FEATURE:
Childhood Treasures: Albums That Impacted Me
The Cardigans - Life
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EVEN though I featured The Cardigans recently…
when I celebrated twenty-five years of their single, Lovefool, I am including them again. Lovefool was on the band’s 996 album, First Band on the Moon. Their album before that, 1995’s Life, is one that is very important to me. It brought the band into my life – and is an album that I still listen to today. There are various different versions of Life. Depending on which country it was released in determines the track listing. For the U.K. version, we got Pop gems like Carnival, Sick & Tired, and Rise & Shine. Many of the tracks appeared on the Swedish band’s debut, Emmerdale, which was released in 1994. It was not released in Europe until 1999. Though it sounds like a messy couple of years for The Cardigans, Life was well received by critics here. It is one of their best albums. With the melodic and inventive composition skills of Peter Svensson and the inimitable and stunning vocals of Nina Persson, it was no wonder I fell for The Cardigans! Even though it their 1998 album, Gran Turismo, that was a bigger social lubricant in my teenage years, I feel Life has more significance and has made a deeper impact. Gran Turismo was when The Cardigans shifted their sound to something darker and more Rock-based. Perhaps tired of the jollity and Pop sound of their earlier work, critics were divided. I really like the sunshine and happiness one gets through Life. That said, many of the lyrics do paint to negative and emotional themes. So much great Pop music marries anxiety and depression with compositions that are radiant and irresistible! The reviews for Life have been largely positive.
This is what AllMusic wrote in their review:
“With tongue firmly in cheek, the Cardigans decided to play up the candyfloss arrangements of their debut for second album Life. Where Emmerdale studied an introverted melancholy, Life is undiminished in both its independent-minded exuberance ("Hey! Get Out of My Way") and zest to enjoy life with others ("Daddy's Car," "Gordon's Gardenparty"). The incredible production and quality of arrangement from the debut are here also, even more strikingly crisp and spot-on. (Over 50 instruments were used on the 14 songs included on the Minty Fresh American release.) Though the Cardigans planned Life as something of a joke, it became one of the finest pop albums of the '90s”.
In another positive review, BBC were eager to highlight how Life has stood the test of time (the review was published in 2007):
“The second album by the Swedish pop/rock mavericks may have begun life as an in-joke, but it was the definitive statement that launched them as a truly international force as well. Here was an album that demonstrated that not only did they have the multi-faceted writing skills to put them in the charts, but also they had the studio smarts to back the songs up as well.
Formed by two heavy metal fans, Peter Svensson and Magnus Svengingsson, the band had already caught the attention of the European market with their debut, Emmerdale. Two things made them stand out: The singing by non-professional Nina Persson and the music theory and jazz background of Svensson. This allowed them to be one of the first truly 'ironic' pop acts that could turn out saccharine, sunshiney hits that still had enough intelligence to appeal to a broader audience.
By 1994 they'd toured the world and really gelled. Life was to be their most optimistic-sounding effort, filled to the brim with gems like "Hey! Get Out Of My Way" and "Daddy's Car" (they were always great at song titles). The former and "Carnival" were to be their entry points into the lower reaches of the UK charts. Major smash single territory was to wait until the follow-up's "Lovefool", but Life was a platinum-seller on its own merits. What's more, as a cheeky nod to their founders' pasts they even managed to include a popped-up version of Sabbath's "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath". Talk about dextrous.
The world's press of course then had the band tagged as popticians and nothing more. Subsequent, darker albums like Super Extra Gravity and Long Gone before Daylight would prove them to be far deeper than that. But Life remains a pop gem”.
Even though one can hear artists influenced by The Cardigans’ Life, there are not as many albums that take the sound to heart as there should be. The sheer warmth and catchiness of Life is reason enough for bands to study it and try to replicate it in their own way. A very special album in my early life (I was eleven when it came out), I bonded with this great band and their incredible songs stuck in my head. I followed The Cardigans until their final studio album, Super Extra Gravity (2005). For me and so many others, 1995’s Life was…
A magnificent revelation.