anything more than fun, but that's just fine with Ace of Base. As they've pointed out in the past, "A good song is a good song." These songs--as exemplified by the light, upbeat groove of the title track--are just as apt to convince their fans likewise. --Rebecca Wallwork Amazon.com

 My First Taste of AoB
For some reason, I decided to give AoB a try in April 2000 and I *was not* disappointed at all. I didn't know what to expect really, as I'd only heard their singles, never a full album. I was impressed and excited to listen to it each and every time I played it. My favorite song is HE DECIDES and I don't really care for DON'T GO AWAY. Linn, the blonde, sang EVERYTIME IT RAINS so darn beautifully. I think it's her best vocals to date.

This album is more 'pop' sounding than their previous albums, which were more dance oriented than this one. This album had two singles released, first being their cover of Bananarama's CRUEL SUMMER, which was #10 on the billboard chart in the U.S. and WHENEVER YOU'RE NEAR ME, which didn't do so well, made it to #60 or 70-something. The album 'only' sold 2 million worldwide and led to them being dropped later from Arista records a couple of years later in 2000, after the release of their GREATEST HITS CD.

They are currently without a record deal for North America but are working on a new album. November 16, 2007

 Not a disappointment!!!!!
I have been a huge Ace of Base fan since "All That She Wants" was released in America. Very often, I find that when I buy a new CD, I have to listen to it a few times for it to grow on me. That was not the case with AoB's first two albums, and Cruel Summer was no exception. I instantly fell in love with this album! Jenny and Linn have two of the most beautiful voices ever, and as a group, they write some of the best melodies around. The only thing that bugged me about this album was the fact that it was named after the cover song on the album. That didn't make any sense to me until I got the Euro version, Flowers. Apparently, the US record company thought that the name Flowers was too European. This just goes to prove what I have often thought: Record label executives are idiots!!!!

I have found that I consider Cruel Summer and Flowers to be like two different albums. While they are both wonderful, I find that there are things that I like better about Cruel Summer and other things that I like better on Flowers. The song "Cruel Summer" is an excellent cover tune. You won't be able to go back to listening to the original Bananarama version after hearing the kickin' beat and highly superior vocals of Jenny & Linn. "Donnie" is probably my second favorite song on this album; the motown flavor and wistfull lyrics go together perfectly, and I can't keep still when I hear it! "Whenever You're Near Me" is a great, infectious song, but I agree with all the other reviewers that "Life is a Flower" on Flowers is the superior version of the song. "Adventures in Paradise" is another danceable, butt-shaker of a song, and "Don't Go Away" can move me to tears with the lyrics of a relationship that is ending because one person made a mistake and did something stupid. "Cecilia" is another motown sounding song with clever lyrics. A song about Simon & Garfunkel's Cecilia, it asks the questions, Who was she really? and What was her life like outside the classic song? "He Decides" is a great song that I actually like better on this album than on Flowers. The Flowers version is too happy and upbeat sounding. This version is darker and seems to take the subject matter more seriously. It's about being so in love that what you do and how you feel become dependent on this other person and the mood they're in. "Always Have, Always Will" again has that great '60s sound. "Tokyo Girl" is my favorite song on the album; its a hard-core dance tune with a chorus that won't quit once it's in your head! "Travel to Romantis" is another great dance song and is a great follow-up to "Tokyo Girl". Besides the fact that you would miss some very different takes on these songs, the other reason to get this CD as well as Flowers is the song "Everytime it Rains", which doesn't appear on Flowers. While the remix on the Greatest Hits album is good, it doesn't quite convey the emotion that the original does.

The only other thing I want to comment on with this album is the fact that Linn seems to always be in the background in all the group pictures and her solo picture is blurry. Also, she's never in the forefront in the video for "Cruel Summer". I don't know why that is. I can only assume this was her choice, because I doubt the record company would want to miss a chance to show a "hot chick" on the cover of the album.

While I don't think this album is as good as The Bridge, I would recommend it for sure to fans of dance-pop and to die-hard AoB fans. May 5, 2006

 Almost intolerable
I was a huge Ace of Base fan back in the day. I remember loving both 'The Sign' and 'The Bridge' and listening to them all the time when I was about 10 or 11. Recently, wanting to feel nostalgic, I got copies of 'The Sign' and 'The Bridge' as well as 'Cruel Summer'. I'd never listened to the the third album, besides the title track. Listening to 'The Sign' and 'The Bridge' again proved to be a great experience, not only because of the nostalgia but because they were still pretty good albums in my mind, even after not hearing them in about a decade. Cruel Summer, on the other hand, is horrid.

The overall theme of this album is very disco, and sometimes even has a doo wop feel (a very caucasian-sounding doo wop, mind you). The album has spots that are more dance-y and poppy and are not too terrible, but they are still pretty drab. This album was very disappointing to me. June 25, 2005

 Buy "Flowers" instead !!!
First, although I'm a eurodance music lover, I just LOVE Ace Of Base, they have a lot of nice tracks, and they released 2 excellent albums, "Happy Nation/The Sign" and "The Bridge". This is actually the 3rd one... the US version. The european version was called "Flowers". And it was much better than this US version, it was great actually, probably my favourite Ace Of Base album. So, if you have been disappointed with "Cruel Summer", listen to "Flowers" and you will know why. In the previous album "The Bridge", Arista (the record company) has already removed the track "You & I", but it was just that... here, they destroyed the awesome "Flowers" album. For example, "Whenever You're Near Me" is the american version of "Life Is A Flower". It is good, but "Life Is A Floower" was so much better. "Travel To Romantis" was my favourite track on the "Flowers" album. It was a great eurodance track (yes, eurodance), but here it's just boring. This track has completely been destroyed... Another one is the remix of "Cruel Summer". Once again, it is good, but not as good as the "Big Bonus Mix" on "Flowers". And, it's not just that... They removed THREE tracks : the excellent "Dr. Sun", the very nice "I Pray", and "Captain Nemo", which were also present on "Flowers".

To sum up, "Cruel Summer" is a good album, but "Flowers" is A LOT better, so buy "Flowers", even if you already have "Cruel Summer". June 24, 2005

 Not their best
This album taps into a few older musical trends which I wish had been left untapped.

"Donnie", for instance, while a good song has that beach feel that I just cannot forgive.

The album itself doesn't stand out as a whole, so I can't comment on the rest of it. May 26, 2005

More reviews at Amazon.com ...